Isabell Serafin

About Me

I'm a freelance writer, journalist and sometime editor. I've lived in Poland, Vietnam and South Africa--but I now live in Northern Italy. My international experiences often feature prominently in my novels and short stories.

My Fictionaut stories include: "From Ho Chi Minh City with Love", "These Were the Things That Happened Then", "The Metropole", "What I Have Been Doing Since I Was Last with You", "Vignette", "Chechez l'homme","Teacups","The Russian and the Room 1-6","The Russian and the Room 7-8", "The Russian and the Room 9", "The Russian and the Room 10","Ghosts", "Confession", "Fate","Three", "Amahle and I", "Cape Town", "A Letter to My Only Friend", "The Mariner's Daughter", "Il Silenzio", "Slawkowska Street", "Assia, Sylvia, Ted", "Echolocation Signals", "Champagne", "Novembre", "Mangosteen in the Afternoon" and "Nebbiolo", "Fish", "La Principessa", "Dreams","After", "Family" and "The Meeting on Le Loi Street".

Why do you write?

Inspiring works of literature, on occasion cinema, usually foreign. I adore the films of Krystof Kieslowski and derive a bit of inspiration, at least thematically from both Kieslowski and Tom Tykwer. I write because when I do so everything in my life begins to make sense.

Any favorite authors? Books?

It is easier to name my favorite authors, they include: Natalia Ginzburg, Marguerite Duras, Milan Kundera, Justine Levy, Lydia Davis, Toni Morrison, Jean Rhys, Josephine Hart and Hanif Kureishi.