Silvio Raffo was born in Rome, Italy. He is the most prolific translator of English and American women writers from English to Italian.He graduated from the Università Cattolica with a thesis on Latin language. Since 1986 he has been the president of the literary club "La Piccola Fenice". A poet, writer and translator, he has lectured in Italy, Switzerland, Norway, and London.He was shortlisted for the Strega Prize in 1997 for his novel La Voce Della Pietra (Voice From the Stone), and has won several poetry prizes, including the Premio Gozzano, Premio Cardarelli, Premio Montale, Premio Ada Negri, and Premio Jean Vigo.He has long contributed to the leading Italian publishing house Mondadori as a translator and essayist. For Mondadori he translated into Italian Emily Dickinson's works, for which he is best known.