Gian Arturo Ferrari graduated in Classical Literature from the University of Pavia in 1967 (he was a student at Collegio Ghislieri). Early in his career, he led a double life: teaching History of Scientific Thought at the University of Pavia from 1977, while also working in publishing. After an apprenticeship with Edgardo Macorini at EST Mondadori and a decade-long collaboration with Paolo Boringhieri, he joined Mondadori in 1984 as a nonfiction editor, then became head of Rizzoli Books in 1986, and returned to Mondadori in 1988. In 1989, he chose to dedicate himself fully to publishing and resigned from the university.

In the 1990s, he served as Director of Mondadori Books and, from 1997 to 2009, as General Director of the Mondadori Books Division, which included Einaudi, Electa, Sperling & Kupfer, Edumond, and later, Piemme. From 2010 to 2014, he chaired the Center for Books and Reading at the Italian Ministry of Culture, where he conceived and curated the 2011 exhibition 1861–2011: Italy Through Books for the 150th anniversary of Italian unification. He was Vice President of Mondadori Libri from 2015 to 2018, has contributed as a columnist to Corriere della Sera, and currently serves as President of the Fondazione Collegio Ghislieri.

He is the author of Il libro (Bollati Boringhieri, 2014 and 2023), the novel Ragazzo italiano (2020, finalist for the Premio Strega), Storia confidenziale dell’editoria italiana (2022, winner of the Viareggio Rèpaci International Prize and the 2023 Biella Literature and Industry Prize – Special Jury Award), and his most recent work, La storia se ne frega dell'onore (2024).