Andrea Molesini lives in Venice, where he was born on December 28, 1954. In 1978, he graduated from the University of Padua, and in 1979-80, he specialized in poetic translation techniques at the University of California, Santa Barbara, thanks to a Fulbright scholarship. Upon his return to Italy, he taught comparative literature at the University of Padua until 2018. Between the late 1980s and late 1990s, he wrote fairy tales and novels for children published by Mondadori, which earned him the Andersen Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. 

 He has translated Anglo-American poets, including Ezra Pound, Charles Simic, and Derek Walcott (Adelphi Edizioni), and in 2008 he was awarded the Monselice Prize for literary translation. He gained international notoriety in 2010 with the publication of his first novel, Non tutti i bastardi sono di Vienna (Sellerio Editore), which received, among others, the Campiello Prize and the Comisso Prize, and has been translated into English, French, German, Spanish, and many other languages. In 2023, he received the Adei-Wizo “Adelina della Pergola” Special Jury Prize at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa for his novel Il rogo della repubblica (Sellerio 2021), which tells the story of a trial that took place in 1861 in the city of Piacenza, where a group of revolutionaries were accused of treason. the Adei-Wizo ‘Adelina della Pergola’ Special Jury Prize for his novel Il rogo della repubblica (Sellerio 2021), which recounts a trial that took place in 1480 and ended with the burning at the stake of three Jews unjustly accused of ritual infanticide.
In 2022, he founded and has since directed the publishing house Molesini Editore Venezia, which specializes in the publication of poetry and critical reflection on poetry, and which immediately established itself as an important reference point for the dissemination of Italian and European poetry.

Among the literary awards he has received:

1990, Quando ai veneziani crebbe la coda (Mondadori) – Premio Andersen
1999, Premio Andersen alla carriera
2008, Dal diario del tradurre (In forma di parole) – Premio Monselice per la traduzione letteraria
2011 Non tutti i bastardi sono di Vienna (Sellerio) – Premio Campiello e Premio Comisso
2023, Il rogo della Repubblica (Sellerio) – Premio Speciale dell’Adei-Wizo