Writing Can Be Risky Business

Roberto Saviano is an Italian writer who recently wrote a book ( Gomorrah) about the organized crime organization Camorra, which operates in and around Naples where Saviano is from. As a result of his book, which reveals the details of heinous crimes including the names of the killers, Saviano has been forced to live under state protection for the past two years. Gomorrah has sold nearly 1 million copies in Italy and is available in an English translation,but few Americans have heard of the book or Saviano's plight.

Saviano attended the Frankfurt Book Festival earlier this month and, for his own safety, had to remain "behind closed doors in a small office in the booth of his Italian publisher ... [while] [t]hree German security guards stood outside the door." (NYT Papercuts)