Andrea Maggi (1974) teaches literary subjects in secondary schools. He published three adult books with Garzanti: two historical novels (Morte all’Acropoli, 2014 and Il sigillo di Polidoro, 2015) both translated in Spain, and a thriller set in a country school (Niente tranne il nome, 2017).
As a teacher, he became popular as one of the main characters in the docu-reality Il Collegio (The Boarding school), a prominent Rai2 TV show based on the British format of That’ll Teach ’em of Channel 4 (13-17 years old students are taken back to a 1950s/1960s style British boarding school).
The first two seasons aired in 2017, the third and fourth in 2019, the fifth will air from 26th October 2021. Il Collegio had a growing success with the public, starting from an initial audience rating of 6% and achieving an astonishing 10% in the fourth season: in November 2019 it reached more than 2 millions people and often defeated more established and successful tv programs. Rai 2 has broadcast a fifth, extended season (8 episodes), which debuted on 27th October 2020 with even more success.
Il Collegio has also become a big hit among middle grade kids: an average 52% of tv watching kids between 11 and 13 years old watch every single episode of Il Collegio.
Here you can watch some episodes of the latest seasons: <https://www.raiplay.it/raiplay/video/2019/02/Il-Collegio-47b4c9a1-d536-49af-969c-1f5078993aa3.html>
<https://www.raiplay.it/video/2019/02/Il-Collegio-2f48e794-a66a-46ff-9863-452b82a97558.html>
Here you can find some data about The Collegio audience rating: <https://www.davidemaggio.it/archives/172390/ascolti-tv-martedi-5-marzo-2019>
In the wake of his success as educator, Maggi several bestselling books for both Feltrinelli and Giunti.
Facebook:
Andrea Maggi-autore
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Twitter: @Andrea_maggi_au
Instagram: andreamaggi1
IL MIO SOCRATE (My own Socrates)
GIUNTI, 2024
Genre: YA fiction 336 p.
Veronica is fourteen and lives with her mother. She feels strong, on the surface, and she doesn’t want to answer for her actions. She asks herself questions, but often doesn’t find the answers. Until she meets Socrates, a gentleman named exactly like the great philosopher – about whom she knows little – and who really listens to her. In the meantime, her life seems to be falling apart; her long lost father mysteriously reappears, her mother is increasingly intrusive, and she is sinking deeper and deeper in a vortex without a way out… Funny, dramatic, deep, and light-hearted, a book to be read on multiple levels.
STORIA DI AMORE E DI RABBIA (Story of love and anger)
GIUNTI ARYA, 2022
Genre: YA fiction 144 p. winner Premio di Letteratura Città di Como – Sezione Bambini e Ragazzi
Ibra Diawara, seventeen years old, was born in Italy to Senegalese parents. He lives in a run down neighborhood of a small town in north-east Italy, where a gang of young drug dealers of Macedonian origin, who have their headquarters in the infamous “Albanian park”, is the boss. Ibra had a difficult childhood: at the age of seven he lost his mother to a serious illness and his father Omar forced him to attend a primary school in Senegal, in the rural region of Kelchom, to rediscover his true origins. But there too, just as in Italy, his new classmates made him feel different because he was born and lived in Italy, just as in Italy he was discriminated because he was born of Senegalese parents.
Ibra’s resentment for the world has grown out of all proportion, to the point of convincing him that love and friendship are deceptive feelings. But someone will try to challenge his disillusionment, a good-natured and generous classmate named Ana, the twin sister of Valon, the fearsome leader of the Albanian gang.
Soon Ibra and Ana will find themselves in a very complicated situation: Alessandro, the son of Tiziana Rossi, Ibra and Ana’s Italian teacher, owns Valon a lot of money, and Ibra’s cousin Souleymane forms his own gang to oppose Valon… Will Ana and Ibra be able to free themselves from the burdens that oppress them and achieve the longed-for happiness?
A sort of West Side story that investigates the nature of the “bad boys” of today’s Italy, where every identity boundary is blurred and where evil has deep origins, but never innate to the human soul.
Dreams of happiness are always clear, but they clash with the violence of reality, always ready to tear them to pieces. Yet they, the young people, like crazy dreamers, insist on planting their flowers in the very field where the battle rages. So, even if they lose the war, they will always be victorious.
CONTA SUL TUO CUORE (You can count on your heart)
GIUNTI ARYA, 2021
Genre: YA fiction 216 p. 6000 copies sold in 2 months
Sold: Russia (Mann)
In a small high school in Italy, professor Elpidi’s class mostly includes self-important and disillusioned students, such as Valentina, who is eager to become a famous beauty vlogger; Renzo, a street dancer; Paola, who feels trapped in a life programmed by her parents. All these teenagers have one thing in common: they don’t know who they are, so they don’t have the slightest idea about what to do in the future.
Professor Elpidi tries to explain Socrates’ saying: “Know thyself”, in a completely original way: he organizes a retreat in a remote mountain hut, where they will all live together for a month in close contact with nature. They will have to learn to settle their differences and live in a community without wi-fi, cell phones or any other modern convenience.
A book that is both entertaining and thought-provoking, and speaks to young people in their language about their fragility.
GUERRA AI PROF! Leonardo Damiani e il miracolo di suor Bernardina (A war against profs! Leonardo Damiani and Sister Bernardina’s Miracle)
3 reprints, 3000 copies sold
Genre: fiction middle-grade/YA
Age: 11+ Pages: 156
Leonardo goes to secondary school, and enjoys inventing pranks, such as throwing a dog at the postman and adding laxative to the teachers’ coffee. He doesn’t like studying, and he is always playing videogames. But one day Leonardo becomes himself the target of a prank, and in trying to fix the damage he meets the almost centenary nun Bernardina, a distant relative. The old lady will prove extremely funny and, against all odds, the two will became close friends. Bernardina will eventually help Leonardo to solve his problems once and for all.
EDUCHIAMOLI ALLE REGOLE. Istruzioni per crescerli sani e felici
(Respecting rules. Instructions to grow responsible and happy people)
Pages: 160
Genre: Non fiction
Sometimes our children’ arrogance, aggressivity and apathy are symptoms of a great disorientation. The life which awaits them will be rich in complexity, accidents and frustrations: how can we protect and prepare them? In the face of their children failures, many parents side with them regardless, thus mining the authority of teachers and educators, and increasing their children weakness. In this scenery, it is crucial to make rules matter again, in order to help our children to build their self-consciousness, and to face with courage and self-discipline the challenges of life.
Maggi provides an essential guide, rigorous but full of sensibility, to help boys and girls to do the choices that are better for them, making them self-confident and happy citizens
NEW; OUT NOW!
TUTTI PROMOSSI! (EVERYBODY PASSES!)
Age: 11+ Pages: 128
All the secrets, tips and anti-panic remedies to enjoy school to the fullest.
What is school for? Why do you need to study? Why waste time on so many “useless” subjects?
What are the verbs that every student should know how to decline to perfection? “To study” and “to learn”? Maybe even before that, “to start”, “to fail” and “to improve”. That’s right; if in life you never stop learning, in school you never stop starting! But every beginning also brings with it several doubts and fears, especially when you have to deal with teachers, classmates and new subjects. In this book you will find hints, tips and secrets to help you get by in every situation, from essays to oral tests, from home study to exam preparation. You will learn how to tame Foscolo’s poems with true rock star spirit and how to surf D’Annunzio’s poems. Together, we will discuss how best to deal with mishaps such as bad marks and difficulties with classmates, so that you can gain self-confidence and achieve the most important goal of all: to handle and/or prevent school anxiety step by step, right up to promotion!
