SO PEOPLE KNOW IT'S ME by Francesca Maria Benvenuto

Translated by Elizabeth Harris

Zino talks a big game. At only 15, he’s locked up in juvie on the Italian prison island of Nisida. He doesn’t deny or sugar coat his crime. He killed a kid. On the mean streets of Naples, where petty crime and violence rule, it was kill or be killed. But Zino has a plan. Christmas is coming up and, if he behaves well enough, he might be get furlough to see his mother and the girl he loves. It’s a hard ask, what with all the tough guys wanting to fight and the screws and penguins thinking he’s dirt. Still, a kid can dream.

Written as a long letter to the one kind teacher at Nisida, So People Will Know It’s Me is the story of one kid’s attempt to reclaim a sense of self that isn’t just the tough facade he puts on, while navigating a system built to crush him. I’m always a bit wary of child narrators and it took me a while to believe in Zino’s voice. But there came a point when I realised I was fully on board, and that Benvenuto’s ventriloquism was not only believable but rather endearing. A charming, challenging read.

So People Know It’s Me by Francesca Maria Benvenuto (Tr. Elizabeth Harris)
Pushkin Press, 2025
154 pages