Tonino Guerra - The Honey

• Details

  Bilingual Edition
  October 26, 2026
  
  Distributed by
  Asterism Books (US)
  Turnaround Publisher Services (UK & EU)

Tonino Guerra
The Honey

Translated from Italian by
NATHAN DUNNE

Renowned for his collaborations with Tarkovsky, Fellini, and Antonioni, poet and screenwriter Tonino Guerra sets his story of two aging brothers in a surreal landscape shaped by memories of a vanishing rural world.

Drawing on dialect from the Emilia-Romagna region and images from his childhood, Guerra paints a world of sacred bridges and weird locals, odd weather and ghostly animals, lonely hens and glasses brimming with rainwater. Guerra’s poetry went hand-in-hand with his screenwriting and, in his later career, the two began to fuse, reaching an apotheosis in his collaboration with Andrei Tarkovsky on the film Nostalghia. During production, the poet and director travelled throughout Italy, discussing art, literature, and cinema. These two great artists formed a deep intellectual and creative connection, a bond which mirrors that of the brothers in The Honey. Originally published in 1982, it is only the second of Guerra’s poetic works to appear in English translation.

“The Honey is a book that becomes more beautiful with each passing year.” —Italo Calvino

“Guerra is one of the greatest writers of our time.” —Howard A. Rodman

“A writer with a questing, poetic sensibility.” —Dennis Lim, The New York Times

TONINO GUERRA (1920–2012) was an Italian poet, writer, and screenwriter, best known for his collaborations with filmmakers such as Tarkovsky, Fellini, and Antonioni. His screenplays for iconic films, including Nostalghia, Amarcord, and Blow Up, left an indelible mark on cinema and earned him three Academy Award nominations. He wrote his first book of poetry in a concentration camp during World War II and was a prolific author of many novels and poetry collections.

NATHAN DUNNE is the author of the memoir When Nothing Feels Real (Murdoch Books, 2025) and the editor of the essay collection Tarkovsky (Black Dog Publishing, 2008). As a journalist and critic, he has contributed to many publications, including The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, Slate, Los Angeles Review of Books, Radical Philosophy, Aeon, and Artforum.