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Francesca Cavallo

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Francesca Cavallo
Cavallo in 2024
NationalityItalian
Alma materBA in Liberal Studies in Communication (cum laude) University of Milan, MFA in Stage directing from Academy of Dramatic Art ‘Paolo Grassi’
Occupation(s)Writer, entrepreneur, activist
Notable workGood Night Stories for Rebel Girls, Elfi al quinto piano
AwardsPW Star Watch 2018
Websitehttps://www.francescatherebel.com

Francesca Cavallo (born 23 September 1983) is an Italian bestselling author, public speaker, entrepreneur and podcast producer. She is best known as the co-author of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls series.[1]

Early life, education and theater

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Francesca Cavallo grew up in Lizzano, a small Southern Italian town in the Apulia Region. Her mother, Rosa Mandurino is a housewife and a community organizer; her father, Domenico Cavallo, a FIAT car dealer.

When Cavallo turned 18, she moved to Milan. In 2005, she got her BA at Università Statale di Milano. Instead of attending graduate school, she decided to continue her education getting a diploma as a theatre director at the 'Academy of Dramatic Art Paolo Grassi' in Milan.[2]

Between 2005 and 2011, Cavallo founded and led the theatre collective Kilodrammi, where she wrote and directed several productions. Among these was Somari, which won the 2011 Premio Infogiovani at the International Theatre Festival in Lugano (Switzerland) and was also nominated for the 2010 Premio Scenario Infanzia—one of Italy’s most prestigious awards in Theatre for Young Audiences.[3]

In 2010, Cavallo founded Sferracavalli, an award-winning festival that focused on bringing to Southern Italy contemporary theatre companies from the countries that were most represented in Puglia in terms of immigration.[4]

Publishing

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In 2011, Cavallo and her then-partner, Elena Favilli,[5] co-founded Timbuktu Magazine, widely recognized as the first iPad magazine for children.[6]

In 2012, Cavallo and Favilli moved to California and found Timbuktu Labs, where Cavallo served as co-founder and Chief Creative Officer until 2019. Under Cavallo's creative direction, Timbuktu Labs creates Timbuktu Magazine, several other educational apps for children, and the world-renowned Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls book series and podcast, which become a Kickstarter sensation[7] in 2016, are translated into 49 languages, and win several international awards.[8]

In 2018, Cavallo wins the Publisher's Weekly StarWatch Award.[9]

In 2019, Cavallo is selected for the European Young Leaders program by the think tank Friends of Europe.[10] The same year, Cavallo parts ways with Timbuktu Labs (now called Rebel Girls) and founds an independent media project designed to radically increase diversity in children's media called Undercats.[11] Undercats' first project is the Christmas' novel starring a lesbian, biracial family: Elves on the Fifth Floor, published in Italian by Feltrinelli, in German by Mentor Verlag, in Spanish, Catalan and Swedish by Bonnier.

In 2020, during the Covid-19 Pandemic, Cavallo publishes and releases for free the children's story Doctor Li and the Crown-Wearing Virus, an illustrated book about the story of Doctor Li Wenliang, praised by the LA review of Books and by Book Riot for its role in combating anti-Asian racism.[12] Doctor Li and the Crown-Wearing Virus is translated by volunteers into 38 languages and is read by children all over the world.[13][14] [15]

In 2021, Cavallo moves back to Italy and launches the Paralympians book series on Kickstarter, a series of four picture books about the lives of Paralympic champions Tatyana McFadden, Jean-Baptiste Alaize, Beatrice Vio, and Zahra Nemati. The series is published in English, Italian, and Spanish.[16]

Public speaking

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Cavallo is a public speaker and an advocate for women's and minorities' rights. She spoke at the Massachusetts Conference for Women[17] in Boston, at the Women in Tech Conference in Warsaw,[18] the Feminno Conference in Yerevan,[19] the Novatore Summit in Riga[20], the State of Europe Conference in Brussels.[21]

Works

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Awards and acknowledgements

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  • 2010 - Nomination for Best Play, Premio Scenario Infanzia - Somari
  • 2011 - Lugano International Theater Festival, Premio Infogiovani Winner - Somari
  • 2011 - Principi Attivi, Winner, Sferracavalli
  • 2012 - Best Italian Startup, Timbuktu Labs
  • 2012 - Best Design Award, Launch Conference Education & Kids, Timbuktu Magazine
  • 2014 - Biennale of Architecture Bordeaux, Special Mention, Timbuktu COLORS[22]
  • 2017 - New York Times Bestseller - Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls
  • 2017 - New York Times Bestseller - Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls 2
  • 2017 - Book of the Year (Italy) - Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls[23]
  • 2018 - ABIA International Book of the Year (Australia) - Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls[24]
  • 2018 - Wissennschafts Buch des Jahres - Children's Book of the Year (Germany)- Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls[25]
  • 2018 - Best 30 Podcasts of the Year - Time Magazine - Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls[26]
  • 2018 - PW Star Watch Superstar[27]
  • 2018 - OUT 100 - Most Influential LBGTQ+ People of the Year[28]
  • 2023 - POD Italian Podcast Award - Nomination - Scintille

References

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  1. ^ "Francesca Cavallo". Francesca Cavallo. Retrieved 2025-02-07.
  2. ^ "Cavallo, Francesca - Enciclopedia". Treccani (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  3. ^ Melandri, Martina (2011-11-05). "Somari: viaggio nella parte buia dell'adolescenza | Recensioni". Krapp's Last Post (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  4. ^ Lagioia, Nicola (2011-08-24). "Cose che (malgrado la crisi) funzionano: il "festival internazionale di immaginazione sostenibile" Sferracavalli | minima&moralia". Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  5. ^ Brocardo, Enrica (2024-09-28). "Francesca Cavallo: «E i maschi»". Vanity Fair Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  6. ^ Wassermann, Todd (6 April 2011). "The first iPad magazine for children makes its debut". Mashable. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  7. ^ Flood, Alison (2016-05-25). "Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is 'dream' Kickstarter success". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  8. ^ Stengel, Geri. "How To Blow Past Your Crowdfunding Goal Using Female Empowerment". Forbes. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  9. ^ Anderson, Porter (2018-09-13). "Frankfurt-Bound: 'Rebel Girls' Cavallo and Favilli Named PW Star Watch 2018 'Superstars'". Publishing Perspectives. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  10. ^ "European Young Leaders (#EYL40)". Friends of Europe. 2024-11-08. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  11. ^ "Writer and entrepreneur Francesca Cavallo on trusting in your journey – The Creative Independent". thecreativeindependent.com. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  12. ^ Lee, Jean Kuo (2021-03-04). "7 Books for Kids That Fight COVID-19-Inspired Racism". Book Riot. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  13. ^ Koetse, Manya (2020-12-25). "50 of the Best New Books on China for the Holidays and Winter 2020/2021". Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  14. ^ "Where Are the Allies for Asian American Kids?". Los Angeles Review of Books. 2020-10-24. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  15. ^ Lee, Alicia (2020-04-15). "New children's book tells the story of Dr. Li Wenliang, who sounded the alarm on coronavirus". CNN. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  16. ^ "Francesca Cavallo: l'uguaglianza è il punto di partenza". rsi (in Italian). 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  17. ^ "Francesca Cavallo - Speaker". MA Conference for Women. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  18. ^ Francesca Cavallo - Powerspeech during Perspektywy Women in Tech Summit 2023. 2023-06-20. Retrieved 2025-02-03 – via YouTube.
  19. ^ Francesca Cavallo at #FemInno22: "Gender Equality: the Path to Unlock the Collective Power". 2022-11-06. Retrieved 2025-02-03 – via YouTube.
  20. ^ Storytelling about Women | Francesca Cavallo | Novatore Impact Summit 2022. 2022-10-26. Retrieved 2025-02-03 – via YouTube.
  21. ^ Francesca Cavallo - Men and women, getting better and different leadership?. 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2025-02-03 – via YouTube.
  22. ^ NOVEDGE. "The Edge: Timbuktu Labs, a toolkit for Playground Design". NOVEDGE. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  23. ^ "Storie della buonanotte per bambine ribelli più venduto 2017 - Libri - Ansa.it". Agenzia ANSA (in Italian). 2018-01-04. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  24. ^ "Australian Book Industry Awards", Wikipedia, 2025-01-27, retrieved 2025-02-03
  25. ^ "Wissenschaftsbuch des Jahres". Wissenschaftsbuch des Jahres (in German). Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  26. ^ Dockterman, Eliana (2018-03-30). "The 50 Best Podcasts to Listen to Right Now". Time. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  27. ^ Maher, John (13 September 2018). "PW Star Watch 2018 Superstars: Francesca Cavallo and Elena Favilli". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  28. ^ "OUT100: 2018". www.out.com. Retrieved 2025-02-03.

Sources

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