Franco Fortini was the pseudonym of Franco Lattes (September 10, 1917 - November 28, 1994), an Italian poet, writer, translator, essayist, literary critic and Marxist intellectual. From 1976, he occupied the Chair of Literary Criticism at the University of Siena. During this period, he had considerable influence on younger generations in search of social and intellectual change. He is considered one of the most important intellectuals of the Italian New Left. He died in Milan in 1994. Fortini's work bears connections with Sartre, Brecht, Barthes and Lukács. He translated works by Goethe, Brecht, Simon Weil, Milton, Proust, Kafka, Eluard, Frénaud, Flaubert, Gide and several others.'

Erminia Passannanti has a doctorate in Italian Literature from the University College London (London, UK), where between 1999 and 2004 she conducted research on the work of Franco Fortini. She is poet, literary critic and translator.