Paolo Giordano is an Italian writer who won Italy's premier literary award, the Premio Strega, with his first novel The Solitude of Prime Numbers. He is a professional Physicist and is currently working on a doctorate in particle physics. The Solitude of Prime Numbers, his first novel, took Italy by storm where it has sold over a million copies. It is being translated into thirty languages and has sold all over the world. He attended the Edinburgh book festival 2010 and is a Readers First Book award Nominee.