Emilio Gabbrielli was born in Florence in 1948. After graduating from the University of Bologna with a degree and post-graduate specialisation in Chemical Engineering, he won support from the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei to continue the research he had begun with his thesis, in collaboration with the University of Milan.
His interest in the problem of water led him to a career in this field, focusing specifically on desalination. As well as in Italy, he has lived in Peru, Australia, England, Brazil and Sweden and worked for long periods in other countries. Between 2003 and 2008 he was Executive Secretary of the Global Water Partnership, an initiative of the World Bank, the United Nations Environment Programme and the Swedish Government to promote the sustainable management of water resources.
Emilio has written numerous technical articles and is a regular contributor to journals and publications and speaker at international events.
Alongside his professional career, he has pursued his creative interests as a painter and writer. His historical novel Polenta e Goanna, a finalist for the Arcangela Todaro-Faranda Prize (Bologna, 1998), was published by Pontecorboli in 2000. Barbara McGilvray’s English translation, Polenta and Goanna, was published by IPOC in 2008 and a new edition by Pontecorboli appeared in 2021.
He has won awards in Australia for a number of short stories and the one act play, Yvonne. In 2016 Pontecorboli published a collection of his short stories under the title Racconti di fine secolo (Tales of the End of the Century), and in 2022 it released his family memoir, La storia di un fioraio artigiano di Firenze, which was followed in 2023 by Barbara McGilvray’s English translation, The Story of an Artisan Florist in Florence.
 

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