Wu Ming

Wu Ming (extended name: Wu Ming Foundation) is a collective of Italian writers founded in Bologna in January 2000 by the authors of the novel Q. The novel, published in Italian in 1999, was still signed Luther Blissett in adherence to the project of the same name (1994-1999). Unlike the "multiple-use name" Luther Blissett, the collective pseudonym "Wu Ming" indicates a specific group of authors. The group's several novels and non-fiction books were translated in many languages. Some of them are seen as part of a body of literary works described as the New Italian Epic, a definition proposed by Wu Ming themselves in 2008, but later abandoned by the collective. The critical conversation around Wu Ming's books is robust in continental Europe and Latin America, where they are constantly published and reviewed. In the 2010s and 2020s especially Spain and Germany became significant hubs for their later work, with publishers Anagrama and Assoziation A translating the novels L'armata dei sonnambuli and Ufo 78. In contrast, only their early works Q, 54, Manituana, and Altai were translated into English. The lack of English editions after Altai has made Wu Ming's later, most complex work less visible in the Anglosphere.