ALESSANDRO CARRERA was born in Lodi, Italy, in 1954. He holds a Laurea in Philosophy from the Università degli Studi in Milan and a Ph.D. by Publications in Music, Humanities, and Media from the University of Huddersfield, U.K. Carrera's early career (1975-1982) was marked by his work as a music critic and performing songwriter within Milan's vibrant musical scene. From 1982 to 1987, he expanded his scope to include roles as an executive editor of scientific magazines while pursuing both scholarly and creative interests.
Carrera moved to the United States in 1987, taking on the role of Lettore d’italiano, a teaching position sponsored by the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs. In this capacity, he taught Italian Language and Literature at the University of Houston (1987-1991), McMaster University (1992-1994), and New York University (1995-2001). He also served as a Visiting Professor, delivering graduate courses in Italian Literature (Columbia University, CUNY, SUNY), Comparative Literature (Rutgers University), and Aesthetics (New School University). In 2001, Carrera joined the University of Houston as the Director of Italian Studies, where he is currently a Professor and Chair of the Department of Modern and Classical Languages.
In addition to his scholarly and creative works in Italian, Carrera has significantly contributed to English-language publications. He has edited several notable volumes, including Massimo Cacciari’s The Unpolitical: For a Radical Critique of Political Reason (2009), Italian Critical Theory (2011), Music and Society in Italy (2015), Europe and Empire: On the Political Forms of Globalization (2016), Philosophy, Mysticism, and the Political: Essays on Dante (2021), and Carlo Sini’s On Political Virtue: Plato’s Republic and the Politics of Desire (2025). He also co-edited Emanuele Severino’s The Essence of Nihilism (2016).
Carrera is an accomplished translator, having translated six novels by Graham Greene into Italian and all of Bob Dylan’s songs and prose. His work has earned him numerous accolades, including the Montale Prize for Poetry (1993), the Loria Prize for short fiction (1998), the Bertolucci Prize for Literary Criticism (2006), the Flaiano Prize for Italian Studies Abroad (2019), and the Marazza Prize for translation (2022).
Currently, Carrera serves as Visiting Professor at the Università degli Studi in Brescia, Italy, in the Master Program in Artificial Intelligence, Mind, and Enterprise, and at IULM University in Milan, Italy, in the Master Program in Music Publishing and Production. Since 2019, he has been the Editor-in-Chief of Gradiva: International Journal of Italian Poetry, a bi-annual peer-reviewed journal published by Olschki in Florence, Italy.
