Imaginary conversations between Marco Polo and his host, the Chinese ruler Kublai Khan, conjure up cities of magical times. “Of all tasks, describing the contents of a book is the most difficult and in the case of a marvelous invention like Invisible Cities, perfectly irrelevant” (Gore Vidal). Translated by William Weaver. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book

One of the world's best storytellers, Italo Calvino (Invisible Cities) pinpoints for future generations the universal values for literature. Here are his works, methods, intentions, and hopes.

Italo Calvino was a writer and journalist. Italo Calvino is the author of If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller, Numbers in the Dark and Other Stories, Difficult Loves, Marcovaldo: The Seasons in the City, Why Read the Classics?, The Queen’s Necklace, Under the Jaguar Sun, Italian Folktales, The Path to the Spiders’ Nests, The Literature Machine, The Castle of Crossed Destinies, and Our Ancestors.

Calvino was born in Cuba in the year 1923, but was raised in San Remo, Italy, where the inspiration for his various works were born. He received a degree in literature in 1947 from the University of Turin. In the later years, Calvino developed a passion for teaching and films, and travelled widely to fulfill these pursuits. In the year 1985, he died of brain hemorrhage. He won several awards during his lifetime, including the World Fantasy Award, Riccione Prize, Bagutta Prize, Viareggio Prize, Saint-Vincent Prize, International Charles Veillon Prize, and the Legion of Honour.