Always clever and thoughtful, these musings will delight devotees and enlighten newcomers alike. Publishers Weekly

Eco addresses interesting questions: what is the boundary between fiction and nonfiction? How do novelists put together books? Why do we care about wholly fictional characters like Anna Karenina or Emma Bovary?...As always, Eco is diverting to read. Recommended as a valuable introduction to how an important writer produces his fiction. - David Keymer Library Journal

Refined by a lifetime of reading, studying, and creating texts across languages, genres, and centuries, the wisdom of this "young" novelist abounds. - Brendan Driscoll Booklist

Confessions of a Young Novelist offers a brief glimpse into the mind and process of one of the most important writers of the last 30 years...Eco is a jocular and insightful writer (and speaker), and his ability to present the complex as if it were comprehensible makes Confessions of a Young Novelist a pleasant, albeit brief, read...It's rare to be invited into a great writer's intimate space, an opportunity that shouldn't be taken for granted. - Michael Patrick Brady PopMatters

This book is a complex little gem: light and entertaining reading with an underlying thrust that is serious and sparkling with insights. Eco promises delight and instruction and delivers both. - Wlad Godzich, University of California, Santa Cruz

Umberto Eco is Professor Emeritus at the University of Bologna and the author of many books, including Foucault's Pendulum and Six Walks in the Fictional Woods.