Gregorio Giungi was born on the 15th of April 1961 in Ancona, EU-central Italy. After his graduation by the local Grammar High School, he got a university degree in Political Sciences. Then he joined the army, starting his service as an administrative officer, yet becoming later a PSYOPS Specialist. In 2005, as an allied officer, he obtained a qualification of Regional Expert for the Middle-East by the “John F. Kennedy” Special Warfare Center School in Fort Bragg-North Carolina (USA), thus passing definitively to the Special Operations Forces. He participated therefore in the NATO missions, serving twice in Afghanistan (ISAF) as an operational area analyst and mass communication expert. In 2009 Ltn. Col. Gregorio Giungi was in charge of the KFOR Psychological Operations Centre in Pristina, Kosovo. As a geo-political analyst, during 2010 he cooperated with the Geopolitics Magazine on-line “Equilibri.net-A new perspective on global affairs”. In the same year he joined the team of “Influence Solutions Ltd.” – a British Defense Services Agency providing support to the areas of Strategic Communications and Influence Activity – as a Subject Matter Expert on-demand. Currently, he is back to his administrative duties in a territorial command of the Italian Army, looking anxiously forward to his approaching date of retirement. “Tales from the parlour and the trenches” represents his first honest effort to become a professional novelist.
When did you first start writing?
Sincerely, at the age of ten. By the end of the primary school, the school staff promoted a literary competition among the children, designating an historical theme. It was about the partisan war in Italy during the II° World War, as I can remember…Well, my work won that competition, making my teacher say quite enthusiastically I would become a writer. Her appreciation had some positive influence on my further choice, I guess :-)
What is the greatest joy of writing for you?
Writing gives me a profound sense of freedom and self-realization. Nothing as writing gives me such an intellectual or even spiritual gratification. It also heals the diseases of life, I believe. To write is therapeutic, somehow..I started writing this novel in a very bad moment of my life, I’m honest, and it aided me a lot...Actually, when I finished the first draft of my novel, I felt much better. Beyond all of that, writing is objectively an aesthetical exercise, either. A beautiful narration is an artwork, a creation of beauty, indeed..the great joy coming from it is the same for every artist, I suppose.. at least if you feel you’ve done a good job! To create something beautiful is the best revenge one can take on a bad Fate.
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