Giovanni Orelli (30 October 1928, inBedretto, Switzerland – 3 December 2016, inLugano) was a Swiss poet and writer who worked inItalian and theTicinese dialect. His cousinGiorgio Orelli was a poet and literary critic.
He studied at theUniversity of Zurich and theUniversity of Milan, graduating in medieval and humanistphilology. He spent much of his life in Lugano where - until he reached pension age - he was a teacher at the cantonal lyceum. His writing career began in 1965 with the novelL'anno della valanga, which won the Veillon Prize.
He won theSchiller Prize in 1972 with his novelLa festa del ringraziamento. He won theGottfried-Keller-Preis in 1997 for his complete oeuvre. He was also politically engaged, initially with the Independent Socialist Party, contributing to its weekly paperPolitica nuova. He then moved to theSwiss Socialist Party and was elected for one term as a deputy to the Great Council for theCanton of Ticino - he was also elected to that role the four previous years but had been unable to take up his seat due to his teaching duties. On 17 May 2012, he andPeter Bichsel were joint winners of the Schiller Grand Prize, both for their complete oeuvre.
