The Island Beyond the Moon

My island in the sun: a true story. What happens when a 23-year old student takes his books and leaves his country for the south of Italy? He finds an mediterranean island of 9.5 square kilometers, which others have left in search of work in Australia, Argentina and the USA. He buys a ruin, builts a subtropical garden with his own hands and with little money. A dream comes true - and reality opens a new page: the life of singer and novelist Roland Zoss.

http://www.rolandzoss.com/en/bibliographie/tinselbuch.htm

An award-winning story about the remote Aeolian island Filicudi off Sicily. A volcanic archipelago which is a UNESCO World Heritage Area. Published in German in Switzerland. 

An award-winning story about one of the remote Aeolian islands off Sicily/Italy, a volcanic archipelago which is a UNESCO World Heritage Area. First published in German in Switzerland. What happens when a 23-year old student takes his books and leaves Switzerland for the south of Italy? He finds an island of 9.5 square kilometers, which others have left in search of work in Australia, Argentina and the USA. The villages on this island are like ruined ghost towns covered in ferns. Geckoes and snakes live in the houses. The student works alongside the last inhabitants through winter storms and earthquakes. He makes wine and bakes bread. He lives with very little money on the borderline of civilization in a cavern in the mountain. Roaming a wild, untouched nature. One morning he is standing on a mountain in front of a ruin and has the strange feeling of having come home. On the very same day, a contract is signed. The poet of the island sells the ruin to the poet from Northern Europe. Together they plant a palm-tree. That is the end of the dream of a house on the island. And the beginning of reality. A true story. In 1993 Roland Zoss received a literary award from the City of Berne for this little book, which was first published in German. “The author transforms language into perfumes and sounds, into impressions and landscapes, with intense and stunning pictures.”

Roland Zoss • poet, novelist and childrens musician Born in Berne/Switzerland.

https://itunes.apple.com/artist/roland-zoss/id260296137

Studies in Anthropology, Languages and Music, Universities of Avignon (France) and Berne. Many years of traveling through Latin America, Asia, Australia and the Mediterranean. Engagement as Delegate of the International Red Cross. 1985-2003 Professor in Languages, Rock music and German Literature at the Academy of Books, Berne. Since 1979 concerts and publications as independent songpoet, children’s musician and novelist. Lives in the Aeolian Islands (Italy) and in Berne (Switzerland). Has received various prizes for the narration "Island beyond the moon" and grants. Roland Zoss calls himself a wanderer between the world of music and that of literature; as a go-between between the cultures of the world; and between children and grown-ups! As a story-teller, songwriter and author of children’s books, Roland Zoss has published almost three dozens books and records/CDs until 2016.