Michael Pedretti traveled to Italy several times to encounter the small valley in Northern Italy that his ancestors called home for a thousand years before immigrating to a small Midwestern town in the mid-nineteenth century. There he discovered his ancestors were a kind, creative and empathetic people. As he learned more about them he became inspired to write a twelve book American epic titled The Story of Our Stories covering many generations in a family saga that highlights their contributions to and perspectives on life. While there he researched the genealogical roots of the families of his stories. More importantly he experienced the places and met the people who still live in the communities he has written about. He is currently over halfway through writing a twelve volume epic called The Story of Our Stories which tells the journey of an archetypical American family starting from the earliest human mother right through the next generation with a focus on the last families to live in Europe and the first families to settle in small town America in the second half of the nineteenth century. The author was born and raised on a farm just outside Genoa, Wisconsin, the locale for many of his stories and where his family farmed for over one hundred years. He spent many hours as a child hanging out with and listening to the tales of his grandfather who was the first in his family to be born in America - born before Lincoln became President. As a child he did many of the activates such as helping to make bresaola, milking cows by hand and chopping wood with a blunt ax that the people he writes about had been doing for a thousand years - giving him an inimitable viewpoint as he brings the characters alive in his stories. In addition to writing historical fiction, biographical stories and pure fiction, he enjoys writing poetry. Having traveled to well over thirty countries and visited nearly every state, the author has a world view on life. He enjoys meeting people from other cultures and dining at out of the way restaurants serving authentic native food. He has been selected to be in International Directory of Distinguished Leadership, Who's Who in the World, The Contemporary Who's Who of Professionals, International Who's Who of Intellectuals, Who's Who in World Education, Who's Who in Entertainment, Who's Who Registry of Business Leaders, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the South, Men of Achievement and Outstanding Young Men of America. He has served on peer panels for the NEA, the NJ Arts Council, and the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. He has received several awards for his work in the mime and clown field.Michael Pedretti spent the first part of his professional career as a college professor of theater directing over 100 theater productions. Later, he produced international theater festivals presenting over 170 movement theater shows from 30 countries. The festivals were covered in hundreds of newspapers and magazines, was featured many times on the Terry Gross show and on Fox News, The Today Show and CBS Nightwatch. He recently completed a two-volume book covering the work of the originating performance artists whose work was presented at the international theater festivals he produced and who challenged the theater world in the later part of the twentieth century.
