About Ki
Ki Stories is a collection of stories that traverse different worlds: from cinema to theater, from music to literature. The project was born from the synergy between writer, actor, and director Fausto Romano and MediaSoft, a software engineering company with roots in both Salento and California.
Its goal is to produce and distribute works by Italian authors, giving them an international reach.
For this reason, we seek bold stories that experiment with new languages and can be enjoyed by audiences of all ages.
The Japanese term “Ki” refers to the vital energy that permeates the universe and all living beings. We chose this name to symbolize the strength and life force of our stories, which connect different artistic forms and cultures, just as “Ki” connects and animates life.
Every form of art is born from the desire to understand ourselves and evolve as humanity.
Founders
Fausto Romano (Publisher – Creative Director) describes himself as a storyteller. Graduated from the “Silvio D’Amico” National Academy of Dramatic Art, he authored multi-award-winning short films such as Cratta, La giraffa senza gamba (The Legless Giraffe), and San Vitu Rock, as well as publications such as: Grazie per aver viaggiato con noi (Thank You for Traveling with Us), Anche i pesci hanno il mal di mare (Even Fish Have Seasickness), the detective story Ninnanò, the short stories Corro da quando (I Run Since) and the poetic exercise Haiku Salentini (Haiku from Salento).
He loves playing the piano, running and biking through the fields, and with Ki Stories he published Liberto, The Child Who Was Allergic To Advertising.
Stefano Santo Sabato is with MediaSoft co-founder of Ki Stories. A computer engineer with more than 20 years of experience, Stefano has founded three artificial intelligence companies and believes in technology that enriches the human experience, without replacing it.
A passionate guitarist, he lives in San Francisco where he pursues his vision of inclusive AI as CEO of his innovative startup: Fyberloom.
They create with us...
Francesco Cuna (Illustrator) is a graphic designer, painter, and illustrator, but he claims to be above all a seeker of signs, the right ones, because every story contains a sign to be unearthed (a Sherlock job of the arts).
He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and has lived in France and the United States. He masterfully juggles painting, book illustration, and teaching.
For him, illustrating is not translating stories into images but building a parallel universe: an autonomous visual narrative that comes to life from the text, interweaving with it to create new meanings.
Emanuela Maltese (Literary Translator) is a translator, and independent researcher in Anglophone language, literature, and culture, having earned two doctoral degrees in this subject (University of Naples Orientale, 2011 and Charles University in Prague, 2024). She co-translated and edited the Italian translation of the groundbreaking The Undercommons. Fugitive Planning and Black Study by Stephen Harney and Fred Moten (Tamu/Archive, 2021) and translated both essays on Italian and English-speaking colonialism, historical memory and migrant cultures, and poetry (by writer Ubah Cristina Ali Farah).
Since 2025 she has started collaborating as a translator for Ki Stories.