Alexander Sammartino was born in Rhode Island and grew up in Arizona. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and cat. His debut novel, Last Acts, won the 2025 New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, was shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction, and was a New York Times Editors’ Choice. Sammartino was also chosen as a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree. Last Acts is available from Scribner in the US and Pushkin ONE in the UK.

Sammartino received his MFA in fiction from Syracuse University. He is the current fiction editor for Italian Americana. His next novel, Gallo, will be published by Scribner in March 2027. He is the 2026-2027 Mary Ellen von der Heyden Fellow at the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center.