Get to know the Italian Historical Fiction Author

Chip LoCoco is a New Orleans writer who has authored four novels; Tempesta's Dream,  A Song for Bellafortuna, Saving the Music, and Sicilian Melody.

Chip was born and raised in New Orleans. He graduated from Jesuit High School in New Orleans, where he played baseball. He pursued a BA degree in History at Loyola University of New Orleans, graduating in 1990. He was also on the first baseball team at Loyola when the program was reintroduced by the University. In 1993, he was awarded his JD degree from Loyola, and went into the private practice of law with his father. He has been a practicing attorney for over twenty years now, where he specializes in Estate Planning and has been recognized as a Top lawyer in Louisiana.

He always loved reading novels, with his favorite writer being J. R.R. Tolkien. Chip was a history major, and really never imagined writing fiction. However, when his son was just a few weeks old, the idea of a story came late one night to him. Those notes that he wrote down that night in outline form were the basis for Tempesta's Dream - A Story of Love, Friendship and Opera, his first novel. The fiction novel's story concerns a young boy pursuing a career as an opera tenor. The novel has been named by Amazon as a Top Rated novel in Italian Historical Fiction.

A lifelong lover of music, Chip's passion for opera dates back many years now. He has an extensive opera collection, which survived the devastation to his home by Hurricane Katrina. He has seen operas all over the world at some of the greatest opera houses. Chip has been asked to give talks on opera as well as the Sicilian-American culture of New Orleans.

After the birth of his daughter, Chip set out to write a second Italian fiction novel. That work, A Song for Bellafortuna, was released in May 2015, and it has been nationally recognized, being named a Short List Finalist in the William Faulkner Writing Competition, a top rated novel by Amazon, a top selling novel, named as a 2015 Best Reads and was awarded the prestigious B.R.A.G. Medallion Award in Historical Fiction.

After a trip to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., Chip began work on his next novel, Saving the Music, which was released in March, 2020. The book forms Book 2 of his Bellafortuna Series. Saving the Music was selected as the Winner of the 2022 American Fiction Award in Historical Fiction. It was awarded the Gold Medal in Historical Fiction by the Global Book Awards. It was also named as a Finalist in the Historical Fiction Category and Best Fiction Cover Design of the 2022 International Book Awards.

In March, 2023, Chip released Book 3 of the Bellafortuna Series, Sicilian Melody. It is a story that concerns the reemergence of the Mafia after WWII. The novel has been named an Amazon Hot New Release.

Chip is a member of the Italian American Writers Association.

Chip is married to his wife of over 20 years, Wendy. They have two children, Matthew and Ellie. They reside in their beloved city of New Orleans, where if you try to find them on a Sunday in the Fall, they will be somewhere rooting on their Saints.