Elena Ferrante's author photo

As I was adding a couple of books by Elena Ferrante to my library tonight, I noticed that the author page associated with her has a photo. Now, as far as I know, "Elena Ferrante" is a pseudonym and even the Italian Wikipedia page is uncertain about the identity, including the gender, of the individual using this name. James Woods in his January 21, 2013 New Yorker article on Ferrante notes that "compared with Ferrante, Thomas Pynchon is a publicity profligate." Her identity is a closely guarded secret, she answers journalists' queries only via letter or email, and I am unaware of any occasion on which this author has allowed herself to be photographed. So, naturally, I'm really curious about this photo, its provenance and its authenticity.

I did a Google image search and the photo showed up on what appears to be an Albanian blog Shtëpia e Librit which seems to be discussing or reviewing Ferrante's latest novel L'amica geniale. But I have essentially no command of Albanian and have no idea what or who this photo references according to the site. I can't find the photo or a similar photo elsewhere using Google.

I don't normally care too much about this kind of thing but this author is such a mystery, her pseudonymity and real identity are so hotly debated in Italian literary circles, that it feels wrong to have what appears to be a misleading or incorrect photo on her official author page. What's the protocol for cases like this? Should the photo be flagged? Should the member who posted it be asked to justify its presence on the author's LT author page? Or...?

I was able to find the same picture on this French site: http://www.babelio.com/auteur/Elena-Ferrante/104073

Of course that still doesn't prove it's actually her.

Interesting, Barking Matt! The French website essentially says that no one knows who Ferrante is, that she rarely gives any kind of interview and that she has never shown up to accept any prize awarded her. It doesn't mention the source of the photo or reference the photo at all. But the site, which seems to be a French book cataloguing site along the lines of LT and Good Reads, allows member-generated content and two photos of "Elena Ferrante" were posted by a user called lormari with no source credited. The second photo also shows up on another French site called Booknode and there it is also labeled as being a photo of Ferrante but it's accompanied by another photo supposedly of Ferrante that is clearly a picture of Antonella Casilli who writes at Teatro Naturale. Again, Booknode is some sort of cataloguing type site and the photos were apparently posted by site users.

I find it hard to imagine that if there were real, author-approved publicity photos of Ferrante out there that her own publishers and publications like the New Yorker and the New York Times wouldn't use them. These photos online seem more like misattributions or wishful thinking of some kind.

These photos online seem more like misattributions or wishful thinking of some kind.

Probably. And the internet is great for mistakes spreading like wildfire. Then again, I'm also not sure it isn't her. So personally I wouldn't flag it. Unsure how to proceed.