The staging of authorship is not an innovation of contemporary literature. Nevertheless, literary self-positioning within and beyond the boundaries of literary texts has become a common practice in contemporary literature. This has made authorship a central concept in contemporary literary research. Claudio Magris is one of the most renowned Italian contemporary authors. He is a public figure, which is why his literary practice is preceded by much personal information that contradicts the literary model of authorship as Magris himself sketches it in his poetic writings. From this perspective, this article examines Magris’ poetological reflections, which he has developed in two poetic writings and in dialogue with two Nobel Prize winners in literature: ‚La literatura es mi venganza‘ (2011; translated as ‚La letteratura è la mia vendetta‘, 2012) with Mario Vargas Llosa and ‚Letteratura e ideologia‘ (2012) with Gao Xingjian. A detailed analysis of his last novel ‚Non luogo a procedure‘ (2015) shows the extent to which Magris puts his literary programme into practice. This article concludes that the term ‚poeta moriturus‘ can be employed to characterise Magris’ literary authorship.