The Place I Call Home by Maria Mazziotti Gillan

The Place I Call Home by Maria Mazziotti Gillan
A Review by Vittoria repetto
This review will appear in Winter 2013 issue of VIA ( Voices in Italian Americana) magazine.

Though the years, Maria Mazziotti Gillan has painted wonderful pictures of her life via her narrative poems.

In her new book, The Place I Call Home, she gives us vivid images of the house she grew up in, images of her mother washing clothes and sewing to supplement the family income and making sure that her family was well fed though she never spent money on frivolities like blueberries.
“…remember my mother’s refrigerator
that was always full of homemade food – bread, meatballs,
braciola, spinach, broccoli rabe, but no blueberries,
this small berry I didn’t taste until I was a grown women
and married myself, and I imagine my mother’s horror
at the thought of he spoiled daughter paying $3.95 a pint
for blueberries just because she wants them.”

These are stories of a mother who only went to the 3rd grade in Italy buying her daughter a typewriter so she could be a writer.
But these poems go deeper than nostalgia for one’s family or the difference between an immigrant family and a first generation “American girl.”

There are revealing poems like “Doing the Twist with Bobby Darin” that deal with her shyness about her body and dancing w. someone who thinks a Italian girl is loose and easy.
“my friend’s husband dragged me
out onto the dance floor, expecting
that I would be loose and easy,
imagining that all my energy
would translate into an abandon I never felt…….
……….. I understood
that he thought my Italian bloo
meant I was hot like Sophia Loren
or Anna Magnani.”

There are poems that strike at our hearts and make us sigh sadly when she talks about her husband having Parkinson’s and not being in the same bedroom with him, of Dennis getting to the point where he will not know her.

There are angry poems about her ex son-in-law who hurt her daughter badly when they divorced.

This book will make you laugh and cry and every emotion in between; buy it!

© 2012 Vittoria Repetto

Review of Maria Mazziotti Gillan’s The Place I Call Home

“The Place I Call Home”

A Spiritual Landmark (and a Glimpse at Horror)

By Emily Vogel

Poetry Editor

Typically, when we think of “place” we consider first its physical geography, what exists in its proximity and what best describes its coordinates and physical dimensions. To consider that a “place,” perhaps besides being a physical location, is also a dimension of the memory, a particular habitat of the mind and heart which cannot be drawn on a map, suggests a type of vault of emotional reserve that can best be channeled through the medium of poetry. Maria Mazziotti Gillan’s book of poems, “The Place I Call Home” (forthcoming from NYQ Books in September) easily taps into this dimension, and while the landmarks that might be mentioned in many of the poems are recognizable as physical realities, there are without doubt other “spiritual landmarks” which carry the reader through all fifty-two poems so that we’re not only in a city in New Jersey, but also journeying through the story of the “self,” which has its own “emotional coordinates,” in its own right.

Gillan succeeds in constructing the “herstory” of an Italian immigrant girl. Her work is honest and bears the integrity of a woman/narrator we’d all like to sit down with and have four o’clock tea (or espresso), tell stories, and exchange matters of heart. She recalls the details of her growing up with a sense of real specificity and awareness. While reading the book the first time, I received what I’m used to after reading the last line of a really good poem or novel: the chills – what I’ve come to know as a brush with the Holy Spirit. It is the kind of physical sensation which demands you just appreciate the beauty of the poem without the need to examine it immediately for its deeper meanings with an “intellectual” ear.

The deeper meanings of her poems resonate viscerally, as opposed to the type of poems which beg we impose the intellect, eviscerate them of their emotional impact, and analyze them until it’s no longer the poems that we appreciate. Gillan’s poems are easy to appreciate, and require no second-guessing or deconstructive examination beyond what they attest. She does not cloak by gestures of language that leave us confused and dissatisfied, wondering why someone just doesn’t tell us a story we can identify as a story. In this book of poems, she has opened the vault of the self, with all its shame, joy, passion, triumph and discovery, that anyone would argue requires a certain kind of courage that many poets on the current poetry scene are not willing to employ.

My favorite poem in the collection is one which recalls a dream (In My Dream, The Light). The poem’s vivid imagery succeeds in suggesting a kind of horror story: “someone with huge dark circled eyes and a bright/red gash of a mouth and huge stitches bisecting/her face and body, as though someone had cut her/in half and sewn her back together, and the dishes/on the table are full of severed heads and pulsing/hearts.” The shock of these images helps us to see the difference between the narrator of the conscious world and the Gillan of subconscious magnitudes. Perhaps the real essences of our truths are revealed in dreams? In narratives over which we have no dominion or control?

While we are given a long glimpse of Gillan’s childhood and early relationships in the first half of the book, much of the poems on the topic of her late husband are in the latter half of the book. These poems certainly suggest a shift, both in perspective and in sentiment. More anger and grief become the focus, yet with a real sense of maturity, integrity, and originality. These poems reveal details that are not always pretty: “even your face/looks delicate, the skin drawn/so tightly over the bones of your head that it’s almost transparent,/your neck so thin it cannot support your head” (The Other Night, You Came Home), and “There is no medicine/for the sound guilt makes at 3 am.” (How Do I Pack Up the House of My Life?).

There is much more to Gillan’s poems than simply well-crafted stories about life. What becomes evident in many of the poems in this collection is the portrait of the narrator’s fear, in the same way a child might tremble in her bedroom at night when the shadow cast on the wall by the lamp becomes a terrible monster – when perfectly ordinary images are transformed into something violent. In the latter half of this book, the narrator is revealed as someone who is confronting these horrors and conciliating with them. Perhaps the Gillan we know of in the poems is not only haunted by the ghosts of childhood, her late husband and dreams, but dares to resurrect these ghosts and render them remarkable aspects of the self. “The Place I Call Home” is truly a work of literary merit. Look forward to its release in September: New York Quarterly Books, www. nyqbooks.org

http://ragazine.cc/2012/06/gillan-book-review/

The Place I Call Home

NYQ Books, ISBN: 978-1-935520-67-2

See also, http://www.mariagillan.com/

March 2012 IAWA Newsletter

IAWA Italian American Writers Association Newsletter March 2012
P.O. Box 418, Brooklyn, NY 11215
http://www.iawa.net

IAWA SUPPORTS ITALIAN AMERICAN WRITING.

PLEASE SUPPORT IAWA .

You can make a donation through Paypal at http://www.iawa.net

Suggested donations:
Membership $30 (students and seniors $20)
Associate $100-249
Patron $250-499
Founder $500-1000
IAWA is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit corporation. Donations are tax-deductible.

If you prefer to send a check, make it payable to “Italian American Writers Association,” and send it to the following address:

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As some of you know, we have a blog at https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/ And I hope that you have (or will) enjoyed the information and writing presented there. We now have a “Share” button on our blog so you can share the blog w/ your Facebook friends & Twitter fans. So please help get the word out about our blog and click on the “Share” button so others can enjoy the blog. https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/italian-american-writers-assoc-newsletter-february-2011/
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Connect to us on our Linkedin page: http://www.linkedin.com/in/italianamericanwritersassoc

Please send us announcements of readings and literary events by the 15th of the preceding month; this means if you have an event in January; send us it by Dec. 15th

Please format in THIRD PERSON and in this order for events: Day, Date, Type of event, Event and Name of Participants, Time, Place of event and address, Admission price; Contact information Web site

We do not open attachments; please put all announcements in the body of your email in plain text only; we can’t use jpg or anything in all caps

E-mail announcements to Vittoria repetto at iawanewsletter@aol.com
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Saturday, March 10th- 5:45 pm – 7:45pm.
Poetry and Prose Feature plus Open Mike
Cornelia St. Café, 29 Cornelia St., Manhattan
212-989-9319; http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com
$7 minimum includes one drink
Come in time to sign up at 5:45 pm.
Bring poetry Bring prose Bring script Bring a friend
5 minute time limit for open mike

Feature Readers: Robert Savino & Colleen Michaels

Robert Savino’s recent book, Inside a Turtle Shell is a diverse journey of paths crossed, family and friends lost and found. The poet’s focus is to capture the everyday experience driven by the passion of his Italian cultural upbringing.
Savino’s poems have been published in many journals including the Long Island Quarterly to the Haight Asbury Literary Journal. He was a long-standing Board Member of Island Poets, winner of the Lake Ronkonkoma Historical Society’s 15th Annual Poetry Competition (2005) and the winner of the 2008 Oberon Poetry Prize, for “Breakfast with Sophia” about the endearing relationship between a grandfather and his four-year-old granddaughter.

Colleen Michaels was a 2010 finalist for the Split This Rock poetry competition and is the recipient of an honorable mention in the 2011 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Prize. Michaels directs the Writing Center at Montserrat College of Art. She has performed at venues such as the Bowery Poetry Club and the Salem Literary Festival, but she usually can be found bringing poetry to unlikely places like tattoo parlors, laundromats, and swimming pools.
Her poems and essays have appeared in print and in on–line literary journals, including The Paterson Literary Review, Blue Collar Review, The Mom Egg, Bread and Circus Magazine, Literary Mama, and the forthcoming anthology, Here Come the Brides!: Reflections on Lesbian Love and Marriage. Her poem “Align” appears as an art installation at Crane Beach in Ipswich, Massachusetts. She helps organize the Massachusetts Poetry Festival, and is a cheerleader for community and poetry. http://www.montserrat.edu/blog/category/improbable-places-poetry-tour/

Since 1991, the organization has given voice to writers through its Open Reading series at Cornelia St. Café every month.
IAWA is a 501© (3) not-for-profit corporation; donations are tax deductible.

Visit the Italian American Writers Cafe blog
http://www.i-italy.org/bloggers/italian-american-writers-cafe
https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/

Events:

Friday, March 2 Staged Reading: Dario Fo’s Pay Unfair! Take Your Share Italian playwright Dario Fo (1997 Nobel Prize winner) recently revised/updated one of his most famous plays, newly titled, “Sottopaga! Non si paga!”or “Pay Unfair! Take Your Share!” It’s a hilarious tale of working-class housewives revolting against soaring food prices by taking matters into their own hands… so to speak. The play fits the mood of the world right now, especially the protest spirit of the global “Occupy” movement, and the anger over inflation, unemployment, and more.7:30pm The Dramatists Guild / Frederick Loewe Room
1501 Broadway, @ 44th Street, 7th Floor, Manhattan Seating is limited: please RSVP to riverwood2@verizon.net to reserve your seat

Monday, March 12 Film: Mulberry St. Abel Ferrara, dir. Bronx-born director Abel Ferrara has captured the streets of New York City in several of his feature films, including King of New York (1990) and Bad Lieutenant (1992). In Mulberry St., he energetically documents Manhattan’s Little Italy—where some of his earliest films were shot—during the famed San Gennaro feast. As Ferrara explains, the feast “brings all the characters out.” He introduces viewers to Butchie the Hat, Cha Cha, Joey Cigar, Baby John, and other neighborhood personalities, who reminisce about the pre-Giuliani feast—with its gambling, late-night hours, and lower expenses—as they erect vendor booths and prepare for the annual “invasion” of tourists. With the feast underway, actors and musicians including Danny Aiello, Dion DiMucci, Matthew Modine, and Frank Vincent make appearances. Ferrara reflects on a neighborhood that is “fighting for survival” in a changing New York. NOTE: This film contains repeated use of profanity. . 6pm. Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor, Manhattan. Free Admission. Seating is limited. Please call (212) 642-2094 to pre-register with the Calandra Institute

Monday March 19 Reading/Discussion: Joanna Clapps Herman will be having a reading and book discussion of The Anarchist Bastard: Growing Up Italian in America “I was born in 1944, but raised in the twelfth century.” With that, Joanna Clapps Herman neatly describes the two worlds she inhabited while growing up as the child of Italian American immigrants in Waterbury, Connecticut, a place embedded with values closer to Homer’s Greece than to Anglo-American New England, where the ethic of hospitality was and still is more Middle Eastern and North African than Anglo-European, and where the pageantry and ritual were more pagan Mediterranean than Western Christian.”.6pm. The Center For Worker Education, CCNY, 25 Broadway, NYC, 7th Floor, across from the Bull. Free Admission Please RSVP to jclapps@gmail.com so that your name will be on a list for admissions. All subways have stops within two blocks of this location. For more information on the book: http://www.sunypress.edu/p-5150-the-anarchist-bastard.aspx

Thursday, March 22 Discussion: Appreciating Don DeLillo w/ Paul Giaimo Unlike the majority of American academic critics, Paul Giaimo, author of Appreciating Don DeLillo: The Moral Force of a Writer’s Work (Praeger 2011), contends that Don DeLillo’s award-winning novels are fully defined by neither postmodernism nor modernism. In this presentation, Giaimo traces DeLillo’s style through his novels, showing how it evolved from a recognizably postmodern mode into a realistic treatment of contemporary, postmodern conditions. His original and nuanced examination discusses themes that range from the devastating portrayals of evil in Mao II, Libra, and Cosmopolis, to the good and inspiring confrontation of media stereotypes and urban missionary work in Underworld. The powerful vision of language in The Names and White Noise is examined as a potent moral force of the novels. Equally important is discussion of the cultural background Giaimo believes should inform any reading of DeLillo’s work, especially his Italian-American ethnic heritage and the American Catholic church of the 1950s. 6pm. Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor, Manhattan. Free Admission. Seating is limited. Please call (212) 642-2094 to pre-register with the Calandra Institute

Sunday March 25 Book Launch: Gil Fagiani launches new chapbook– Serfs of Psychiatry, published by Finishing Line Press. Joining him will be Christina Bruni and Tony Gloeggler 2pm Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery between Houston & Bleecker Sts. 212-614-0505; Admission/Cover: $5 http://www.bowerypoetry.com Directions: F train to 2nd Ave., or #6 to Bleecker St

Friday, March 30 Final Friday Reading Series: Gilda Morina Syverson will read from her poetry book Facing the Dragon 7p.m., open mike following, VinMaster Wine Bar, 2000 South Blvd., Suite 610, Charlotte, NC, Sponsored by Main Street Rag & Iodine Poetry Journal. Admission: Free; Details: editor@mainstreetrag.com

Thursday April 12 Discussion: The Romance of Translation: A Symposium. Speakers include Diana Valencia (Saint Joseph College), Gian Lombardo (Emerson College), and Maria Esposito Frank (University of Hartford 7:15pm Saint Joseph College, West Hartford, CT — Mercy Hall, Crystal Room).Free Admission Contact and information: dbarone@sjc.edu.

Tuesday, April 17 Reading: Sweet Lemons 2: International Writings with a Sicilian Accent The follow-up volume to the successful 2004 anthology, Sweet Lemons 2 features a diverse array of poetry and prose by writers of Sicilian background. While the first volume focused on contributors from North America, Sweet Lemons 2 expands to include voices from Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, as well as Sicilian writers in translation, forming a global conversation on the complexities and contradictions of Sicilian culture. As one of the objectives of the book is to celebrate Sicilian writers regardless of their creative writings’ content, it includes pieces not explicitly Sicilian in theme. The reading features book contributors Salvatore Ala, Gil Fagiani, Ed Fiorelli, Marisa Frasca, Daniella Gioseffi, Maria Lisella, Frank Polizzi, and Maria Terrone, editors Venera Fazio and Delia De Santis, and publisher Gaetano Cipolla. 6pm. Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor, Manhattan. Free Admission. Seating is limited. Please call (212) 642-2094 to pre-register with the Calandra Institute

Thursday, April 19 Discussion: Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo
By Michael Schiavi East Harlem native Vito Russo (1946-1990) was a gay and AIDS activist best known as the author of The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies (1981), a book that simultaneously exposed Hollywood’s decades-long smear campaign against gays and lesbians and established the discipline of gay and lesbian media studies. A tireless fighter against injustice, Russo was also the co-founder of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP). In this presentation, Michael Schiavi, author of Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo (University of Wisconsin Press, 2011), traces Russo’s biography and discusses his accomplishments. Schiavi’s book draws upon over 200 original interviews, with subjects ranging from comedian Lily Tomlin to playwright and activist Larry Kramer, along with previously untapped letters and journal entries. His talk incorporates lecture, readings, and multimedia presentation in order to give a vivid portrait of Russo, whose legacy endures over twenty years after his death. 6pm. Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor, Manhattan. Free Admission. Seating is limited. Please call (212) 642-2094 to pre-register with the Calandra Institute

Thursday April 26 Reading: Lucia Perillo and Heather McHugh Read at the 92nd St. Y Lucia Perillo’s most recent collection is Inseminating the Elephant. “She’s the funniest poet writing today,” wrote David Kirby. “Which is saying a lot, since she’s also the poet most concerned with the treachery practiced on us daily by our best friends and worst enemies—our bodies.” 8:15pm 92nd St. Y — Buttenwieser Hall, Lexington Avenue at 92nd St. Tickets from $19 / $10 for those 35 and under. Event Code: TF12T71028 http://www.92y.org

Members’ News:

Ed Fiorelli has recently published two books. Brazzi and Company is a collection of twenty-five short stories, including parodies on Henry James and Charles Dickens. His first novel, Mozart’s Rabbi centers on the American career of Lorenzo Da Ponte, librettist and friend of Wolfgang Mozart, and an early Italian immigrant who became a cultural ambassador of Italian letters in early 19th century New York. Both books are available on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble, as well as e-books.

Theresa Varela, owner of Latina Libations on Spirituality, Psychiatry and Writing, interviewed Gil Fagiani about his literary work, new projects and new books, including Serfs of Psychiatry to be launched on Sunday, March 25 @ Bowery Poetry Club see above event listing http://theresavarela.com

Michael F. Capobianco has had a new book published: “How to Translate a Novel:A Novel” (Publish America Frederick 2012.) It is about Alda and Rafael who meet at a literary conference, decide to translate a novel together, fall in love with the novel and with each other. What happens between them is paralleled by the story they are translating and also by a story read by Rafael at the conference. Hence this book is an intertwining of three parallel stories of love.

B. Amore announces the opening of Invisible Odysseys: Art by Mexican Farmworkers in Vermont at the Vermont Folklife Center in Middlebury on February 3, 5-7pm. The accompanying bi-lingual book of photographs and statements was partially funded by the Consulate General of Mexico in Boston and is available through Kokoro Press.

Facing the Dragon,” Gilda Morina Syverson’s full length poetry book, was released by Main Street Rag Publishing Co. in January, 2012 right after the start of the Chinese Year of the Dragon. The author’s page can be found at http://www.mainstreetrag.com/GSyverson_2.html Michael Palma, Poetry Editor of “Italian Americana” says: “Readers will discover many fine things in Gilda Morina Syverson’s Facing the Dragon, including the loving evocations of Italian American family life in the book’s second section. But the third and final section is worth the price of admission all by itself: here, in poignant detail and with unfailing compassion, she presents an accumulating montage of death and mourning which becomes, in its refusal of all false and easy consolations, an affirmation of life and the will to endure.”

The new novel by Anthony S. Maulucci, Mary Of Magdala, paints a psychological portrait of a woman striving to define and then to fulfill her role as the only female apostle of Jesus the Messiah. Believing in her right to work as Peter’s partner in the leadership of the brethren, she is not discouraged by Peter’s refusal to accept her and is determined to continue her private campaign to spread the teachings of her beloved friend and master, with whom she has had a intimate relationship. She travels throughout Asia Minor and eventually to Rome in order to be close to Peter and convince him of her worthiness to work at his side. In Rome, Mary is befriended by a wealthy patrician widow who provides her with a life of luxury and the opportunity to act as Peter’s protector without his knowledge. Unhappy with this arrangement, Mary nevertheless accepts it in order to be in a position to keep Peter from harm and prevent the further persecution of the members of the clandestine Christian movement. This is not what she believes she was truly meant to do; however, she bides her time and waits, struggling to keep a powerful politician who wants her for his mistress at a comfortable distance. While exploring the streets of Rome one evening, a chance encounter with a badly beaten young prostitute who dies in her arms gives Mary a renewed sense of purpose, and she begins her mission to save the exploited young women in the brothels of Rome. This turns out to be her most significant contribution, and it this work that is later used to by the Church to falsely label her as a penitent prostitute. Mary of Magdala , a novel by Anthony S. Maulucci, is currently available only in a Kindle edition from Amazon. To order a copy, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006VPA8NC

Mary Bucci Bush received a positive book review for her new book Sweet Hope published by Guernica Editions in Publishers Weekly http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-55071-342-8 In her thoroughly researched and engaging novel, Bush sheds light on the little known fate of Italian immigrant laborers who came to America expecting opportunity, but ended up working alongside African-Americans as indentured servants on southern cotton plantations

Lousia Calio was interviewed http://www.nuovacultura.net/ojs/index.php/in_limine/article/view/221

Fred Gardaphe & Dominic Candeloro have edited Reconstructing Italians in Chicago: Thirty Authors in Search of Roots and Branches Chicago history/culture with an Italian flair! There is something for everybody in this eclectic volume. Every reader will find a topic or a writer that s/he wants to know more about. Publication of Reconstructing Italians in Chicago is a major step toward making Chicago’s Italians the best documented (and best understood) in the nation. It is a gateway to both the academic and the personal exploration of Italians in Chicago, loaded with references that lead the reader to just about every source of information on the subject. Some of the writers include T Ardizzone,R Benedetti,A Bernardi,K Catrambone, J Colangelo, B DalCerro, P D’Agostino, T DeRosa, C Farella, T Guglielmo,B Lombardo,C Lombardo, R Lombardo, E Milani, R Miele, G Nardini, D Niemiec, P Pero,TRomano,V Romano,J Santacaterina, M Antonucci http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0983553807/sr=1-1/qid=1322495004/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1322495004&sr=1-1&seller=

Thieves Never Steal In The Rain, new collection of Linked Stores about Loss, Love, and the Supernatural by Marisa Labozzetta is out. Love, humor, and the supernatural drive these stories about the intertwining lives of five female cousins, who learn that loss—from misplacing keys to confronting death—is a constant force to be reckoned with. It is also now available as an eBook from Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Thieves-Never-Linked-Stories-ebook/dp/B00637TR2Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321326303&sr=1-1 To order for computers, iPads, and other electronic devices, first download free applications by going to Kindle Store, then clicking on Kindle Store under Shop All Departments).

Three Spoken Word Pieces by Angelo Zeolla

Three Spoken Word Pieces by Angelo Zeolla

Maria Terrone’s poem, “The Slain Wife of the Lighthouse Keeper Speaks,” first published in Italian Americana, is included in the recently published Knopf Everyman Series anthology, Killer Verse: Poems About Murder and Mayhem. This Amazon link leads to a list of all poems and authors included in this hard-cover book:
http://www.amazon.com/Killer-Verse-Murder-Everymans-Library/dp/0307700933 Other recent publications include “Spaccanapoli,” in the fall issue of Hawaii Pacific Review; “Knives” (a reprint from The Hudson Review”) and “Missing the Names” in Poemeleon, http://www.poemeleon.org/; and
“Introducing the Forest to Vivaldi” and “Words to Unpin Yourself from the Wall” in Pirene’s Fountain http://www.pirenesfountain.com/ Recent acceptances include “BlackBerry Buzzing” (The Hudson Review); “A Hologram State of Mind” (Ploughshares); and “The Day After” (Poet Lore).

Gil Fagiani’s chapbook, Serfs of Psychiatry, is now being published by Finishing Line Press and should be available by mid-January, 2012. “Fagiani’s poems tell the back story of the powerless and abandoned mentally ill and the equally powerless and abandoned low-level psychiatirc “serfs,” the attendants–the least-paid, least-respected workers, who are, pradoxically entrusted with the day-to-day care of severely disturbed, often violent patients…Move over Ken Kesey, we have another chronicler of the ‘Cuckoo’s Nest,’ Bronx-style.” Kirsten Andersen, Ph.D.clinical psychologist / Adjunct Professor at The School of Visual Arts.
To order copies, visit Finishing Line Press http://www.finishinglinepress.com and click on “NewReleasesandForthcomingTitles.htm.”

Anthony Buccino’s latest poetry collection, “Sometimes I Swear In Italian” is about growing up Italian American in New Jersey, and, much later, discovering the roots of his ancestors. Despite its title, “Sometimes I Swear In Italian” contains no profanity in any language. For more information visit http://www.anthonybuccino.com

Four books written by Dr. Marie Menna Pagliaro for educators have just been published by Rowman & Littlefield. The titles are: Educator or Bully? Managing the 21st Century Classroom; Exemplary Classroom Questioning: Promoting Thinking and Learning; Differentiating Instruction: Matching Strategies with Objectives; and Research-Based Unit and Lesson Planning: Maximizing Student Achievement. These books by Marie Pagliaro are in addition to her novel, That Woman and the Mafia Don, the profits of which go to help prevent young people from joining all kinds of ethnic gangs. To view the covers, synopses, and endorsements, visit her website at http://www.mariepagliaro.com.

Daniel Quinn is the author of Organized Labor: Collected Poems (published by AuthorHouse), which covers four generations of American and family history, from the birth of his grandmother in NYC in 1887 to the fall of the Twin Towers in 2001. Like much of the poetry in this 46-page volume, the book’s title has multiple allusions: from poems that deal with the organized labor movement in America (most notably, the 1913 strike of 20,000 Paterson silk workers at Botto House in Haledon, NJ), to the labor of organizing–and reconciling–past and present (captured eloquently in the title poem, ‘Organized Labor’), to even the labor of preparing one’s poetry for publication. Contact Mr. Quinn dquinn711@msn.com for more information

Publisher’s News/Book Reviews/Contest Winners/Awards:

Descant 154: Sicily, Land of Forgotten Dreams, a North American anthology of nearly fifty contributors is available from http://www.decant.ca ($15.) Guest Editors: Michelle Alfano and Venera Fazio. American literary contributors include Gioia Timpanelli, Maria Fama, Louisa Calio, Gaetano Cipolla, Gil Fagiani, Salvatore Marici, Gilda Morina Syverson, Tasha Cotter, Enriqueta Carrington, and Harry Groome. Photo essays by Vincenzo Pietropaolo, Erik Kruthoff and Stephen Adamian.

Guido: Italian/American Youth and Identity Politics edited by Letizia Airos & Ottorino Cappelli and published by Bordighera Press includes essays on the phenomenon of the “guido”: its origins and its relationship to the Italian/American community. The writers share their own views on a phenomenon that, in December 2009/January 2010, was filling newspapers and television programs, in reaction to the then new reality show Jersey Shore. The community’s “dirty laundry” was finally aired in public, without maintaining the convention of bella figura, as a modern and pluralistic community does and should do.

Pulitzer Prize-nominated Italian American author, John Domini was interviewed in the journal Magna GRECE http://magnagrece.blogspot.com/2012/01/innovating-naples-interview-with-author.html

Italica Press has published out Medieval Naples A Documentary History, 400-1400 http://www.italicapress.com/index287.html and Torquato Tasso Love Poems for Lucrezia Bendidio http://www.italicapress.com/index426.html For a complete catalog,
http://www.italicapress.com

Vittoria repetto has reviewed A New Map: The Poetry of Migrant Writers in Italy by Mia Lecomte and Luigi Bonaffini (Legas-2001) for VIA. This anthology is a bilingual edition of poetry by migrant writers living and working in Italy. These migrant writers hail from places like Somalia, Iran, Iraq, Romania, Holland, Brazil and Albania.

Review of A New Way: The Poetry Of Migrant Writers in Italy

Idea Publication announces the publication of, Barbarossa’s Princess, a tale of intrigue, violence, sex, love and ultimate triumph, Elizabeth Vallone’s Barbarossa’s Princess is also a tapestry of the customs of the Holy Roman Empire, the Norman-Sicilian Court and mores of life in the 12th century. Barbarossa’s Princess is a veritable page turner. From the very first line, we are swept away on an adventure through the corridors of power in the 12th century. We taste and smell the meals, we see the unusual medical practices, we hear all the raucous sounds of life in an age more refined and more coarse than even our own. At the center of this delightful tale is Constance de Hauteville, a woman drawn from a nunnery to become Empress of a continent. She becomes the bearer of the next Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. An innocent, along with her maid-servant, Constance enters the corridors of power and grows to become as forceful as those who would use her for their own gain. Vallone portrays Constance de Hauteville as a woman of chutzpah and humility, a mother who endures the humiliations of women in an earlier time, but who triumphs and endures”. Patrick McGuire, Senior Lecturer of English. University of Wisconsin

The Spaghetti Set, Family Served Italian Style by Rose Marie Boyd Feel like a fly on the wall in the homes of two Italian-American families as a comedy of errors unfolds. The characters’ irreverent, ludicrous and intimate behavior affirms the old adage: ”Family is family, like it or not!” http://thespaghettiset.blogspot.com/

Workshops & Conferences:

This June, Patricia V. Davis will be hosting 2 one-week long writing workshops on the glorious island of Samos in Greece! You’ll spend your mornings after breakfast with Patricia talking about your own writing and fellow students’ writing, and creating new work with helpful hints from several unique writing exercises. A special evening session will be dedicated to the assessment, marketability and potential avenues for publication for each participating writer’s work. For published authors, there will be a separate session wherein many unique and creative marketing options will be explored to help your books get into the hands of everyone who wishes to read them. Session I: June 1-8, 2012; Session II: June 9-15, 2012

Friday March 23rd Conference – Italian Identities – Dialects, Minorities, Literatures 9AM – 8PM Notre Dame Conference Center – McKenna Hall University of Notre Dame Nanovic Institute 211 Brownson Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556 P: 574.631.5253 F: 574.631.3569 This one-day conference will investigate the connections between the modern anthropological and sociological context of Italy and the use of dialects. The conference will focus in particular on how literature has responded to both the ever-present issue of the uneven economic development and the crisis of the so-called Italian identity in the last thirty years. In order to achieve its goals, our one-day symposium will be divided in three main panels, each one dedicated to exploring the topic from a specific – linguistic, socio-anthropological and more purely literary – perspective.
For the complete conference schedule, visit italianstudies.nd.edu. For more information, contact Damiano Benvegnù (dbenvegn@nd.edu).Sponsored by the Nanovic Institute for European Studies

Saturday April, 14th – Writer’s Conference 2012 – William Paterson University English Department Wayne, New Jersey 973-720-2000 For information: http://www.wpunj.edu/cohss/departments/english/writers-conference/index.dot

Classes:

Winter/Spring Semester Language, Culture and Culinary Classes to Begin in March 2012 at Casa Belvedere Offerings include the “Parliamo Italiano” Language Program for toddlers through adults, weekend immersion classes, a ten-session Italian Culture Class and “In Cucina;” a hands-on cooking series For more information, http://www.casa-belvedere.org Walk-In Registration Scheduled on February 16, 28 & 29 from 3:00 to 7:00 pm Registration also available online at http://www.casa-belvedere.org

Literary & Research Queries:

Hofstra Entertainment is currently seeking to cast a staged reading (on book) of Eduardo de Filippo’s comedy, Christmas in Naples. Casting 7-8 men, age range 20’s-50’s, and 4 women, age range 20’s -50’s. Reading will take place at Hofstra in the Helene Fortunoff Theater (Monroe Lecture Center), Thursday, November 17, 8 pm and is presented as part of a three day conference event exploring Naples. Directed by Bob Spiotto. Familiarity with Italian is not required as the piece is performed in English and without Italian accents. No pay. Send pix and resume to robert.t.spiotto@hofstra.edu

Linda Baldanzia is a student at Drew University in NJ. in a Poetry in Translation MFA program. I am looking for a translator to help me with literal translations of several short poems. I do not read Italian well. It would be best if the Translator has lived in Italy. The translating will begin this June 201-482-0597, lindabaldanzi@mac.com

Dom Giordano, talk show host with WPHT 1210 AM Radio in Philadelphia, is looking for contributors to the book- recipes, Feast of the Seven Fishes stories and other Italian/family traditions and recollections of the Christmas season. http://www.thefeastofthesevenfishes.com Contact Askdomg@aol.com

Alexandra Maffei holds a Masters in Italian Linterature and runs two blogs, one in English breakingnewts.blogspot.com the other in Italian, telegrafite.blog.espresso.repubblica.it/telegrafite. “I’m an excellent translator, fully conversant in Italian and American cultures, so consider me, should you know of or need services” viridiana430@msn.com

R. D. Williams is writing about her immigrant experience, willing to meet other writers. Also, seeking advice on how to obtain publisher. Contact: rosaria@gmail.com

Magazines, Contests & Calls for Submissions:

My name is Flavia Laviosa and I am a professor of Italian culture and cinema at Wellesley College in the United States. I am writing to inform you of the newly established Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies published by Intellect. As the Editor of the journal, I invite you visit the website http://bit.ly/oa7uDj and find more about
this publication.

7th Annual Accenti Magazine Writing Contest and 5th Annual Accenti Magazine Photo Competition
Fee: $20 CND for the Writing Contest and $10 CND for the Photo Competition
For rules and submission addresses, etc: https://www.accenti.ca/writing & https://www.accenti.ca/photo-contest Deadline for submissions: February 7, 2012

The Una Vita Foundation is committed to capturing the essence of Italian and Italian-American life in its new online story anthology. If you are an Italian, Italian-American, or have an engaging story that relates to Italy, submit your writing in 2000 characters or less and read stories by other contributors at http://www.una-vita.org/. From the home page, click on the blue “Submit a Story” tab and write away! Every month a panel of judges will choose one outstanding story from our website submissions and its author will receive a $100 Nordstrom gift card. The story will also be translated into Italian and published in the Italian magazine Clarus, which is circulated in Southern Italy. mwright.unavita@gmail.com

Luigi Monteferrante is looking for a special edition on work by Italian/Italian American/Italian Canadian authors in the magazine: Chicago Quarterly Review http://www.chicagoquarterlyreview.com/ Work should be submitted to luigimonteferrante@yahoo.com

Feile-Festa is an annual publication that comes out in the spring of each year. Though our preference is for creative work related to Irish and Italian/Sicilian themes, we are open to other Mediterranean cultures, all of which can relate to the respective country of family origin or the diasporas to America, Canada, etc. We are also interested in writing that evokes life in New York City. The reading period starts October 1st and ends January 1st. Please do not send submissions outside the time frame mentioned in the guidelines. http://www.medcelt.org/feile-festa/index.html

The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute is happy to announce the re-launching of its bi-annual journal the Italian American Review (IAR). The IAR features articles about the history and culture of Italian Americans, as well as other aspects of the Italian diaspora.The journal embraces a wide range of professional concerns and theoretical orientations in the social sciences and in cultural studies. Information for contributors can be found at: http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/calandra/italrev/iarcont.html.

Journal of Italian Translation is a non-profit international journal devoted to the translation of literary works from and into Italian-English-Italian dialects. Subscription price is $25 per year. Submissions and inquiries should be sent to Luigi Bonaffini at l.bonaffini@att.net. All past issues can be downloaded from the journal’s website at http://www.jitonline.org

Pyramid Arts and Poetry Magazine – “Where Rome and New York Meet” Pyramid Arts and Poetry is divided into three sections: Visual Art; Poetry & Literature; and Film. Listings of gallery exhibits, poetry readings, and film showings in New York and Rome accompany each section. For submission guidelines, visit http://www.pyramidmagazine.org

VIA, Voices in Italian Americana, is a semi-annual published in the spring and fall. Issues include sections of essays, fiction, poetry, review essays, reviews, and guest spots by prominent Italian/American writers. Subscriptions are $20.00 per year ($15.00 for seniors, students, and un[der]employed). For subscriptions & advertising, contact Anthony Julian Tamburri at tamburri@bordigherapress.org

Italian Americana is the first and only cultural as well as historical review dedicated to the Italian experience in the New World; subscription price is $20 a year, $35 for two years, to: Italian Americana, University of Rhode Island/Providence, 80 Washington Street Providence, RI 02903-1803. Check out the new Website supplement to the journal at http://www.italianamericana.com

The Monday Night Playwrights’ Series is curated by Richard Fulco; interested playwrights could submit their work at richardfulco@aol.com

Theatre Submissions: Post Road Magazine (Boston, Ma), a literary/visual arts journal, is accepting theatre submissions of very short one-act plays, sketches, and monologues. david@postroadmag.com

The American Italian Historical Association Newsletter is now accepting submissions of book reviews. Please send all submissions Anthony.Tamburri@qc.cuny.edu.

Websites:

Italian Cultural Institute of New York, 686 Park Ave, Manhattan http://www.iicnewyork.esteri.it and click on their monthly newsletter available in digital format.

Casa Belvedere, The Italian Cultural Foundation, a unique 2.75 acre cultural campus and community center on Staten Island for all to enjoy, is a registered 501(c) (3) not for profit organization that seeks to preserve, promote and celebrate the rich heritage of Italy by encouraging an appreciation of the Italian language, arts, literature, history, fashion, cuisine, and commerce through educational programs, exhibits and events. To subscribe to the mailing list and learn more about the upcoming events and programs, call 718-273-7660, e-mail info@casa-belvedere.org or click on to http://www.casa-belvedere.org.

Anthony Buccino has created a blog for New Jersey poets to post info about events, links to their web sites and publishers and literary magazines. You can get email notices- no strings attached – when new items are posted. http://njpoetspoetry.blogspot.com/

http://www.BigFatPrize.com lists over 500 Writing Contests and competition categories like Essay, Fiction, Poetry, Short Story, Young Writers, Songwriting, Screenwriting, Playwright and Journalism

Working Writer newsletter offers solid information with a good dose of humor and a spirit of writing camaraderie. WW is filled with articles on promotion, publishing, freelancing, different genres, how-to, and how-not-to, written by readers across the country. To receive a free copy (no obligation) by e-mail , send a request to workingwriters@aol.com. Or check out http://www.workingwriter1.com

I-Italy: The Italian American Digital Project (http://www.i-italy.org) is online. This site is a forum for discussion and debate over Italian American social and cultural issues, home to numerous Italian American blogs, and the place to read leading Italian American commentators columns on Italian American life.

Readers are requested to visit http://www.italianamericanpress.com to order or obtain information about the fascinating books listed below written by Italian Americans on a variety of interesting topics. At The Italian-American Press, there are links for finding translators, a literary marketplace, and writers’ guilds, aside from links such as Tools for Italian American Writers, Italian American Books, Italian American Publishers, and the Internet’s best selection of self-published Italian American Books (84 Titles).

KIT-Kairos Italy Theater’s mission is to create a cultural exchange program between Italy, the US and the international community, to unveil artistic and creative sides of these two countries to the world. http://www.kitheater.com/

New York Foundation for the Arts, Visit NYFA Source, the most comprehensive database of awards, services, and publications available to artists in all disciplines. http://www.nyfa.org/

The Write Stuff – Online Newsletter of Word Journeys at http://www.wordjourneys.com contains articles on self-publishing, new services and grist for the pen: tips.

The ACLS History E-Book Project http://www.historyebook.org is an electronic resource that includes over 1230 full-text, cross-searchable books in the field of history selected by historians for their continuing importance to students and scholars. Individuals can also subscribe through a membership in the American Historical Association or the Renaissance Society of America.

Accenti, The Canadian Magazine with an Italian Accent at http://www.accenti.ca/

The AA Independent Press Guide is a free, online resource for writers at http://www.thunderburst.co.uk. The guide has detailed listings on over 2,000 literary and genre magazines and publishers from around the world, plus links to over 750 Internet magazines.

http://www.virtualitalia.com is an online resource for Italians, Italian Americans and enthusiasts of Italian culture.

http://www.littap.org is a new resource for literary presenters, with tools such as Guidelines for Writers Fees. In addition to featuring Italian American, Italian Canadian and Italian writers, the site has reviews and links to the sites of writers of Italian Australian, Italian French and Italian Latino American origins.

For the calendar of events for the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, go to http://www.nyu.edu/pages/casaitaliana/events.html

For the calendar of events for the Italian Academy at Columbia University, go to http://www.italianacademy.columbia.edu/calendar/calendar.html

The Immigration History Research Center is at http://www.ihrc.umn.edu

See Poets & Writers for leads to prizes for writers, and places to get away and write, links to grants, conferences and residencies. http://www.pw.org/toolsforwriters

http://www.ItalianAmericanWriters.com is an archive of samples of contemporary Italian Amerian writing; writers include Dennis Barone, Marisa Frasca, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Bob Viscusi, Anthony Tamburri, Fred Gardaphe, Stephen Massimilla, Alfredo de Palchi, Peter Covino, Paola Corso, Gil Fagiani, Louisa Calio, etc. Also check out the other website edited by Daniela Gioseffi – http://www.PoetsUSA.com/

Of Interest:

On October 25, 2011, the CinqueTerre towns of Monterosso & Vernazza both UNESCO World Heritage sites visited annually by 2.5 million tourists were devastated by massive flooding and mudslides. Please go to http://www.rebuildmonterosso.com/2011/12/forza-monterosso.html?spref & http://www.savevernazza.com

IAVANET Mentoring Program
Founded in 2007, the Italian-American Visual Artists’ Network (IAVANET) is a group of 18 painters, sculptors, photographers, and designers based in the greater New York City area. The collective credentials of the artists encompass the worlds of museum and gallery exhibitions, art education, and work in the marketplace of art and design. To view their portfolio, visit http://www.iavanet.org. Mindful of the great tradition of Italian excellence in the visual arts and its artistic heritage, the group is currently establishing a mentoring program for aspiring Italian-American visual artists of high school and college age. In the program participants will review and evaluate portfolios, offer advice on improving particular technical skills, and suggest projects that would be suited to the individual’s artistic personality. IAVANET will also curate shows of the work of students who participate in the program. Interested student artists can contact Richard Laurenzi at info@iavanet.org, specifying the area of mentoring they are seeking (painting, sculpture, photography, or design arts), to set up an interview.

Diasporic Continuities: A Salon Discussion Point on the Changing Face of Italian Unification on the Verge of its 150th Anniversaryhttp://disunification.blogspot.com/
How you can join the conversation: Still a work in progress, for now, please join the conversation by commenting on one of the existing posts or become a follower of the discussions. If you would like to post something yourself (rather than comment), please email LauraRuberto (lruberto@peralta.edu) or Pasquale Verdicchio (pverdicchio@yahoo.com)

Association of Friends of Piedmont in New York
We are a group of artists, professionals, scientists and business owners sharing an interest for the Piedmont Region, either because we were born there or because we appreciate the contribution that people from Piedmont have made to the arts, sciences and industry.You can learn more about the Association at http://piedmontinnewyork.blogspot.com

Vittoria repetto rents her charming vacation house in Framura, in the Ligurian region on a weekly to monthly basis at a reasonable price. It is the perfect place for vacation especially great if you are a writer or a painter. The occupancy is for 4 people; there are 2 bedrooms. The town is 3 towns north of the Cinqueterre towns. For detailed information and pictures, http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p211239

Italian American Writers, a Cablevision television series hosted by Vito De Simone, runs each month on many New York area and other Cablevision systems, including Manhattan, Long Island and some Brooklyn systems. Check local listings for channels and times.

The New York-based Italian-American Playwrights Forum meets at the Calandra Institute three Thursdays a month to develop plays and carry out discussions about Italian-American identity/themes. The work itself does not have to be about an Italian-American theme. Please contact Gian Di Donna gian@att.net for information.

Sat March 3rd Maria Mazziotti Gillan reading in Chicago

Poet Maria Mazziotti Gillan
will make a rare personal appearance in the Chicago area. She is one of the very best contemporary
poets AND she is Italian American and her themes are Italian American.

This event is a must-attend for every Italian American. There is no writer on IA themes that I could
recommend more highly.

Off-Site Poetry Reading during AWP Featuring

Maria Mazziotti Gillan
Laura Boss
M.L. Liebler
Charlie Rossiter

Sat. March 3rd
2-3:30 pm
Oak Park Public Library
834 Lake Street
In downtown Oak Park

Easily reached by taking the Green Line west and getting off at Oak Park
Ave.–then walk north one block to Lake St. and look left. The large
modern building next to the park is the Library.

Out-of-towners, if you forget directions, just look for tall downtown
bldgs. which is EAST and take it from there. If you are taking some time
away from the conference, Oak Park has good restaurants and is easy to
walk around and admire Frank Lloyd Wright creations.

Library contact person: Debby Preiser; dpreiser@oppl.org

a clip from Maria’s poem

Public School #18: Paterson, New Jersey

Miss Wilson’s eyes, opaque
as blue glass, fix on me:
“We must speak English.
We’re in America now.”
I want to say, “I am American,”
but the evidence is stacked against me.

Maria Mazziotti Gillan, founder and executive director of the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College, is a recipient of the 2008 American Book Award for her recent book All That Lies Between Us (Guernica Editions Inc.). This represents the second major prize Gillan received last year for the book. She is among twelve authors, including celebrated poet Nikki Giovanni, who were honored at an awards ceremony held last month in Berkeley, California.

“I was so excited to learn that my book was chosen for the American Book Award,” said Gillan who attended the ceremony where she, and other recipients, gave a reading from their winning works and received an award certificate. “This award represents national validation of my work and brings increased public attention,” Gillan added.

Feb 2012 Italian American Writers Assoc Newsletter

IAWA Italian American Writers Association Newsletter February 2012
P.O. Box 418, Brooklyn, NY 11215
http://www.iawa.net

IAWA SUPPORTS ITALIAN AMERICAN WRITING.

PLEASE SUPPORT IAWA .

You can make a donation through Paypal at http://www.iawa.net

Suggested donations:
Membership $30 (students and seniors $20)
Associate $100-249
Patron $250-499
Founder $500-1000
IAWA is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit corporation. Donations are tax-deductible.

If you prefer to send a check, make it payable to “Italian American Writers Association,” and send it to the following address:

Treasurer, Italian American Writers Association,
P.O. Box 418, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Please share our Italian American Writer’s blog on your Facebook/Twitter account

As some of you know, we have a blog at https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/ And I hope that you have (or will) enjoyed the information and writing presented there. We now have a “Share” button on our blog so you can share the blog w/ your Facebook friends & Twitter fans. So please help get the word out about our blog and click on the “Share” button so others can enjoy the blog. https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/italian-american-writers-assoc-newsletter-february-2011/
______________________________________________________________
Do you have a Linkedin page? Help Us get the word out about IAWA
Connect to us on our Linkedin page: http://www.linkedin.com/in/italianamericanwritersassoc

Please send us announcements of readings and literary events by the 15th of the preceding month; this means if you have an event in January; send us it by Dec. 15th

Please format in THIRD PERSON and in this order for events: Day, Date, Type of event, Event and Name of Participants, Time, Place of event and address, Admission price; Contact information Web site

We do not open attachments; please put all announcements in the body of your email in plain text only; we can’t use jpg or anything in all caps

E-mail announcements to Vittoria repetto at iawanewsletter@aol.com
______________________________________________________________
Saturday, February 11- 5:45 pm – 7:45pm.
Poetry and Prose Feature plus Open Mike
Cornelia St. Café, 29 Cornelia St., Manhattan
212-989-9319; http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com
$7 minimum includes one drink
Come in time to sign up at 5:45 pm.
Bring poetry Bring prose Bring script Bring a friend
5 minute time limit for open mike

Feature Readers: Santi Buscemi & Chiara Montalto

Santi Buscem has translated several works of the 19th-century Sicilian realist, Luigi Capuana, a friend of Giovanni Verga and the theorist for the school of verismo. Buscemi has also translated Il Marchese di Roccaverdina, Capuana’s masterpiece (pending publication) as well as several of his Sicilian plays, including the Interrogation from which he will read.
Buscemi’s Sicilian Tales, a translation of Capuana’s C’era Una Volta was published by Dante University of America Press in 2009; a bilingual edition that comprises 20 fairytales with an introduction to Sicilian literature.

Chiara Montalto is a Brooklyn native and an actress and a writer. Based on her experiences living in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, her solo play, “A Brooklyn Love Story: Emergency Used Candles,” was a sell-out at Emerging Artists Theatre’s One Woman Standing Festival, in 2010. Developed with Theresa Gambacorta, it was subsequently produced at the Cherry Lane Theatre, by the Barefoot Theatre Company. Currently Montalto is in pre-production for a run at Theatre 68 in Los Angeles. On stage in New York, Montalto has appeared in Does a Tiger Wear A Necktie? La Giara, and The 40th Anniversary Production of Landford Wilson’s Balm in Gilead http://www.chiaramontalto.com/

Since 1991, the organization has given voice to writers through its Open Reading series at Cornelia St. Café every month.
IAWA is a 501© (3) not-for-profit corporation; donations are tax deductible.

Visit the Italian American Writers Cafe blog
http://www.i-italy.org/bloggers/italian-american-writers-cafe
https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/

Events:

Sunday February 5 Concert: Duet Concert of Words and Cello w/ poet Annie Lanzillotto and cellist Lori Goldston 3pm St. Ann’s Church Montague Street (at Clinton Street), Brooklyn, New York $10 http://www.saintannandtheholytrinity.org

Monday, March 12 Film: Mulberry St. Abel Ferrara, dir. Bronx-born director Abel Ferrara has captured the streets of New York City in several of his feature films, including King of New York (1990) and Bad Lieutenant (1992). In Mulberry St., he energetically documents Manhattan’s Little Italy—where some of his earliest films were shot—during the famed San Gennaro feast. As Ferrara explains, the feast “brings all the characters out.” He introduces viewers to Butchie the Hat, Cha Cha, Joey Cigar, Baby John, and other neighborhood personalities, who reminisce about the pre-Giuliani feast—with its gambling, late-night hours, and lower expenses—as they erect vendor booths and prepare for the annual “invasion” of tourists. With the feast underway, actors and musicians including Danny Aiello, Dion DiMucci, Matthew Modine, and Frank Vincent make appearances. Ferrara reflects on a neighborhood that is “fighting for survival” in a changing New York. NOTE: This film contains repeated use of profanity. . 6pm. Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor, Manhattan. Free Admission. Seating is limited. Please call (212) 642-2094 to pre-register with the Calandra Institute

Thursday, March 22 Discussion: Appreciating Don DeLillo w/ Paul Giaimo Unlike the majority of American academic critics, Paul Giaimo, author of Appreciating Don DeLillo: The Moral Force of a Writer’s Work (Praeger 2011), contends that Don DeLillo’s award-winning novels are fully defined by neither postmodernism nor modernism. In this presentation, Giaimo traces DeLillo’s style through his novels, showing how it evolved from a recognizably postmodern mode into a realistic treatment of contemporary, postmodern conditions. His original and nuanced examination discusses themes that range from the devastating portrayals of evil in Mao II, Libra, and Cosmopolis, to the good and inspiring confrontation of media stereotypes and urban missionary work in Underworld. The powerful vision of language in The Names and White Noise is examined as a potent moral force of the novels. Equally important is discussion of the cultural background Giaimo believes should inform any reading of DeLillo’s work, especially his Italian-American ethnic heritage and the American Catholic church of the 1950s. 6pm. Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor, Manhattan. Free Admission. Seating is limited. Please call (212) 642-2094 to pre-register with the Calandra Institute

Friday, March 30 Final Friday Reading Series: Gilda Morina Syverson will read from her poetry book Facing the Dragon 7-9 p.m., open mike following, VinMaster Wine Bar, 2000 South Blvd., Suite 610, Charlotte, NC, Sponsored by Main Street Rag & Iodine Poetry Journal. Admission: Free; Details: editor@mainstreetrag.com

Members’ News:

B. Amore announces the opening of Invisible Odysseys: Art by Mexican Farmworkers in Vermont at the Vermont Folklife Center in Middlebury on February 3, 5-7pm. The accompanying bi-lingual book of photographs and statements was partially funded by the Consulate General of Mexico in Boston and is available through Kokoro Press.

Facing the Dragon,” Gilda Morina Syverson’s full length poetry book, was released by Main Street Rag Publishing Co. in January, 2012 right after the start of the Chinese Year of the Dragon. The author’s page can be found at http://www.mainstreetrag.com/GSyverson_2.html Michael Palma, Poetry Editor of “Italian Americana” says: “Readers will discover many fine things in Gilda Morina Syverson’s Facing the Dragon, including the loving evocations of Italian American family life in the book’s second section. But the third and final section is worth the price of admission all by itself: here, in poignant detail and with unfailing compassion, she presents an accumulating montage of death and mourning which becomes, in its refusal of all false and easy consolations, an affirmation of life and the will to endure.”

The new novel by Anthony S. Maulucci, Mary Of Magdala, paints a psychological portrait of a woman striving to define and then to fulfill her role as the only female apostle of Jesus the Messiah. Believing in her right to work as Peter’s partner in the leadership of the brethren, she is not discouraged by Peter’s refusal to accept her and is determined to continue her private campaign to spread the teachings of her beloved friend and master, with whom she has had a intimate relationship. She travels throughout Asia Minor and eventually to Rome in order to be close to Peter and convince him of her worthiness to work at his side. In Rome, Mary is befriended by a wealthy patrician widow who provides her with a life of luxury and the opportunity to act as Peter’s protector without his knowledge. Unhappy with this arrangement, Mary nevertheless accepts it in order to be in a position to keep Peter from harm and prevent the further persecution of the members of the clandestine Christian movement. This is not what she believes she was truly meant to do; however, she bides her time and waits, struggling to keep a powerful politician who wants her for his mistress at a comfortable distance. While exploring the streets of Rome one evening, a chance encounter with a badly beaten young prostitute who dies in her arms gives Mary a renewed sense of purpose, and she begins her mission to save the exploited young women in the brothels of Rome. This turns out to be her most significant contribution, and it this work that is later used to by the Church to falsely label her as a penitent prostitute. Mary of Magdala , a novel by Anthony S. Maulucci, is currently available only in a Kindle edition from Amazon. To order a copy, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006VPA8NC

Mary Bucci Bush received a positive book review for her new book Sweet Hope published by Guernica Editions in Publishers Weekly http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-55071-342-8 In her thoroughly researched and engaging novel, Bush sheds light on the little known fate of Italian immigrant laborers who came to America expecting opportunity, but ended up working alongside African-Americans as indentured servants on southern cotton plantations

Lousia Calio was interviewed http://www.nuovacultura.net/ojs/index.php/in_limine/article/view/221

Fred Gardaphe & Dominic Candeloro have edited Reconstructing Italians in Chicago: Thirty Authors in Search of Roots and Branches Chicago history/culture with an Italian flair! There is something for everybody in this eclectic volume. Every reader will find a topic or a writer that s/he wants to know more about. Publication of Reconstructing Italians in Chicago is a major step toward making Chicago’s Italians the best documented (and best understood) in the nation. It is a gateway to both the academic and the personal exploration of Italians in Chicago, loaded with references that lead the reader to just about every source of information on the subject. Some of the writers include T Ardizzone,R Benedetti,A Bernardi,K Catrambone, J Colangelo, B DalCerro, P D’Agostino, T DeRosa, C Farella, T Guglielmo,B Lombardo,C Lombardo, R Lombardo, E Milani, R Miele, G Nardini, D Niemiec, P Pero,TRomano,V Romano,J Santacaterina, M Antonucci http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0983553807/sr=1-1/qid=1322495004/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1322495004&sr=1-1&seller=

Thieves Never Steal In The Rain, new collection of Linked Stores about Loss, Love, and the Supernatural by Marisa Labozzetta is out. Love, humor, and the supernatural drive these stories about the intertwining lives of five female cousins, who learn that loss—from misplacing keys to confronting death—is a constant force to be reckoned with. It is also now available as an eBook from Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Thieves-Never-Linked-Stories-ebook/dp/B00637TR2Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321326303&sr=1-1 To order for computers, iPads, and other electronic devices, first download free applications by going to Kindle Store, then clicking on Kindle Store under Shop All Departments).

Three Spoken Word Pieces by Angelo Zeolla

Three Spoken Word Pieces by Angelo Zeolla

Maria Terrone’s poem, “The Slain Wife of the Lighthouse Keeper Speaks,” first published in Italian Americana, is included in the recently published Knopf Everyman Series anthology, Killer Verse: Poems About Murder and Mayhem. This Amazon link leads to a list of all poems and authors included in this hard-cover book:
http://www.amazon.com/Killer-Verse-Murder-Everymans-Library/dp/0307700933 Other recent publications include “Spaccanapoli,” in the fall issue of Hawaii Pacific Review; “Knives” (a reprint from The Hudson Review”) and “Missing the Names” in Poemeleon, http://www.poemeleon.org/; and
“Introducing the Forest to Vivaldi” and “Words to Unpin Yourself from the Wall” in Pirene’s Fountain http://www.pirenesfountain.com/ Recent acceptances include “BlackBerry Buzzing” (The Hudson Review); “A Hologram State of Mind” (Ploughshares); and “The Day After” (Poet Lore).

Gil Fagiani’s chapbook, Serfs of Psychiatry, is now being published by Finishing Line Press and should be available by mid-January, 2012. “Fagiani’s poems tell the back story of the powerless and abandoned mentally ill and the equally powerless and abandoned low-level psychiatirc “serfs,” the attendants–the least-paid, least-respected workers, who are, pradoxically entrusted with the day-to-day care of severely disturbed, often violent patients…Move over Ken Kesey, we have another chronicler of the ‘Cuckoo’s Nest,’ Bronx-style.” Kirsten Andersen, Ph.D.clinical psychologist / Adjunct Professor at The School of Visual Arts.
To order copies, visit Finishing Line Press http://www.finishinglinepress.com and click on “NewReleasesandForthcomingTitles.htm.”

Anthony Buccino’s latest poetry collection, “Sometimes I Swear In Italian” is about growing up Italian American in New Jersey, and, much later, discovering the roots of his ancestors. Despite its title, “Sometimes I Swear In Italian” contains no profanity in any language. For more information visit http://www.anthonybuccino.com

Four books written by Dr. Marie Menna Pagliaro for educators have just been published by Rowman & Littlefield. The titles are: Educator or Bully? Managing the 21st Century Classroom; Exemplary Classroom Questioning: Promoting Thinking and Learning; Differentiating Instruction: Matching Strategies with Objectives; and Research-Based Unit and Lesson Planning: Maximizing Student Achievement. These books by Marie Pagliaro are in addition to her novel, That Woman and the Mafia Don, the profits of which go to help prevent young people from joining all kinds of ethnic gangs. To view the covers, synopses, and endorsements, visit her website at http://www.mariepagliaro.com.

Daniel Quinn is the author of Organized Labor: Collected Poems (published by AuthorHouse), which covers four generations of American and family history, from the birth of his grandmother in NYC in 1887 to the fall of the Twin Towers in 2001. Like much of the poetry in this 46-page volume, the book’s title has multiple allusions: from poems that deal with the organized labor movement in America (most notably, the 1913 strike of 20,000 Paterson silk workers at Botto House in Haledon, NJ), to the labor of organizing–and reconciling–past and present (captured eloquently in the title poem, ‘Organized Labor’), to even the labor of preparing one’s poetry for publication. Contact Mr. Quinn dquinn711@msn.com for more information

Publisher’s News/Book Reviews/Contest Winners/Awards:

Descant 154: Sicily, Land of Forgotten Dreams, a North American anthology of nearly fifty contributors is available from http://www.decant.ca ($15.) Guest Editors: Michelle Alfano and Venera Fazio. American literary contributors include Gioia Timpanelli, Maria Fama, Louisa Calio, Gaetano Cipolla, Gil Fagiani, Salvatore Marici, Gilda Morina Syverson, Tasha Cotter, Enriqueta Carrington, and Harry Groome. Photo essays by Vincenzo Pietropaolo, Erik Kruthoff and Stephen Adamian.

Guido: Italian/American Youth and Identity Politics edited by Letizia Airos & Ottorino Cappelli and published by Bordighera Press includes essays on the phenomenon of the “guido”: its origins and its relationship to the Italian/American community. The writers share their own views on a phenomenon that, in December 2009/January 2010, was filling newspapers and television programs, in reaction to the then new reality show Jersey Shore. The community’s “dirty laundry” was finally aired in public, without maintaining the convention of bella figura, as a modern and pluralistic community does and should do.

Pulitzer Prize-nominated Italian American author, John Domini was interviewed in the journal Magna GRECE http://magnagrece.blogspot.com/2012/01/innovating-naples-interview-with-author.html

Italica Press has published out Medieval Naples A Documentary History, 400-1400 http://www.italicapress.com/index287.html and Torquato Tasso Love Poems for Lucrezia Bendidio http://www.italicapress.com/index426.html For a complete catalog,
http://www.italicapress.com

Vittoria repetto has reviewed A New Map: The Poetry of Migrant Writers in Italy by Mia Lecomte and Luigi Bonaffini (Legas-2001) for VIA. This anthology is a bilingual edition of poetry by migrant writers living and working in Italy. These migrant writers hail from places like Somalia, Iran, Iraq, Romania, Holland, Brazil and Albania.

Review of A New Way: The Poetry Of Migrant Writers in Italy

Idea Publication announces the publication of, Barbarossa’s Princess, a tale of intrigue, violence, sex, love and ultimate triumph, Elizabeth Vallone’s Barbarossa’s Princess is also a tapestry of the customs of the Holy Roman Empire, the Norman-Sicilian Court and mores of life in the 12th century. Barbarossa’s Princess is a veritable page turner. From the very first line, we are swept away on an adventure through the corridors of power in the 12th century. We taste and smell the meals, we see the unusual medical practices, we hear all the raucous sounds of life in an age more refined and more coarse than even our own. At the center of this delightful tale is Constance de Hauteville, a woman drawn from a nunnery to become Empress of a continent. She becomes the bearer of the next Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. An innocent, along with her maid-servant, Constance enters the corridors of power and grows to become as forceful as those who would use her for their own gain. Vallone portrays Constance de Hauteville as a woman of chutzpah and humility, a mother who endures the humiliations of women in an earlier time, but who triumphs and endures”. Patrick McGuire, Senior Lecturer of English. University of Wisconsin

The Spaghetti Set, Family Served Italian Style by Rose Marie Boyd Feel like a fly on the wall in the homes of two Italian-American families as a comedy of errors unfolds. The characters’ irreverent, ludicrous and intimate behavior affirms the old adage: ”Family is family, like it or not!” http://thespaghettiset.blogspot.com/

A new collection of essays on the Italian American experience is now available in a Kindle edition from Amazon.com. These 12 essays were originally published in the online journal Suite 101, and some of them were rerpinted in Dante Society newsletters in Boston and Seattle Towards a More Balanced View of Italian Americans by Anthony S. Maulucci

Matriarch ~ A Journey Through Tradition (Work Smarter Now, $24.20) was released released on April 24, 2011. An Italian-American woman residing in central New Jersey, Suzann Brucato has created a photo journal as a tribute to motherhood, family, and heritage. Work Smarter Now has published this full-length collection of poems where Mrs. Brucato conveys the importance of family traditions as a contribution to ensuing generations. Matriarch ~ A Journey Through Tradition Author: Suzann M. Brucato
ISBN: 978-0-615-47832-6 | Library of Congress Control Number: 2011927566 Available at http://www.MagCloud.com Web: http://www.MatriarchJourney.com TheFaceOfPoetry@mindspring.com

Italica Press author (and Italian novelist, essayist, journalist, playwright and poet), Dacia Maraini, has been nominated for the 2011 Man Booker International Prize, the most prestigious literary award in the UK.
The International Prize is awarded for an author’s life work; and Italica Press has played some part in bringing this work to English-speaking audiences. Over the years we’ve published an English edition of her Donna in guerra (Woman at War, 1988), translated by Mara Benetti and Elspeth Spottiswood; her short story “Maria,” translated by Martha King in our anthology New Italian Women (edited by Martha King in 1989); and selections from her poetry in our anthology Contemporary Italian Women Poets, edited and translated by Cinzia Sartini Blum and Lara Trubowitz (2001)

Matriarch ~ A Journey Through Tradition (Work Smarter Now, $24.20) was released on April 24, 2011. An Italian-American woman residing in central New Jersey, Suzann Brucato has created a photo journal as a tribute to motherhood, family, and heritage. Work Smarter Now has published his full-length collection of poems where Mrs. Brucato conveys the importance of family traditions as a contribution to ensuing generations ISBN: 978-0-615-47832-6 Library of Congress Control Number: 2011927566 Print Format – $24.20; Digital Format – $14.29,Available at http://www.MagCloud.com http://www.MatriarchJourney.com Email: TheFaceOfPoetry@mindspring.com

Workshops & Conferences:

This June, Patricia V. Davis will be hosting 2 one-week long writing workshops on the glorious island of Samos in Greece! You’ll spend your mornings after breakfast with Patricia talking about your own writing and fellow students’ writing, and creating new work with helpful hints from several unique writing exercises. A special evening session will be dedicated to the assessment, marketability and potential avenues for publication for each participating writer’s work. For published authors, there will be a separate session wherein many unique and creative marketing options will be explored to help your books get into the hands of everyone who wishes to read them. Session I: June 1-8, 2012; Session II: June 9-15, 2012

Friday March 23rd Conference – Italian Identities – Dialects, Minorities, Literatures 9AM – 8PM Notre Dame Conference Center – McKenna Hall University of Notre Dame Nanovic Institute 211 Brownson Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556 P: 574.631.5253 F: 574.631.3569 This one-day conference will investigate the connections between the modern anthropological and sociological context of Italy and the use of dialects. The conference will focus in particular on how literature has responded to both the ever-present issue of the uneven economic development and the crisis of the so-called Italian identity in the last thirty years. In order to achieve its goals, our one-day symposium will be divided in three main panels, each one dedicated to exploring the topic from a specific – linguistic, socio-anthropological and more purely literary – perspective.
For the complete conference schedule, visit italianstudies.nd.edu. For more information, contact Damiano Benvegnù (dbenvegn@nd.edu).Sponsored by the Nanovic Institute for European Studies

Saturday April, 14th – Writer’s Conference 2012 – William Paterson University English Department Wayne, New Jersey 973-720-2000 For information: http://www.wpunj.edu/cohss/departments/english/writers-conference/index.dot

Classes:

Winter/Spring Semester Language, Culture and Culinary Classes to Begin in March 2012 at Casa Belvedere Offerings include the “Parliamo Italiano” Language Program for toddlers through adults, weekend immersion classes, a ten-session Italian Culture Class and “In Cucina;” a hands-on cooking series For more information, http://www.casa-belvedere.org Walk-In Registration Scheduled on February 16, 28 & 29 from 3:00 to 7:00 pm Registration also available online at http://www.casa-belvedere.org

Literary & Research Queries:

Hofstra Entertainment is currently seeking to cast a staged reading (on book) of Eduardo de Filippo’s comedy, Christmas in Naples. Casting 7-8 men, age range 20’s-50’s, and 4 women, age range 20’s -50’s. Reading will take place at Hofstra in the Helene Fortunoff Theater (Monroe Lecture Center), Thursday, November 17, 8 pm and is presented as part of a three day conference event exploring Naples. Directed by Bob Spiotto. Familiarity with Italian is not required as the piece is performed in English and without Italian accents. No pay. Send pix and resume to robert.t.spiotto@hofstra.edu

Linda Baldanzia is a student at Drew University in NJ. in a Poetry in Translation MFA program. I am looking for a translator to help me with literal translations of several short poems. I do not read Italian well. It would be best if the Translator has lived in Italy. The translating will begin this June 201-482-0597, lindabaldanzi@mac.com

Dom Giordano, talk show host with WPHT 1210 AM Radio in Philadelphia, is looking for contributors to the book- recipes, Feast of the Seven Fishes stories and other Italian/family traditions and recollections of the Christmas season. http://www.thefeastofthesevenfishes.com Contact Askdomg@aol.com

Alexandra Maffei holds a Masters in Italian Linterature and runs two blogs, one in English breakingnewts.blogspot.com the other in Italian, telegrafite.blog.espresso.repubblica.it/telegrafite. “I’m an excellent translator, fully conversant in Italian and American cultures, so consider me, should you know of or need services” viridiana430@msn.com

R. D. Williams is writing about her immigrant experience, willing to meet other writers. Also, seeking advice on how to obtain publisher. Contact: rosaria@gmail.com

Magazines, Contests & Calls for Submissions:

My name is Flavia Laviosa and I am a professor of Italian culture and cinema at Wellesley College in the United States. I am writing to inform you of the newly established Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies published by Intellect. As the Editor of the journal, I invite you visit the website http://bit.ly/oa7uDj and find more about
this publication.

7th Annual Accenti Magazine Writing Contest and 5th Annual Accenti Magazine Photo Competition
Fee: $20 CND for the Writing Contest and $10 CND for the Photo Competition
For rules and submission addresses, etc: https://www.accenti.ca/writing & https://www.accenti.ca/photo-contest Deadline for submissions: February 7, 2012

The Una Vita Foundation is committed to capturing the essence of Italian and Italian-American life in its new online story anthology. If you are an Italian, Italian-American, or have an engaging story that relates to Italy, submit your writing in 2000 characters or less and read stories by other contributors at http://www.una-vita.org/. From the home page, click on the blue “Submit a Story” tab and write away! Every month a panel of judges will choose one outstanding story from our website submissions and its author will receive a $100 Nordstrom gift card. The story will also be translated into Italian and published in the Italian magazine Clarus, which is circulated in Southern Italy. mwright.unavita@gmail.com

Luigi Monteferrante is looking for a special edition on work by Italian/Italian American/Italian Canadian authors in the magazine: Chicago Quarterly Review http://www.chicagoquarterlyreview.com/ Work should be submitted to luigimonteferrante@yahoo.com

Feile-Festa is an annual publication that comes out in the spring of each year. Though our preference is for creative work related to Irish and Italian/Sicilian themes, we are open to other Mediterranean cultures, all of which can relate to the respective country of family origin or the diasporas to America, Canada, etc. We are also interested in writing that evokes life in New York City. The reading period starts October 1st and ends January 1st. Please do not send submissions outside the time frame mentioned in the guidelines. http://www.medcelt.org/feile-festa/index.html

The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute is happy to announce the re-launching of its bi-annual journal the Italian American Review (IAR). The IAR features articles about the history and culture of Italian Americans, as well as other aspects of the Italian diaspora.The journal embraces a wide range of professional concerns and theoretical orientations in the social sciences and in cultural studies. Information for contributors can be found at: http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/calandra/italrev/iarcont.html.

Journal of Italian Translation is a non-profit international journal devoted to the translation of literary works from and into Italian-English-Italian dialects. Subscription price is $25 per year. Submissions and inquiries should be sent to Luigi Bonaffini at l.bonaffini@att.net. All past issues can be downloaded from the journal’s website at http://www.jitonline.org

Pyramid Arts and Poetry Magazine – “Where Rome and New York Meet” Pyramid Arts and Poetry is divided into three sections: Visual Art; Poetry & Literature; and Film. Listings of gallery exhibits, poetry readings, and film showings in New York and Rome accompany each section. For submission guidelines, visit http://www.pyramidmagazine.org

VIA, Voices in Italian Americana, is a semi-annual published in the spring and fall. Issues include sections of essays, fiction, poetry, review essays, reviews, and guest spots by prominent Italian/American writers. Subscriptions are $20.00 per year ($15.00 for seniors, students, and un[der]employed). For subscriptions & advertising, contact Anthony Julian Tamburri at tamburri@bordigherapress.org

Italian Americana is the first and only cultural as well as historical review dedicated to the Italian experience in the New World; subscription price is $20 a year, $35 for two years, to: Italian Americana, University of Rhode Island/Providence, 80 Washington Street Providence, RI 02903-1803. Check out the new Website supplement to the journal at http://www.italianamericana.com

The Monday Night Playwrights’ Series is curated by Richard Fulco; interested playwrights could submit their work at richardfulco@aol.com

Theatre Submissions: Post Road Magazine (Boston, Ma), a literary/visual arts journal, is accepting theatre submissions of very short one-act plays, sketches, and monologues. david@postroadmag.com

The American Italian Historical Association Newsletter is now accepting submissions of book reviews. Please send all submissions Anthony.Tamburri@qc.cuny.edu.

Websites:

Italian Cultural Institute of New York, 686 Park Ave, Manhattan http://www.iicnewyork.esteri.it and click on their monthly newsletter available in digital format.

Casa Belvedere, The Italian Cultural Foundation, a unique 2.75 acre cultural campus and community center on Staten Island for all to enjoy, is a registered 501(c) (3) not for profit organization that seeks to preserve, promote and celebrate the rich heritage of Italy by encouraging an appreciation of the Italian language, arts, literature, history, fashion, cuisine, and commerce through educational programs, exhibits and events. To subscribe to the mailing list and learn more about the upcoming events and programs, call 718-273-7660, e-mail info@casa-belvedere.org or click on to http://www.casa-belvedere.org.

Anthony Buccino has created a blog for New Jersey poets to post info about events, links to their web sites and publishers and literary magazines. You can get email notices- no strings attached – when new items are posted. http://njpoetspoetry.blogspot.com/

http://www.BigFatPrize.com lists over 500 Writing Contests and competition categories like Essay, Fiction, Poetry, Short Story, Young Writers, Songwriting, Screenwriting, Playwright and Journalism

Working Writer newsletter offers solid information with a good dose of humor and a spirit of writing camaraderie. WW is filled with articles on promotion, publishing, freelancing, different genres, how-to, and how-not-to, written by readers across the country. To receive a free copy (no obligation) by e-mail , send a request to workingwriters@aol.com. Or check out http://www.workingwriter1.com

I-Italy: The Italian American Digital Project (http://www.i-italy.org) is online. This site is a forum for discussion and debate over Italian American social and cultural issues, home to numerous Italian American blogs, and the place to read leading Italian American commentators columns on Italian American life.

Readers are requested to visit http://www.italianamericanpress.com to order or obtain information about the fascinating books listed below written by Italian Americans on a variety of interesting topics. At The Italian-American Press, there are links for finding translators, a literary marketplace, and writers’ guilds, aside from links such as Tools for Italian American Writers, Italian American Books, Italian American Publishers, and the Internet’s best selection of self-published Italian American Books (84 Titles).

KIT-Kairos Italy Theater’s mission is to create a cultural exchange program between Italy, the US and the international community, to unveil artistic and creative sides of these two countries to the world. http://www.kitheater.com/

New York Foundation for the Arts, Visit NYFA Source, the most comprehensive database of awards, services, and publications available to artists in all disciplines. http://www.nyfa.org/

The Write Stuff – Online Newsletter of Word Journeys at http://www.wordjourneys.com contains articles on self-publishing, new services and grist for the pen: tips.

The ACLS History E-Book Project http://www.historyebook.org is an electronic resource that includes over 1230 full-text, cross-searchable books in the field of history selected by historians for their continuing importance to students and scholars. Individuals can also subscribe through a membership in the American Historical Association or the Renaissance Society of America.

Accenti, The Canadian Magazine with an Italian Accent at http://www.accenti.ca/

The AA Independent Press Guide is a free, online resource for writers at http://www.thunderburst.co.uk. The guide has detailed listings on over 2,000 literary and genre magazines and publishers from around the world, plus links to over 750 Internet magazines.

http://www.virtualitalia.com is an online resource for Italians, Italian Americans and enthusiasts of Italian culture.

http://www.littap.org is a new resource for literary presenters, with tools such as Guidelines for Writers Fees. In addition to featuring Italian American, Italian Canadian and Italian writers, the site has reviews and links to the sites of writers of Italian Australian, Italian French and Italian Latino American origins.

For the calendar of events for the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, go to http://www.nyu.edu/pages/casaitaliana/events.html

For the calendar of events for the Italian Academy at Columbia University, go to http://www.italianacademy.columbia.edu/calendar/calendar.html

The Immigration History Research Center is at http://www.ihrc.umn.edu

See Poets & Writers for leads to prizes for writers, and places to get away and write, links to grants, conferences and residencies. http://www.pw.org/toolsforwriters

http://www.ItalianAmericanWriters.com is an archive of samples of contemporary Italian Amerian writing; writers include Dennis Barone, Marisa Frasca, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Bob Viscusi, Anthony Tamburri, Fred Gardaphe, Stephen Massimilla, Alfredo de Palchi, Peter Covino, Paola Corso, Gil Fagiani, Louisa Calio, etc. Also check out the other website edited by Daniela Gioseffi – http://www.PoetsUSA.com/

Of Interest:

On October 25, 2011, the CinqueTerre towns of Monterosso & Vernazza both UNESCO World Heritage sites visited annually by 2.5 million tourists were devastated by massive flooding and mudslides. Please go to http://www.rebuildmonterosso.com/2011/12/forza-monterosso.html?spref & http://www.savevernazza.com

IAVANET Mentoring Program
Founded in 2007, the Italian-American Visual Artists’ Network (IAVANET) is a group of 18 painters, sculptors, photographers, and designers based in the greater New York City area. The collective credentials of the artists encompass the worlds of museum and gallery exhibitions, art education, and work in the marketplace of art and design. To view their portfolio, visit http://www.iavanet.org. Mindful of the great tradition of Italian excellence in the visual arts and its artistic heritage, the group is currently establishing a mentoring program for aspiring Italian-American visual artists of high school and college age. In the program participants will review and evaluate portfolios, offer advice on improving particular technical skills, and suggest projects that would be suited to the individual’s artistic personality. IAVANET will also curate shows of the work of students who participate in the program. Interested student artists can contact Richard Laurenzi at info@iavanet.org, specifying the area of mentoring they are seeking (painting, sculpture, photography, or design arts), to set up an interview.

Diasporic Continuities: A Salon Discussion Point on the Changing Face of Italian Unification on the Verge of its 150th Anniversaryhttp://disunification.blogspot.com/
How you can join the conversation: Still a work in progress, for now, please join the conversation by commenting on one of the existing posts or become a follower of the discussions. If you would like to post something yourself (rather than comment), please email LauraRuberto (lruberto@peralta.edu) or Pasquale Verdicchio (pverdicchio@yahoo.com)

Association of Friends of Piedmont in New York
We are a group of artists, professionals, scientists and business owners sharing an interest for the Piedmont Region, either because we were born there or because we appreciate the contribution that people from Piedmont have made to the arts, sciences and industry.You can learn more about the Association at http://piedmontinnewyork.blogspot.com

Vittoria repetto rents her charming vacation house in Framura, in the Ligurian region on a weekly to monthly basis at a reasonable price. It is the perfect place for vacation especially great if you are a writer or a painter. The occupancy is for 4 people; there are 2 bedrooms. The town is 3 towns north of the Cinqueterre towns. For detailed information and pictures, http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p211239

Italian American Writers, a Cablevision television series hosted by Vito De Simone, runs each month on many New York area and other Cablevision systems, including Manhattan, Long Island and some Brooklyn systems. Check local listings for channels and times.

The New York-based Italian-American Playwrights Forum meets at the Calandra Institute three Thursdays a month to develop plays and carry out discussions about Italian-American identity/themes. The work itself does not have to be about an Italian-American theme. Please contact Gian Di Donna gian@att.net

Jan 2012 Italian American Writers Newsletter

IAWA Italian American Writers Association Newsletter January 2012
P.O. Box 418, Brooklyn, NY 11215
http://www.iawa.net

IAWA SUPPORTS ITALIAN AMERICAN WRITING.

PLEASE SUPPORT IAWA .

You can make a donation through Paypal at http://www.iawa.net

Suggested donations:
Membership $30 (students and seniors $20)
Associate $100-249
Patron $250-499
Founder $500-1000
IAWA is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit corporation. Donations are tax-deductible.

If you prefer to send a check, make it payable to “Italian American Writers Association,” and send it to the following address:

Treasurer, Italian American Writers Association,
P.O. Box 418, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Please share our Italian American Writer’s blog on your Facebook/Twitter account

As some of you know, we have a blog at https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/ And I hope that you have (or will) enjoyed the information and writing presented there. We now have a “Share” button on our blog so you can share the blog w/ your Facebook friends & Twitter fans. So please help get the word out about our blog and click on the “Share” button so others can enjoy the blog. https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/italian-american-writers-assoc-newsletter-february-2011/
______________________________________________________________
Do you have a Linkedin page? Help Us get the word out about IAWA
Connect to us on our Linkedin page: http://www.linkedin.com/in/italianamericanwritersassoc

Please send us announcements of readings and literary events by the 15th of the preceding month; this means if you have an event in January; send us it by Dec. 15th

Please format in THIRD PERSON and in this order for events: Day, Date, Type of event, Event and Name of Participants, Time, Place of event and address, Admission price; Contact information Web site

We do not open attachments; please put all announcements in the body of your email in plain text only; we can’t use jpg or anything in all caps

E-mail announcements to Vittoria repetto at iawanewsletter@aol.com
______________________________________________________________
Saturday, January 14th – 5:45 pm – 7:45pm.
Poetry and Prose Feature plus Open Mike
Cornelia St. Café, 29 Cornelia St., Manhattan
212-989-9319; http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com
$7 minimum includes one drink
Come in time to sign up at 5:45 pm.
Bring poetry Bring prose Bring script Bring a friend
5 minute time limit for open mike

Feature Readers: John Keahey & Tony Iovino

John Keahey first visited Sicily in 1986. Enchanted by what he found -he returned often while reporting and writing two travel narratives for Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press: A Sweet and Glorious Land: Revisiting the Ionian Sea and Venice Against the Sea: A City Besieged.
His latest book, Seeking Sicily: A Cultural Journey Through Myth and Reality in the Heart of the Mediterranean, is a travel narrative that captures Sicily and its various cultures through his eyes and the eyes of Sicilian authors of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, most notably Leonardo Sciascia (1921-1989) of Racalmuto, province of Agrigento. Keahey describes it as his attempt to capture how Sicilians, or Mediterranean islanders, who claim to live north of Africa rather than south of Italy, differ from other Italians and how they have preserved their distinct culture.

Tony Iovino’s latest novel — Notary Public Enemy (Diversion Press) is a fast-paced murder mystery set on his native Long Island. Iovino is the founder and host of the Summer Gazebo Readings, an acclaimed outdoor series that features distinguished poets and authors each Monday in June, July & August in Oceanside, N.Y. Iovino’s essays and poems have appeared in print and in on-line literary magazines and anthologies, including USA Today: The Journal of the Society for the Advancement of Education, BlogCritics Magazine, Poetry Cemetery, Stellar Showcase Journal, Subtle Tea, A Long Story Short, Clearfield Review, Meanderings: A Collection of Poetic Verse, Long Island Sounds: 2009 An Anthology of Poetry From Maspeth to Montauk And Beyond, PPA Literary Review, the Long Island Quarterly and others. Visit http://notarypublicenemy.com/About_Us.html

Since 1991, the organization has given voice to writers through its Open Reading series at Cornelia St. Café every month.
IAWA is a 501© (3) not-for-profit corporation; donations are tax deductible.

Visit the Italian American Writers Cafe blog
http://www.i-italy.org/bloggers/italian-american-writers-cafe
https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/

Events:

Wednesday January 4 Reading: New Hungers for Old: One-Hundred Years of Italian-American Poetry Dennis Barone will host and the readers will be Elaine Equi, Mary Giaimo, George Guida, Peter Covino, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Ray DiPalma, Daniela Gioseffi, Matthew Longabucco, Jerome Mazzaro, J. T. Barbarese, Nick Piombino, Maria Terrone, David Cappella, Clare Rossini, Vittoria repetto and Paola Corso. 8pm Saint Marks Poetry Project, 10th St & 2nd Ave, Manhattan,

Tuesday January 24 Reading: Women’s / Trans’ Poetry Jam & Open Mike:
Feature Writers: Marisa Labozzetta & Tsaurah Litzky In Marisa Labozzetta’s new collection of stories, Thieves Never Steal In The Rain, love and the supernatural drive these linked stories about the intertwining lives of five female cousins, who learn that loss, from the trivial to the most painful, is a constant force to be reckoned with.
Tsaurah Litzky’s second poetry collection Cleaning The Duck is a must have for anyone who believes in the redemptive power of poetry.Hosted by Vittoria repetto 7pm Bluestockings Bookstore 172 Allen St. (between Staton & Rivington) Manhattan Take V or F train to 2nd Ave. and exit from the 1st Ave exit and walk south down Allen St. (aka. 1st Ave) 1 ½ blocks to the store $5 suggested donation 212-777-6028 http://www.bluestockings.com/

Members’ News:

Mary Bucci Bush received a positive book review for her new book Sweet Hope published by Guernica Editions in Publishers Weekly http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-55071-342-8 In her thoroughly researched and engaging novel, Bush sheds light on the little known fate of Italian immigrant laborers who came to America expecting opportunity, but ended up working alongside African-Americans as indentured servants on southern cotton plantations

Lousia Calio was interviewed http://www.nuovacultura.net/ojs/index.php/in_limine/article/view/221

Fred Gardaphe & Dominic Candeloro have edited Reconstructing Italians in Chicago: Thirty Authors in Search of Roots and Branches Chicago history/culture with an Italian flair! There is something for everybody in this eclectic volume. Every reader will find a topic or a writer that s/he wants to know more about. Publication of Reconstructing Italians in Chicago is a major step toward making Chicago’s Italians the best documented (and best understood) in the nation. It is a gateway to both the academic and the personal exploration of Italians in Chicago, loaded with references that lead the reader to just about every source of information on the subject. Some of the writers include T Ardizzone,R Benedetti,A Bernardi,K Catrambone, J Colangelo, B DalCerro, P D’Agostino, T DeRosa, C Farella, T Guglielmo,B Lombardo,C Lombardo, R Lombardo, E Milani, R Miele, G Nardini, D Niemiec, P Pero,TRomano,V Romano,J Santacaterina, M Antonucci http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0983553807/sr=1-1/qid=1322495004/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1322495004&sr=1-1&seller=

Thieves Never Steal In The Rain, new collection of Linked Stores about Loss, Love, and the Supernatural by Marisa Labozzetta is out. Love, humor, and the supernatural drive these stories about the intertwining lives of five female cousins, who learn that loss—from misplacing keys to confronting death—is a constant force to be reckoned with. It is also now available as an eBook from Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Thieves-Never-Linked-Stories-ebook/dp/B00637TR2Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321326303&sr=1-1 To order for computers, iPads, and other electronic devices, first download free applications by going to Kindle Store, then clicking on Kindle Store under Shop All Departments).

Three Spoken Word Pieces by Angelo Zeolla

Three Spoken Word Pieces by Angelo Zeolla

Maria Terrone’s poem, “The Slain Wife of the Lighthouse Keeper Speaks,” first published in Italian Americana, is included in the recently published Knopf Everyman Series anthology, Killer Verse: Poems About Murder and Mayhem. This Amazon link leads to a list of all poems and authors included in this hard-cover book:
http://www.amazon.com/Killer-Verse-Murder-Everymans-Library/dp/0307700933 Other recent publications include “Spaccanapoli,” in the fall issue of Hawaii Pacific Review; “Knives” (a reprint from The Hudson Review”) and “Missing the Names” in Poemeleon, http://www.poemeleon.org/; and
“Introducing the Forest to Vivaldi” and “Words to Unpin Yourself from the Wall” in Pirene’s Fountain http://www.pirenesfountain.com/ Recent acceptances include “BlackBerry Buzzing” (The Hudson Review); “A Hologram State of Mind” (Ploughshares); and “The Day After” (Poet Lore).

Gil Fagiani’s chapbook, Serfs of Psychiatry, is now being published by Finishing Line Press and should be available by mid-January, 2012. “Fagiani’s poems tell the back story of the powerless and abandoned mentally ill and the equally powerless and abandoned low-level psychiatirc “serfs,” the attendants–the least-paid, least-respected workers, who are, pradoxically entrusted with the day-to-day care of severely disturbed, often violent patients…Move over Ken Kesey, we have another chronicler of the ‘Cuckoo’s Nest,’ Bronx-style.” Kirsten Andersen, Ph.D.clinical psychologist / Adjunct Professor at The School of Visual Arts.
To order copies, visit Finishing Line Press http://www.finishinglinepress.com and click on “NewReleasesandForthcomingTitles.htm.”

Anthony Buccino’s latest poetry collection, “Sometimes I Swear In Italian” is about growing up Italian American in New Jersey, and, much later, discovering the roots of his ancestors. Despite its title, “Sometimes I Swear In Italian” contains no profanity in any language. For more information visit http://www.anthonybuccino.com

Four books written by Dr. Marie Menna Pagliaro for educators have just been published by Rowman & Littlefield. The titles are: Educator or Bully? Managing the 21st Century Classroom; Exemplary Classroom Questioning: Promoting Thinking and Learning; Differentiating Instruction: Matching Strategies with Objectives; and Research-Based Unit and Lesson Planning: Maximizing Student Achievement. These books by Marie Pagliaro are in addition to her novel, That Woman and the Mafia Don, the profits of which go to help prevent young people from joining all kinds of ethnic gangs. To view the covers, synopses, and endorsements, visit her website at http://www.mariepagliaro.com.

Daniel Quinn is the author of Organized Labor: Collected Poems (published by AuthorHouse), which covers four generations of American and family history, from the birth of his grandmother in NYC in 1887 to the fall of the Twin Towers in 2001. Like much of the poetry in this 46-page volume, the book’s title has multiple allusions: from poems that deal with the organized labor movement in America (most notably, the 1913 strike of 20,000 Paterson silk workers at Botto House in Haledon, NJ), to the labor of organizing–and reconciling–past and present (captured eloquently in the title poem, ‘Organized Labor’), to even the labor of preparing one’s poetry for publication. Contact Mr. Quinn dquinn711@msn.com for more information

Obituary: Diana Festa
Poet and past IAWA feature, Diana Festa, died on June 8, 2011; yet some of her work has appeared posthumously such as in the current Feile Festa that can now be viewed online [http://www.medcelt.org/feile-festa/v006/poetry/festa.html]. Her poem End of Summer won The Fifth Annual John and Rose Petracca & Family Award and appeared in the 2010 edition of Philadelphia Poets edited by Rosemary Cappello.
Festa was the author of six poetry books, Arches to the West, Ice Sparrow, Thresholds, Bedrock, The Gathering and A Landscape of Time. She has also published four books on literary criticism, and a large number of poems and articles in various reviews and anthologies. She is the recipient of several poetry prizes, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Guizot Award from the French Academy.
Festa, who was a French professor at Brooklyn College until her retirement, created a base for a group of authors known as the Madison Poets who gathered weekly for an evening of writing or editing their poems for over a decade. Her late evening banter and extravagant meals were legendary. Festa will be sorely missed by the Madison Poets and others who came into contact with her. A memorial is forthcoming and will be announced shortly.

“Biting into a morsel of Abruzzese soppresatta will never be the same after reading Anthony Di Renzo’s Bitter Greens: Essays on Food, Politics and Ethnicity from the Imperial Kitchen” begins Maria Lisella’s review of Anthony Di Renzo’s Bitter Greens: Essays on Food, Politics and Ethnicity from the Imperial Kitchen (SUNY Press), which was recently published in the 2011 edition of the literary journal, Feile-Festa, is now online. “Perhaps the key passage to the entire collection is: ‘Italian Americans can learn more about the heartbreak and horror of assimilation from soppressata than from any book…This particular sausage has gone from being a staple, to a treat, to a delicacy, to a swindle in less than thirty years. The phenomenon is a minor tragedy in our history – a minor tragedy, but a telling one.'” http://www.medcelt.org/feilefesta/v006/prose/lisella.html

Check out an interview with Tony Ardizzone in the journal Magna Grece http://magnagrece.blogspot.com/2011/09/fiction-as-life-interview-with-author.html

Publisher’s News/Book Reviews/Contest Winners/Awards:

Descant 154: Sicily, Land of Forgotten Dreams, a North American anthology of nearly fifty contributors is available from http://www.decant.ca ($15.) Guest Editors: Michelle Alfano and Venera Fazio. American literary contributors include Gioia Timpanelli, Maria Fama, Louisa Calio, Gaetano Cipolla, Gil Fagiani, Salvatore Marici, Gilda Morina Syverson, Tasha Cotter, Enriqueta Carrington, and Harry Groome. Photo essays by Vincenzo Pietropaolo, Erik Kruthoff and Stephen Adamian.

Guido: Italian/American Youth and Identity Politics edited by Letizia Airos & Ottorino Cappelli and published by Bordighera Press includes essays on the phenomenon of the “guido”: its origins and its relationship to the Italian/American community. The writers share their own views on a phenomenon that, in December 2009/January 2010, was filling newspapers and television programs, in reaction to the then new reality show Jersey Shore. The community’s “dirty laundry” was finally aired in public, without maintaining the convention of bella figura, as a modern and pluralistic community does and should do.

Pulitzer Prize-nominated Italian American author, John Domini was interviewed in the journal Magna GRECE http://magnagrece.blogspot.com/2012/01/innovating-naples-interview-with-author.html

Italica Press has published out Medieval Naples A Documentary History, 400-1400 http://www.italicapress.com/index287.html and Torquato Tasso Love Poems for Lucrezia Bendidio http://www.italicapress.com/index426.html For a complete catalog,
http://www.italicapress.com

Vittoria repetto has reviewed A New Map: The Poetry of Migrant Writers in Italy by Mia Lecomte and Luigi Bonaffini (Legas-2001) for VIA. This anthology is a bilingual edition of poetry by migrant writers living and working in Italy. These migrant writers hail from places like Somalia, Iran, Iraq, Romania, Holland, Brazil and Albania.

Review of A New Way: The Poetry Of Migrant Writers in Italy

Idea Publication announces the publication of, Barbarossa’s Princess, a tale of intrigue, violence, sex, love and ultimate triumph, Elizabeth Vallone’s Barbarossa’s Princess is also a tapestry of the customs of the Holy Roman Empire, the Norman-Sicilian Court and mores of life in the 12th century. Barbarossa’s Princess is a veritable page turner. From the very first line, we are swept away on an adventure through the corridors of power in the 12th century. We taste and smell the meals, we see the unusual medical practices, we hear all the raucous sounds of life in an age more refined and more coarse than even our own. At the center of this delightful tale is Constance de Hauteville, a woman drawn from a nunnery to become Empress of a continent. She becomes the bearer of the next Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. An innocent, along with her maid-servant, Constance enters the corridors of power and grows to become as forceful as those who would use her for their own gain. Vallone portrays Constance de Hauteville as a woman of chutzpah and humility, a mother who endures the humiliations of women in an earlier time, but who triumphs and endures”. Patrick McGuire, Senior Lecturer of English. University of Wisconsin

The Spaghetti Set, Family Served Italian Style by Rose Marie Boyd Feel like a fly on the wall in the homes of two Italian-American families as a comedy of errors unfolds. The characters’ irreverent, ludicrous and intimate behavior affirms the old adage: ”Family is family, like it or not!” http://thespaghettiset.blogspot.com/

A new collection of essays on the Italian American experience is now available in a Kindle edition from Amazon.com. These 12 essays were originally published in the online journal Suite 101, and some of them were rerpinted in Dante Society newsletters in Boston and Seattle Towards a More Balanced View of Italian Americans by Anthony S. Maulucci

Matriarch ~ A Journey Through Tradition (Work Smarter Now, $24.20) was released released on April 24, 2011. An Italian-American woman residing in central New Jersey, Suzann Brucato has created a photo journal as a tribute to motherhood, family, and heritage. Work Smarter Now has published this full-length collection of poems where Mrs. Brucato conveys the importance of family traditions as a contribution to ensuing generations. Matriarch ~ A Journey Through Tradition Author: Suzann M. Brucato
ISBN: 978-0-615-47832-6 | Library of Congress Control Number: 2011927566 Available at http://www.MagCloud.com Web: http://www.MatriarchJourney.com TheFaceOfPoetry@mindspring.com

Italica Press author (and Italian novelist, essayist, journalist, playwright and poet), Dacia Maraini, has been nominated for the 2011 Man Booker International Prize, the most prestigious literary award in the UK.
The International Prize is awarded for an author’s life work; and Italica Press has played some part in bringing this work to English-speaking audiences. Over the years we’ve published an English edition of her Donna in guerra (Woman at War, 1988), translated by Mara Benetti and Elspeth Spottiswood; her short story “Maria,” translated by Martha King in our anthology New Italian Women (edited by Martha King in 1989); and selections from her poetry in our anthology Contemporary Italian Women Poets, edited and translated by Cinzia Sartini Blum and Lara Trubowitz (2001)

Matriarch ~ A Journey Through Tradition (Work Smarter Now, $24.20) was released on April 24, 2011. An Italian-American woman residing in central New Jersey, Suzann Brucato has created a photo journal as a tribute to motherhood, family, and heritage. Work Smarter Now has published his full-length collection of poems where Mrs. Brucato conveys the importance of family traditions as a contribution to ensuing generations ISBN: 978-0-615-47832-6 Library of Congress Control Number: 2011927566 Print Format – $24.20; Digital Format – $14.29,Available at http://www.MagCloud.com http://www.MatriarchJourney.com Email: TheFaceOfPoetry@mindspring.com

For what’s new at Italica Press, please check out http://italicapressnews.blogspot.com/
You can also visit Italica Press at http://www.italicapress.com/

The Paterson Literary Review #38, 2009-2010 is out; this edition features Diane di Prima and includes a number of her poems and a short story Other poets/writers in this edition include Maria Fama, Vittoria repetto, Rachel Guido deVries, Maria Lisella, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, , Jennifer Gillan And Anthoy Buccino See http://old.pccc.edu/poetry/public.htm for price and order form.

Workshops & Conferences:

Literary & Research Queries:

Hofstra Entertainment is currently seeking to cast a staged reading (on book) of Eduardo de Filippo’s comedy, Christmas in Naples. Casting 7-8 men, age range 20’s-50’s, and 4 women, age range 20’s -50’s. Reading will take place at Hofstra in the Helene Fortunoff Theater (Monroe Lecture Center), Thursday, November 17, 8 pm and is presented as part of a three day conference event exploring Naples. Directed by Bob Spiotto. Familiarity with Italian is not required as the piece is performed in English and without Italian accents. No pay. Send pix and resume to robert.t.spiotto@hofstra.edu

Linda Baldanzia is a student at Drew University in NJ. in a Poetry in Translation MFA program. I am looking for a translator to help me with literal translations of several short poems. I do not read Italian well. It would be best if the Translator has lived in Italy. The translating will begin this June 201-482-0597, lindabaldanzi@mac.com

Dom Giordano, talk show host with WPHT 1210 AM Radio in Philadelphia, is looking for contributors to the book- recipes, Feast of the Seven Fishes stories and other Italian/family traditions and recollections of the Christmas season. http://www.thefeastofthesevenfishes.com Contact Askdomg@aol.com

Alexandra Maffei holds a Masters in Italian Linterature and runs two blogs, one in English breakingnewts.blogspot.com the other in Italian, telegrafite.blog.espresso.repubblica.it/telegrafite. “I’m an excellent translator, fully conversant in Italian and American cultures, so consider me, should you know of or need services” viridiana430@msn.com

R. D. Williams is writing about her immigrant experience, willing to meet other writers. Also, seeking advice on how to obtain publisher. Contact: rosaria@gmail.com

Magazines, Contests & Calls for Submissions:

7th Annual Accenti Magazine Writing Contest and 5th Annual Accenti Magazine Photo Competition
Fee: $20 CND for the Writing Contest and $10 CND for the Photo Competition
For rules and submission addresses, etc: https://www.accenti.ca/writing & https://www.accenti.ca/photo-contest Deadline for submissions: February 7, 2012

The Una Vita Foundation is committed to capturing the essence of Italian and Italian-American life in its new online story anthology. If you are an Italian, Italian-American, or have an engaging story that relates to Italy, submit your writing in 2000 characters or less and read stories by other contributors at http://www.una-vita.org/. From the home page, click on the blue “Submit a Story” tab and write away! Every month a panel of judges will choose one outstanding story from our website submissions and its author will receive a $100 Nordstrom gift card. The story will also be translated into Italian and published in the Italian magazine Clarus, which is circulated in Southern Italy. mwright.unavita@gmail.com

Luigi Monteferrante is looking for a special edition on work by Italian/Italian American/Italian Canadian authors in the magazine: Chicago Quarterly Review http://www.chicagoquarterlyreview.com/ Work should be submitted to luigimonteferrante@yahoo.com

Feile-Festa is an annual publication that comes out in the spring of each year. Though our preference is for creative work related to Irish and Italian/Sicilian themes, we are open to other Mediterranean cultures, all of which can relate to the respective country of family origin or the diasporas to America, Canada, etc. We are also interested in writing that evokes life in New York City. The reading period starts October 1st and ends January 1st. Please do not send submissions outside the time frame mentioned in the guidelines. http://www.medcelt.org/feile-festa/index.html

The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute is happy to announce the re-launching of its bi-annual journal the Italian American Review (IAR). The IAR features articles about the history and culture of Italian Americans, as well as other aspects of the Italian diaspora.The journal embraces a wide range of professional concerns and theoretical orientations in the social sciences and in cultural studies. Information for contributors can be found at: http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/calandra/italrev/iarcont.html.

Journal of Italian Translation is a non-profit international journal devoted to the translation of literary works from and into Italian-English-Italian dialects. Subscription price is $25 per year. Submissions and inquiries should be sent to Luigi Bonaffini at l.bonaffini@att.net. All past issues can be downloaded from the journal’s website at http://www.jitonline.org

Pyramid Arts and Poetry Magazine – “Where Rome and New York Meet” Pyramid Arts and Poetry is divided into three sections: Visual Art; Poetry & Literature; and Film. Listings of gallery exhibits, poetry readings, and film showings in New York and Rome accompany each section. For submission guidelines, visit http://www.pyramidmagazine.org

VIA, Voices in Italian Americana, is a semi-annual published in the spring and fall. Issues include sections of essays, fiction, poetry, review essays, reviews, and guest spots by prominent Italian/American writers. Subscriptions are $20.00 per year ($15.00 for seniors, students, and un[der]employed). For subscriptions & advertising, contact Anthony Julian Tamburri at tamburri@bordigherapress.org

Italian Americana is the first and only cultural as well as historical review dedicated to the Italian experience in the New World; subscription price is $20 a year, $35 for two years, to: Italian Americana, University of Rhode Island/Providence, 80 Washington Street Providence, RI 02903-1803. Check out the new Website supplement to the journal at http://www.italianamericana.com

The Monday Night Playwrights’ Series is curated by Richard Fulco; interested playwrights could submit their work at richardfulco@aol.com

Theatre Submissions: Post Road Magazine (Boston, Ma), a literary/visual arts journal, is accepting theatre submissions of very short one-act plays, sketches, and monologues. david@postroadmag.com

The American Italian Historical Association Newsletter is now accepting submissions of book reviews. Please send all submissions Anthony.Tamburri@qc.cuny.edu.

Websites:

Italian Cultural Institute of New York, 686 Park Ave, Manhattan http://www.iicnewyork.esteri.it and click on their monthly newsletter available in digital format.

Casa Belvedere, The Italian Cultural Foundation, a unique 2.75 acre cultural campus and community center on Staten Island for all to enjoy, is a registered 501(c) (3) not for profit organization that seeks to preserve, promote and celebrate the rich heritage of Italy by encouraging an appreciation of the Italian language, arts, literature, history, fashion, cuisine, and commerce through educational programs, exhibits and events. To subscribe to the mailing list and learn more about the upcoming events and programs, call 718-273-7660, e-mail info@casa-belvedere.org or click on to http://www.casa-belvedere.org.

Anthony Buccino has created a blog for New Jersey poets to post info about events, links to their web sites and publishers and literary magazines. You can get email notices- no strings attached – when new items are posted. http://njpoetspoetry.blogspot.com/

http://www.BigFatPrize.com lists over 500 Writing Contests and competition categories like Essay, Fiction, Poetry, Short Story, Young Writers, Songwriting, Screenwriting, Playwright and Journalism

Working Writer newsletter offers solid information with a good dose of humor and a spirit of writing camaraderie. WW is filled with articles on promotion, publishing, freelancing, different genres, how-to, and how-not-to, written by readers across the country. To receive a free copy (no obligation) by e-mail , send a request to workingwriters@aol.com. Or check out http://www.workingwriter1.com

I-Italy: The Italian American Digital Project (http://www.i-italy.org) is online. This site is a forum for discussion and debate over Italian American social and cultural issues, home to numerous Italian American blogs, and the place to read leading Italian American commentators columns on Italian American life.

Readers are requested to visit http://www.italianamericanpress.com to order or obtain information about the fascinating books listed below written by Italian Americans on a variety of interesting topics. At The Italian-American Press, there are links for finding translators, a literary marketplace, and writers’ guilds, aside from links such as Tools for Italian American Writers, Italian American Books, Italian American Publishers, and the Internet’s best selection of self-published Italian American Books (84 Titles).

KIT-Kairos Italy Theater’s mission is to create a cultural exchange program between Italy, the US and the international community, to unveil artistic and creative sides of these two countries to the world. http://www.kitheater.com/

New York Foundation for the Arts, Visit NYFA Source, the most comprehensive database of awards, services, and publications available to artists in all disciplines. http://www.nyfa.org/

The Write Stuff – Online Newsletter of Word Journeys at http://www.wordjourneys.com contains articles on self-publishing, new services and grist for the pen: tips.

The ACLS History E-Book Project http://www.historyebook.org is an electronic resource that includes over 1230 full-text, cross-searchable books in the field of history selected by historians for their continuing importance to students and scholars. Individuals can also subscribe through a membership in the American Historical Association or the Renaissance Society of America.

Accenti, The Canadian Magazine with an Italian Accent at http://www.accenti.ca/

The AA Independent Press Guide is a free, online resource for writers at http://www.thunderburst.co.uk. The guide has detailed listings on over 2,000 literary and genre magazines and publishers from around the world, plus links to over 750 Internet magazines.

http://www.virtualitalia.com is an online resource for Italians, Italian Americans and enthusiasts of Italian culture.

http://www.littap.org is a new resource for literary presenters, with tools such as Guidelines for Writers Fees. In addition to featuring Italian American, Italian Canadian and Italian writers, the site has reviews and links to the sites of writers of Italian Australian, Italian French and Italian Latino American origins.

For the calendar of events for the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, go to http://www.nyu.edu/pages/casaitaliana/events.html

For the calendar of events for the Italian Academy at Columbia University, go to http://www.italianacademy.columbia.edu/calendar/calendar.html

The Immigration History Research Center is at http://www.ihrc.umn.edu

See Poets & Writers for leads to prizes for writers, and places to get away and write, links to grants, conferences and residencies. http://www.pw.org/toolsforwriters

http://www.ItalianAmericanWriters.com is an archive of samples of contemporary Italian Amerian writing; writers include Dennis Barone, Marisa Frasca, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Bob Viscusi, Anthony Tamburri, Fred Gardaphe, Stephen Massimilla, Alfredo de Palchi, Peter Covino, Paola Corso, Gil Fagiani, Louisa Calio, etc. Also check out the other website edited by Daniela Gioseffi – http://www.PoetsUSA.com/

Of Interest:

On October 25, 2011, the CinqueTerre towns of Monterosso & Vernazza both UNESCO World Heritage sites visited annually by 2.5 million tourists were devastated by massive flooding and mudslides. Please go to http://www.rebuildmonterosso.com/2011/12/forza-monterosso.html?spref & http://www.savevernazza.com

IAVANET Mentoring Program
Founded in 2007, the Italian-American Visual Artists’ Network (IAVANET) is a group of 18 painters, sculptors, photographers, and designers based in the greater New York City area. The collective credentials of the artists encompass the worlds of museum and gallery exhibitions, art education, and work in the marketplace of art and design. To view their portfolio, visit http://www.iavanet.org. Mindful of the great tradition of Italian excellence in the visual arts and its artistic heritage, the group is currently establishing a mentoring program for aspiring Italian-American visual artists of high school and college age. In the program participants will review and evaluate portfolios, offer advice on improving particular technical skills, and suggest projects that would be suited to the individual’s artistic personality. IAVANET will also curate shows of the work of students who participate in the program. Interested student artists can contact Richard Laurenzi at info@iavanet.org, specifying the area of mentoring they are seeking (painting, sculpture, photography, or design arts), to set up an interview.

Diasporic Continuities: A Salon Discussion Point on the Changing Face of Italian Unification on the Verge of its 150th Anniversaryhttp://disunification.blogspot.com/
How you can join the conversation: Still a work in progress, for now, please join the conversation by commenting on one of the existing posts or become a follower of the discussions. If you would like to post something yourself (rather than comment), please email LauraRuberto (lruberto@peralta.edu) or Pasquale Verdicchio (pverdicchio@yahoo.com)

Association of Friends of Piedmont in New York
We are a group of artists, professionals, scientists and business owners sharing an interest for the Piedmont Region, either because we were born there or because we appreciate the contribution that people from Piedmont have made to the arts, sciences and industry.You can learn more about the Association at http://piedmontinnewyork.blogspot.com

Vittoria repetto rents her charming vacation house in Framura, in the Ligurian region on a weekly to monthly basis at a reasonable price. It is the perfect place for vacation especially great if you are a writer or a painter. The occupancy is for 4 people; there are 2 bedrooms. The town is 3 towns north of the Cinqueterre towns. For detailed information and pictures, http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p211239

Italian American Writers, a Cablevision television series hosted by Vito De Simone, runs each month on many New York area and other Cablevision systems, including Manhattan, Long Island and some Brooklyn systems. Check local listings for channels and times.

The New York-based Italian-American Playwrights Forum meets at the Calandra Institute three Thursdays a month to develop plays and carry out discussions about Italian-American identity/themes. The work itself does not have to be about an Italian-American theme. Please contact Gian Di Donna gian@att.net for information.

Dec 2011- Italian American Writers Assoc Newsletter

IAWA Italian American Writers Association Newsletter December 2011
P.O. Box 418, Brooklyn, NY 11215
http://www.iawa.net

IAWA SUPPORTS ITALIAN AMERICAN WRITING.

PLEASE SUPPORT IAWA .

You can make a donation through Paypal at http://www.iawa.net

Suggested donations:
Membership $30 (students and seniors $20)
Associate $100-249
Patron $250-499
Founder $500-1000
IAWA is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit corporation. Donations are tax-deductible.

If you prefer to send a check, make it payable to “Italian American Writers Association,” and send it to the following address:

Treasurer, Italian American Writers Association,
P.O. Box 418, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Please share our Italian American Writer’s blog on your Facebook/Twitter account

As some of you know, we have a blog at https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/ And I hope that you have (or will) enjoyed the information and writing presented there. We now have a “Share” button on our blog so you can share the blog w/ your Facebook friends & Twitter fans. So please help get the word out about our blog and click on the “Share” button so others can enjoy the blog. https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/italian-american-writers-assoc-newsletter-february-2011/
______________________________________________________________
Do you have a Linkedin page? Help Us get the word out about IAWA
Connect to us on our Linkedin page: http://www.linkedin.com/in/italianamericanwritersassoc

Please send us announcements of readings and literary events by the 15th of the preceding month; this means if you have an event in January; send us it by Dec. 15th

Please format in THIRD PERSON and in this order for events: Day, Date, Type of event, Event and Name of Participants, Time, Place of event and address, Admission price; Contact information Web site

We do not open attachments; please put all announcements in the body of your email in plain text only; we can’t use jpg or anything in all caps

E-mail announcements to Vittoria repetto at iawanewsletter@aol.com
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Saturday, December 10th – 5:45 pm – 7:45pm.
Poetry and Prose Feature plus Open Mike
Cornelia St. Café, 29 Cornelia St., Manhattan
212-989-9319; http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com
$7 minimum includes one drink
Come in time to sign up at 5:45 pm.
Bring poetry Bring prose Bring script Bring a friend
5 minute time limit for open mike

Feature Readers: Anne Marie Macari & Robert Viscusi

Anne Marie Macari’s most recent book, She Heads Into the Wilderness, was published in 2008 by Autumn House Press. She is also the author of Gloryland (Alice James, 2005) and Ivory Cradle which won the Apr/Honickman first book prize in 2000.
Macari’s work has been widely published in magazines such as Poetry International, The American Poetry Review, and Five Points. Macari is the founder and director of the low-residency MFA program in poetry and poetry in translation at Drew University.

Robert Viscusi who teaches at Brooklyn College, has published Astoria: A Novel (Guernica, 1995; American Book Award 1996), An Oration upon the Most Recent Death of Christopher Columbus (VIA Folios, 1993), A New Geography of Time (Guernica , 2004), Buried Caesars, and Other Secrets of Italian American Writing (SUNY Press) which won the Premio Giuseppe Acerbi in 2008. His present project is an epic poem entitled Ellis Island, currently appearing in parts. One can read random sonnets based upon the whole text at http://www.ellisislandpoem.com. Bordighera Press will publish the full text in early 2012.

Since 1991, the organization has given voice to writers through its Open Reading series at Cornelia St. Café every month.
IAWA is a 501© (3) not-for-profit corporation; donations are tax deductible.

Visit the Italian American Writers Cafe blog
http://www.i-italy.org/bloggers/italian-american-writers-cafe
https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/

Events:

Monday, December 5 Discussion: Mafia Movies: A Roundtable Discussion Portrayals of the Italian and Italian-American Mafias have differed markedly over time and across multiple cultures–from The Godfather trilogy to Gomorrah. Mafia Movies: A Reader (University of Toronto Press,), edited by Dana Renga, provides a comprehensive exploration of the mythification of gangsters onscreen, identifying key features and connections to styles such as film noir, thrillers, and even westerns. This presentation consists of two roundtable discussions with several of the book’s contributors. The “Gender and Violence” panel features Rebecca Bauman George De Stefano, Lara Santoro, Jane Schneider, and Peter Schneider. Elizabeth Leake, Giancarlo Lombardi, and Nelson Moe will discuss “Historicizing the Imagined Mafia.” 6pm. Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor, Manhattan. Free Admission. Seating is limited. Please call (212) 642-2094 to pre-register with the Calandra Institute

Thursday, December 8 Reading: Tony Ardizzone reads from The Whale Chaser (Academy Chicago Publishers) The Whale Chaser is the story of Vince Sansone, the eldest child and only son in a large Italian-American family, who comes of age in 1960s Chicago. A constant disappointment to his embittered father, Vince finds solace in Marie Santangelo, the neighborhood butcher’s winsome daughter, and Lucy Sheehan, an older girl with a reputation. When Vince abruptly flees Chicago he ends up in Tofino, a fishing town on the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. He finds a job gutting fish, then is hired by Tofino’s most colorful dealer, Mr. Zig-Zag, and joins the thriving marijuana trade. Through his friendship with an Ahousaht native named Ignatius George, he finds his calling as a whale guide. Ultimately, Vince comes to terms with the consequences of his own actions as well as the unspoken story of how his grandfather, like thousands of other Italian Americans, was evacuated from prohibited zones on the West Coast and interned in a prison camp after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. 6pm. Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor, Manhattan. Free Admission. Seating is limited. Please call (212) 642-2094 to pre-register with the Calandra Institute

Tuesday December 27 Women’s / Trans’ Poetry Jam & Open Mike:
Feature Writer: Roberta Satow Roberta Satow’s writing is about her relationship with her mother –as a child and also as her caregiver when she developed dementia. Hosted by Vittoria repetto 7pm Bluestockings Bookstore 172 Allen St. (between Staton & Rivington) Manhattan Take V or F train to 2nd Ave. and exit from the 1st Ave exit and walk south down Allen St. (aka. 1st Ave) 1 ½ blocks to the store $5 suggested donation 212-777-6028 http://www.bluestockings.com/

Wednesday January 4 Reading: New Hungers for Old: One-Hundred Years of Italian-American Poetry Dennis Barone will host and the readers will be Elaine Equi, Mary Giaimo, George Guida, Peter Covino, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Ray DiPalma, Daniela Gioseffi, Matthew Longabucco, Jerome Mazzaro, J. T. Barbarese, Nick Piombino, Maria Terrone, David Cappella, Clare Rossini, Vittoria repetto and Paola Corso. 8pm Saint Marks Poetry Project, 10th St & 2nd Ave, Manhattan,

Members’ News:

Fred Gardaphe & Dominic Candeloro have edited Reconstructing Italians in Chicago: Thirty Authors in Search of Roots and Branches Chicago history/culture with an Italian flair! There is something for everybody in this eclectic volume. Every reader will find a topic or a writer that s/he wants to know more about. Publication of Reconstructing Italians in Chicago is a major step toward making Chicago’s Italians the best documented (and best understood) in the nation. It is a gateway to both the academic and the personal exploration of Italians in Chicago, loaded with references that lead the reader to just about every source of information on the subject. Some of the writers include T Ardizzone,R Benedetti,A Bernardi,K Catrambone, J Colangelo, B DalCerro, P D’Agostino, T DeRosa, C Farella, T Guglielmo,B Lombardo,C Lombardo, R Lombardo, E Milani, R Miele, G Nardini, D Niemiec, P Pero,TRomano,V Romano,J Santacaterina, M Antonucci http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0983553807/sr=1-1/qid=1322495004/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1322495004&sr=1-1&seller=

Thieves Never Steal In The Rain, new collection of Linked Stores about Loss, Love, and the Supernatural by Marisa Labozzetta is out. Love, humor, and the supernatural drive these stories about the intertwining lives of five female cousins, who learn that loss—from misplacing keys to confronting death—is a constant force to be reckoned with. It is also now available as an eBook from Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Thieves-Never-Linked-Stories-ebook/dp/B00637TR2Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321326303&sr=1-1 To order for computers, iPads, and other electronic devices, first download free applications by going to Kindle Store, then clicking on Kindle Store under Shop All Departments).

Three Spoken Word Pieces by Angelo Zeolla

Three Spoken Word Pieces by Angelo Zeolla

Maria Terrone’s poem, “The Slain Wife of the Lighthouse Keeper Speaks,” first published in Italian Americana, is included in the recently published Knopf Everyman Series anthology, Killer Verse: Poems About Murder and Mayhem. This Amazon link leads to a list of all poems and authors included in this hard-cover book:
http://www.amazon.com/Killer-Verse-Murder-Everymans-Library/dp/0307700933 Other recent publications include “Spaccanapoli,” in the fall issue of Hawaii Pacific Review; “Knives” (a reprint from The Hudson Review”) and “Missing the Names” in Poemeleon, http://www.poemeleon.org/; and
“Introducing the Forest to Vivaldi” and “Words to Unpin Yourself from the Wall” in Pirene’s Fountain http://www.pirenesfountain.com/ Recent acceptances include “BlackBerry Buzzing” (The Hudson Review); “A Hologram State of Mind” (Ploughshares); and “The Day After” (Poet Lore).

Gil Fagiani’s chapbook, Serfs of Psychiatry, is now being published by Finishing Line Press and should be available by mid-January, 2012. “Fagiani’s poems tell the back story of the powerless and abandoned mentally ill and the equally powerless and abandoned low-level psychiatirc “serfs,” the attendants–the least-paid, least-respected workers, who are, pradoxically entrusted with the day-to-day care of severely disturbed, often violent patients…Move over Ken Kesey, we have another chronicler of the ‘Cuckoo’s Nest,’ Bronx-style.” Kirsten Andersen, Ph.D.clinical psychologist / Adjunct Professor at The School of Visual Arts.
To order copies, visit Finishing Line Press http://www.finishinglinepress.com and click on “NewReleasesandForthcomingTitles.htm.”

Anthony Buccino’s latest poetry collection, “Sometimes I Swear In Italian” is about growing up Italian American in New Jersey, and, much later, discovering the roots of his ancestors. Despite its title, “Sometimes I Swear In Italian” contains no profanity in any language. For more information visit http://www.anthonybuccino.com

Three books written by Dr. Marie Menna Pagliaro for educators have just been published by Rowman & Littlefield. The titles are: Educator or Bully? Managing the 21st Century Classroom; Exemplary Classroom Questioning: Promoting Thinking and Learning; and Differentiating Instruction: Matching Strategies with Objectives. A fourth book, Research-Based Unit and Lesson Planning: Maximizing Student Achievement is scheduled to be published in November. These books by Marie Pagliaro are in addition to her novel, That Woman and the Mafia Don, the profits of which go to help prevent young people from joining all kinds of ethnic gangs. drmariepagliaro@gmail.com.

Daniel Quinn is the author of Organized Labor: Collected Poems (published by AuthorHouse), which covers four generations of American and family history, from the birth of his grandmother in NYC in 1887 to the fall of the Twin Towers in 2001. Like much of the poetry in this 46-page volume, the book’s title has multiple allusions: from poems that deal with the organized labor movement in America (most notably, the 1913 strike of 20,000 Paterson silk workers at Botto House in Haledon, NJ), to the labor of organizing–and reconciling–past and present (captured eloquently in the title poem, ‘Organized Labor’), to even the labor of preparing one’s poetry for publication. Contact Mr. Quinn dquinn711@msn.com for more information

Obituary: Diana Festa
Poet and past IAWA feature, Diana Festa, died on June 8, 2011; yet some of her work has appeared posthumously such as in the current Feile Festa that can now be viewed online [http://www.medcelt.org/feile-festa/v006/poetry/festa.html]. Her poem End of Summer won The Fifth Annual John and Rose Petracca & Family Award and appeared in the 2010 edition of Philadelphia Poets edited by Rosemary Cappello.
Festa was the author of six poetry books, Arches to the West, Ice Sparrow, Thresholds, Bedrock, The Gathering and A Landscape of Time. She has also published four books on literary criticism, and a large number of poems and articles in various reviews and anthologies. She is the recipient of several poetry prizes, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Guizot Award from the French Academy.
Festa, who was a French professor at Brooklyn College until her retirement, created a base for a group of authors known as the Madison Poets who gathered weekly for an evening of writing or editing their poems for over a decade. Her late evening banter and extravagant meals were legendary. Festa will be sorely missed by the Madison Poets and others who came into contact with her. A memorial is forthcoming and will be announced shortly.

“Biting into a morsel of Abruzzese soppresatta will never be the same after reading Anthony Di Renzo’s Bitter Greens: Essays on Food, Politics and Ethnicity from the Imperial Kitchen” begins Maria Lisella’s review of Anthony Di Renzo’s Bitter Greens: Essays on Food, Politics and Ethnicity from the Imperial Kitchen (SUNY Press), which was recently published in the 2011 edition of the literary journal, Feile-Festa, is now online. “Perhaps the key passage to the entire collection is: ‘Italian Americans can learn more about the heartbreak and horror of assimilation from soppressata than from any book…This particular sausage has gone from being a staple, to a treat, to a delicacy, to a swindle in less than thirty years. The phenomenon is a minor tragedy in our history – a minor tragedy, but a telling one.'” http://www.medcelt.org/feilefesta/v006/prose/lisella.html

Check out an interview with Tony Ardizzone in the journal Magna Grece http://magnagrece.blogspot.com/2011/09/fiction-as-life-interview-with-author.html

Publisher’s News/Book Reviews/Contest Winners/Awards:

Italica Press has published out Medieval Naples A Documentary History, 400-1400 http://www.italicapress.com/index287.html and Torquato Tasso Love Poems for Lucrezia Bendidio http://www.italicapress.com/index426.html For a complete catalog,
http://www.italicapress.com

Vittoria repetto has reviewed A New Map: The Poetry of Migrant Writers in Italy by Mia Lecomte and Luigi Bonaffini (Legas-2001) for VIA. This anthology is a bilingual edition of poetry by migrant writers living and working in Italy. These migrant writers hail from places like Somalia, Iran, Iraq, Romania, Holland, Brazil and Albania.

Review of A New Way: The Poetry Of Migrant Writers in Italy

Idea Publication announces the publication of, Barbarossa’s Princess, a tale of intrigue, violence, sex, love and ultimate triumph, Elizabeth Vallone’s Barbarossa’s Princess is also a tapestry of the customs of the Holy Roman Empire, the Norman-Sicilian Court and mores of life in the 12th century. Barbarossa’s Princess is a veritable page turner. From the very first line, we are swept away on an adventure through the corridors of power in the 12th century. We taste and smell the meals, we see the unusual medical practices, we hear all the raucous sounds of life in an age more refined and more coarse than even our own. At the center of this delightful tale is Constance de Hauteville, a woman drawn from a nunnery to become Empress of a continent. She becomes the bearer of the next Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. An innocent, along with her maid-servant, Constance enters the corridors of power and grows to become as forceful as those who would use her for their own gain. Vallone portrays Constance de Hauteville as a woman of chutzpah and humility, a mother who endures the humiliations of women in an earlier time, but who triumphs and endures”. Patrick McGuire, Senior Lecturer of English. University of Wisconsin

The Spaghetti Set, Family Served Italian Style by Rose Marie Boyd Feel like a fly on the wall in the homes of two Italian-American families as a comedy of errors unfolds. The characters’ irreverent, ludicrous and intimate behavior affirms the old adage: ”Family is family, like it or not!” http://thespaghettiset.blogspot.com/

A new collection of essays on the Italian American experience is now available in a Kindle edition from Amazon.com. These 12 essays were originally published in the online journal Suite 101, and some of them were rerpinted in Dante Society newsletters in Boston and Seattle Towards a More Balanced View of Italian Americans by Anthony S. Maulucci

Matriarch ~ A Journey Through Tradition (Work Smarter Now, $24.20) was released released on April 24, 2011. An Italian-American woman residing in central New Jersey, Suzann Brucato has created a photo journal as a tribute to motherhood, family, and heritage. Work Smarter Now has published this full-length collection of poems where Mrs. Brucato conveys the importance of family traditions as a contribution to ensuing generations. Matriarch ~ A Journey Through Tradition Author: Suzann M. Brucato
ISBN: 978-0-615-47832-6 | Library of Congress Control Number: 2011927566 Available at http://www.MagCloud.com Web: http://www.MatriarchJourney.com TheFaceOfPoetry@mindspring.com

Italica Press author (and Italian novelist, essayist, journalist, playwright and poet), Dacia Maraini, has been nominated for the 2011 Man Booker International Prize, the most prestigious literary award in the UK.
The International Prize is awarded for an author’s life work; and Italica Press has played some part in bringing this work to English-speaking audiences. Over the years we’ve published an English edition of her Donna in guerra (Woman at War, 1988), translated by Mara Benetti and Elspeth Spottiswood; her short story “Maria,” translated by Martha King in our anthology New Italian Women (edited by Martha King in 1989); and selections from her poetry in our anthology Contemporary Italian Women Poets, edited and translated by Cinzia Sartini Blum and Lara Trubowitz (2001)

Matriarch ~ A Journey Through Tradition (Work Smarter Now, $24.20) was released on April 24, 2011. An Italian-American woman residing in central New Jersey, Suzann Brucato has created a photo journal as a tribute to motherhood, family, and heritage. Work Smarter Now has published his full-length collection of poems where Mrs. Brucato conveys the importance of family traditions as a contribution to ensuing generations ISBN: 978-0-615-47832-6 Library of Congress Control Number: 2011927566 Print Format – $24.20; Digital Format – $14.29,Available at http://www.MagCloud.com http://www.MatriarchJourney.com Email: TheFaceOfPoetry@mindspring.com

The Paterson Literary Review #38, 2009-2010 is out; this edition features Diane di Prima and includes a number of her poems and a short story Other poets/writers in this edition include Maria Fama, Vittoria repetto, Rachel Guido deVries, Maria Lisella, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, , Jennifer Gillan and Anthoy Buccino See http://old.pccc.edu/poetry/public.htm for price and order form.

Workshops & Conferences:

Friday –Sunday December 9, 10 & 11 Poetry Weekend Intensive w/ Maria Mazziotti Gillan & Laura Boss Located at the convent of Saint John the Baptist, 82 West Main Street, Mendham, NJ Writing weekend poets will find:
Support and encouragement * stimulating activities leading to the creation of new work *
Workshop leaders who are actively engaged in the writing life
Opportunities to read their work aloud to the group
A circle of writer friends
Networking opportunities.\
(This writing intensive is open to all writers over the age of 18.) 15 Professional development credits granted. Fee Schedule: Total $375 Mail check payable to Maria Mazziotti Gillan – 40 Post Ave., Hawthorne, NJ 07506
For discounts, more information & other questions? Call (973) 684-6555 or (973) 423-2921 or email mgillan@pccc.edu or mariagillan@verizon.net

Sat Nov 5th: New Directions in Italian and Italian-American History: A Conference in Honor of Philip Cannistraro 9am
Location: John D. Calandra Italian-American Institute 25 West 43rd Street, 17th Floor, NYC, (212) 642-2094 Free Admission Please RSVP at calandra@qc.edu
Keynote: Emilio Gentile, University of Rome, La Sapienza
“Fabbrica del consenso o fabbrica del potere? Redefining Fascism and Totalitarianism”
New Directions in Italian-American History
Chair: Gerald Meyer, Hostos Community College, CUNY
Charles Killinger, University of Central Florida, “Italian Antifascist Exiles and the Italian-American Community: Renato Poggioli and Gaetano Salvemini as Case Studies”
Marcella Bencivenni, Hostos Community College, CUNY, “Re-examining Italian-American Radical History Through the Lens of Culture”
Peter Vellon, Queens College, CUNY, “‘The humiliation of being treated like Negroes’: The Italian-American Education in Matters of Race”
New Directions in Italian History, I
Chair: Emily Braun, Hunter College & The Graduate Center, CUNY
Paul Corner, University of Siena, “Factories and their Products: A Comment on Phil Cannistraro’s La fabbrica del consenso”
Ernest Ialongo, Hostos Community College, CUNY, “The Calculated Compromise: F.T. Marinetti and Fascism in the Twenties”
William Adams, Hunter College, CUNY, “The politica dei ponti in the Republic of Salò”
New Directions in Italian History, II
Chair: John Davis, University of Connecticut
Marta Petrusewicz, University of Calabria, “Fin-de-siècle Rome: A Republic of Collectors”
Stanislao Pugliese, Hofstra University, “Dancing on a Volcano: Attempting a Popular History of Naples”
David Aliano, College of Mount Saint Vincent, “Re-imagining the Nation: Italian National Narratives Abroad (1922-1945)”

Literary & Research Queries:

Hofstra Entertainment is currently seeking to cast a staged reading (on book) of Eduardo de Filippo’s comedy, Christmas in Naples. Casting 7-8 men, age range 20’s-50’s, and 4 women, age range 20’s -50’s. Reading will take place at Hofstra in the Helene Fortunoff Theater (Monroe Lecture Center), Thursday, November 17, 8 pm and is presented as part of a three day conference event exploring Naples. Directed by Bob Spiotto. Familiarity with Italian is not required as the piece is performed in English and without Italian accents. No pay. Send pix and resume to robert.t.spiotto@hofstra.edu

Linda Baldanzia is a student at Drew University in NJ. in a Poetry in Translation MFA program. I am looking for a translator to help me with literal translations of several short poems. I do not read Italian well. It would be best if the Translator has lived in Italy. The translating will begin this June 201-482-0597, lindabaldanzi@mac.com

Magazines, Contests & Calls for Submissions:

7th Annual Accenti Magazine Writing Contest and 5th Annual Accenti Magazine Photo Competition
Fee: $20 CND for the Writing Contest and $10 CND for the Photo Competition
For rules and submission addresses, etc: https://www.accenti.ca/writing & https://www.accenti.ca/photo-contest Deadline for submissions: February 7, 2012

Luigi Monteferrante is looking for a special edition on work by Italian/Italian American/Italian Canadian authors in the magazine: Chicago Quarterly Review http://www.chicagoquarterlyreview.com/ Work should be submitted to luigimonteferrante@yahoo.com

Feile-Festa is an annual publication that comes out in the spring of each year. Though our preference is for creative work related to Irish and Italian/Sicilian themes, we are open to other Mediterranean cultures, all of which can relate to the respective country of family origin or the diasporas to America, Canada, etc. We are also interested in writing that evokes life in New York City. The reading period starts October 1st and ends January 1st. Please do not send submissions outside the time frame mentioned in the guidelines. http://www.medcelt.org/feile-festa/index.html

The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute published the bi-annual journal the Italian American Review (IAR). The IAR features articles about the history and culture of Italian Americans, as well as other aspects of the Italian diaspora.The journal embraces a wide range of professional concerns and theoretical orientations in the social sciences and in cultural studies. Information for contributors can be found at: http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/calandra/italrev/iarcont.html.

Journal of Italian Translation is a non-profit international journal devoted to the translation of literary works from and into Italian-English-Italian dialects. Subscription price is $25 per year. Submissions and inquiries should be sent to Luigi Bonaffini at l.bonaffini@att.net. All past issues can be downloaded from the journal’s website at http://www.jitonline.org

Pyramid Arts and Poetry Magazine – “Where Rome and New York Meet” Pyramid Arts and Poetry is divided into three sections: Visual Art; Poetry & Literature; and Film. Listings of gallery exhibits, poetry readings, and film showings in New York and Rome accompany each section. For submission guidelines, visit http://www.pyramidmagazine.org

VIA, Voices in Italian Americana, is a semi-annual published in the spring and fall. Issues include sections of essays, fiction, poetry, review essays, reviews, and guest spots by prominent Italian/American writers. Subscriptions are $20.00 per year ($15.00 for seniors, students, and un[der]employed). For subscriptions & advertising, contact Anthony Julian Tamburri at tamburri@bordigherapress.org

Italian Americana is the first and only cultural as well as historical review dedicated to the Italian experience in the New World; subscription price is $20 a year, $35 for two years, to: Italian Americana, University of Rhode Island/Providence, 80 Washington Street Providence, RI 02903-1803. Check out the new Website supplement to the journal at http://www.italianamericana.com

The Monday Night Playwrights’ Series is curated by Richard Fulco; interested playwrights could submit their work at richardfulco@aol.com

Theatre Submissions: Post Road Magazine (Boston, Ma), a literary/visual arts journal, is accepting theatre submissions of very short one-act plays, sketches, and monologues. david@postroadmag.com

The American Italian Historical Association Newsletter is now accepting submissions of book reviews. Please send all submissions Anthony.Tamburri@qc.cuny.edu.

Websites:

Italian Cultural Institute of New York, 686 Park Ave, Manhattan http://www.iicnewyork.esteri.it and click on their monthly newsletter available in digital format.

Casa Belvedere, The Italian Cultural Foundation, a unique 2.75 acre cultural campus and community center on Staten Island for all to enjoy, is a registered 501(c) (3) not for profit organization that seeks to preserve, promote and celebrate the rich heritage of Italy by encouraging an appreciation of the Italian language, arts, literature, history, fashion, cuisine, and commerce through educational programs, exhibits and events. To subscribe to the mailing list and learn more about the upcoming events and programs, call 718-273-7660, e-mail info@casa-belvedere.org or click on to http://www.casa-belvedere.org.

Anthony Buccino has created a blog for New Jersey poets to post info about events, links to their web sites and publishers and literary magazines. You can get email notices- no strings attached – when new items are posted. http://njpoetspoetry.blogspot.com/

http://www.BigFatPrize.com lists over 500 Writing Contests and competition categories like Essay, Fiction, Poetry, Short Story, Young Writers, Songwriting, Screenwriting, Playwright and Journalism

Working Writer newsletter offers solid information with a good dose of humor and a spirit of writing camaraderie. WW is filled with articles on promotion, publishing, freelancing, different genres, how-to, and how-not-to, written by readers across the country. To receive a free copy (no obligation) by e-mail , send a request to workingwriters@aol.com. Or check out http://www.workingwriter1.com

I-Italy: The Italian American Digital Project (http://www.i-italy.org) is online. This site is a forum for discussion and debate over Italian American social and cultural issues, home to numerous Italian American blogs, and the place to read leading Italian American commentators columns on Italian American life.

Readers are requested to visit http://www.italianamericanpress.com to order or obtain information about the fascinating books listed below written by Italian Americans on a variety of interesting topics. At The Italian-American Press, there are links for finding translators, a literary marketplace, and writers’ guilds, aside from links such as Tools for Italian American Writers, Italian American Books, Italian American Publishers, and the Internet’s best selection of self-published Italian American Books (84 Titles).

KIT-Kairos Italy Theater’s mission is to create a cultural exchange program between Italy, the US and the international community, to unveil artistic and creative sides of these two countries to the world. http://www.kitheater.com/

New York Foundation for the Arts, Visit NYFA Source, the most comprehensive database of awards, services, and publications available to artists in all disciplines. http://www.nyfa.org/

The Write Stuff – Online Newsletter of Word Journeys at http://www.wordjourneys.com contains articles on self-publishing, new services and grist for the pen: tips.

The ACLS History E-Book Project http://www.historyebook.org is an electronic resource that includes over 1230 full-text, cross-searchable books in the field of history selected by historians for their continuing importance to students and scholars. Individuals can also subscribe through a membership in the American Historical Association or the Renaissance Society of America.

Accenti, The Canadian Magazine with an Italian Accent at http://www.accenti.ca/

The AA Independent Press Guide is a free, online resource for writers at http://www.thunderburst.co.uk. The guide has detailed listings on over 2,000 literary and genre magazines and publishers from around the world, plus links to over 750 Internet magazines.

http://www.virtualitalia.com is an online resource for Italians, Italian Americans and enthusiasts of Italian culture.

http://www.littap.org is a new resource for literary presenters, with tools such as Guidelines for Writers Fees. In addition to featuring Italian American, Italian Canadian and Italian writers, the site has reviews and links to the sites of writers of Italian Australian, Italian French and Italian Latino American origins.

For the calendar of events for the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, go to http://www.nyu.edu/pages/casaitaliana/events.html

For the calendar of events for the Italian Academy at Columbia University, go to http://www.italianacademy.columbia.edu/calendar/calendar.html

The Immigration History Research Center is at http://www.ihrc.umn.edu

See Poets & Writers for leads to prizes for writers, and places to get away and write, links to grants, conferences and residencies. http://www.pw.org/toolsforwriters

http://www.ItalianAmericanWriters.com is an archive of samples of contemporary Italian Amerian writing; writers include Dennis Barone, Marisa Frasca, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Bob Viscusi, Anthony Tamburri, Fred Gardaphe, Stephen Massimilla, Alfredo de Palchi, Peter Covino, Paola Corso, Gil Fagiani, Louisa Calio, etc. Also check out the other website edited by Daniela Gioseffi – http://www.PoetsUSA.com/

Of Interest:

Monday, December 5th “Italy and the World Economy” In celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy Please R.S.V.P. by opening the link: http://www.italianacademy.columbia.edu/events_calendar.html selecting “Italy and the World Economy” event, clicking on RSVP and filling out the form The Italian Academy, 1161 Amsterdam Avenue (between 116th and 118th Streets)

The Neapolitan Solidarity Crèche – Presepio Della Solidarietà”Casa Belvedere-The Italian Cultural Foundation to open a very special exhibit of
“Il Presepio Della Solidarietà”The Solidarity Crèche, on December 11, 2011 at 3pm. It will be on display at Casa Belvedere from December 11, 2011 – January 7, 2012. The exhibit is supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.For exhibit hours, to schedule a group visit, or to subscribe to the mailing list and learn more about Casa Belvedere’s upcoming events and programs, call 718-273-7660, e-mail info@casa-belvedere.org or click on to http://www.casa-belvedere.org

Drums of Illumination: Southern Italian, Brazilian, and Native American Ritual Drumming and Dance for World Peace to Celebrate the Winter Solstice
Monday & Tuesday, December 19 & 20 at 8 pm Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue (between 9th & 10th Streets) Tickets: $25 Reservations: Smarttix at 212.868.4444 or http://www.smarttix.com

Elvin Serrano’s Photo Show of Caribbean at 1840 Ivanhoe Historic Building, 4 Spruce St, Paterson, NJ. Opening reception Friday 12/9/11 7pm-10pm, Photo’s will be on display until until 1/9/12. Parking available at Visitor Center or Great Falls parking lot at McBride Av and Spruce St intersection..

IAVANET Mentoring Program
Founded in 2007, the Italian-American Visual Artists’ Network (IAVANET) is a group of 18 painters, sculptors, photographers, and designers based in the greater New York City area. The collective credentials of the artists encompass the worlds of museum and gallery exhibitions, art education, and work in the marketplace of art and design. To view their portfolio, visit http://www.iavanet.org. Mindful of the great tradition of Italian excellence in the visual arts and its artistic heritage, the group is currently establishing a mentoring program for aspiring Italian-American visual artists of high school and college age. In the program participants will review and evaluate portfolios, offer advice on improving particular technical skills, and suggest projects that would be suited to the individual’s artistic personality. IAVANET will also curate shows of the work of students who participate in the program. Interested student artists can contact Richard Laurenzi at info@iavanet.org, specifying the area of mentoring they are seeking (painting, sculpture, photography, or design arts), to set up an interview.

Diasporic Continuities: A Salon Discussion Point on the Changing Face of Italian Unification on the Verge of its 150th Anniversaryhttp://disunification.blogspot.com/
How you can join the conversation: Still a work in progress, for now, please join the conversation by commenting on one of the existing posts or become a follower of the discussions. If you would like to post something yourself (rather than comment), please email LauraRuberto (lruberto@peralta.edu) or Pasquale Verdicchio (pverdicchio@yahoo.com)

Association of Friends of Piedmont in New York
We are a group of artists, professionals, scientists and business owners sharing an interest for the Piedmont Region, either because we were born there or because we appreciate the contribution that people from Piedmont have made to the arts, sciences and industry. You can learn more about the Association at http://piedmontinnewyork.blogspot.com

Vittoria repetto rents her charming vacation house in Framura, in the Ligurian region on a weekly to monthly basis at a reasonable price. It is the perfect place for vacation especially great if you are a writer or a painter. The occupancy is for 4 people; there are 2 bedrooms. The town is 3 towns north of the Cinqueterre towns. For detailed information and pictures, http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p211239

Italian American Writers, a Cablevision television series hosted by Vito De Simone, runs each month on many New York area and other Cablevision systems, including Manhattan, Long Island and some Brooklyn systems. Check local listings for channels and times.

The New York-based Italian-American Playwrights Forum meets at the Calandra Institute three Thursdays a month to develop plays and carry out discussions about Italian-American identity/themes. The work itself does not have to be about an Italian-American theme. Please contact Gian Di Donna gian@att.net for information.

Nov 2011 IAWA Newsletter

IAWA Italian American Writers Association Newsletter November 2011
P.O. Box 418, Brooklyn, NY 11215
http://www.iawa.net

IAWA SUPPORTS ITALIAN AMERICAN WRITING.

PLEASE SUPPORT IAWA .

You can make a donation through Paypal at http://www.iawa.net

Suggested donations:
Membership $30 (students and seniors $20)
Associate $100-249
Patron $250-499
Founder $500-1000
IAWA is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit corporation. Donations are tax-deductible.

If you prefer to send a check, make it payable to “Italian American Writers Association,” and send it to the following address:

Treasurer, Italian American Writers Association,
P.O. Box 418, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Please share our Italian American Writer’s blog on your Facebook/Twitter account

As some of you know, we have a blog at https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/ And I hope that you have (or will) enjoyed the information and writing presented there. We now have a “Share” button on our blog so you can share the blog w/ your Facebook friends & Twitter fans. So please help get the word out about our blog and click on the “Share” button so others can enjoy the blog. https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/italian-american-writers-assoc-newsletter-february-2011/
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Do you have a Linkedin page? Help Us get the word out about IAWA
Connect to us on our Linkedin page: http://www.linkedin.com/in/italianamericanwritersassoc

Please send us announcements of readings and literary events by the 15th of the preceding month; this means if you have an event in January; send us it by Dec. 15th

Please format in THIRD PERSON and in this order for events: Day, Date, Type of event, Event and Name of Participants, Time, Place of event and address, Admission price; Contact information Web site

We do not open attachments; please put all announcements in the body of your email in plain text only; we can’t use jpg or anything in all caps

E-mail announcements to Vittoria repetto at iawanewsletter@aol.com
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Saturday, November 12th – 5:45 pm – 7:45pm.
Poetry and Prose Feature plus Open Mike
Cornelia St. Café, 29 Cornelia St., Manhattan
212-989-9319; http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com
$7 minimum includes one drink
Come in time to sign up at 5:45 pm.
Bring poetry Bring prose Bring script Bring a friend
5 minute time limit for open mike

Feature Readers: Jessica Femiani & Susan Marc Lawley

Jessica Femiani’s poems have been published in the Paterson Literary Review and she was a finalist for the American Voice In Poetry Prize, Paterson, NJ, 2009. This past summer she read at the first annual New York Poetry Festival. She is currently at work on her chapbook, At the Foot of a Volcano. A graduate student of English at Brooklyn College, Femiani is writing her thesis on a topic within Italian American literature. By day, she is an English teacher at the Leonardo da Vinci Middle School in Corona, Queens. She is also an IAWA Board member and has a BA in English from Wesleyan University and an MS in Education from St. John’s University.

Dr. Susan Marc Lawley is a leadership and life coach, award-winning entrepreneur, writing instructor and founder of Sisters in Script, a non-profit organization devoted to the professional and personal development of women writers. Hieroglyphics of the Heart is Sue’s first poetry collection but she is already hard at work on her next, The Calligraphy of Courage forthcoming in 2012.
Through Sisters in Script Lawley conducts her Keepsake Conversations workshop in which participants bring a treasured memento or family heirloom and write about the object using a six-part model she developed. Since 2009, Sisters in Script has awarded an annual grant to support an author who wishes to self-publish her debut manuscript. Information about workshops or applications for the self-publishing grant can be found on her website; http://www.sistersinscript.org

Since 1991, the organization has given voice to writers through its Open Reading series at Cornelia St. Café every month.
IAWA is a 501© (3) not-for-profit corporation; donations are tax deductible.

Visit the Italian American Writers Cafe blog
http://www.i-italy.org/bloggers/italian-american-writers-cafe
https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/

Events:

Tuesday, November 1 Conversation: novelist Erri De Luca, moderated by Silvia Bizio, U.S. Correspondent forL’Espresso and La Repubblica 6pm Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimó, 24 W. 12thSt., Manhattan

Thursday, November 3 Conversation with novelist Erri De Luca, moderated by Silvia Bizio, U.S. Correspondent forL’Espresso and La Repubblica 5pm Harvard University, Department of Linguistics, Fong Auditorium (Boylston Hall), Cambridge, Mass

Thursday, November 3 Reading: Claudine D’Angelo-Dotzman’s upcoming novel, Of Asphalt and Earth. Grounded in the true history of Italian immigrants from the Abruzzo of the mid-Twentieth century, the hopes and struggles of the novel’s main characters speaks not only to the Italian American experience but to that of anyone whose storia began far from American shores 6:30pm Italian American Museum 155 Mulberry Street Manhattan

Thursday November 3 Book Awards & Reading: 2011 Bordighera Annual Poetry Awards 2011 winner: Driving West on the Pulaski Skyway by John Ortenzio Bargowski 2010 Winner: A Boat that can Carry Two by Matthew Cariello 6:30pm John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 W. 43rd St. 17th floor. Manhattan between 5th & 6th Ave Free Admission Refreshments to be served 212 642-2094

Friday November 4 Reading: Women’s Poetry Event w/ Vittoria repetto, Chocolate Waters, Chavisa Woods, Dorothy Friedman August & Roxanne Hoffman plus an open mic from 8pm -9:30pm . A reception will follow Masyrik Hall – downstairs at Jan Hus Church located at 351 E 74th St. Manhattan [between 1st and 2nd Avenue]. Tickets – $12.

Friday, November 4 Conversation with novelist Erri De Luca, moderated by Silvia Bizio, U.S. Correspondent forL’Espresso and La Repubblica 4pm UMass Amherst and Smith College

Tuesday, November 8 Reading: Adriana Trigiani reads from Don’t Sing at the Table: Life Lessons from My Grandmothers (Harper Paperbacks, 2011) Best-selling author Adriana Trigiani has gathered estimable lessons from her two grandmothers, revealing how their values have shaped her own life. In Don’t Sing at the Table, she introduces Lucia Spada Bonicelli (Lucy) and Yolanda Perin Trigiani (Viola), a pair of feisty, intelligent, and strong women. Between them, Lucy and Viola have lived through the twentieth century from beginning to end, surviving immigration, young widowhood, single motherhood, four wars, and the Great Depression. From the factory line to the family table, they set an example for their granddaughter in their fearless approach to overcoming obstacles. Sharing her grandmothers’ wisdom, Trigiani offers answers to the questions that define the challenges women face today at work and at home. 6pm. Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor, Manhattan. Free Admission. Seating is limited. Please call (212) 642-2094 to pre-register with the Calandra Institute

Wednesday, November 9 Conversation with novelist Erri De Luca, moderated by Silvia Bizio, U.S. Correspondent forL’Espresso and La Repubblica , introduced by Antonio Monda 5:30pm Rizzoli Book Store, 31 West 57th St., New York, NY

Friday, November 11 Conversation with novelist Erri De Luca, moderated by Silvia Bizio, U.S. Correspondent forL’Espresso and La Repubblica 7pm Book Court, 163 Court St., Brooklyn, NY

Monday, November 14 Discussion: Singing, Nostalgia, and Local Migration in a French-Italian Border Village w/ Cyril Isnart, Universidade de Évora The Alpine border village of Tende, once a part of Italy, has been a French commune since 1947. Piemontese migration to the area began at the end of the nineteenth century. The native Tendasques looked down on the poor, working-class migrants and in particular their Piedmontese-style singing and dancing, which was perceived as a cultural stigma. Today, these musical practices are instead highly valorized as a source for a collective Tende identity and a symbol of an authentic, idealized past. In his presentation, anthropologist Cyril Isnart discusses the ways musical expression and nostalgia are used to foster a micro-cultural identity. 6pm . Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor, Manhattan. Free Admission. Seating is limited. Please call (212) 642-2094 to pre-register with the Calandra Institute

Wednesday, November 16 Roundtable Discussion “Naples-New York with Pellegrino D’Acierno, Mary Brown, Charles Sant’Elia, Simona Frasca/Jason Pine, Ernesto Rossi and B. Amore. 5:30 – 7pm This is part of the conference “Delirious Naples – For a Cultural, Intellectual and Urban History of the City of the Sun.”Rochelle and Irwin Lowenfeld Conference and Exhibition Hall, Axinn Library Building, 1st floor, 123 Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY 11549. Free Admission

Friday, November 18 Reading: Maria Lisella will feature with Poets Wear Prada press authors George Held, Erik La Prade and Juanita Torrence Thompson. 8pm Left Bank Books, #17 8th Avenue (Near W. 12th Street) Manhattan 10014, 212.924.5638 http://www.leftbankbooksny.com

Tuesday November 29 Women’s / Trans’ Poetry Jam & Open Mike: Feature Writers: Kelli Dunham & Phyllis Capello
Kelli Dunham, comic, writer & ex-nun on the run, will be reading from Shut Up and Be Devastated, a work in progress about why grief sucks.
Phyllis Capello’s poems and stories are about women and their work. They often have mythological references or origins.Hosted by Vittoria repetto 7pm Bluestockings Bookstore 172 Allen St. (between Staton & Rivington) Manhattan Take V or F train to 2nd Ave. and exit from the 1st Ave exit and walk south down Allen St. (aka. 1st Ave) 1 ½ blocks to the store $5 suggested donation 212-777-6028 http://www.bluestockings.com/

Tuesday, November 29 Film: Mi Pogolotti Querido Enrica Viola, director Mi Pogolotti Querido tells the story of Dino Pogolotti and the barrio in Havana, Cuba, that bears his name. Born in Giaveno (Turin province), Pogolotti immigrated to New York in 1895 and moved to Cuba with his wife Grace Joyce upon his appointment as secretary to the United States Consul. With money inherited from his father-in-law, he purchased large tracts of land on the outskirts of Havana and in 1911 developed a neighborhood modeled on European social housing. The first working-class neighborhood in Havana, Barrio Pogolotti is also known for its Afro-Cuban cultural identity. In this documentary, Enrica Viola offers portraits of life-long residents of Pogolotti who describe the significance the neighborhood holds for them. The film also shows the Pogolotti family narrative–from Dino to his son Marcelo, a modernist painter, to his granddaughter Graziella, a prominent Cuban essayist. 6pm . Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor, Manhattan. Free Admission. Seating is limited. Please call (212) 642-2094 to pre-register with the Calandra Institute

Members’ News:

Three Spoken Word Pieces by Angelo Zeolla

Three Spoken Word Pieces by Angelo Zeolla

Maria Terrone’s poem, “The Slain Wife of the Lighthouse Keeper Speaks,” first published in Italian Americana, is included in the recently published Knopf Everyman Series anthology, Killer Verse: Poems About Murder and Mayhem. This Amazon link leads to a list of all poems and authors included in this hard-cover book:
http://www.amazon.com/Killer-Verse-Murder-Everymans-Library/dp/0307700933 Other recent publications include “Spaccanapoli,” in the fall issue of Hawaii Pacific Review; “Knives” (a reprint from The Hudson Review”) and “Missing the Names” in Poemeleon, http://www.poemeleon.org/; and
“Introducing the Forest to Vivaldi” and “Words to Unpin Yourself from the Wall” in Pirene’s Fountain http://www.pirenesfountain.com/ Recent acceptances include “BlackBerry Buzzing” (The Hudson Review); “A Hologram State of Mind” (Ploughshares); and “The Day After” (Poet Lore).
On September 11, she was one of nine poets invited by the West Chester Poetry Center to participate in a memorial reading at its Poets House.

Gil Fagiani’s chapbook, Serfs of Psychiatry, is now being published by Finishing Line Press and should be available by mid-January, 2012. “Fagiani’s poems tell the back story of the powerless and abandoned mentally ill and the equally powerless and abandoned low-level psychiatirc “serfs,” the attendants–the least-paid, least-respected workers, who are, pradoxically entrusted with the day-to-day care of severely disturbed, often violent patients…Move over Ken Kesey, we have another chronicler of the ‘Cuckoo’s Nest,’ Bronx-style.” Kirsten Andersen, Ph.D.clinical psychologist / Adjunct Professor at The School of Visual Arts.
To order copies, visit Finishing Line Press http://www.finishinglinepress.com and click on “NewReleasesandForthcomingTitles.htm.”

Anthony Buccino’s latest poetry collection, “Sometimes I Swear In Italian” is about growing up Italian American in New Jersey, and, much later, discovering the roots of his ancestors. Despite its title, “Sometimes I Swear In Italian” contains no profanity in any language. For more information visit http://www.anthonybuccino.com

Three books written by Dr. Marie Menna Pagliaro for educators have just been published by Rowman & Littlefield. The titles are: Educator or Bully? Managing the 21st Century Classroom; Exemplary Classroom Questioning: Promoting Thinking and Learning; and Differentiating Instruction: Matching Strategies with Objectives. A fourth book, Research-Based Unit and Lesson Planning: Maximizing Student Achievement is scheduled to be published in November. These books by Marie Pagliaro are in addition to her novel, That Woman and the Mafia Don, the profits of which go to help prevent young people from joining all kinds of ethnic gangs. drmariepagliaro@gmail.com.

Daniel Quinn is the author of Organized Labor: Collected Poems (published by AuthorHouse), which covers four generations of American and family history, from the birth of his grandmother in NYC in 1887 to the fall of the Twin Towers in 2001. Like much of the poetry in this 46-page volume, the book’s title has multiple allusions: from poems that deal with the organized labor movement in America (most notably, the 1913 strike of 20,000 Paterson silk workers at Botto House in Haledon, NJ), to the labor of organizing–and reconciling–past and present (captured eloquently in the title poem, ‘Organized Labor’), to even the labor of preparing one’s poetry for publication. Contact Mr. Quinn dquinn711@msn.com for more information

Obituary: Diana Festa
Poet and past IAWA feature, Diana Festa, died on June 8, 2011; yet some of her work has appeared posthumously such as in the current Feile Festa that can now be viewed online [http://www.medcelt.org/feile-festa/v006/poetry/festa.html]. Her poem End of Summer won The Fifth Annual John and Rose Petracca & Family Award and appeared in the 2010 edition of Philadelphia Poets edited by Rosemary Cappello.
Festa was the author of six poetry books, Arches to the West, Ice Sparrow, Thresholds, Bedrock, The Gathering and A Landscape of Time. She has also published four books on literary criticism, and a large number of poems and articles in various reviews and anthologies. She is the recipient of several poetry prizes, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Guizot Award from the French Academy.
Festa, who was a French professor at Brooklyn College until her retirement, created a base for a group of authors known as the Madison Poets who gathered weekly for an evening of writing or editing their poems for over a decade. Her late evening banter and extravagant meals were legendary. Festa will be sorely missed by the Madison Poets and others who came into contact with her. A memorial is forthcoming and will be announced shortly.

“Biting into a morsel of Abruzzese soppresatta will never be the same after reading Anthony Di Renzo’s Bitter Greens: Essays on Food, Politics and Ethnicity from the Imperial Kitchen” begins Maria Lisella’s review of Anthony Di Renzo’s Bitter Greens: Essays on Food, Politics and Ethnicity from the Imperial Kitchen (SUNY Press), which was recently published in the 2011 edition of the literary journal, Feile-Festa, is now online. “Perhaps the key passage to the entire collection is: ‘Italian Americans can learn more about the heartbreak and horror of assimilation from soppressata than from any book…This particular sausage has gone from being a staple, to a treat, to a delicacy, to a swindle in less than thirty years. The phenomenon is a minor tragedy in our history – a minor tragedy, but a telling one.'” http://www.medcelt.org/feilefesta/v006/prose/lisella.html

Check out an interview with Tony Ardizzone in the journal Magna Grece http://magnagrece.blogspot.com/2011/09/fiction-as-life-interview-with-author.html

Three books written by Dr. Marie Menna Pagliaro for educators have just been published by Rowman & Littlefield. The titles are: Educator or Bully? Managing the 21st Century Classroom; Exemplary Classroom Questioning: Promoting Thinking and Learning; and Differentiating Instruction: Matching Strategies with Objectives. A fourth book, Research-Based Unit and Lesson Planning: Maximizing Student Achievement is scheduled to be published in November. These books by Marie Pagliaro are in addition to her novel, That Woman and the Mafia Don, the profits of which go to help prevent young people from joining all kinds of ethnic gangs.

Daniela Gioseffi has published reviews of Gil Fagiani’s A Blanquito in El Barrio and Maria Lisella’s Amore on Hope St. in the current issue of VIA: Voices in Italian Americana.

Disturbing Youth (ISBN 1463730535), a novel by Melissa Pizirusso, tells the story of CJ Melfino, a boy kidnapped by his mother and then abandoned as a toddler, and his father Jace, who spends ten years trying to locate his son. Forced to live with elderly strangers from an early age, CJ’s childhood is filled with few bright spots besides his friendship with Ashley, the little girl who lives in the trailer across the street. The influences of his environment push him away from the rules of society and towards criminality. When Jace finds his son ten years after he last saw him, he hopes for closeness but finds only resentment and a dangerous outlook. Jace must win CJ’s trust and show him the value of a better life before the two can become close again. Inspired by the true-life story of a troubled youth, Pizirusso created the fictional character of CJ and filled his life with problems often faced by children in difficult circumstances, including divorce, teen pregnancy, racism and gang life. Written to engage and inspire thought about social pressures, the novel is targeted at all readers interested in rich, character-driven drama. Disturbing Youth is available for sale online at Amazon.com

Nick Matros won a month-long grant through the National Endowment for the Humanities to participate in the NEH’s Summer Institute course The Art of Teaching Italian through Art in Rome, Italy.

Stephen Sangirardi, former Iona adjunct in English, New Yorker, and Multiple Sclerosis patient, has released his second novel—A Shakespearean View of Freud. Like his first novel Monday Afternoon, this second book is also published by Night Reading in the UK and is available on Amazon.com and Kindle. The novel is about a librarian–Rob Conti—whose jealousy and fetishes ruin his two marriages. The setting takes place in New York and Missouri. The author’s picture is again on the back cover of the book, and his email is Bard715@aol.com.

Kathleen Gerard has a novel forthcoming in May, In Transit (Five Star/Gale-Cengage-Thorndike Press) is a woman-in-jeopardy story that features a contemporary Italian-American protagonist. The story delves into the ordinary lives of NYPD career cops and how their fates are determined by people who hold secrets as dark and as labyrinthine as the New York City Subway System. Kathleen was the recipient of the Perillo Prize for Italian-American Literature (IAWA, 2007). To learn more about the novel visit: http://intransit-thenovel.blogspot.com

Louisa Calio, director of the Poets and Writers Piazza for Hofstra’s Italian Experience is a featured poet this month at http://www.Mythopoetry.com. Just click on their facebook link to see her work. She will host the 10th anniversary of the Poets and Writers Piazza this Sept.18th at Hofstra. Look out for details. Her poem “Meet Joe, My Sicilian Father” will be in Descant a literary magazine published in Canada this coming winter and her story “Churchillo” will be published in a collection of humorous tales by Ed Maruggi of Winston Publications. Her poem ” Signifyin Woman” is now available in Sweet Lemons 2 an anthology of writings with a Sicilian flavor available through Legas Press.

Playbill announced the world premiere of Richard Vetere’s play Last Day, on Gloucester Stage’s summer 2011 season in Gloucester, MA, running July 21-Aug. 7, and is billed as “a dark, delicious and mysterious love story set in a Long Island cemetery where not all secrets are underground.” Stage, screen and television writer Richard Vetere is the author of past Gloucester Stage hits Gangster Apparel and First Love. For furtherinformation and to purchase tickets, call the Gloucester Stage Box
Office at (978) 281-4433 or visit http://www.gloucesterstage.org

Dennis Barone has two new books out: Field Report, twenty stories from Quale Press (and with a cover by poet Elaine Equi), and Parallel Lines, a volume of selected poems including work from over thirty years and with an Italian section. Information can be found on the new site: http://www.dennisbarone.wordpress.com.

Publisher’s News/Book Reviews/Contest Winners/Awards:

Vittoria repetto has reviewed A New Map: The Poetry of Migrant Writers in Italy by Mia Lecomte and Luigi Bonaffini (Legas-2001) for VIA. This anthology is a bilingual edition of poetry by migrant writers living and working in Italy. These migrant writers hail from places like Somalia, Iran, Iraq, Romania, Holland, Brazil and Albania.

Review of A New Way: The Poetry Of Migrant Writers in Italy

Idea Publication announces the publication of, Barbarossa’s Princess, a tale of intrigue, violence, sex, love and ultimate triumph, Elizabeth Vallone’s Barbarossa’s Princess is also a tapestry of the customs of the Holy Roman Empire, the Norman-Sicilian Court and mores of life in the 12th century. Barbarossa’s Princess is a veritable page turner. From the very first line, we are swept away on an adventure through the corridors of power in the 12th century. We taste and smell the meals, we see the unusual medical practices, we hear all the raucous sounds of life in an age more refined and more coarse than even our own. At the center of this delightful tale is Constance de Hauteville, a woman drawn from a nunnery to become Empress of a continent. She becomes the bearer of the next Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. An innocent, along with her maid-servant, Constance enters the corridors of power and grows to become as forceful as those who would use her for their own gain. Vallone portrays Constance de Hauteville as a woman of chutzpah and humility, a mother who endures the humiliations of women in an earlier time, but who triumphs and endures”. Patrick McGuire, Senior Lecturer of English. University of Wisconsin

The Spaghetti Set, Family Served Italian Style by Rose Marie Boyd Feel like a fly on the wall in the homes of two Italian-American families as a comedy of errors unfolds. The characters’ irreverent, ludicrous and intimate behavior affirms the old adage: ”Family is family, like it or not!” http://thespaghettiset.blogspot.com/

A new collection of essays on the Italian American experience is now available in a Kindle edition from Amazon.com. These 12 essays were originally published in the online journal Suite 101, and some of them were rerpinted in Dante Society newsletters in Boston and Seattle Towards a More Balanced View of Italian Americans by Anthony S. Maulucci

Matriarch ~ A Journey Through Tradition (Work Smarter Now, $24.20) was released released on April 24, 2011. An Italian-American woman residing in central New Jersey, Suzann Brucato has created a photo journal as a tribute to motherhood, family, and heritage. Work Smarter Now has published this full-length collection of poems where Mrs. Brucato conveys the importance of family traditions as a contribution to ensuing generations. Matriarch ~ A Journey Through Tradition Author: Suzann M. Brucato
ISBN: 978-0-615-47832-6 | Library of Congress Control Number: 2011927566 Available at http://www.MagCloud.com Web: http://www.MatriarchJourney.com TheFaceOfPoetry@mindspring.com

Italica Press author (and Italian novelist, essayist, journalist, playwright and poet), Dacia Maraini, has been nominated for the 2011 Man Booker International Prize, the most prestigious literary award in the UK.
The International Prize is awarded for an author’s life work; and Italica Press has played some part in bringing this work to English-speaking audiences. Over the years we’ve published an English edition of her Donna in guerra (Woman at War, 1988), translated by Mara Benetti and Elspeth Spottiswood; her short story “Maria,” translated by Martha King in our anthology New Italian Women (edited by Martha King in 1989); and selections from her poetry in our anthology Contemporary Italian Women Poets, edited and translated by Cinzia Sartini Blum and Lara Trubowitz (2001)

Matriarch ~ A Journey Through Tradition (Work Smarter Now, $24.20) was released on April 24, 2011. An Italian-American woman residing in central New Jersey, Suzann Brucato has created a photo journal as a tribute to motherhood, family, and heritage. Work Smarter Now has published his full-length collection of poems where Mrs. Brucato conveys the importance of family traditions as a contribution to ensuing generations ISBN: 978-0-615-47832-6 Library of Congress Control Number: 2011927566 Print Format – $24.20; Digital Format – $14.29,Available at http://www.MagCloud.com http://www.MatriarchJourney.com Email: TheFaceOfPoetry@mindspring.com

For what’s new at Italica Press, please check out http://italicapressnews.blogspot.com/
You can also visit Italica Press at http://www.italicapress.com/

The Paterson Literary Review #38, 2009-2010 is out; this edition features Diane di Prima and includes a number of her poems and a short story Other poets/writers in this edition include Maria Fama, Vittoria repetto, Rachel Guido deVries, Maria Lisella, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, , Jennifer Gillan And Anthoy Buccino See http://old.pccc.edu/poetry/public.htm for price and order form.

Workshops & Conferences:

Friday –Sunday December 9, 10 & 11 Poetry Weekend Intensive w/ Maria Mazziotti Gillan & Laura Boss Located at the convent of Saint John the Baptist, 82 West Main Street, Mendham, NJ Writing weekend poets will find:
Support and encouragement * stimulating activities leading to the creation of new work *
Workshop leaders who are actively engaged in the writing life
Opportunities to read their work aloud to the group
A circle of writer friends
Networking opportunities.\
(This writing intensive is open to all writers over the age of 18.) 15 Professional development credits granted. Fee Schedule: Total $375 Mail check payable to Maria Mazziotti Gillan – 40 Post Ave., Hawthorne, NJ 07506
For discounts, more information & other questions? Call (973) 684-6555 or (973) 423-2921 or email mgillan@pccc.edu or mariagillan@verizon.net

Sat Nov 5th: New Directions in Italian and Italian-American History: A Conference in Honor of Philip Cannistraro 9am
Location: John D. Calandra Italian-American Institute 25 West 43rd Street, 17th Floor, NYC, (212) 642-2094 Free Admission Please RSVP at calandra@qc.edu
Keynote: Emilio Gentile, University of Rome, La Sapienza
“Fabbrica del consenso o fabbrica del potere? Redefining Fascism and Totalitarianism”
New Directions in Italian-American History
Chair: Gerald Meyer, Hostos Community College, CUNY
Charles Killinger, University of Central Florida, “Italian Antifascist Exiles and the Italian-American Community: Renato Poggioli and Gaetano Salvemini as Case Studies”
Marcella Bencivenni, Hostos Community College, CUNY, “Re-examining Italian-American Radical History Through the Lens of Culture”
Peter Vellon, Queens College, CUNY, “‘The humiliation of being treated like Negroes’: The Italian-American Education in Matters of Race”
New Directions in Italian History, I
Chair: Emily Braun, Hunter College & The Graduate Center, CUNY
Paul Corner, University of Siena, “Factories and their Products: A Comment on Phil Cannistraro’s La fabbrica del consenso”
Ernest Ialongo, Hostos Community College, CUNY, “The Calculated Compromise: F.T. Marinetti and Fascism in the Twenties”
William Adams, Hunter College, CUNY, “The politica dei ponti in the Republic of Salò”
New Directions in Italian History, II
Chair: John Davis, University of Connecticut
Marta Petrusewicz, University of Calabria, “Fin-de-siècle Rome: A Republic of Collectors”
Stanislao Pugliese, Hofstra University, “Dancing on a Volcano: Attempting a Popular History of Naples”
David Aliano, College of Mount Saint Vincent, “Re-imagining the Nation: Italian National Narratives Abroad (1922-1945)”

Literary & Research Queries:

Hofstra Entertainment is currently seeking to cast a staged reading (on book) of Eduardo de Filippo’s comedy, Christmas in Naples. Casting 7-8 men, age range 20’s-50’s, and 4 women, age range 20’s -50’s. Reading will take place at Hofstra in the Helene Fortunoff Theater (Monroe Lecture Center), Thursday, November 17, 8 pm and is presented as part of a three day conference event exploring Naples. Directed by Bob Spiotto. Familiarity with Italian is not required as the piece is performed in English and without Italian accents. No pay. Send pix and resume to robert.t.spiotto@hofstra.edu

Linda Baldanzia is a student at Drew University in NJ. in a Poetry in Translation MFA program. I am looking for a translator to help me with literal translations of several short poems. I do not read Italian well. It would be best if the Translator has lived in Italy. The translating will begin this June 201-482-0597, lindabaldanzi@mac.com

Dom Giordano, talk show host with WPHT 1210 AM Radio in Philadelphia, is looking for contributors to the book- recipes, Feast of the Seven Fishes stories and other Italian/family traditions and recollections of the Christmas season. http://www.thefeastofthesevenfishes.com Contact Askdomg@aol.com

Alexandra Maffei holds a Masters in Italian Linterature and runs two blogs, one in English breakingnewts.blogspot.com the other in Italian, telegrafite.blog.espresso.repubblica.it/telegrafite. “I’m an excellent translator, fully conversant in Italian and American cultures, so consider me, should you know of or need services” viridiana430@msn.com

R. D. Williams is writing about her immigrant experience, willing to meet other writers. Also, seeking advice on how to obtain publisher. Contact: rosaria@gmail.com

Magazines, Contests & Calls for Submissions:

7th Annual Accenti Magazine Writing Contest and 5th Annual Accenti Magazine Photo Competition
Fee: $20 CND for the Writing Contest and $10 CND for the Photo Competition
For rules and submission addresses, etc: https://www.accenti.ca/writing & https://www.accenti.ca/photo-contest Deadline for submissions: February 7, 2012

The Una Vita Foundation is committed to capturing the essence of Italian and Italian-American life in its new online story anthology. If you are an Italian, Italian-American, or have an engaging story that relates to Italy, submit your writing in 2000 characters or less and read stories by other contributors at http://www.una-vita.org/. From the home page, click on the blue “Submit a Story” tab and write away! Every month a panel of judges will choose one outstanding story from our website submissions and its author will receive a $100 Nordstrom gift card. The story will also be translated into Italian and published in the Italian magazine Clarus, which is circulated in Southern Italy. mwright.unavita@gmail.com

Luigi Monteferrante is looking for a special edition on work by Italian/Italian American/Italian Canadian authors in the magazine: Chicago Quarterly Review http://www.chicagoquarterlyreview.com/ Work should be submitted to luigimonteferrante@yahoo.com

Feile-Festa is an annual publication that comes out in the spring of each year. Though our preference is for creative work related to Irish and Italian/Sicilian themes, we are open to other Mediterranean cultures, all of which can relate to the respective country of family origin or the diasporas to America, Canada, etc. We are also interested in writing that evokes life in New York City. The reading period starts October 1st and ends January 1st. Please do not send submissions outside the time frame mentioned in the guidelines. http://www.medcelt.org/feile-festa/index.html

The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute is happy to announce the re-launching of its bi-annual journal the Italian American Review (IAR). The IAR features articles about the history and culture of Italian Americans, as well as other aspects of the Italian diaspora.The journal embraces a wide range of professional concerns and theoretical orientations in the social sciences and in cultural studies. Information for contributors can be found at: http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/calandra/italrev/iarcont.html.

Journal of Italian Translation is a non-profit international journal devoted to the translation of literary works from and into Italian-English-Italian dialects. Subscription price is $25 per year. Submissions and inquiries should be sent to Luigi Bonaffini at l.bonaffini@att.net. All past issues can be downloaded from the journal’s website at http://www.jitonline.org

Pyramid Arts and Poetry Magazine – “Where Rome and New York Meet” Pyramid Arts and Poetry is divided into three sections: Visual Art; Poetry & Literature; and Film. Listings of gallery exhibits, poetry readings, and film showings in New York and Rome accompany each section. For submission guidelines, visit http://www.pyramidmagazine.org

VIA, Voices in Italian Americana, is a semi-annual published in the spring and fall. Issues include sections of essays, fiction, poetry, review essays, reviews, and guest spots by prominent Italian/American writers. Subscriptions are $20.00 per year ($15.00 for seniors, students, and un[der]employed). For subscriptions & advertising, contact Anthony Julian Tamburri at tamburri@bordigherapress.org

Italian Americana is the first and only cultural as well as historical review dedicated to the Italian experience in the New World; subscription price is $20 a year, $35 for two years, to: Italian Americana, University of Rhode Island/Providence, 80 Washington Street Providence, RI 02903-1803. Check out the new Website supplement to the journal at http://www.italianamericana.com

The Monday Night Playwrights’ Series is curated by Richard Fulco; interested playwrights could submit their work at richardfulco@aol.com

Theatre Submissions: Post Road Magazine (Boston, Ma), a literary/visual arts journal, is accepting theatre submissions of very short one-act plays, sketches, and monologues. david@postroadmag.com

The American Italian Historical Association Newsletter is now accepting submissions of book reviews. Please send all submissions Anthony.Tamburri@qc.cuny.edu.

Websites:

Italian Cultural Institute of New York, 686 Park Ave, Manhattan http://www.iicnewyork.esteri.it and click on their monthly newsletter available in digital format.

Casa Belvedere, The Italian Cultural Foundation, a unique 2.75 acre cultural campus and community center on Staten Island for all to enjoy, is a registered 501(c) (3) not for profit organization that seeks to preserve, promote and celebrate the rich heritage of Italy by encouraging an appreciation of the Italian language, arts, literature, history, fashion, cuisine, and commerce through educational programs, exhibits and events. To subscribe to the mailing list and learn more about the upcoming events and programs, call 718-273-7660, e-mail info@casa-belvedere.org or click on to http://www.casa-belvedere.org.

Anthony Buccino has created a blog for New Jersey poets to post info about events, links to their web sites and publishers and literary magazines. You can get email notices- no strings attached – when new items are posted. http://njpoetspoetry.blogspot.com/

http://www.BigFatPrize.com lists over 500 Writing Contests and competition categories like Essay, Fiction, Poetry, Short Story, Young Writers, Songwriting, Screenwriting, Playwright and Journalism

Working Writer newsletter offers solid information with a good dose of humor and a spirit of writing camaraderie. WW is filled with articles on promotion, publishing, freelancing, different genres, how-to, and how-not-to, written by readers across the country. To receive a free copy (no obligation) by e-mail , send a request to workingwriters@aol.com. Or check out http://www.workingwriter1.com

I-Italy: The Italian American Digital Project (http://www.i-italy.org) is online. This site is a forum for discussion and debate over Italian American social and cultural issues, home to numerous Italian American blogs, and the place to read leading Italian American commentators columns on Italian American life.

Readers are requested to visit http://www.italianamericanpress.com to order or obtain information about the fascinating books listed below written by Italian Americans on a variety of interesting topics. At The Italian-American Press, there are links for finding translators, a literary marketplace, and writers’ guilds, aside from links such as Tools for Italian American Writers, Italian American Books, Italian American Publishers, and the Internet’s best selection of self-published Italian American Books (84 Titles).

KIT-Kairos Italy Theater’s mission is to create a cultural exchange program between Italy, the US and the international community, to unveil artistic and creative sides of these two countries to the world. http://www.kitheater.com/

New York Foundation for the Arts, Visit NYFA Source, the most comprehensive database of awards, services, and publications available to artists in all disciplines. http://www.nyfa.org/

The Write Stuff – Online Newsletter of Word Journeys at http://www.wordjourneys.com contains articles on self-publishing, new services and grist for the pen: tips.

The ACLS History E-Book Project http://www.historyebook.org is an electronic resource that includes over 1230 full-text, cross-searchable books in the field of history selected by historians for their continuing importance to students and scholars. Individuals can also subscribe through a membership in the American Historical Association or the Renaissance Society of America.

Accenti, The Canadian Magazine with an Italian Accent at http://www.accenti.ca/

The AA Independent Press Guide is a free, online resource for writers at http://www.thunderburst.co.uk. The guide has detailed listings on over 2,000 literary and genre magazines and publishers from around the world, plus links to over 750 Internet magazines.

http://www.virtualitalia.com is an online resource for Italians, Italian Americans and enthusiasts of Italian culture.

http://www.littap.org is a new resource for literary presenters, with tools such as Guidelines for Writers Fees. In addition to featuring Italian American, Italian Canadian and Italian writers, the site has reviews and links to the sites of writers of Italian Australian, Italian French and Italian Latino American origins.

For the calendar of events for the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, go to http://www.nyu.edu/pages/casaitaliana/events.html

For the calendar of events for the Italian Academy at Columbia University, go to http://www.italianacademy.columbia.edu/calendar/calendar.html

The Immigration History Research Center is at http://www.ihrc.umn.edu

See Poets & Writers for leads to prizes for writers, and places to get away and write, links to grants, conferences and residencies. http://www.pw.org/toolsforwriters

http://www.ItalianAmericanWriters.com is an archive of samples of contemporary Italian Amerian writing; writers include Dennis Barone, Marisa Frasca, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Bob Viscusi, Anthony Tamburri, Fred Gardaphe, Stephen Massimilla, Alfredo de Palchi, Peter Covino, Paola Corso, Gil Fagiani, Louisa Calio, etc. Also check out the other website edited by Daniela Gioseffi – http://www.PoetsUSA.com/

Of Interest:

Pre-Holiday Meet & Greet
Join the National Organization of Italian American Women for happy hour to kick-off the holidays and launch a new season of Metro New York events: Tuesday, November 15 6:00pm – 8:00pm at Vapiano Union Square – 113 University Place New York, NY 10003 NOIAW Members first drink is complimentary Non-Members and Friends Welcome Refreshments will be served Please RSVP to noiaw@noiaw.org or 212-642-2003 by Nov. 14th

IAVANET Mentoring Program
Founded in 2007, the Italian-American Visual Artists’ Network (IAVANET) is a group of 18 painters, sculptors, photographers, and designers based in the greater New York City area. The collective credentials of the artists encompass the worlds of museum and gallery exhibitions, art education, and work in the marketplace of art and design. To view their portfolio, visit http://www.iavanet.org. Mindful of the great tradition of Italian excellence in the visual arts and its artistic heritage, the group is currently establishing a mentoring program for aspiring Italian-American visual artists of high school and college age. In the program participants will review and evaluate portfolios, offer advice on improving particular technical skills, and suggest projects that would be suited to the individual’s artistic personality. IAVANET will also curate shows of the work of students who participate in the program. Interested student artists can contact Richard Laurenzi at info@iavanet.org, specifying the area of mentoring they are seeking (painting, sculpture, photography, or design arts), to set up an interview.

Diasporic Continuities: A Salon Discussion Point on the Changing Face of Italian Unification on the Verge of its 150th Anniversaryhttp://disunification.blogspot.com/
How you can join the conversation: Still a work in progress, for now, please join the conversation by commenting on one of the existing posts or become a follower of the discussions. If you would like to post something yourself (rather than comment), please email LauraRuberto (lruberto@peralta.edu) or Pasquale Verdicchio (pverdicchio@yahoo.com)

Association of Friends of Piedmont in New York
We are a group of artists, professionals, scientists and business owners sharing an interest for the Piedmont Region, either because we were born there or because we appreciate the contribution that people from Piedmont have made to the arts, sciences and industry.You can learn more about the Association at http://piedmontinnewyork.blogspot.com

Vittoria repetto rents her charming vacation house in Framura, in the Ligurian region on a weekly to monthly basis at a reasonable price. It is the perfect place for vacation especially great if you are a writer or a painter. The occupancy is for 4 people; there are 2 bedrooms. The town is 3 towns north of the Cinqueterre towns. For detailed information and pictures, http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p211239

Italian American Writers, a Cablevision television series hosted by Vito De Simone, runs each month on many New York area and other Cablevision systems, including Manhattan, Long Island and some Brooklyn systems. Check local listings for channels and times.

The New York-based Italian-American Playwrights Forum meets at the Calandra Institute three Thursdays a month to develop plays and carry out discussions about Italian-American identity/themes. The work itself does not have to be about an Italian-American theme. Please contact Gian Di Donna gian@att.net for in

October 2011 IAWA Newsletter

IAWA Italian American Writers Association Newsletter October 2011
P.O. Box 418, Brooklyn, NY 11215
http://www.iawa.net

IAWA SUPPORTS ITALIAN AMERICAN WRITING.

PLEASE SUPPORT IAWA .

You can make a donation through Paypal at http://www.iawa.net

Suggested donations:
Membership $30 (students and seniors $20)
Associate $100-249
Patron $250-499
Founder $500-1000
IAWA is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit corporation. Donations are tax-deductible.

If you prefer to send a check, make it payable to “Italian American Writers Association,” and send it to the following address:

Treasurer, Italian American Writers Association,
P.O. Box 418, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Please share our Italian American Writer’s blog on your Facebook/Twitter account

As some of you know, we have a blog at https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/ And I hope that you have (or will) enjoyed the information and writing presented there. We now have a “Share” button on our blog so you can share the blog w/ your Facebook friends & Twitter fans. So please help get the word out about our blog and click on the “Share” button so others can enjoy the blog. https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/italian-american-writers-assoc-newsletter-february-2011/
______________________________________________________________
Do you have a Linkedin page? Help Us get the word out about IAWA
Connect to us on our Linkedin page: http://www.linkedin.com/in/italianamericanwritersassoc

Please send us announcements of readings and literary events by the 15th of the preceding month; this means if you have an event in January; send us it by Dec. 15th

Please format in THIRD PERSON and in this order for events: Day, Date, Type of event, Event and Name of Participants, Time, Place of event and address, Admission price; Contact information Web site

We do not open attachments; please put all announcements in the body of your email in plain text only; we can’t use jpg or anything in all caps

E-mail announcements to Vittoria repetto at iawanewsletter@aol.com
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Saturday, October 8thth – 5:45 pm – 7:45pm.
Poetry and Prose Feature plus Open Mike
Cornelia St. Café, 29 Cornelia St., Manhattan
212-989-9319; http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com
$7 minimum includes one drink
Come in time to sign up at 5:45 pm.
Bring poetry Bring prose Bring script Bring a friend
5 minute time limit for open mike

Feature Readers: Joanna Clapps Herman & Richard Vetere

Joanna Clapps Herman’s memoir, The Anarchist Bastard: Growing Up Italian in America is considered a “domestic epic.” Of Anarchist, Maria Laurino, author of Old World Daughter, New World Mother and Were You Always an Italian calls Clapps Herman, “A clever alchemist and gifted storyteller, she mixes humor and sadness, anger and tenderness, extracting wisdom from every ounce of pain. Along the way, the reader inhales the rich aroma of simmering espresso, savors the sweet pasticceria, follows the needle that threads their lives…
Clapps Herman has co-edited two anthologies Wild Dreams and Our Roots Are Deep with Passion. Her essays have appeared in The Milk of Almonds, Don’t Tell Mama, Oral History, Oral Culture,and Italian Americans, Lavandaria.
She has published extensively fiction, poems and creative non-fiction. She has won the Bruno Arcudi Prize, the Henry Paoloucci prize. The Litchfield Review awarded her their medal for Literary Excellence. She teaches at The City College (CUNY) Center for Worker Education and is on the Graduate Writing Faculty of Manhattanville College http://www.joannaclappsherman.com

Richard Vetere’s play Last Day had its world premiere at Gloucester Stage this year and his first young adult play, Bird Brain (Dramatic Publishing ) was just released. His latest novel Baroque was published by Bordighera Press; his poetry collections include Memories of Human Hands and A Dream of Angels.
Vetere’s critically-acclaimed novel, The Third Miracle was adapted into a screenplay he co-wrote. Produced by Francis Ford Coppola, directed by Agneiszka Holland, and starring Ed Harris and Anne Heche, the film was screened at MOMA. His other films include How to Go Out on a Date in Queens,
Currently, he teaches a playwriting workshop in the master’s program at NYU; is a member of the NY Playwright’s Lab, Author’s Guild and Dramatist Guild. Stony Brook University created the Richard Vetere Collection and his archives are displayed in the Frank Melville Library. http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Vetere

Since 1991, the organization has given voice to writers through its Open Reading series at Cornelia St. Café every month.
IAWA is a 501© (3) not-for-profit corporation; donations are tax deductible.

Visit the Italian American Writers Cafe blog
http://www.i-italy.org/bloggers/italian-american-writers-cafe
https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/

Events:

Saturday October 1 – Tuesday November 1 Exhibition: Aldo Tambellini’s work including sculpture, film video, poetry, painting, lumagrams & video grams. Opening Reception: Thursday, October 6 at 5pm Special Performance of Black Zero:Thursday, October 20 6pm Chelsea Art Museum, 556 W 22nd St (11th Ave) Manhattan Free Admission http://www.chelseaartmuseum.org or 212-255-0719

Monday, October 3 Film: The Anatomy of Vince Guaraldi (2010), Andrew Thomas and Toby Gleason, dirs The Anatomy of Vince Guaraldi is a music-filled exploration of the celebrated composer who pioneered the crossover of jazz and pop. Vince Guaraldi’s accomplishments include his celebrated scores for the Peanuts animations, his mega-hit “Cast Your Fate to the Wind,” his performances at San Francisco’s North Beach nightclub the hungry i, and his groundbreaking Jazz Mass at Grace Cathedral. The film features recently discovered and restored footage of Guaraldi’s appearances and recording sessions captured by noted jazz writer and Rolling Stone co-founder Ralph J. Gleason, as well as new performances and insights from Dave Brubeck, Dick Gregory, Paul Krassner, Paul Mazursky, and more. 6pm . Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor, Manhattan. Free Admission. Seating is limited. Please call (212) 642-2094 to pre-register with the Calandra Institute

Thursday, October 13 Seminar: Italian Immigrant Radical Culture by Marcella Bencivenni. Italian Americans possess a vibrant, if largely forgotten, radical past. In this presentation, Marcella Bencivenni, author of Italian Immigrant Radical Culture: The Idealism of the Sovversivi in the United States, 1890-1940 (New York University Press, 2011), delves into the history of the sovversivi, a transnational generation of social rebels, and offers a fascinating portrait of their political struggle as well as their milieu and artistic creativity in the United States. Forming their own alternative press, institutions, and working class organizations, these groups created a vigorous movement and counterculture that constituted a significant part of the American Left until World War II. Historian Nunzio Pernicone will join Bencivenni in a discussion of her book. 6pm . Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor, Manhattan. Free Admission. Seating is limited. Please call (212) 642-2094 to pre-register with the Calandra Institute

Tuesday, October 18 Reading: Suzanne Corso reads from Brooklyn Story. It is the summer of 1978. Half-Jewish, half-Italian Samantha Bonti is fifteen years old and living in Bensonhurst with her mother Joan, a cynic scarred by a ruinous marriage and shackled with drug and alcohol addictions, and her Grandma Ruth, an opinionated source of encouragement. They survive on food stamps and welfare checks, while Samantha dreams of graduating, moving to Manhattan, and becoming a writer. But when she begins dating Tony Kroon–twenty-years-old, charismatic, and an aspiring mobster–she finds herself navigating a perilous relationship that threatens to jeopardize her hopes for a better life. Told from an adult perspective, Brooklyn Story is a true-to-life novel about finding the courage to break from the past and the strength to pursue the promise of a better future. 6pm . Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor, Manhattan. Free Admission. Seating is limited. Please call (212) 642-2094 to pre-register with the Calandra Institute

Wednesday, October 19 Reading: Page Meets Stage: Maria Mazziotti Gillan meets Sean Thomas Dougherty 8pm Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, Manhattan $12 admission/$6 students (tickets available at the door) For more info call: 917-743-6911

Friday, October 21 Vino & Verdi: A Wine and Food Tasting Featuring Italy’s Emilia-Romagna Region with a special Presentation Celebrating its Favorite Son – Giuseppe Verdi 7pm Casa Belvedere, The Italian Cultural Foundation, Inc. 79 Howard Avenue Staten Island Admission – $50 718-273-7660 info@casa-belvedere.org
http://www.casa-belvedere.org

Tuesday, October 25 Reading: Women’s / Trans’ Poetry Jam & Open Mike, Featured Reader Geri DeLuca Hosted by Vittoria repetto 7pm. Bluestockings, 172 Allen St. (between Stanton & Rivington), Manhattan. $5 suggested donation. For further information call (212) 777-6028 or email Vittoriar@aol.com

Friday, October 28 Film Premier& Reading; “Ferlinghetti” by Chris Felver. Michael Palma will introduce the reading w/ Daniela Gioseffi, and Paul Mariani to celebrate Italian Culture & Heritage Month. Ferlinghetti, Gioseffi & Mariani are winners of The John Ciardi Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry during Michael Palma’s poetry editorship of Italian Americana 7pm Poets House, 10 River Terrace, Manhattan. Reception with free refreshments follows for Daniela’s 70th birthday year. Free admission. Information: daniela@tellurian.com/ http://www.ItalianAmericanWriters.com Directions: http://www.poetshouse.org/

Thursday November 3 Book Awards & Reading: 2011 Bordighera Annual Poetry Awards 2011 winner: Driving West on the Pulaski Skyway by John Ortenzio Bargowski 2010 Winner: A Boat that can Carry Two by Matthew Cariello 6:30pm John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 W. 43rd St. 17th floor. Manhattan between 5th & 6th Ave Free Admission Refreshments to be served 212 642-2094

Members’ News:

Obituary: Diana Festa
Poet and past IAWA feature, Diana Festa, died on June 8, 2011; yet some of her work has appeared posthumously such as in the current Feile Festa that can now be viewed online [http://www.medcelt.org/feile-festa/v006/poetry/festa.html]. Her poem End of Summer won The Fifth Annual John and Rose Petracca & Family Award and appeared in the 2010 edition of Philadelphia Poets edited by Rosemary Cappello.
Festa was the author of six poetry books, Arches to the West, Ice Sparrow, Thresholds, Bedrock, The Gathering and A Landscape of Time. She has also published four books on literary criticism, and a large number of poems and articles in various reviews and anthologies. She is the recipient of several poetry prizes, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Guizot Award from the French Academy.
Festa, who was a French professor at Brooklyn College until her retirement, created a base for a group of authors known as the Madison Poets who gathered weekly for an evening of writing or editing their poems for over a decade. Her late evening banter and extravagant meals were legendary. Festa will be sorely missed by the Madison Poets and others who came into contact with her. A memorial is forthcoming and will be announced shortly.

“Biting into a morsel of Abruzzese soppresatta will never be the same after reading Anthony Di Renzo’s Bitter Greens: Essays on Food, Politics and Ethnicity from the Imperial Kitchen” begins Maria Lisella’s review of Anthony Di Renzo’s Bitter Greens: Essays on Food, Politics and Ethnicity from the Imperial Kitchen (SUNY Press), which was recently published in the 2011 edition of the literary journal, Feile-Festa, is now online. “Perhaps the key passage to the entire collection is: ‘Italian Americans can learn more about the heartbreak and horror of assimilation from soppressata than from any book…This particular sausage has gone from being a staple, to a treat, to a delicacy, to a swindle in less than thirty years. The phenomenon is a minor tragedy in our history – a minor tragedy, but a telling one.'” http://www.medcelt.org/feilefesta/v006/prose/lisella.html

Check out an interview with Tony Ardizzone in the journal Magna Grece http://magnagrece.blogspot.com/2011/09/fiction-as-life-interview-with-author.html

Three books written by Dr. Marie Menna Pagliaro for educators have just been published by Rowman & Littlefield. The titles are: Educator or Bully? Managing the 21st Century Classroom; Exemplary Classroom Questioning: Promoting Thinking and Learning; and Differentiating Instruction: Matching Strategies with Objectives. A fourth book, Research-Based Unit and Lesson Planning: Maximizing Student Achievement is scheduled to be published in November. These books by Marie Pagliaro are in addition to her novel, That Woman and the Mafia Don, the profits of which go to help prevent young people from joining all kinds of ethnic gangs.

Daniela Gioseffi has published reviews of Gil Fagiani’s A Blanquito in El Barrio and Maria Lisella’s Amore on Hope St. in the current issue of VIA: Voices in Italian Americana.

Disturbing Youth (ISBN 1463730535), a novel by Melissa Pizirusso, tells the story of CJ Melfino, a boy kidnapped by his mother and then abandoned as a toddler, and his father Jace, who spends ten years trying to locate his son. Forced to live with elderly strangers from an early age, CJ’s childhood is filled with few bright spots besides his friendship with Ashley, the little girl who lives in the trailer across the street. The influences of his environment push him away from the rules of society and towards criminality. When Jace finds his son ten years after he last saw him, he hopes for closeness but finds only resentment and a dangerous outlook. Jace must win CJ’s trust and show him the value of a better life before the two can become close again. Inspired by the true-life story of a troubled youth, Pizirusso created the fictional character of CJ and filled his life with problems often faced by children in difficult circumstances, including divorce, teen pregnancy, racism and gang life. Written to engage and inspire thought about social pressures, the novel is targeted at all readers interested in rich, character-driven drama. Disturbing Youth is available for sale online at Amazon.com

Nick Matros won a month-long grant through the National Endowment for the Humanities to participate in the NEH’s Summer Institute course The Art of Teaching Italian through Art in Rome, Italy.

Stephen Sangirardi, former Iona adjunct in English, New Yorker, and Multiple Sclerosis patient, has released his second novel—A Shakespearean View of Freud. Like his first novel Monday Afternoon, this second book is also published by Night Reading in the UK and is available on Amazon.com and Kindle. The novel is about a librarian–Rob Conti—whose jealousy and fetishes ruin his two marriages. The setting takes place in New York and Missouri. The author’s picture is again on the back cover of the book, and his email is Bard715@aol.com.

Kathleen Gerard has a novel forthcoming in May, In Transit (Five Star/Gale-Cengage-Thorndike Press) is a woman-in-jeopardy story that features a contemporary Italian-American protagonist. The story delves into the ordinary lives of NYPD career cops and how their fates are determined by people who hold secrets as dark and as labyrinthine as the New York City Subway System. Kathleen was the recipient of the Perillo Prize for Italian-American Literature (IAWA, 2007). To learn more about the novel visit: http://intransit-thenovel.blogspot.com

Louisa Calio, director of the Poets and Writers Piazza for Hofstra’s Italian Experience is a featured poet this month at http://www.Mythopoetry.com. Just click on their facebook link to see her work. She will host the 10th anniversary of the Poets and Writers Piazza this Sept.18th at Hofstra. Look out for details. Her poem “Meet Joe, My Sicilian Father” will be in Descant a literary magazine published in Canada this coming winter and her story “Churchillo” will be published in a collection of humorous tales by Ed Maruggi of Winston Publications. Her poem ” Signifyin Woman” is now available in Sweet Lemons 2 an anthology of writings with a Sicilian flavor available through Legas Press.

Playbill announced the world premiere of Richard Vetere’s play Last Day, on Gloucester Stage’s summer 2011 season in Gloucester, MA, running July 21-Aug. 7, and is billed as “a dark, delicious and mysterious love story set in a Long Island cemetery where not all secrets are underground.” Stage, screen and television writer Richard Vetere is the author of past Gloucester Stage hits Gangster Apparel and First Love. For furtherinformation and to purchase tickets, call the Gloucester Stage Box
Office at (978) 281-4433 or visit http://www.gloucesterstage.org

Dennis Barone has two new books out: Field Report, twenty stories from Quale Press (and with a cover by poet Elaine Equi), and Parallel Lines, a volume of selected poems including work from over thirty years and with an Italian section. Information can be found on the new site: http://www.dennisbarone.wordpress.com.

Maria Terrone’s poem, “Ferdinandea,” about a Sicilian ghost-island, is the opening poem in the April debut issue of The Common, published by Amherst College. Another Italian-themed poem, “Spaccanapoli,” was recently accepted by Hawaii Pacific Review.
On Wednesday, April 20, her appearance on Nota Bene, a monthly internet webcast, can be accessed at http://www.livestream.com/Italics (the interview will also be archived). Every month, Fred Gardaphe, Distinguished Professor of Italian American Studies at Queens College, conducts a lively discussion with artists and scholars of Italian American culture for Nota Bene. The April issue of Clarion, the newspaper for the CUNY Professional Staff Congress union, published three of her poems related to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.

Barbara Fragoletti Hoffman’s recent publications are “Name Dropping” and “Cape May in January” published in the current Winter 2011 issue of Italian Americana. Her poems, “All the Birds Cried,” The Amish Mother” and “Split” are in the recently published anthology Toward Forgiveness. Her poem “Riffs on Samantha” appears in the anthology Child of My Child. Forthcoming are the poems “My Sister’s Words” in the fall issue of the Monadnock Writers’ Group memory-themed anthology, “Yellow” in a 2011 issue of The Long Island Quarterly and “Relic” in a 2011 issue of The Paterson Review.

Darlene Madott is pleased to announce her website “Blog” has been updated, with reference to recent publications, and forthcoming work. You are invited to visit her website at http://darlenemadott.com/blog.php

Review of Hush in The Daily Beast: Libretto adapted by Emelise Aleandri, Italian play by Etta Cascini Composed/Directed by Charles Mandracchia http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-02-23/midwinter-madness-in-new-york-2011-john-chattertons-festival/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsC2
http://www.hushthemusical.com

Publisher’s News/Book Reviews/Contest Winners/Awards:

A new collection of essays on the Italian American experience is now available in a Kindle edition from Amazon.com. These 12 essays were originally published in the online journal Suite 101, and some of them were rerpinted in Dante Society newsletters in Boston and Seattle Towards a More Balanced View of Italian Americans by Anthony S. Maulucci

Matriarch ~ A Journey Through Tradition (Work Smarter Now, $24.20) was released released on April 24, 2011. An Italian-American woman residing in central New Jersey, Suzann Brucato has created a photo journal as a tribute to motherhood, family, and heritage. Work Smarter Now has published this full-length collection of poems where Mrs. Brucato conveys the importance of family traditions as a contribution to ensuing generations. Matriarch ~ A Journey Through Tradition Author: Suzann M. Brucato
ISBN: 978-0-615-47832-6 | Library of Congress Control Number: 2011927566 Available at http://www.MagCloud.com Web: http://www.MatriarchJourney.com TheFaceOfPoetry@mindspring.com

Italica Press author (and Italian novelist, essayist, journalist, playwright and poet), Dacia Maraini, has been nominated for the 2011 Man Booker International Prize, the most prestigious literary award in the UK.
The International Prize is awarded for an author’s life work; and Italica Press has played some part in bringing this work to English-speaking audiences. Over the years we’ve published an English edition of her Donna in guerra (Woman at War, 1988), translated by Mara Benetti and Elspeth Spottiswood; her short story “Maria,” translated by Martha King in our anthology New Italian Women (edited by Martha King in 1989); and selections from her poetry in our anthology Contemporary Italian Women Poets, edited and translated by Cinzia Sartini Blum and Lara Trubowitz (2001)

Matriarch ~ A Journey Through Tradition (Work Smarter Now, $24.20) was released on April 24, 2011. An Italian-American woman residing in central New Jersey, Suzann Brucato has created a photo journal as a tribute to motherhood, family, and heritage. Work Smarter Now has published this full-length collection of poems where Mrs. Brucato conveys the importance of family traditions as a contribution to ensuing generations ISBN: 978-0-615-47832-6 Library of Congress Control Number: 2011927566 Print Format – $24.20; Digital Format – $14.29,Available at http://www.MagCloud.com http://www.MatriarchJourney.com Email: TheFaceOfPoetry@mindspring.com

For what’s new at Italica Press, please check out http://italicapressnews.blogspot.com/
You can also visit Italica Press at http://www.italicapress.com/

The Paterson Literary Review #38, 2009-2010 is out; this edition features Diane di Prima and includes a number of her poems and a short story Other poets/writers in this edition include Maria Fama, Vittoria repetto, Rachel Guido deVries, Maria Lisella, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, , Jennifer Gillan And Anthoy Buccino See http://old.pccc.edu/poetry/public.htm for price and order form.

Literary & Research Queries:

Hofstra Entertainment is currently seeking to cast a staged reading (on book) of Eduardo de Filippo’s comedy, Christmas in Naples. Casting 7-8 men, age range 20’s-50’s, and 4 women, age range 20’s -50’s. Reading will take place at Hofstra in the Helene Fortunoff Theater (Monroe Lecture Center), Thursday, November 17, 8 pm and is presented as part of a three day conference event exploring Naples. Directed by Bob Spiotto. Familiarity with Italian is not required as the piece is performed in English and without Italian accents. No pay. Send pix and resume to robert.t.spiotto@hofstra.edu

Linda Baldanzia is a student at Drew University in NJ. in a Poetry in Translation MFA program. I am looking for a translator to help me with literal translations of several short poems. I do not read Italian well. It would be best if the Translator has lived in Italy. The translating will begin this June 201-482-0597, lindabaldanzi@mac.com

Dom Giordano, talk show host with WPHT 1210 AM Radio in Philadelphia, is looking for contributors to the book- recipes, Feast of the Seven Fishes stories and other Italian/family traditions and recollections of the Christmas season. http://www.thefeastofthesevenfishes.com Contact Askdomg@aol.com

Alexandra Maffei holds a Masters in Italian Linterature and runs two blogs, one in English breakingnewts.blogspot.com the other in Italian, telegrafite.blog.espresso.repubblica.it/telegrafite. “I’m an excellent translator, fully conversant in Italian and American cultures, so consider me, should you know of or need services” viridiana430@msn.com

R. D. Williams is writing about her immigrant experience, willing to meet other writers. Also, seeking advice on how to obtain publisher. Contact: rosaria@gmail.com

Magazines, Contests & Calls for Submissions:

The Una Vita Foundation is committed to capturing the essence of Italian and Italian-American life in its new online story anthology. If you are an Italian, Italian-American, or have an engaging story that relates to Italy, submit your writing in 2000 characters or less and read stories by other contributors at http://www.una-vita.org/. From the home page, click on the blue “Submit a Story” tab and write away! Every month a panel of judges will choose one outstanding story from our website submissions and its author will receive a $100 Nordstrom gift card. The story will also be translated into Italian and published in the Italian magazine Clarus, which is circulated in Southern Italy. mwright.unavita@gmail.com

Luigi Monteferrante is looking for a special edition on work by Italian/Italian American/Italian Canadian authors in the magazine: Chicago Quarterly Review http://www.chicagoquarterlyreview.com/ Work should be submitted to luigimonteferrante@yahoo.com

Feile-Festa is an annual publication that comes out in the spring of each year. Though our preference is for creative work related to Irish and Italian/Sicilian themes, we are open to other Mediterranean cultures, all of which can relate to the respective country of family origin or the diasporas to America, Canada, etc. We are also interested in writing that evokes life in New York City. The reading period starts October 1st and ends January 1st. Please do not send submissions outside the time frame mentioned in the guidelines. http://www.medcelt.org/feile-festa/index.html

The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute is happy to announce the re-launching of its bi-annual journal the Italian American Review (IAR). The IAR features articles about the history and culture of Italian Americans, as well as other aspects of the Italian diaspora.The journal embraces a wide range of professional concerns and theoretical orientations in the social sciences and in cultural studies. Information for contributors can be found at: http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/calandra/italrev/iarcont.html.

Journal of Italian Translation is a non-profit international journal devoted to the translation of literary works from and into Italian-English-Italian dialects. Subscription price is $25 per year. Submissions and inquiries should be sent to Luigi Bonaffini at l.bonaffini@att.net. All past issues can be downloaded from the journal’s website at http://www.jitonline.org

Pyramid Arts and Poetry Magazine – “Where Rome and New York Meet” Pyramid Arts and Poetry is divided into three sections: Visual Art; Poetry & Literature; and Film. Listings of gallery exhibits, poetry readings, and film showings in New York and Rome accompany each section. For submission guidelines, visit http://www.pyramidmagazine.org

VIA, Voices in Italian Americana, is a semi-annual published in the spring and fall. Issues include sections of essays, fiction, poetry, review essays, reviews, and guest spots by prominent Italian/American writers. Subscriptions are $20.00 per year ($15.00 for seniors, students, and un[der]employed). For subscriptions & advertising, contact Anthony Julian Tamburri at tamburri@bordigherapress.org

Italian Americana is the first and only cultural as well as historical review dedicated to the Italian experience in the New World; subscription price is $20 a year, $35 for two years, to: Italian Americana, University of Rhode Island/Providence, 80 Washington Street Providence, RI 02903-1803. Check out the new Website supplement to the journal at http://www.italianamericana.com

The Monday Night Playwrights’ Series is curated by Richard Fulco; interested playwrights could submit their work at richardfulco@aol.com

Theatre Submissions: Post Road Magazine (Boston, Ma), a literary/visual arts journal, is accepting theatre submissions of very short one-act plays, sketches, and monologues. david@postroadmag.com

The American Italian Historical Association Newsletter is now accepting submissions of book reviews. Please send all submissions Anthony.Tamburri@qc.cuny.edu.

Websites:

Italian Cultural Institute of New York, 686 Park Ave, Manhattan http://www.iicnewyork.esteri.it and click on their monthly newsletter available in digital format.

Casa Belvedere, The Italian Cultural Foundation, a unique 2.75 acre cultural campus and community center on Staten Island for all to enjoy, is a registered 501(c) (3) not for profit organization that seeks to preserve, promote and celebrate the rich heritage of Italy by encouraging an appreciation of the Italian language, arts, literature, history, fashion, cuisine, and commerce through educational programs, exhibits and events. To subscribe to the mailing list and learn more about the upcoming events and programs, call 718-273-7660, e-mail info@casa-belvedere.org or click on to http://www.casa-belvedere.org.

Anthony Buccino has created a blog for New Jersey poets to post info about events, links to their web sites and publishers and literary magazines. You can get email notices- no strings attached – when new items are posted. http://njpoetspoetry.blogspot.com/

http://www.BigFatPrize.com lists over 500 Writing Contests and competition categories like Essay, Fiction, Poetry, Short Story, Young Writers, Songwriting, Screenwriting, Playwright and Journalism

Working Writer newsletter offers solid information with a good dose of humor and a spirit of writing camaraderie. WW is filled with articles on promotion, publishing, freelancing, different genres, how-to, and how-not-to, written by readers across the country. To receive a free copy (no obligation) by e-mail , send a request to workingwriters@aol.com. Or check out http://www.workingwriter1.com

I-Italy: The Italian American Digital Project (http://www.i-italy.org) is online. This site is a forum for discussion and debate over Italian American social and cultural issues, home to numerous Italian American blogs, and the place to read leading Italian American commentators columns on Italian American life.

Readers are requested to visit http://www.italianamericanpress.com to order or obtain information about the fascinating books listed below written by Italian Americans on a variety of interesting topics. At The Italian-American Press, there are links for finding translators, a literary marketplace, and writers’ guilds, aside from links such as Tools for Italian American Writers, Italian American Books, Italian American Publishers, and the Internet’s best selection of self-published Italian American Books (84 Titles).

KIT-Kairos Italy Theater’s mission is to create a cultural exchange program between Italy, the US and the international community, to unveil artistic and creative sides of these two countries to the world. http://www.kitheater.com/

New York Foundation for the Arts, Visit NYFA Source, the most comprehensive database of awards, services, and publications available to artists in all disciplines. http://www.nyfa.org/

The Write Stuff – Online Newsletter of Word Journeys at http://www.wordjourneys.com contains articles on self-publishing, new services and grist for the pen: tips.

The ACLS History E-Book Project http://www.historyebook.org is an electronic resource that includes over 1230 full-text, cross-searchable books in the field of history selected by historians for their continuing importance to students and scholars. Individuals can also subscribe through a membership in the American Historical Association or the Renaissance Society of America.

Accenti, The Canadian Magazine with an Italian Accent at http://www.accenti.ca/

The AA Independent Press Guide is a free, online resource for writers at http://www.thunderburst.co.uk. The guide has detailed listings on over 2,000 literary and genre magazines and publishers from around the world, plus links to over 750 Internet magazines.

http://www.virtualitalia.com is an online resource for Italians, Italian Americans and enthusiasts of Italian culture.

http://www.littap.org is a new resource for literary presenters, with tools such as Guidelines for Writers Fees. In addition to featuring Italian American, Italian Canadian and Italian writers, the site has reviews and links to the sites of writers of Italian Australian, Italian French and Italian Latino American origins.

For the calendar of events for the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, go to http://www.nyu.edu/pages/casaitaliana/events.html

For the calendar of events for the Italian Academy at Columbia University, go to http://www.italianacademy.columbia.edu/calendar/calendar.html

The Immigration History Research Center is at http://www.ihrc.umn.edu

See Poets & Writers for leads to prizes for writers, and places to get away and write, links to grants, conferences and residencies. http://www.pw.org/toolsforwriters

http://www.ItalianAmericanWriters.com is an archive of samples of contemporary Italian Amerian writing; writers include Dennis Barone, Marisa Frasca, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Bob Viscusi, Anthony Tamburri, Fred Gardaphe, Stephen Massimilla, Alfredo de Palchi, Peter Covino, Paola Corso, Gil Fagiani, Louisa Calio, etc. Also check out the other website edited by Daniela Gioseffi – http://www.PoetsUSA.com/

Of Interest:

Sunday, October 9th, 4pm
Concert celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy: The Columbus Citizens Foundation in collaboration with The Italian Cultural Institute of New York presents The Petruzzelli Theater Orchestra from Bari, Italy Conducted by Maestro Alberto Veronesi Featuring Soprano Marina Shaguch and Tenor Massimiliano Pisapia Debut of Coloratura Soprano Caroline Jones Rose Theater in Frederick P. Rose Hall, Lincoln Center Tickets on sale now Contact the Box Office: (212) 258 – 9501

Two events w/ Gil Fagiani Saturday October 15 7pm The Rainbow Rebooted:Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels and Black Power: Community Organizing in Radical Times Book Party Reading at Melville House Publishing (Ground floor of Verso Press Building) 145 Plymouth Street, Brooklyn Readings from authors Amy Sonnie and James TracySpecial guest respondants: Carlito Rovira (Young Lords), Lynn Lewis (Pticture the Homeless), Brenda Stokely (Labor and Civil Rights Organizer) Esther Wang (CAAV), Gil Fagiani (White Lightning)
Sunday October 16th, 2pm American Revolution II and Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels and Black Power: Community Organizing in Radical Times Brecht Forum
451 West Street (between Bank & Bethune Streets, New York, NY 10014 Phone: (212) 242-4201 – Email: brechtforum at brechtforum.org Join us for a special afternoon screening of American Revolution II, a documentary about the aftermath of the Chicago Democratic Convention protests. ARII features footages of the Black Panther Party building the original (pre-Jesse Jackson) Rainbow Coaltiion in dialogue with the poor white Young Patriots Organization. James Tracy and Amy Sonnie, co-authors of the new book “Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels and Black Power: Community Organizing in Radical Times” (Melville House Publishers) will be on hand to read and introduce the film. Former members–including Gil Fagiani– of White Lightning, one of the organizations in the book have been invited to speak. Sliding scale: $6/$10/$15
Free for Brecht Forum Subscribers

IAVANET Mentoring Program
Founded in 2007, the Italian-American Visual Artists’ Network (IAVANET) is a group of 18 painters, sculptors, photographers, and designers based in the greater New York City area. The collective credentials of the artists encompass the worlds of museum and gallery exhibitions, art education, and work in the marketplace of art and design. To view their portfolio, visit http://www.iavanet.org. Mindful of the great tradition of Italian excellence in the visual arts and its artistic heritage, the group is currently establishing a mentoring program for aspiring Italian-American visual artists of high school and college age. In the program participants will review and evaluate portfolios, offer advice on improving particular technical skills, and suggest projects that would be suited to the individual’s artistic personality. IAVANET will also curate shows of the work of students who participate in the program. Interested student artists can contact Richard Laurenzi at info@iavanet.org, specifying the area of mentoring they are seeking (painting, sculpture, photography, or design arts), to set up an interview.

Diasporic Continuities: A Salon Discussion Point on the Changing Face of Italian Unification on the Verge of its 150th Anniversaryhttp://disunification.blogspot.com/
How you can join the conversation: Still a work in progress, for now, please join the conversation by commenting on one of the existing posts or become a follower of the discussions. If you would like to post something yourself (rather than comment), please email LauraRuberto (lruberto@peralta.edu) or Pasquale Verdicchio (pverdicchio@yahoo.com)

Association of Friends of Piedmont in New York
We are a group of artists, professionals, scientists and business owners sharing an interest for the Piedmont Region, either because we were born there or because we appreciate the contribution that people from Piedmont have made to the arts, sciences and industry.You can learn more about the Association at http://piedmontinnewyork.blogspot.com

Vittoria repetto rents her charming vacation house in Framura, in the Ligurian region on a weekly to monthly basis at a reasonable price. It is the perfect place for vacation especially great if you are a writer or a painter. The occupancy is for 4 people; there are 2 bedrooms. The town is 3 towns north of the Cinqueterre towns. For detailed information and pictures, http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p211239

Italian American Writers, a Cablevision television series hosted by Vito De Simone, runs each month on many New York area and other Cablevision systems, including Manhattan, Long Island and some Brooklyn systems. Check local listings for channels and times.

The New York-based Italian-American Playwrights Forum meets at the Calandra Institute three Thursdays a month to develop plays and carry out discussions about Italian-American identity/themes. The work itself does not have to be about an Italian-American theme. Please contact Gian Di Donna gian@att.net for information.

Aug 2011 IAWA Newsletter

IAWA Italian American Writers Association Newsletter August 2011
P.O. Box 418, Brooklyn, NY 11215
http://www.iawa.net

IAWA SUPPORTS ITALIAN AMERICAN WRITING.

PLEASE SUPPORT IAWA .

You can make a donation through Paypal at http://www.iawa.net

Suggested donations:
Membership $30 (students and seniors $20)
Associate $100-249
Patron $250-499
Founder $500-1000
IAWA is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit corporation. Donations are tax-deductible.

If you prefer to send a check, make it payable to “Italian American Writers Association,” and send it to the following address:

Treasurer, Italian American Writers Association,
P.O. Box 418, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Please share our Italian American Writer’s blog on your Facebook/Twitter account

As some of you know, we have a blog at https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/ And I hope that you have (or will) enjoyed the information and writing presented there. We now have a “Share” button on our blog so you can share the blog w/ your Facebook friends & Twitter fans. So please help get the word out about our blog and click on the “Share” button so others can enjoy the blog. https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/italian-american-writers-assoc-newsletter-february-2011/
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Do you have a Linkedin page? Help Us get the word out about IAWA
Connect to us on our Linkedin page: http://www.linkedin.com/in/italianamericanwritersassoc

Please send us announcements of readings and literary events by the 15th of the preceding month; this means if you have an event in January; send us it by Dec. 15th

Please format in THIRD PERSON and in this order for events: Day, Date, Type of event, Event and Name of Participants, Time, Place of event and address, Admission price; Contact information Web site

We do not open attachments; please put all announcements in the body of your email in plain text only; we can’t use jpg or anything in all caps

E-mail announcements to Vittoria repetto at iawanewsletter@aol.com
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Saturday August 13thth – 5:45 pm – 7:45pm.
Poetry and Prose Feature plus Open Mike
Cornelia St. Café, 29 Cornelia St., Manhattan
212-989-9319; http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com
$7 minimum includes one drink
Come in time to sign up at 5:45 pm.
Bring poetry Bring prose Bring script Bring a friend
5 minute time limit for open mike

Feature Readers: Kathryn M. Fazio and Gabriella Belfiglio

The reading takes place Saturday, August 13th, 5:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m., at the Cornelia St. Café, 29 Cornelia Street, Manhattan, 212-989-9319. The evening starts with Open Mike readings of five minutes each.

Kathryn Marie Fazio, whose work has been published internationally, is a poet and fine artist. She was awarded the Ferrara Scholarship from the Performing and Creative Arts Department of the College of Staten Island CUNY, and named its Poet Laureate. Her book, A Taste of Hybrid Vigor: new poems of War, Passion, and Social Significance, contains poems and pictures of her original oil paintings and her poem “War” in the collection, won her the First Ed-Rehberg Prize for poetry, which was translated into French and televised in Haiti by the Education Committee of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

Fazio participated in a FUSE event to raise money for the aftermath of Katrina, was a poet for telethon to support public television in Kingston, NY. and has recited on the Brooklyn Waterfront in Red Hook for Creative Arts Therapy Outreach and Awareness. Fazio was coined a Bowery Woman, appearing in the only Bowery Women Anthology ever published.
Fazio credits her close relationship with Robert Dunn for encouraging her to participate in the 5th World Congress of Poets for Poetry Research and Recitation where she represented the U.S., and was awarded the Silla Gold Crown World Peace Literature Prize from Korea. Fazio edited a collection of poems Our World in an Onion and is currently a poet at a Wellness Center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Gabriella M. Belfiglio was born in Philadelphia, PA. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from Antioch College as well as an MFA in Poetry from American University.Her writing has appeared in several journals and anthologies, including Folio, The Centrifugal Eye, the award-winning Poetic Voices without Borders, and Avanti Popolo. She is one of five emerging Brooklyn writers featured in the anthology The Dream Catcher’s Song.
Belfiglio is an artist and social activist. She is a member of the Malìa Collective of Italian American Women and recently participated in the Centennial commemoration of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

Since 1991, the organization has given voice to writers through its Open Reading series at Cornelia St. Café every month.
IAWA is a 501© (3) not-for-profit corporation; donations are tax deductible.

. Visit the Italian American Writers Cafe blog
http://www.i-italy.org/bloggers/italian-american-writers-cafe
https://italianamericanwriters.wordpress.com/

Events:

Tuesday, August 2 Reading: Claudine D’Angelo-Dotzman will read from her debut novel, Of Asphalt and Earth. A story of immigration and finding one’s place in a new land for generations. She will be joined by Dan Pope, author of In the Cherry Tree. 7pm Westside Classroom Building, Room 218 Western Connecticut State University Westside Campus, 3 Lake Avenue Ext,. Danbury, CT 06811

Saturday, August 6 Play: Soliloquy For A Seamstress: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire A One-Act three character drama written and performed by LuLu LoLo In this play LuLu LoLo portrays the young seamstress Sarafina Saracino who shares drudgery and dreams with her little sister Teresina unaware they are about to perish in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire; their Italian immigrant mother; and a young reporter William Gunn Shepherd who witnessed the fire and speaks of the infamous trail that acquitted the factory owners of any blame for the tragedy. http://www.lululolo.com/theater/soliliquy.html 2pm
Seward Park Library, 192 East Broadway (at Jefferson St.) Manhattan (212) 477-6770
http://www.nypl.org/locations/tid/67/node/124158?lref=67%2Fcalendar Free Admission

Saturday, August 13 Musical: Hush the Musical, a production from Charles “Rocco” Mandracchia in association with the Frizzi & Lazzi Musical Theatre Company. Hush is set in the VIP waiting room at LaGuardia airport during a blinding snowstorm which has halted all departures. Several stranded, eccentric characters and their opposing philosophies are forced into comical confrontations with delightfully humorous consequences. Georgia, a New Age Buddhist meditation instructor encounters a successful, materialistic businessman, Othello Salviati. They are joined by an inept Hit Man, a kooky Stewardess, Othello’s Wife Vittoria and various passengers. Music for Hush is composed/co-conceived by Charles Mandracchia, who also directs and produces. The libretto was adapted by Emelise Aleandri, Artistic Director of Frizzi & Lazzi, from Etta Cascini’s original one-act comedy, SHHHH! 3:30pm Le Poisson Rouge 158 Bleecker Street Manhattan 10012
Other Shows: Tues 8/16 @ 7pm, Tue 8/23 @ 5pm, Wed 8/24 @ 7pm, Thurs 8/25 @6:30pm http://www.hushthemusical.com For tickets visit http://www.FringeNYC.org

Sunday, August 14 Play: “Anna Nicole: Blonde Glory,” a poignant and witty play award-winning poet and playwright. Grace Cavalieri, will be presented by The Dream Up Festival at Theater for the New City for five performances between August14-September 4. An imagined panorama of Anna Nicole Smith’s life. The cast of six stars Mary Riley as Anna Nicole-a portrayal seemingly channeled from the model herself. Composer Jon Tomlinson creates a sound score and a cheer-leading production number for Anna to sing and dance. Cino Theater, 155 First Avenue Manhattan 10003 $15.00www.smarttix.com Performance dates/times: August 21 7pm, August 24 7pm, August 26 9pm, August 27 2pm matinee, August 28 7pm

Members’ News:

Mary Bucci Bush’s long-awaited novel Sweet Hope about Italians imported illegally to the Mississippi Delta 1901-1906 and working as contract laborers/ indentured servants alongside African American sharecroppers, will be published this fall 2011 by Guernica Editions. You can learn more about the novel and other work by Mary, plus read an excerpt from the novel and her other work, at http://www.marybuccibush.com Sweet Hope is an ideal novel to teach in Italian American Studies, American Studies, American History, Southern History, African American History, American literature, and other courses, especially those looking at immigration or race relations, etc. Chapters from this novel have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary journals. This is the untold story of the “Italian Colony Experiment” and of a bittersweet friendship between one Italian and one African American family.

Interview with Fred Gardaphe: http://magnagrece.blogspot.com/ by Olivia Kate Cerrone

Gil Fagiani and Maria Lisella were the recent subjects of a Huffington Post article by Nancy Ruhling: Astoria Characters: The Couplets Couple in which the reporter explores their dual development as writers sharing a private life and a public commitment to Italian American culture and political activism.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/astoria-characters-the-couplets-couple_b_866581.html

“Between Two Shores – Poets read at the Naples/New York Exhibit”: You are invited to attend and read at B. Amore’s exhibit, Naples/New York on Saturday, October 15th, 2-5 PM. The exhibit and event will be held at the David Filderman Gallery of the Hofstra University Museum. The gallery is in the Axinn Library Building, 9th floor, 123 Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY 11549. Please send bio to B. Amore (amoreb@earthlink.net) if you’d like to read or just come and be part of an open mic. Hope to see you!!!

Paul Giaimo is proud to announce the publication of his reader’s guide to Don DeLillo’s fiction: Appreciating Don DeLillo:The Moral Force Of A Writer’s Work. Pre-orders of the ebook are hopping and the paper book should hit the shelves on 7/31/2011. If anyone wishes to review the book, please contact DrMojiah@aol.com http://www.amazon.com/Appreciating-Don-DeLillo-Moral-Writers/dp/0313386242

A “lionhearted debut” (Ada Limon) in two parts, Diorama is written by Lisa Marie Basile and Alyssa Morhardt-Goldstein. Praised for being “super smart, bold, and a little scary” Lisa Marie Basile http://www.lisamariebasile.com

Nick Matros won a month-long grant through the National Endowment for the Humanities to participate in the NEH’s Summer Institute course The Art of Teaching Italian through Art in Rome, Italy.

Stephen Sangirardi, former Iona adjunct in English, New Yorker, and Multiple Sclerosis patient, has released his second novel—A Shakespearean View of Freud. Like his first novel Monday Afternoon, this second book is also published by Night Reading in the UK and is available on Amazon.com and Kindle. The novel is about a librarian–Rob Conti—whose jealousy and fetishes ruin his two marriages. The setting takes place in New York and Missouri. The author’s picture is again on the back cover of the book, and his email is Bard715@aol.com.

Kathleen Gerard has a novel forthcoming in May, In Transit (Five Star/Gale-Cengage-Thorndike Press) is a woman-in-jeopardy story that features a contemporary Italian-American protagonist. The story delves into the ordinary lives of NYPD career cops and how their fates are determined by people who hold secrets as dark and as labyrinthine as the New York City Subway System. Kathleen was the recipient of the Perillo Prize for Italian-American Literature (IAWA, 2007). To learn more about the novel visit: http://intransit-thenovel.blogspot.com

Louisa Calio, director of the Poets and Writers Piazza for Hofstra’s Italian Experience is a featured poet this month at http://www.Mythopoetry.com. Just click on their facebook link to see her work. She will host the 10th anniversary of the Poets and Writers Piazza this Sept.18th at Hofstra. Look out for details. Her poem “Meet Joe, My Sicilian Father” will be in Descant a literary magazine published in Canada this coming winter and her story “Churchillo” will be published in a collection of humorous tales by Ed Maruggi of Winston Publications. Her poem ” Signifyin Woman” is now available in Sweet Lemons 2 an anthology of writings with a Sicilian flavor available through Legas Press.

Playbill announced the world premiere of Richard Vetere’s play Last Day, on Gloucester Stage’s summer 2011 season in Gloucester, MA, running July 21-Aug. 7, and is billed as “a dark, delicious and mysterious love story set in a Long Island cemetery where not all secrets are underground.” Stage, screen and television writer Richard Vetere is the author of past Gloucester Stage hits Gangster Apparel and First Love. For furtherinformation and to purchase tickets, call the Gloucester Stage Box
Office at (978) 281-4433 or visit http://www.gloucesterstage.org

Dennis Barone has two new books out: Field Report, twenty stories from Quale Press (and with a cover by poet Elaine Equi), and Parallel Lines, a volume of selected poems including work from over thirty years and with an Italian section. Information can be found on the new site: http://www.dennisbarone.wordpress.com.

Maria Terrone’s poem, “Ferdinandea,” about a Sicilian ghost-island, is the opening poem in the April debut issue of The Common, published by Amherst College. Another Italian-themed poem, “Spaccanapoli,” was recently accepted by Hawaii Pacific Review.
On Wednesday, April 20, her appearance on Nota Bene, a monthly internet webcast, can be accessed at http://www.livestream.com/Italics (the interview will also be archived). Every month, Fred Gardaphe, Distinguished Professor of Italian American Studies at Queens College, conducts a lively discussion with artists and scholars of Italian American culture for Nota Bene. The April issue of Clarion, the newspaper for the CUNY Professional Staff Congress union, published three of her poems related to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.

Barbara Fragoletti Hoffman’s recent publications are “Name Dropping” and “Cape May in January” published in the current Winter 2011 issue of Italian Americana. Her poems, “All the Birds Cried,” The Amish Mother” and “Split” are in the recently published anthology Toward Forgiveness. Her poem “Riffs on Samantha” appears in the anthology Child of My Child. Forthcoming are the poems “My Sister’s Words” in the fall issue of the Monadnock Writers’ Group memory-themed anthology, “Yellow” in a 2011 issue of The Long Island Quarterly and “Relic” in a 2011 issue of The Paterson Review.

Darlene Madott is pleased to announce her website “Blog” has been updated, with reference to recent publications, and forthcoming work. You are invited to visit her website at http://darlenemadott.com/blog.php

Review of Hush in The Daily Beast: Libretto adapted by Emelise Aleandri, Italian play by Etta Cascini Composed/Directed by Charles Mandracchia http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-02-23/midwinter-madness-in-new-york-2011-john-chattertons-festival/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsC2
http://www.hushthemusical.com

Beyond DiMaggio: Italian Americans in Baseball by Lawrence Baldassaro
Foreword by Dom DiMaggio hardcover ISBN: 978-0-8032-1705-8 $34.95 from the
University of Nebraska Press Lawrence Baldassaro tells the stories of Italian Americans’ contributions to the game, from Joe DiMaggio, who transcended his ethnic identity to become an American icon, to A. Bartlett Giamatti, who served as commissioner of baseball, to Mike Piazza, considered the greatest hitting catcher ever. Baldassaro conducted more than fifty interviews with players, coaches, managers, and executives—some with careers dating back to the thirties—in order to put all these figures and their stories into the historical context of baseball, Italian Americans, and, finally, the culture of American sports.

Dr. Marie Menna Pagliaro’s novel, That Woman and the Mafia Don, conveys the rejection of Mafia values by proud Italian-Americans. The novel is available at Barnes and Noble (www.bn.com ) or amazon.com with book sale profits going to help prevent young people from joining all kinds of ethnic gangs. That Woman and the Mafia Don was selected to launch the Il Circolo Book Club of Palm Beach because the novel covers four generations of Italian women, providing a focus for discussions on Il Circolo’s theme for this season, Italian American Women. To learn more about the novel, visit
Dr. Pagliaro’s website at http://www.mariepagliaro.com.

Publisher’s News/Book Reviews/Contest Winners/Awards:

A new collection of essays on the Italian American experience is now available in a Kindle edition from Amazon.com. These 12 essays were originally published in the online journal Suite 101, and some of them were rerpinted in Dante Society newsletters in Boston and Seattle Towards a More Balanced View of Italian Americans by Anthony S. Maulucci

Matriarch ~ A Journey Through Tradition (Work Smarter Now, $24.20) was released released on April 24, 2011. An Italian-American woman residing in central New Jersey, Suzann Brucato has created a photo journal as a tribute to motherhood, family, and heritage. Work Smarter Now has published this full-length collection of poems where Mrs. Brucato conveys the importance of family traditions as a contribution to ensuing generations. Matriarch ~ A Journey Through Tradition Author: Suzann M. Brucato
ISBN: 978-0-615-47832-6 | Library of Congress Control Number: 2011927566 Available at http://www.MagCloud.com Web: http://www.MatriarchJourney.com TheFaceOfPoetry@mindspring.com

Italica Press author (and Italian novelist, essayist, journalist, playwright and poet), Dacia Maraini, has been nominated for the 2011 Man Booker International Prize, the most prestigious literary award in the UK.
The International Prize is awarded for an author’s life work; and Italica Press has played some part in bringing this work to English-speaking audiences. Over the years we’ve published an English edition of her Donna in guerra (Woman at War, 1988), translated by Mara Benetti and Elspeth Spottiswood; her short story “Maria,” translated by Martha King in our anthology New Italian Women (edited by Martha King in 1989); and selections from her poetry in our anthology Contemporary Italian Women Poets, edited and translated by Cinzia Sartini Blum and Lara Trubowitz (2001)

Matriarch ~ A Journey Through Tradition (Work Smarter Now, $24.20) was released on April 24, 2011. An Italian-American woman residing in central New Jersey, Suzann Brucato has created a photo journal as a tribute to motherhood, family, and heritage. Work Smarter Now has published this full-length collection of poems where Mrs. Brucato conveys the importance of family traditions as a contribution to ensuing generations ISBN: 978-0-615-47832-6 Library of Congress Control Number: 2011927566 Print Format – $24.20; Digital Format – $14.29,Available at http://www.MagCloud.com http://www.MatriarchJourney.com Email: TheFaceOfPoetry@mindspring.com

For what’s new at Italica Press, please check out http://italicapressnews.blogspot.com/
You can also visit Italica Press at http://www.italicapress.com/

The Paterson Literary Review #38, 2009-2010 is out; this edition features Diane di Prima and includes a number of her poems and a short story Other poets/writers in this edition include Maria Fama, Vittoria repetto, Rachel Guido deVries, Maria Lisella, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, , Jennifer Gillan And Anthoy Buccino See http://old.pccc.edu/poetry/public.htm for price and order form.

Literary & Research Queries:

Linda Baldanzia is a student at Drew University in NJ. in a Poetry in Translation MFA program. I am looking for a translator to help me with literal translations of several short poems. I do not read Italian well. It would be best if the Translator has lived in Italy. The translating will begin this June 201-482-0597, lindabaldanzi@mac.com

Dom Giordano, talk show host with WPHT 1210 AM Radio in Philadelphia, is looking for contributors to the book- recipes, Feast of the Seven Fishes stories and other Italian/family traditions and recollections of the Christmas season. http://www.thefeastofthesevenfishes.com Contact Askdomg@aol.com

Alexandra Maffei holds a Masters in Italian Linterature and runs two blogs, one in English breakingnewts.blogspot.com the other in Italian, telegrafite.blog.espresso.repubblica.it/telegrafite. “I’m an excellent translator, fully conversant in Italian and American cultures, so consider me, should you know of or need services” viridiana430@msn.com

R. D. Williams is writing about her immigrant experience, willing to meet other writers. Also, seeking advice on how to obtain publisher. Contact: rosaria@gmail.com

Lachrista Greco is currently working on a book proposal for an anthology on young (20-something) Italian American women and the search for identity. She is looking for women to write on identity, feminism, sexuality, activism, etc. You may submit poetry and/or nonfiction. This book will be using a feminist framework. olive.grrrl@gmail.com

Magazines, Contests & Calls for Submissions:

Luigi Monteferrante is looking for a special edition on work by Italian/Italian American/Italian Canadian authors in the magazine: Chicago Quarterly Review http://www.chicagoquarterlyreview.com/ Work should be submitted to luigimonteferrante@yahoo.com

Feile-Festa is an annual publication that comes out in the spring of each year. Though our preference is for creative work related to Irish and Italian/Sicilian themes, we are open to other Mediterranean cultures, all of which can relate to the respective country of family origin or the diasporas to America, Canada, etc. We are also interested in writing that evokes life in New York City. The reading period starts October 1st and ends January 1st. Please do not send submissions outside the time frame mentioned in the guidelines. http://www.medcelt.org/feile-festa/index.html

The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute is happy to announce the re-launching of its bi-annual journal the Italian American Review (IAR). The IAR features articles about the history and culture of Italian Americans, as well as other aspects of the Italian diaspora.The journal embraces a wide range of professional concerns and theoretical orientations in the social sciences and in cultural studies. Information for contributors can be found at: http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/calandra/italrev/iarcont.html.

Journal of Italian Translation is a non-profit international journal devoted to the translation of literary works from and into Italian-English-Italian dialects. Subscription price is $25 per year. Submissions and inquiries should be sent to Luigi Bonaffini at l.bonaffini@att.net. All past issues can be downloaded from the journal’s website at http://www.jitonline.org

Pyramid Arts and Poetry Magazine – “Where Rome and New York Meet” Pyramid Arts and Poetry is divided into three sections: Visual Art; Poetry & Literature; and Film. Listings of gallery exhibits, poetry readings, and film showings in New York and Rome accompany each section. For submission guidelines, visit http://www.pyramidmagazine.org

VIA, Voices in Italian Americana, is a semi-annual published in the spring and fall. Issues include sections of essays, fiction, poetry, review essays, reviews, and guest spots by prominent Italian/American writers. Subscriptions are $20.00 per year ($15.00 for seniors, students, and un[der]employed). For subscriptions & advertising, contact Anthony Julian Tamburri at tamburri@bordigherapress.org

Italian Americana is the first and only cultural as well as historical review dedicated to the Italian experience in the New World; subscription price is $20 a year, $35 for two years, to: Italian Americana, University of Rhode Island/Providence, 80 Washington Street Providence, RI 02903-1803. Check out the new Website supplement to the journal at http://www.italianamericana.com

The Monday Night Playwrights’ Series is curated by Richard Fulco; interested playwrights could submit their work at richardfulco@aol.com

Theatre Submissions: Post Road Magazine (Boston, Ma), a literary/visual arts journal, is accepting theatre submissions of very short one-act plays, sketches, and monologues. david@postroadmag.com

The American Italian Historical Association Newsletter is now accepting submissions of book reviews. Please send all submissions Anthony.Tamburri@qc.cuny.edu.

Call for Papers:

Courses:

Conferences and Workshops:

Websites:

Casa Belvedere, The Italian Cultural Foundation, a unique 2.75 acre cultural campus and community center on Staten Island for all to enjoy, is a registered 501(c) (3) not for profit organization that seeks to preserve, promote and celebrate the rich heritage of Italy by encouraging an appreciation of the Italian language, arts, literature, history, fashion, cuisine, and commerce through educational programs, exhibits and events. To subscribe to the mailing list and learn more about the upcoming events and programs, call 718-273-7660, e-mail info@casa-belvedere.org or click on to http://www.casa-belvedere.org.

Anthony Buccino has created a blog for New Jersey poets to post info about events, links to their web sites and publishers and literary magazines. You can get email notices- no strings attached – when new items are posted. http://njpoetspoetry.blogspot.com/

http://www.BigFatPrize.com lists over 500 Writing Contests and competition categories like Essay, Fiction, Poetry, Short Story, Young Writers, Songwriting, Screenwriting, Playwright and Journalism

Working Writer newsletter offers solid information with a good dose of humor and a spirit of writing camaraderie. WW is filled with articles on promotion, publishing, freelancing, different genres, how-to, and how-not-to, written by readers across the country. To receive a free copy (no obligation) by e-mail , send a request to workingwriters@aol.com. Or check out http://www.workingwriter1.com

I-Italy: The Italian American Digital Project (http://www.i-italy.org) is online. This site is a forum for discussion and debate over Italian American social and cultural issues, home to numerous Italian American blogs, and the place to read leading Italian American commentators columns on Italian American life.

Readers are requested to visit http://www.italianamericanpress.com to order or obtain information about the fascinating books listed below written by Italian Americans on a variety of interesting topics. At The Italian-American Press, there are links for finding translators, a literary marketplace, and writers’ guilds, aside from links such as Tools for Italian American Writers, Italian American Books, Italian American Publishers, and the Internet’s best selection of self-published Italian American Books (84 Titles).

KIT-Kairos Italy Theater’s mission is to create a cultural exchange program between Italy, the US and the international community, to unveil artistic and creative sides of these two countries to the world. http://www.kitheater.com/

New York Foundation for the Arts, Visit NYFA Source, the most comprehensive database of awards, services, and publications available to artists in all disciplines. http://www.nyfa.org/

The Write Stuff – Online Newsletter of Word Journeys at http://www.wordjourneys.com contains articles on self-publishing, new services and grist for the pen: tips.

The ACLS History E-Book Project http://www.historyebook.org is an electronic resource that includes over 1230 full-text, cross-searchable books in the field of history selected by historians for their continuing importance to students and scholars. Individuals can also subscribe through a membership in the American Historical Association or the Renaissance Society of America.

Accenti, The Canadian Magazine with an Italian Accent at http://www.accenti.ca/

The AA Independent Press Guide is a free, online resource for writers at http://www.thunderburst.co.uk. The guide has detailed listings on over 2,000 literary and genre magazines and publishers from around the world, plus links to over 750 Internet magazines.

http://www.virtualitalia.com is an online resource for Italians, Italian Americans and enthusiasts of Italian culture.

http://www.littap.org is a new resource for literary presenters, with tools such as Guidelines for Writers Fees. In addition to featuring Italian American, Italian Canadian and Italian writers, the site has reviews and links to the sites of writers of Italian Australian, Italian French and Italian Latino American origins.

For the calendar of events for the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, go to http://www.nyu.edu/pages/casaitaliana/events.html

For the calendar of events for the Italian Academy at Columbia University, go to http://www.italianacademy.columbia.edu/calendar/calendar.html

The Immigration History Research Center is at http://www.ihrc.umn.edu

See Poets & Writers for leads to prizes for writers, and places to get away and write, links to grants, conferences and residencies. http://www.pw.org/toolsforwriters

http://www.ItalianAmericanWriters.com is an archive of samples of contemporary Italian Amerian writing; writers include Dennis Barone, Marisa Frasca, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Bob Viscusi, Anthony Tamburri, Fred Gardaphe, Stephen Massimilla, Alfredo de Palchi, Peter Covino, Paola Corso, Gil Fagiani, Louisa Calio, etc. Also check out the other website edited by Daniela Gioseffi – http://www.PoetsUSA.com/

Of Interest:

Diasporic Continuities: A Salon Discussion Point on the Changing Face of Italian Unification on the Verge of its 150th Anniversaryhttp://disunification.blogspot.com/
How you can join the conversation: Still a work in progress, for now, please join the conversation by commenting on one of the existing posts or become a follower of the discussions. If you would like to post something yourself (rather than comment), please email LauraRuberto (lruberto@peralta.edu) or Pasquale Verdicchio (pverdicchio@yahoo.com)

Association of Friends of Piedmont in New York
We are a group of artists, professionals, scientists and business owners sharing an interest for the Piedmont Region, either because we were born there or because we appreciate the contribution that people from Piedmont have made to the arts, sciences and industry.You can learn more about the Association at http://piedmontinnewyork.blogspot.com

Vittoria repetto rents her charming vacation house in Framura, in the Ligurian region on a weekly to monthly basis at a reasonable price. It is the perfect place for vacation especially great if you are a writer or a painter. The occupancy is for 4 people; there are 2 bedrooms. The town is 3 towns north of the Cinqueterre towns. For detailed information and pictures, http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p211239

Italian American Writers, a Cablevision television series hosted by Vito De Simone, runs each month on many New York area and other Cablevision systems, including Manhattan, Long Island and some Brooklyn systems. Check local listings for channels and times.

The New York-based Italian-American Playwrights Forum meets at the Calandra Institute three Thursdays a month to develop plays and carry out discussions about Italian-American identity/themes. The work itself does not have to be about an Italian-American theme. Please contact Gian Di Donna gian@att.net for information.