June Reading

The evening of readings at Lola's Commissary on Juen 10th
began with the poet Beatriz Hausner reading

from her collection Sew Him Up

Beatriz is, among many other things,
also a Co-Founder of Quattro Books.

Writer Lina Medaglia organized the reading around the 

theme of our fascination with dolls

Lina read from her novel The Demons of Aquilonia.

Diane Bracuk warding off the paparazzi during her reading.

Diane read from her widely published and
fascinating article on the revolutionary aspects of
Barbie in mainstream culture during the 1950s.

Red hot poet and NSNIG&F co-founder 

Giovanna Riccio reading her suite of Barbie poems. 

Giovanna's book of poetry Vittorio will be published

by LyricalMyrical this summer.

Michelle Alfano, NSNIG&F co-founder, served as emcee.
Poet Sonia DiPlacido is in the front row.

Musician Tom Garrett provided a wonderful interlude 

before and after the readings and between sets.

All photographs taken by Reeves Miller. 

The (Not So) Nice Italian Girls read poetry and prose about our fascination with dolls

Diane Bracuk is a freelance writer specializing in health and women's issues. Her fiction and poems have appeared in Canadian journals such as The Antigonish Review, TickleAce and Other Voices. In Great Britain, Diane’s work has been published in Image, Ireland's largest circulation woman's magazine, and You Magazine, part of the Saturday Supplement of England's Daily Mail.

Beatriz Hausner’s poetry is rooted in the legacy of international surrealism, especially its Spanish American expression. Many of her translations have focused on the writers of that literature, including Rosamel del Valle, Enrique Molina, Olga Orozco, César Moro and the poets of Mandrágora, among others. Hausner has worked tirelessly to promote international literature in Canada, through her own translations, as well as her advocacy work (she was President of the Literary Translators' Association of Canada and is one the founders of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre). She is one of the publishers of Quattro Books. Her work has been published in Spanish, French and Portuguese translation. The Wardrobe Mistress was published in 2003. Sew Him Up is her latest poetry collection (2010). By day, Beatriz works as a librarian at the Toronto Public Library.

Lina Medaglia is a teacher, a peace activist, and a crisis counselor for abused women and children. Her writings have included a libretto for a three-hour feminist musical called Casanova, the lyrics for a progressive country album, and two albums of political rock. At the age of eleven, Lina immigrated with her family to Toronto, from a tiny mountain village in Calabria. Her first book, Demons of Aquilonia, is a fictional autobiography based on her family's struggles with 'passing,’ or reinventing identities for the purpose of survival and overcoming. Lina lives and works in Toronto with her family.

Giovanna Riccio was born in Calabria, Italy and grew up in Toronto where she studied philosophy at the University of Toronto. Her poems have appeared in journals, magazines and newspapers, including the Eyetalian, Poetry Canada Review, CV2, Tickleace, and Italian-Canadiana. Giovanna completed her first manuscript, Strong Bread, earlier this year and is in the process of getting it published. Her dramatic monologue, Vittorio, will be published by LyricalMyrical Press in the spring. She has recently retired from teaching and is working on a new book of poetry.

As emcee …
Michelle Alfano is a Toronto writer and a Co-Editor with Descant. Her short story “Opera”, on which her new novella Made Up Of Arias (Blaurock Press, 2008) is based, was a finalist for a Journey Prize anthology. Her fiction and non-fiction work has been widely published in Canada in major literary publications, and has also appeared in the U.S. She will be featured in a forthcoming documentary on the Saturnia, an immigrant ship which transported thousands of Italian-born immigrants to Canada in the 1950s and 60s and which will be featured on OMNI-TV. She is currently at work on a new novel entitled Vita's Pospects.

And music by ...
Tom Garrett has been performing at open stages in and around Toronto since moving to the city in 2003. His acoustic styling is reminiscent of James Taylor mixed with a touch of Springteen.

May 19th Reading

And so it begins...our first reading at the Annex Live,

our seventh reading since August 2009

and the inception of the reading series.

 

Giovanna Riccio, our emcee, kicking off the proceedings.

Friend of the NSNIG Judy Lipp with the poets 

Paul Zemokhol and Monika Rosas.

 Poet Monika Rosas kicked off the readings as the first reader.

Emcee and poet Giovanna Riccio with the writer Kathleen Whelan.

The writer Erika DeVasconcelos, author of two books

 

Erika reading from a work-in-progress.

 

Erika with husband Nino Ricci.

Writer Andrew Smith, author of Edith's War, launched this spring.

Writer Noreen Shanahan

Friends of the NSNIG Andrew and Joe enjoying the reading.
Joe's parents and sisters came over on the Saturnia as well!
Please see below for more info.

Filmmaker Ferdinando Dell'Omo, one of the directors of the forthcoming documentary on the passengers, and the children of the passengers, of the Saturnia, an immigrant ship which transported thousands of Italian-born immigrants to Canada in the 1950s and 60s
and which will be featured on OMNI-TV this year.

Michelle gets miked for filming during her reading. 

Marilyn and daughter Marina. Marina will also be featured in the documentary Saturnia, 

directed by Lilia Topouzova and Ferdinando Dell'Omo.
Intriguingly, our emcee Giovanna Riccio also arrived on the Saturnia.

The crew of the Saturnia film. They were filming Michelle as a participant in the film.

Michelle with the the lovely filmmaker Lily Topouzova and her partner Ferdinando.

Some backstage scenes ...

The (Not So) Nice Italian Girls & Friends tell you things they never told their mothers ...

Michelle Alfano is a Toronto writer and a Co-Editor with Descant. Her short story “Opera”, on which her novella Made Up Of Arias (Blaurock Press, 2008) is based, was a finalist for a Journey Prize anthology. She is currently at work on a new novel entitled Vita's Prospects. She will be featured in a forthcoming documentary on the passengers, and the children of the passengers, of the Saturnia, an immigrant ship which transported thousands of Italian-born immigrants to Canada in the 1950s and 60s and which will be featured on OMNI-TV.

Erika de Vasconcelos is the author of two novels, My Darling Dead Ones and Between the Stillness and the Grove. Her work has been translated internationally. Erika's work has also appeared in various magazines, including Brick, Toronto Life, and House and Home. Erika is a regular faculty member of the Humber School for Writers. She has three children and lives in Toronto. She is currently working on her third novel.

mónica rosas is an educator/agitator/artist whose work aims to challenge and provoke community discussion on gender, the environment and the visible minority experience. A second-generation Colombian-Peruvian Canadian she has traveled and worked in Colombia, Cuba, Peru, Venezuela, Brazil and Toronto writing and teaching English and Drama. mónica is the author of Inside Out a collection of poetry published by Lyrical Myrical. She is the curator of Cha Cha, a yearly women's literary event in Toronto on the topic of sexuality and she is working on a novella entitled, Salt Water & Cinammon Skin with Tightrope Books. Visit her @ www.monicarosas.com

Noreen Shanahan's essays have appeared in the Globe & Mail, Toronto Life, Geist, Reader's Digest, and elsewhere. She is a regular writer of obituary essays in the Globe & Mail. She's currently shopping around a memoir on her life as housecleaner cum obituary writer. She also dabbles in poetry.

Andrew Smith's writing has been included in the Journey Prize Anthology, and has been shortlisted for the CBC Literary Awards. He has published two non-fiction books: Highlights, an illustrated history of cannabis (co-author) and Strangers in the Garden, the secret lives of our favorite flowers. His first novel, Edith’s War, was published by Axiom Publishing in March 2010.

Kathleen Whelan is a writer who lives in Toronto. Her fiction has been published in Taddle Creek, Sub Terrain, Other Voices and Broken Pencil. Kathleen's work has appeared in journals in New Zealand, Ireland and the US. Whelan is the narrator of the NFB documentary, Sabrina's Law. She recently completed a novel, Swimming on Ice.

And as emcee ...

Giovanna Riccio was born in Calabria, Italy and grew up in Toronto where she studied philosophy at the University of Toronto. Her poems have appeared in journals, magazines and newspapers, including the Eyetalian, Poetry Canada Review, CV2, Tickleace, and Italian-Canadiana. Giovanna completed her first manuscript, Strong Bread, earlier this year and is in the process of getting it published. Her dramatic monologue, Vittorio, will be published by LyricalMyrical Press in the spring. She has recently retired from teaching and is working on a new book of poetry.

The (Not So) Nice Italian Girls Celebrate Poetry Month at the Spadina Library

(Left to right) Desi DiNardo, Dionne Brand, Gianna Patriarca,
Michelle Alfano and Giovanna Riccio. 

It was a great surprise for us that Dionne, Toronto's Poet Laureate, dropped by to hear the reading! 

Poets Desi, Gianna and Giovanna read to an enthusiastic crowd at the Spadina Library on April 15, 2010.

Poet Luciano Iacobelli who came to hear the reading.

Poet Giovanna Riccio with friend.  

Poet Gianna Patriarca and admirers ... 

Poets Desi Nardo and Roger Knox.

The (Not So) Nice Italian Girls celebrate Poetry Month

 

Desi Di Nardo has had many publications in international journals and anthologies including The Literary Review of Canada, The Globe and Mail, Descant, and The National Post. Her work has been performed at the National Arts Centre, featured on Toronto's transit system, displayed in the Official Residences of Canada, and printed on Starbucks cups. Desi has worked as a literacy facilitator at the June Callwood Centre, English professor at George Brown College, and currently is the writer-in-residence at St. Joseph's College. She is the author of The Plural of Some Things published by Guernica Editions. Poems from her book have been translated and reviewed in La Rivista di Studi Italiani. 

Gianna Patriarca, a graduate of York University was born in the region of Lazio, Italy and came to Canada as a child. Gianna has published six books of poetry and one children’s book. Her first collection Italian Women and Other Tragedies was runner-up to the Milton Acorn People’s Poetry Award and in 2009 was translated into Italian and launched at the university of Bologna and Naples. My Etruscan Face was short listed for the Bressani Literary Award in 2009. Her work has been extensively anthologized and has been adapted for Canada Stage theater and for CBC radio drama. Her work has been featured in numerous documentaries including Enigmatico, Pier 21, The Italian/Canadians and Three Women which will have its release on OMNI in 2010. Gianna’s books appear on the course list of Canadian, American and Italian universities. She is currently working on a new collection of poems entitled Too Much Love and continues to work on her novel The Sicilian’s Bride. She lives in Toronto.

Giovanna Riccio was born in Calabria, Italy and grew up in Toronto where she studied philosophy at the University of Toronto. Her poems have appeared in journals, magazines and newspapers, including the Eyetalian, Poetry Canada Review, CV2, Tickleace, and Italian-Canadiana. Giovanna completed her first manuscript, Strong Bread, earlier this year and is in the process of getting it published. Her dramatic monologue, Vittorio, will be published by LyricalMyrical Press in the spring. She has recently retired from teaching and is working on a new book of poetry.

And as emcee ...

Michelle Alfano is a Toronto writer and a Co-Editor with Descant. Her short story “Opera”, on which her new novella Made Up Of Arias (Blaurock Press, 2008) is based, was a finalist for a Journey Prize anthology. Her fiction and non-fiction work has been widely published in Canada in major literary publications, and has also appeared in the U.S. She will be featured in a forthcoming documentary on the passengers, and the children of the passengers, of the Saturnia, an immigrant ship which transported thousands of Italian-born immigrants to Canada in the 1950s and 60s and which will be featured on OMNI-TV.

The (Not So) Nice Italian Girls go to Montreal

 

Lina Medaglia, author of The Demons of Aquilonia

Toronto poet Frank Giorno, author of Arrivederci! Plastic Covered Couch.

 

Montreal poet Mary Di Michele, author of ten books.

 Accenti Editor-in-Chief and author of Almond Wine and Fertility Licia Canton

Montreal poet Ilona Martonfi.  

Mike Pietracupa and Antoinette Pecora, generous friends to the NSNIG

 

Reeves Miller, Lina Medaglia's husband

Nadia Pecora and Joe, new friends

 Lina

 The appreciative crowd at the Arts Cafe, 201 Rue Fairmount, Montreal filled with family and friends

Mary reading a suite of poems on the filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini

 

Utterly Frank

Licia Canton is the author of Almond Wine and Fertility (2008), a collection of short stories for women and their men. She is also a literary critic, translator and the editor-in-chief of Accenti Magazine – for lovers of all things Italian. Her writing in English and Italian has appeared in numerous anthologies and journals. She has published four collections of creative and critical writing, including the soon-to be launched at Blue Metropolis Reflections on Culture. She holds a Ph.D. from Université de Montréal. She lives in St. Leonard with her husband and three children.

Poet, novelist and member of the renga group, Yoko’s Dogs, Mary di Michele is the author of ten books including a selected poems, Stranger in You, and the novel, Tenor of Love. She lives in Montreal where she teaches at Concordia University in the creative writing program.

Frank Giorno lives in Toronto and writes about health, environment, energy, sports and literature and other topics that arouses his curiosity. He is the author of two books of poetry: Elvis in America (2006) and Arrivederci! Plastic Covered Couch (2008) His poems have appeared Versifire, the magazine of the Ontario Poetry Society; Accenti Magazine; Garden Variety, a collection published by Quattro Books and in a collection of Italian-Canadian literature to be released at the Blue Metropolis Festival April 23, 2010. Frank is currently working on his third book of poems.

Ilona Martonfi's Blue Poppy, a first book of poems, was published with Coracle Press, 2009 which also published Coracle Press chapbook, Visiting the Ridge (2004). Martonfi’s poems have appeared in Vallum, Carte Blanche, Headlight Anthology, Accenti, Bibliosofia, (Italy), Arcade, Helios, Serai, Carve, Soliloquies, Fire With Water, Sun Through The Blinds: Montreal Haiku Today, Poets Against War, Poets Against War Canada, forthcoming in The Fiddlehead. Finalist 2007 Quebec Writing Competition. She published the story, “My Daughter, Marisa,” in CBC Story Anthology III, In Other Words: New English Writing from Quebec (Véhicule Press, 2008). Poet, editor, educator, creative writing teacher. Founder, producer/host of The Yellow Door and Visual Arts Centre Poetry and Prose Readings. Co-founder, producer/host of the annual Lovers & Others.

Lina Medaglia is a writer, a poet, and a lyricist for her partner, who, in her view, is a musical genius. Together, they have produced various works, including the libretto for a three-hour feminist musical called Casanova. At the age of eleven, Lina immigrated with her family to Toronto, from a tiny mountain village in Calabria. Her first book, Demons of Aquilonia, is a fictional autobiography based on her family's struggles with 'passing,’ the reinvention of one's identity for the purpose of survival and overcoming.

And as emcee ...
Michelle Alfano is a Toronto writer and a Co-Editor with Descant. Her short story “Opera”, on which her novella Made Up Of Arias (Blaurock Press, 2008) is based, was a finalist for a Journey Prize anthology. Her fiction and non-fiction work has been widely published in Canada in major literary publications, and has also appeared in the U.S. She will be featured in a forthcoming documentary on the passengers, and the children of the passengers, of the Saturnia, an immigrant ship which transported thousands of Italian-born immigrants to Canada in the 1950s and 60s and which will be featured on OMNI-TV.