Recent Italian American Books

[Vittoria repetto]

Wild Dreams: The Best of Italian Americana, contains the best stories, memoirs and poems that Italian Americana published in its 33-year history in 25 volumes with authors such as John Ciardi, Mary Jo Salter, Jay Parini, Christine Palamidessi Moore, John Fante, Ann Hood, Joseph Papaleo, and Jerre Mangione. Edited by Carol Bonomo Albright & Jo Herman ISBN 9780823229109 http://www.fordhampress.com/detail.html?session=00c5bce6b79bd9f2059...

Maria Mazziotti Gillan’s anthology, Identity Lessons, (co-edited with her daughter Jennifer Gillan) has been chosen as the 2009 book Day Selection for the Chattahoochee Valley College in Phoenix City, Alabama.

Maria Famà’s new book Looking For Cover has been published by Bordighera Press, the ISBN is: 1-884419-85-2/ 978-1884419850
http://www.amazon.com/Looking-Cover-Maria-Fam%C3%A0/dp/1884419852/r...


Anthology: Avanti Popolo: Italian-American Writers Sail Beyond Columbus -Italian American writers celebrate their hidden history in a literary tribute to fighting social injustice. With new work by Diane di Prima, Kim Addonizio, James Tracy, Michael Cirelli, Michael Parenti, Thomas Centolella, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Maria Lisella, Gil Fagiani, Jim Pignetti, and many others.


Robert Viscusi’s book Buried Caesars and Other Secrets of Italian American Writing (SUNY Press, 2006) $22.95. ISBN 0-7914-6634-5. Martino Marazzi writes in VIA, “with Bureied Caesars, Viscusi shows the master essayist that he is: he is one, being a stylist in his writing—which is so clearly in line with the golden thread of that tradition, from Montaigne to the most representative Parisian intellectuals of post WWII, from the classics of 19th-century American literature to his beloved Max Beerbohm, and more.“


Queen Calafia’s Paradise: California and the Italian American Novel, by Kenneth Scambray, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press: 2007. ISBN-10: 0-8386-4117-2.
“It probably comes as a surprise to many that there is such a thing as the Italian American novel in California. And though it is true that the novels of John Fante rightly loom very large in this book, it is also true that several other California writers of Italian descent sufficiently balance out the Fante opus to make us realize that Italian American fiction in California weighs large and will weigh larger still in the future. Thus we find in-depth analyses of classics like Jo Pagano’s Golden Wedding and Lorenzo Madalena’s Confetti for Gino, as well as lesser known, more contemporary novels like P. M. Pasinetti’s From the Academy Bridge, Dorothy Bryant’s Miss Giardino and Steven Varni’s The Inland Sea. “
From, Lawrence DiStasi, review of Queen Calafia’s Paradise, AIHA Western Regional Chapter Newsletter, 2007.


Review excerpts for Paola Corso’s Giovanna’s 86 Circles And Other Stories include: “Entrancing…powerful in the moment.”- Publisher's Weekly, "Captivating storytelling in the tradition of Italian fairytale makers." --Daniela Gioseffi, Italian Americana; "A major contribution to female Italian American literature. Corso mixes myth and reality, fable and grit to illustrate the beauty, power and necessity of storytelling.”-Rita Ciresi; “rewards second and third readings…the test of a good story. Brava!” –Fred Gardaphe, Fra Noi

Vittoria repetto’s Not Just A Personal Ad was reviewed in the Winter 2007 edition of the Lambda Book Report; in the review, Chuck Forester writes, "Her poems are short lines full of simple words, some with the energy of hip hop staccato, blending the hip and the traditional. The poems sit well on each page, centered with wide margins that give the reader space to reflect on each one. She uses no capital letters, and her language is freshly colloquial. My joy in reading these poems was Repetto's rebel energy. She revels in her lust without avoiding her history. This is also a woman of courage as she negotiates the complexities of a multicultural existence. She tunes in to people who ride in her cab; she loves the city and the love of women. For her sex is freedom to indulge her desire; it is not possessive but an exchange of pleasure. Growing up in an age when all things sexual were disguised in metaphor, or never mentioned. I found her candor refreshing and stripped of anxiety.”
The poet Edward Field has said of Vittoria repetto’s poetry: "Her poetry has what T.S. Eliot and Wallace Stevens and the rest of them lack, clinging as they all do to their elitist view of poetry. I’d say she’s exactly what poetry needs -- she returns it to the people, even if the people, as Gerry Locklin says, don’t read poetry. But maybe if more poets start writing like her, they will, or at least listen to it."

George Guida’s first collection of poems, Low Italian (Bordighera, 2007), is out. The collection explores the drama, the comedy and tragedy, of Italian American consciousness. “Guida is a comic genius who is writing some of the funniest, most successfully satiric poems about Italian American behavior and culture, and by extension, ethnicity in general. His work has the self-assurance of a master: his voice can be assertive, ironic, self-reflexive, harlequinesque, self-deprecating, and noble, all the time remaining spontaneous, unified, and faithful to its own unique vision. This live-wire persona might be his finest creation. Low Italian is an extremely impressive first volume, a gembox with any number of gems worthy of being included in anthologies of contemporary American literature. Guida takes the entire social, cultural, and political scene as his territory. His deft handling of issues in Italian American ethnicity should also be of special interest to anyone concerned with ethnicity itself--which today means, to anyone concerned with contemporary American poetry.”--John Paul Russo, Author of The Future Without a Past, Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Miami, and Book Review Editor of Italian Americana.