The Italian Cultural Institute in New York is pleased to host a conversation with
writer Dacia Maraini and Michelangelo La Luna
Dacia Maraini, in conversation with Michelangelo La Luna, professor of Italian language and literature at the University of Rhode Island, presents her recent book Sguardo a Oriente. Reportage, memories, tales of a fascinating continent. The book is a collection of reportages, memories and stories about Afghanistan, China, Korea, Japan, India, Iran, Palestine, Pakistan, Syria, Tibet, Turkey, Vietnam, Yemen …
In these writings Maraini’s language acquires a new voice, exploring, in particular, the typical pace of travel books. Throughout the pages you can hear the narration rhythm of a great writer who – like her grandmother Yoï, her father Fosco and her mother Topazia – loves to travel and tell about stories and characters from faraway places.
DACIA MARAINI is one of the most important figures of Italian culture. Writer, poet, playwright, journalist, screenwriter, essayist and director, she has won many awards, including the Strega, the Campiello, the Alabarda d’oro, the Cimitile, the Pinuccio Tatarella, the Fregene, and the Viareggio. The main themes of her research and literary production are the rights of women and children. Translated into twenty-two languages, some of his books have become successful films: Storia di Piera (1980), L’età del malessere (1963), La lunga vita di Marianna Ucrìa (1990), Voci (1994) e Memoria di una ladra (1972). In the autobiographies Bagheria (1993) and La nave per Kobe (2001), the author talks about the time spent in the internment camps in Japan from 1943 to 1945. Among her other significant works we should mention Donna in guerra (1975), Il treno to Helsinki (1984), Buio (1999), La ragazza di via Maqueda (2009), La grande festa (2011), L’amore rubato, (2012), Chiara d’Assisi. Elogio della disobbedienza (2013); La bambina e il sognatore (2015), Corpo felice (2018), Trio (2020), La scuola ci salverà (2021), e Caro Pier Paolo (2022). With the publishing house Marlin she published Dentro le parole: aforismi e pensieri (2005); Dacia Maraini in cucina: sapori tra le righe (2007); Alfabeto quotidiano (2021).
MICHELANGELO LA LUNA is professor of Italian language and literature at the University of Rhode Island, and director of Italian International Engineering Business and Pharmaceutical Sciences Programs. After Graduating, in 1991, in Classical Studies at the University of Calabria, the scholar moved to the United States, where he studied and taught first at the University of Pittsburgh, and then at Harvard University, where he earned his Masters and Ph. D. in Romance Languages and Literatures. In addition to being the author of articles on Carmine Abate, Dante Alighieri, Girolamo De Rada, Dacia Maraini and Pier Paolo Pasolini, he is the editor of the following volumes dedicated to Girolamo De Rada: Invitation to reading by Girolamo De Rada, 2004; The unpublished correspondence between Girolamo De Rada and Niccolò Tommaseo (1860-1874), 2006; Autobiography, 2008; Literary Works in Italian, 2009; The correspondence between Girolamo De Rada and Angelo De Gubernatis (1870-1900) et alii, 2016. As director of the SOPHIA series, Professor La Luna is curator of the following works dedicated to Dacia Maraini: American notebook (1964-2016), 2016; Writing Like Breathing. An Homage to Dacia Maraini: I. Beloved Writing. Fifty Years of Engagement, 2016; II. Mafia and Other Plays, 2017; III. USA 1964-2017: An Italian Reportage, 2018; IV. Dacia Maraini and Her Literary Journey, 2020; V. A Life Devoted to Writing. Festschrift in Honor of Dacia Maraini., 2020; Writing Like Breathing. Tales Novel Poetry. Sixty years of literature, 2020.The scholar has also edited the critical edition of Luigi Capuana’s autograph, Reginotta, 2020, and is working on the critical edition of a manuscript of the Divine Comedy.
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22nd Week of the Italian Language in the World: “L’italiano e i giovani. Come scusa? Non ti followo” /
“Italian and Youth. Excuse me? I don’t follow you”
This event is part of the Week of the Italian Language in the World, an initiative that has been held since 2001. Organized by the diplomatic-consular network and the Italian Cultural Institutes together with MIC, MUR and the main partners of language promotion in Italy (Accademia della Crusca, Dante Alighieri Society) and the Government of the Helvetic Confederation, the Week has become over time one of the most important initiatives dedicated to the celebration of the Italian language internationally. Since its establishment, the initiative has been awarded each year High Patronage by the Presidency of the Republic.
Each Week is dedicated to a different theme, which serves as a common thread for a rich program of conferences, exhibitions and meetings. The theme of the 2022 edition, which takes place Oct. 17-23, is “L’italiano e i giovani. Come scusa? Non ti followo” / “Italian and Youth. Excuse me? I don’t follow you”
Reservation no longer available