Carmine Abate (Between Two Seas) Amara Lakhous (Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio)
Moderator: Michael Reynolds (Editor in Chief- Europa Editions)
Arbërescë author Carmine Abate and Algerian-Italian author Amara Lakhous will be in conversation with their American editor and publisher, Michael Reynolds. The discussion will focus on the migration of the word from “mother tongue” to spoken dialect, to written text, to published and translated books. Among other things, the authors will discuss linguistic and ethnic pluralism in the “new Italy.”
Carmine Abate was born in Calabria, southern Italy. He immigrated to Germany at a young age and now lives in Trentino, northern Italy, where he teaches university. His first book, a collection of short stories, was published in 1984. He has since published numerous prize-winning novels including Between Two Seas (Europa Editions 2008) and a collection of poetry.
Amara Lakhous was born in Algiers in 1970. He has a degree in philosophy from the University of Algiers and another in cultural anthropology from the University la Sapienza, Rome. He recently completed a Ph.D. thesis entitled “Living Islam as a Minority.” His first novel, Le cimici e il pirata (Bedbugs and the Pirate), was published in 1999. Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio, winner of Italy’s prestigious Flaiano prize, is his second novel. He lives in Italy.