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LITERARY
Helen
Barolini (1925) Called
the Dean of Italian American writers, Helen Barolini, author of more than fifty literary works including her classic novel
Umbertina, is skillfully adept in depicting Italian American culture from a woman’s point of view. The granddaughter
of Italian immigrants, Barolini traveled among cultures after her marriage to an Italian journalist. She has received numerous
awards, among them “Best American Essays” (twice), the Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literature of the
United States’ “Lifetime Achievement Award,” “Sons of Italy Literature Award”, and Americans
of Italian Heritage “Literature and the Arts Award.”
After graduating Magna Cum Laude from Syracuse University, Barolini attended Columbia
University and received a Master's degree. She continued her education
at the University of London and then wrote
about Europe for an American newspaper. In 1976, Barolini received a writing grant from the
National Endowment for the Arts. For Umbertina, published in 1979, Barolini, received the “Women in Literature”
Award from the American Committee on Italian Migration. The book has been a mainstay in college classes that examine women
and culture, and Umbertina was reissued in 1999. Barolini travels between the United
States and America,
conducting seminars about Italian American culture.
Official Web Site
Papers at Syracuse University
MELUS Interview (1993)
John
Ciardi (1916-1986) Poet
laureate, etymologist, awarded numerous honors, and namesake of the award which honors poets for their significant contributions
to Italian American poetry, John Ciardi was the son of Italian immigrants who migrated to Massachusetts.
In 1938, he graduated Magna Cum Laude from
Tufts University, and as a recipient of
the Avery Hopwood Award for poetry, he attended the University
of Michigan. In 1940, his first book of poems, Homeward to America,
was published. After serving in the Air Force during World War II, Ciardi taught English at Harvard University for seven years
and then at Rutgers University until 1961. His book, How Does a Poem Mean? provided an introduction and interpretation to poetry,
and has been used in high schools and colleges.
Ciardi
wrote 21 books of poetry and 16 volumes of children’s poetry – including
his most popular, I Met a Man Who Sang the Sillies – in a style crafted to
appeal to mass audiences; and he is well known for his translation of Dante’s Inferno.
From 1956 to 1972, he was poetry editor of the Saturday Review and after leaving
Rutgers, he traveled, lecturing about poetry. He was a frequent contributor to National Public
Radio, and was the host of “A Word in Your Ear” from 1979 until his death in 1986.
Biography
A Word in Your Ear (on NPR)
John Ciardi Collection
Three Poems by John Ciardi
Pietro
di Donato (1911-1992) Best
known for his 1938 novel, Christ in Concrete – which was later made into
the 1949 Venice Film Festival award winning movie Give Us This Day – Pietro
di Donato was the child of Italian immigrants who journeyed from Abruzzi and made their home
in New Jersey. He became a bricklayer at 12 years old to
support his family after his father died in a construction accident.
Basing Christ
in Concrete on his father’s death, it first appeared as a short story in Esquire magazine and two years later was
released to critical acclaim, besting Grapes of Wrath as the Book-of-the-Month
Club selection. Christ in Concrete was praised for its prose and its ability to
convey the realism of an Italian immigrant family coming to terms with the culture of America. Di Donato, referred to as the grandfather of Italian American literature,
used the language of Italian immigrants to tell the story of their struggles and desires.
Di Donato wrote several; other books, none
receiving the critical acclaim of Christ in Concrete, which many consider an American
classic.. He died leaving his last novel unpublished.
Biography
Christ in Concrete and Catholicism
Pietro di Donato Papers
New York Times Obituary
Daniela Gioseffi (1941) Born in New Jersey and surrounded by an Italian
family on her father's side, Daniela Gioseffi is the author of numerous poems, articles, essays, and plays, with more than
80 published books that include her writings or writings about her. She began her diverse career as a social justice journalist,
moving to classical acting, and then teaching and writing. She received scholarships and grants, and while attending Montclair University,
she edited the college newspaper and her early poetry was published in the campus literary magazine. Gioseffi's first collection
of poems, Eggs in the Lake, was published in 1977, and since then she has published
four more collections. Her most recent, Blood Autumn, Autunno di sangue, is a collection
of new and selected poems in English and Italian.
Gioseffi is the winner of two grant awards
in poetry from the New York State Council for the Arts, the recipient of the "John Ciardi Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry,” and a “Lifetime Achievement
Award” from the Association of Italian American Educators, winner of an “American
Book Award,” and was awarded the 2008 “OSIA New York State Literary Award.” She has traveled throughout
the United States and Europe, reading
and lecturing from her works, and she has been interviewed on television and radio stations, including BBC, NPR, WNYC, and
CBS.
In
2002, her verse was etched in marble on a wall of the Seventh Avenue Concourse of Penn Station. She is a member of PEN American Center
and many literary associations; and is editor and publisher of two Web sites on
writing and poetry.
ItalianAmericanWriters.com
PoetsUSA.com
Eggs in the Lake
R.A. Salvatore
(1959) With over 10 million copies of his books sold worldwide,
fantasy and science fiction author R. A. Salvatore has appeared on the New York Times
best seller lists many times over. Most of his books are series – the most popular being Forgotten Realms and
DemonWars Saga – and his works have been translated in 14 languages.
In
college, Salvatore switched majors from computer science to journalism after reading J.R.R.
Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. He wrote his first manuscript in 1982, and held
other jobs until he began writing full time in 1990. A collection of his work at his alma mater, Fitchburg State College in
Fitchburg, Massachusetts,
includes numerous manuscripts and papers from published and unpublished works.
In American Library Association regional
conferences, Salvatore has given talks on why young adults are interested in fantasy and adventure fantasy. With more than
42 books, Salvatore has influenced and inspired many readers, and he has recently collaborated with his son to write a new
fantasy trilogy for young readers. Salvatore also wrote the story for the video game Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone.
R.A. Salvatore Web Site
Interview, Science Fiction Weekly
Robert A. Salvatore Collection
Schiavo, Giovanni (1898-1983) Cited by many as the person most responsible for initiating Italian American studies,
most notably in history, Giovanni Schiavo was born in Sicily and migrated to America in 1915. He attended John
Hopkins University, where he earned a Bachelor
of Arts degree in 1919, and attended Columbia University
and New York University
for graduate studies in economics and banking. He worked on the editorial staff of several newspapers and in 1934, he started
Vigo Press, established to publish his works on Italians in America.
Some
of his books are The Italians in Chicago Before the Civil War (1934), The
Italians in America Before the Civil War (1934), Philip Mazzei, One of America's Founding Fathers (1952), Four
Centuries of Italian-American History (1952; republished in 1993), Antonio Meucci: Inventor of the Telephone
(1958), The Truth About the Mafia and Organized Crime in America (1962), and The Italians in America Before the
Revolution (1976).
More to follow ...
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