John D. Calandra Italian American Institute: Academic & Cultural Programs

Writers Read Series

Friday, September 15, 2006, 6 PM

Donna Jo Napoli, The King of Mulberry Street

In 1892, a nine-year-old Jewish boy from Naples named Beniamino is smuggled aboard a cargo ship bound for America by his unemployed and impoverished mother. He is traveling alone and with nothing of value except for a new pair of shoes. In the turbulent world of homeless children in Manhattan’s Five Points, he assumes the name Dom Napoli and quickly learns the lessons of the street: think fast, watch what's going on, and find friends who will help you. Based loosely on the author's grandfather, The King of Mulberry Street is vivid story of historical fiction for young adults.

Monday, November 6, 2006, 6PM

Kym Ragusa, The Skin Between Us

Kym Ragusa’s memoir is situated at the crossroads of two Harlem communities during the 1970s, the West Harlem of her African American mother and the East Harlem of her Sicilian American father. Their respective families despaired at the match, while in the streets the couple faced taunting threats from a city still racially divided. Ragusa’s childhood was centered around her two grandmothers who provided the loving core of her upbringing and which, in turn, enabled them to overcome their prejudices. Ragusa delves into the richness of her mixed heritage of rent parties and religious feste, baked yams and baked ziti, offering an account of astonishing delicacy and strength.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007, 6PM

George Guida reads from Low Italian: Poems.

The poems in Low Italian (Bordighera) explore the drama, the comedy and the tragedy of Italian American consciousness. From “I'm Through Being Italian” to “Zen Italian,” the speakers of these poems traverse the vast mental, spiritual and material landscape that is Italian American culture. Whether somber, sardonic, or sensual, they search always for the answer to a single question: What does it mean to be Italian American?

“Clear, fresh and powerful, possessing the humor and profundity he has asked for, and as much at home with scamorza as on the Long Island Expressway, George Guida's work paves the way for the Italian experience in America, and the American experience in Italy, in the 21st century.”

—Anthony Valerio

Monday, March 12, 2007, 6PM

Mark Binelli reads from his novel Sacco and Vanzetti Must Die!

The Nic Sacco and Bart Vanzetti of Mark Binelli’s debut novel Sacco and Vanzetti Must Die! are not exactly the infamous anarchists sentenced to death by the United States government. Instead, they are silent film stars, slapstick comedians, and this is the story of their rise to fame, from a seedy New York vaudeville club to huge Hollywood movies. As their careers decline amid controversy and as the characters grow out of their on-screen roles, slapstick becomes a stand-in for anarchic freedom, and the fictional Sacco and Vanzetti begin to merge with their namesakes. In the process, Binelli offers a rollicking, albeit bittersweet, alternative history of the twentieth century, where liberty remains elusive.

“A sweeping narrative encompassing everything from the struggles of Italian-American immigrants to the social dynamics of pie fights. . . [with] joyful nostalgia, pinpoint characterizations and postmodern brio.”

—New York Times Book Review

Tuesday, April 10, 2007, 6PM

Joanna Herman Clapps, Edvige Giunta, Maria Laurino, and Annie Lanzillotto read from Our Roots Are Deep with Passion: Creative Nonfiction Collects New Essays by Italian-American Writers.

Four authors read from this collection of Italian-American autobiographical works edited by Lee Gutkind and Joanna Clapps Herman. This anthology consists of twenty-one original essays on the myriad ways Italian ancestry accents the lives of Americans, addressing topics such as the enduring power of the evil eye, turbulent relationships between husbands and wives, as well as parents and children, and the nostalgia for a father's accordion, to name a few. Contributors include novelists, scholars, critics, and memoirists from across the country who explore the unique intersections of language, tradition, cuisine, and culture that characterize the diverse experience of Americans of Italian heritage.

“Almost every essay in the collection explores the notion of someone surrendering a major part of themselves for the greater good of their family. The stories are inspiring, but they also give the collection a bittersweet flavor. In the end, this welcome collection challenges preconceived notions about Italian Americans.

—Publishers Weekly

Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 6PM

Maria Terrone reads from A Secret Room in Fall.

“A love song to the wounded world” is how Maria Mazziotti Gillan described Maria Terrone’s first book of poetry, The Bodies We Were Loaned. Terrone’s second book, A Secret Room in Fall (Ashland Poetry Press), was awarded the McGovern Prize and published recently after being nominated by Gerry LaFemina. Its poems journey from past to present, assuming a multiplicity of voices, from an Egyptian queen to Pontius Pilate’s wife, from pedicurists to subway riders. In writing that is intriguing, unexpected and at times spiced with wry humor, Terrone leads the reader into “secret rooms” that won't quickly be forgotten.

“Whether confronting matters close to home and family, taking in gritty facets of the urban landscape, or bringing to sympathetic light anonymous, mainly female workers in the shadows and giving each her moment of perfectly articulated presence, Maria Terrone’s poems are quietly insistent, recuperative acts of imagination.”

—Eamon Grennan

All events are free.

Building management requires people attending events after business hours to pre-register with the Calandra Institute by calling (212) 642-2094. You will need to show a photo ID to the building’s concierge.