Books and Biscotti The Dante Club, in conjunction with the Italo Canadian Cultural Club / Laziali Di Sarnia & the Association of Italian Canadian Writers, invite you to a literary/cultural event on Sunday, August 19 th, from 2 to 4 (Dante Club at 1330 London Rd., Sarnia small hall side entrance). Entertainment: Musician/Song Writer Elena Feick Book Launches Jim Zucchero, co-editor: Behind Barbed Wire: Creative Works on the Internment of Italian Canadians & Beyond Barbed Wire: Essays on the Internment of Italian Canadians (Guernica Editions) With readings by Venera Fazio and Delia De Santis James Deahl: Rooms The Wind Makes (Guernica Editions) & North Of Belleville (Hidden Brook Press) Caroline Di Cocco: Memory and Identity: Re-Creating Cultural Identity After Immigration Norma West Linder: Adder s-tongues (Aeolus House) MC: Luisa Zoncheddu Solinas Everyone Welcome Free Admission Light Refreshments More information: deliadesantis@yahoo.com or 519.869.6852
Media Release Books and Biscotti Event to Introduce Two New Anthologies On the Internment of Italian Canadians Bright s Grove, Ontario: Aug. 8, 2012: An eclectic mix of readings about the internment of Italian Canadians as well as musical/literary interludes by prominent local and out-of-town writers will take place during Books and Biscotti, Sunday, August 19, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Dante Club, 1330 London Road (side entrance hall) in Sarnia. Guest readers include: well-known Italian Canadian writers/editors Jim Zucchero, Delia De Santis and Venera Fazio from London and Bright s Grove; and from Sarnia, award-winning poets Norma West Linder and James Deahl, former Sarnia-Lambton MPP Caroline Di Cocco and emerging singer-songwriter Elena Feick. Six books are expected to be launched in this free community presentation hosted by the Dante Club in conjunction with the Italo-Canadian Cultural Club/Laziali di Sarnia and the Association of Italian Canadian Writers (AICW). Two of the books Behind Barbed Wire: Creative Works of the Internment of Italian Canadians and Beyond Barbed Wire: Essays on the Internment of Italian Canadians (Guernica Editions) are historically significant and are receiving national attention. Fazio said that in these books Italian Canadians reclaim a painful and unjust event in history, an event Italian Canadians and Canadians in general have up to now been silent about. Together the two books document the event and give voice to those who suffered. She will read her selections from both volumes and is pleased Jim Zucchero will also share his expertise. Not only is he one of the four editors of the Barbed Wire books but he holds a PhD in English literature and has written passionately about the Italian internment even before the publication of these two books. According to De Santis who will read a selection of her work from the Creative volume, the books were launched in most cities across Canada, including in Halifax, at Pier 21, Canada s National Museum of Immigration. The Sunday event also represents the Sarnia launch of three poetry books by Linder and Deahl who will soon embark on their autumn book tour to several Ontario -more-
Books and Biscotti Cultural Event ( Continued from page 1) cities, the east coast and to the US. The books include: Adder s-tongues: A Choice of Norma West Linder s Poems, 1969-2011 (Aeolus House) written by Norma West Linder and edited by James Deahl (According to her publisher and Canadian poet Allan Briesmaster, Linder writes with admirable economy and clarity, and the poems are genuinely touching and moving. The ones about musicians and singers are a treat to read, and those with outdoor settings have been sketched with a beautiful precision. Altogether a very substantial, consistently high-quality selection of work.") North of Belleville (Hidden Brook Press) written by James Deahl with photography, layout and design by Richard M. Grove (According to Chris Faiers in an April 2012 review in The Envoy, this 57-page book is no less a deeply affectionate homage, in haiku verse, to several distinctive regions in Ontario such as Red Hill Valley and McMaster Trail. ) Rooms the Wind Makes (Guernica Editions) by James Deahl (According to the publisher, this 160-page collection continues Deahl s exploration of the natural world around him in language that is precise and startling, tinged with nostalgia but bravely facing the realities with an eye on the larger picture. ) Caroline Di Cocco will read from Memory and Identity: Re-Creating Cultural Identity After Immigration. In her book, Di Cocco reconstructs and, documents the journey and reality of twenty-two clubs and associations created by Italian Canadian/Laziali immigrants. Emceed by Luisa Zoncheddu Solinas, the afternoon also features the beautiful music of Elena Feick, a local singer-songwriter who will be performing original work. AICW is a national organization that brings together a community of writers, critics, academics, and other artists who promote Italian-Canadian literature and culture. -30- For more information or to set up a media interview contact: Delia DeSantis 519-869-6852 deliadesantis@yahoo.com A short bio of the participants has been attached. Photos available upon request.
Books and Biscotti Cultural Event August 19, 2012 SPOTLIGHT READERS/PERFORMERS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER James Deahl was born in Pittsburgh in 1945, and grew up there, as well as in and around the Laurel Highlands of the Appalachian Mountains. He moved to Canada in 1970. He is the author of twenty-one literary titles, and is a translator. A cycle of his poems was the focus of a one-hour TV special, Under the Watchful Eye. In addition to his writing, he had taught creative writing and Canadian literature at the high school, college, and university levels. In 2001, Deahl was presented with the Charles Olson Award for Achievements in Poetry. Delia De Santis is the author of the book Fast Forward and Other Stories, and the coeditor of four anthologies and the soon to be published book Italian Canadians at Table. She has published short stories in literary journals and in anthologies, and many of her short stories have been translated into Italian. Delia lives in Brights Grove, Ontario with her husband, and they have two sons and two grandsons. Caroline Di Cocco immigrated to Canada in 1957 and was raised in Sarnia, Ontario. Her literary achievements include co-authoring the book One by One.Passo dopo passo History of Italian Community in Sarnia Lambton 1870-1990 as well as writing chapters in Nuova Luce Su Caboto, edited by Dr.Gabriele Scardellato. She founded the Italo- Canadian Cultural Club/Laziali di Sarnia in 1987, was elected to municipal government in 1997 and was a Member of Provincial Parliament in Ontario from June 1999 to October 2007. In 2002 she was bestowed the honour of Cavalieri from the Republic of Italy and is the current chair of the executive of the Italian-Canadian Archive Project (ICAP) a National initiative. www.carolinedicocco.com Venera Fazio was born in Bafia, Sicily and now lives in Bright s Grove, Ontario. Altogether she has co-edited six anthologies relating to her culture of origin including the recent Descant issue, Sicily: Land of Forgotten Dreams. With Delia De Santis, she is -more -
SPOTLIGHT READERS/PERFORMERS (Continued from previous page) currently working on an anthology highlighting Italian Canadian women writers. Her poetry and prose have been published in literary magazines in Canada, Italy and the United States. For the past twelve years she has volunteered on the executive team of the Association of Italian Canadian Writers. Elena Feick is a local poet and singer-songwriter. A graduate of St. Patrick s Catholic High School, she has been a part of the local writers community since she was 16 years old. In 2010 she was a youth intern at the 33rd National Pastoral Musicians convention, which took place in Detroit Michigan. At that convention, a piece of her music was selected to be reviewed in the Composer s Forum. Last year, she received a bursary for voice lessons through the Roman Catholic Diocese of London, Ontario. Elena is a member of Toastmasters, and currently she's studying at Lambton College to become a Personal Support Worker Norma West Linder is a member of The Writers Union of Canada, PEN, Writers in Transition, and past president of the Sarnia Branch of the Canadian Authors Association. She is the author of 5 novels, 14 collections of poetry, numerous short stories, a biography of Pauline McGibbon, and a memoir of Manitoulin Island, where she spent her childhood. A retired Lambton College English teacher, her poems have appeared in the latest 3 issues of Möbius, an annual New York poetry magazine. Jim Zucchero lives in London, Ontario with his wife and two children. He is an academic counselor at King s University College, at The University of Western Ontario. He has a Ph.D. in English Literature from UWO; his thesis examines migration, historical memory, and ethnic identity in post-war Italian Canadian literature and criticism. He has published essays on the Canadian National War Memorial, Nino Ricci s novels, Mario Duliani s internment chronicle, and other Italian Canadian writers. His research interests include: Canadian multiculturalism, ethnic minority writing, authority, home, migration, and post-colonialism. As well as co-editing two anthologies on Italian Canadian internment, Beyond Barbed Wire and Behind Barb Wire, he is also co-editor of the collection, Reflections on Culture. -30-