Description
Poetry. Translated from the Italian by John Taylor, this book represents a collection of three previously untranslated (into English) works of the contemporary Italian poet Franca Mancinelli. The book is set in a bilingual Italian / English format and includes an extensive introduction on Ms. Mancinelli's work to date by the translator, John Taylor who informs us: "Alongside new work, this volume collects Franca Mancinelli's first two books, Mala kruna (2007) and Pasta madre (2013), which established her as a captivating new voice to which one listens attentively." Both books have received much critical attention in Italy as well as several prizes, including, for the former collection, the Aquila First Book Award as well as the Giuseppe Giusti Prize; and for the latter volume, the Alpi Apuane, the Carducci, and the Ceppo-Giovani Prizes. The poet, has subsequently published Libretto di transito (2018), a collection of prose poems, also available in translation from The Bitter Oleander Press as THE LITTLE BOOK OF PASSAGE. Mancinelli's work represents "poetic research by one of the most original authors on the Italian scene," the poet and critic Carmen Gallo has observed. "[She] combines an extraordinary stylistic lucidity with a visionary gaze that dialectically questions reality, without transfiguring or overturning it, and meditates on its constantly moving forms, on its hidden tensions."
Author Bio
John Taylor (b. 1952) is an American writer, critic and translator who lives in France. His most recent books are a translation of Alfredo de Palchi's THE AESTHETICS OF EQUILIBRIUM (Xenos Books/Chelsea Editions, 2019) and AT AN HOUR'S SLEEP FROM HERE (The Bitter Oleander Press, 2020). Taylor is the translator of Franca Mancinelli's THE LITTLE BOOK OF PASSAGE (Bitter Oleander Press, 2018) and Alfredo de Palchi's NIHIL (Xenos Books, 2017). In 2013, he won the Raiziss-de Palchi Translation Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets for his project to translate the Italian poet Lorenzo Calogero. This book was later published as AN ORCHID SHINING IN THE HAND: SELECTED POEMS 1932-1960 (Chelsea Editions, 2015). Taylor has translated many other French and Francophone poets, including Philippe Jaccottet, Pierre-Albert Jourdan, Louis Calaferte, Georges Perros, José-Flore Tappy, Catherine Colomb, Pierre Chappuis, and Pierre Voélin. He is the author of several volumes of short prose and poetry, including THE APOCALYPSE TAPESTRIES (Xenos Books, 2004), Now the Summer Came to Pass (Xenos Books, 2012), IF NIGHT IS FALLING (Bitter Oleander Press, 2012), THE DARK BRIGHTNESS (Xenos Books, 2017), Grassy Stairways (The MadHat Press, 2017), and REMEMBRANCE OF WATER / TWENTY-FIVE TREES (Bitter Oleander Press, 2018).
Author City: FRA
Franca Mancinelli was born in Fano, Italy. She is widely considered to be one of the most compelling new poetic voices in Italian poetry. Her first two collections of verse poetry, Mala kruna (2007) and Pasta madre (2013), now entirely translated in this book along with a selection of new poems, were awarded several prizes in Italy and later republished together as A un'ora di sonno da qui (2018). In 2018 also appeared her collection of prose poems, Libretto di transito, available in English from the Bitter Oleander Press as THE LITTLE BOOK OF PASSAGE (2018), and in 2020, AT AN HOUR'S SLEEP FROM HERE. She has participated in international projects such as the Chair Poet in Residence (Kolkata, India, 2019) and Refest: Images and Words on Refugee Routes. From this latter experience was born her Taccuino croato (Croatian Notebook), now published in Come tradurre la neve (How to Translate the Snow, 2019). Her writing has been translated into several other foreign languages and published in journals and anthologies.
Author City: FANO ITA