by Katherine Gregor I was struggling with the copious passages in regional dialect in a novel I was translating from Italian, so I asked my publishers to put me in touch with the author so that she could help me with those expressions I couldn't find translated or explained on line. They kindly obliged. A … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n.10: The Sorrows and Joys of Translating Italian Dialects: Part One
by Gregory Conti In this latest book by Italy’s best-known botanist, Stefano Mancuso speaks to his readers where the vast majority of them live, in cities. More and more, and the summer of 2024 is only the most recent and to date most extreme example, that means cities that are so overheated they are at … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n. 9: Plants Are Us: Stefano Mancuso’s Phytopolis
by Leah Janeczko In various posts in our Italian Lit Month blog, you’ll find links to Translators Aloud, a YouTube channel that features videos of translators reading passages from their works. Though only four years old, this “voice of translated literature” has already become a household name in the translator community and has gained nearly … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n. 8: Translators Aloud and Its Italian Playlist
by Emma Mandley It’s easy to make the mistake of thinking that translating for children is going to be easier than translating for adults: in fact, I’ve usually found the reverse to be true, especially when it comes to non-fiction. Children in different countries reach different stages in their education at different times and it … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n.7: Translating for Children: Cloud Atlas by Sarah Zambello and Susy Zanella
by Oonagh Stransky Domenico Starnone, born in Naples in 1943, is one of Italy’s greatest living authors. His name is often mentioned in connection to the mysterious figure of Elena Ferrante because of their shared interest in certain themes and the city of Naples. But we won’t be talking about that here. The Mortal and … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n.6: Who’s That Girl? A Reader’s Guide to The Mortal and Immortal Life of the Girl from Milan
Jenny McPhee is the author of the novels The Center of Things, No Ordinary Matter, and A Man of No Moon and co-authored Girls: Ordinary Girls and Their Extraordinary Pursuits. Her translations from the Italian include works by Anna Banti, Massimo Bontempelli, Natalia Ginzburg, Giacomo Leopardi, Primo Levi, Anna Maria Ortese, Curzio Malaparte, Pope John … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n.5: Jenny McPhee, Translator of Lies and Sorcery, Interviewed by Lisa Mullenneaux
by Johanna Bishop Florence is full of American students—18,000 of them in 2024 alone. And most, of course, are undergraduates who arrive unequipped with enough Italian to let them simply pick books off the shelf in a shop or library. Back in 2016, the young people in Alessandro Raveggi’s class at NYU Florence had the … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n.4: The Florence Review: Italy’s First Bilingual Lit Mag
by Nanette McGuinness What do the books that I translate from Italian into English have in common? They’re fascinating and fun—and they also vary greatly. Take, for example, my three most recent translations from this lyrical language, which range from a nonfiction picture book to a fictional graphic novel for ages 8-12 (middle grade, in … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n.3: Three Fun, Fascinating Italian Books for Children and Young Adults
by Howard Curtis Although not especially well known outside Italy, Beppe Fenoglio is considered one of the most significant Italian writers of the period immediately after World War II. Emerging as he did from the anti-Fascist partisan movement, he wrote mostly (though not exclusively) about the war years. When his novel A Private Affair was … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n.2: Beppe Fenoglio’s A Private Affair
by Leah Janeczko Yesterday, September 30th, was the feast day of San Girolamo – St. Jerome – and I’m thankful to this patron saint of translators for ushering us into October, the month of the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative’s first blog dedicated to Italian literature in English translation, because this is a monumental and … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n.1: Italian Lit Month: A Chorus of Voices
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 