#ItalianLitMonth n.5: Jenny McPhee, Translator of Lies and Sorcery, Interviewed by Lisa Mullenneaux

Posted on by Leah Janeczko

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

#ItalianLitMonth n.4: The Florence Review: Italy’s First Bilingual Lit Mag

Posted on by Leah Janeczko

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

#ItalianLitMonth n.3: Three Fun, Fascinating Italian Books for Children and Young Adults

Posted on by Leah Janeczko

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

#ItalianLitMonth n.2: Beppe Fenoglio’s A Private Affair

Posted on by Leah Janeczko

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

#ItalianLitMonth n.1: Italian Lit Month: A Chorus of Voices

Posted on by Leah Janeczko

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

#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Ellie in First Position

Posted on by Planet Picture Book

It’s not easy moving to a new place away from family and friends and trying to settle into a new home and school. The middle grade graphic novel Ellie in First Position tackles all this, and more. The story opens with 10-year-old Electra, or Ellie for short, relocating to a new city with her mother … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Ellie in First Position

Italy 🇮🇹: The Little Virtues by Natalia Ginzburg, tr. Dick Davis

Posted on by jessenana

Back in 2o19, I was living in Tanzania. The week before Christmas, my husband and I were visiting family and friends in the UK. On one of the final days of our trips, I went Christmas shopping, the final stop was in Daunt Books in Marylebone, London, I was just about to pay for my … Continue reading Italy 🇮🇹: The Little Virtues by Natalia Ginzburg, tr. Dick Davis

#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Just a Girl: A True Story of World War II

Posted on by Klem-Marí Cajigas

Last week the American Library Association (ALA) presented their annual Youth Media Awards, celebrating the best in literature for young people. Among major awards such as the Caldecott and the Newbery medals, there is also the Mildred L. Batchelder Award, given to an outstanding "children’s book originally published in a language other than English in … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Just a Girl: A True Story of World War II

#WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Box

Posted on by Planet Picture Book

“What was that box doing there in the middle of the forest? It was a mystery.” It’s not every day that a strange box, large enough for someone to hide in, arrives in the woods. And it has the local animals wondering from the moment they wake. They are full of questions, and then anticipation, … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Box

#WorldKidLit Wednesday: How Beautiful

Posted on by Klem-Marí Cajigas

The question of what is beautiful has preoccupied philosophers and poets alike. In How Beautiful, however, a caterpillar is the one pondering the subject. Yes, a caterpillar! In this elegant and whimsical picture book from Italy, a young caterpillar sets out to find exactly what beautiful means. As the book opens, the caterpillar lives "a … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: How Beautiful