Friday, June 25, 2010


Announcing the launch of

Vittorio
 by Giovanna Riccio

A dramatic monologue poem 
accompanied by epistolary and catalogue poems

Tuesday July 13th, 7pm 

Supermarket
268 Augusta Avenue
Toronto
Tel. (416) 840-0501

Published by Lyricalmyrical

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Italian Canadian Artists Showcase

Thursday, June 24, 2010
7pm - 10 pm.
Live at the Annex Live
296 Brunswick Ave.
(south of Bloor St.)

Come celebrate the living arts with music, comedy, film, performance, poetry and visual art: 

hosted by Gianna Patriarca, John Calabro and Luciano Iacobelli.
with the artists:

Michelle Alfano Valentino Assenza Sandra Battaglini Marco Bernardi 
Marisa Buffone Julie Campagna Domenico Capilongo Raffaela Diana 
Bruna Bertoni Di Giuseppe Sal Greco
Thomas Marchese Roberto Marra 
Michael Mirolla Damiano Pietropaolo Vincenzo Pietropaolo 
Gio Riccio John Romano Daniela Saioni

Special Guest: Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone 

FREE EVENT
EVERYONE WELCOME

Thursday, June 10, 2010

June Reading


The evening of readings at Lola's Commissary on Juen 10th
began with the poet Beatriz Hausner reading
from her collection Sew Him Up


Beatriz is, among many other things,
also a Co-Founder of Quattro Books.


Writer Lina Medaglia organized the reading around the 
theme of our fascination with dolls


Lina read from her novel The Demons of Aquilonia.


Diane Bracuk warding off the paparazzi during her reading.


Diane read from her widely published and
fascinating article on the revolutionary aspects of
Barbie in mainstream culture during the 1950s.


Red hot poet and NSNIG&F co-founder 
Giovanna Riccio reading her suite of Barbie poems. 


Giovanna's book of poetry Vittorio will be published
by LyricalMyrical this summer.


Michelle Alfano, NSNIG&F co-founder, served as emcee.
Poet Sonia DiPlacido is in the front row.



Musician Tom Garrett provided a wonderful interlude 
before and after the readings and between sets.


All photographs taken by Reeves Miller. 

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

The (Not So) Nice Italian Girls read poetry and prose about our fascination with dolls


Diane Bracuk is a freelance writer specializing in health and women's issues. Her fiction and poems have appeared in Canadian journals such as The Antigonish Review, TickleAce and Other Voices. In Great Britain, Diane’s work has been published in Image, Ireland's largest circulation woman's magazine, and You Magazine, part of the Saturday Supplement of England's Daily Mail.

Beatriz Hausner’s poetry is rooted in the legacy of international surrealism, especially its Spanish American expression. Many of her translations have focused on the writers of that literature, including Rosamel del Valle, Enrique Molina, Olga Orozco, César Moro and the poets of Mandrágora, among others. Hausner has worked tirelessly to promote international literature in Canada, through her own translations, as well as her advocacy work (she was President of the Literary Translators' Association of Canada and is one the founders of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre). She is one of the publishers of Quattro Books. Her work has been published in Spanish, French and Portuguese translation. The Wardrobe Mistress was published in 2003. Sew Him Up is her latest poetry collection (2010). By day, Beatriz works as a librarian at the Toronto Public Library.

Lina Medaglia is a teacher, a peace activist, and a crisis counselor for abused women and children. Her writings have included a libretto for a three-hour feminist musical called Casanova, the lyrics for a progressive country album, and two albums of political rock. At the age of eleven, Lina immigrated with her family to Toronto, from a tiny mountain village in Calabria. Her first book, Demons of Aquilonia, is a fictional autobiography based on her family's struggles with 'passing,’ or reinventing identities for the purpose of survival and overcoming. Lina lives and works in Toronto with her family.

Giovanna Riccio was born in Calabria, Italy and grew up in Toronto where she studied philosophy at the University of Toronto. Her poems have appeared in journals, magazines and newspapers, including the Eyetalian, Poetry Canada Review, CV2, Tickleace, and Italian-Canadiana. Giovanna completed her first manuscript, Strong Bread, earlier this year and is in the process of getting it published. Her dramatic monologue, Vittorio, will be published by LyricalMyrical Press in the spring. She has recently retired from teaching and is working on a new book of poetry.

As emcee …
Michelle Alfano is a Toronto writer and a Co-Editor with Descant. Her short story “Opera”, on which her new novella Made Up Of Arias (Blaurock Press, 2008) is based, was a finalist for a Journey Prize anthology. Her fiction and non-fiction work has been widely published in Canada in major literary publications, and has also appeared in the U.S. She will be featured in a forthcoming documentary on the Saturnia, an immigrant ship which transported thousands of Italian-born immigrants to Canada in the 1950s and 60s and which will be featured on OMNI-TV. She is currently at work on a new novel entitled Vita's Pospects.

And music by ...
Tom Garrett has been performing at open stages in and around Toronto since moving to the city in 2003. His acoustic styling is reminiscent of James Taylor mixed with a touch of Springteen.