Tuesday, Oct. 16 @ 6 p.m.
Book Launch of Missing Madonnas by Gil Fagiani
This event is co-sponsored by the Italian American Writers Association, Bordighera Press and the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute.
Best to call ahead for reservations, though the event is free.
@ John D. Calandra Italian American Institute.
25 W 43rd St., 17th Floor, NYC 10036
212-642-2094
https://calandrainstitute.org/events/readings-from-gil-fagianis-missing-madonnas/
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Readings from Gil Fagiani’s Missing Madonnas (Bordighera Press, 2018)
In the posthumously published Missing Madonnas, the late poet Gil Fagiani writes with lyricism and humor about the absurdities of life, from mythical Madonnas to nonnas to urban addictions, gallant struggles for redemption, and the sustained beauty of ordinary days and lives. Dedicated to his Orlandini family, this book is the last in a trilogy; the first two volumes are Chianti in Connecticut and Stone Walls. This Italian American’s poetry transcends the conventional images of the postwar ’50s, the turbulent ’60s, and the bitter tenderness of a life that ended much too soon. Participants will include Chris Belden, Bob Holman, Marisa Frasca, Nicholas Grosso, Julia Lisella, Maria Lisella, and Florence Mueller.
In this latest volume of the author’s monumental chronicle of the Italian American experience, Gil Fagiani manages to honor his own life struggles and those of his ancestors in a way that touches the heart without whitewash or sentimentality. With wit, economy, and a 20/20 eye for detail, Fagiani’s immigrant poems flicker like old black-and-white newsreels before giving way to vivid, color-themed glimpses of the turbulent ’60s and ’70s. One can only hope that, with his untimely passing, Gil Fagiani now walks alongside the souls so beautifully rendered in these pages.
—Chris Belden, author, Shriver
