“Nostalgia for All Impossible Things:” a sonic ritual by Italian poet Mariangela Gualtieri
6:00 pm ET
Fordham University McNally Auditorium | Fordham Gabelli Business School | 140 West 62nd Street | New York, NY
Join us for a special evening of Italian poetry with Mariangela Gualtieri, Natasha Trethaway, and Olivia Sears.
In her first US performance in over 40 years, Italian poet Mariangela Gualiteri will recite her poems in what she calls a “rito sonoro,” followed by a reading by Olivia Sears of her translations of the poems and a discussion of the poetry by Natasha Trethaway.
This event is part of Multipli Forti: Voices from contemporary Italian literature 2025(opens in a new tab), presented by The Italian Cultural Institute of New York, in collaboration with FUIS (Federazione Unitaria Italian Scrittori), The Bridge Prize, Casa Italian Zerilli Marimó of New York University, Hunter College CUNY, Fordham University, and Rizzoli Bookstore.
Mariangela Gualtieri is an Italian poet and dramaturge of the famed Teatro Valdoca, which she co-founded with Cesare Ronconi in 1983. She has published more than a dozen books of poetry and theatrical works as well a book on the art of reciting poetry. She is renowned for her dedication to the oral delivery of poetry, which has extended to collaborations with composers in concerts around the world. A volume of her selected poems, Beast of Joy, was published in English in 2018 (Chelsea Editions, tr. A Molino and C. Viti).
Olivia E. Sears is a translator of Italian poetry and founder of the Center for the Art of Translation, where she edited the journal Two Lines for over a decade. Her translations of contemporary poet Mariangela Gualtieri have recently appeared in Arkansas International, Circumference, The Common, and Copper Nickel, among others. She is currently completing a manuscript of Gualtieri’s poetry in English, When I Wasn’t Dying.