InVerse Festival Brings Contemporary Italian Poetry to JCU
Poets, translators, and poetry enthusiasts gathered together on the evening of June 11 in JCU’s Lemon Tree Courtyard for the seventh edition of InVerse – Italian Poets in Translation.
Founded in 2005 by JCU professors Brunella Antomarini, Berenice Cocciolillo, and Rosa Filardi, the InVerse festival has filled the need for a forum in which to read, translate, and discuss contemporary Italian poetry in Rome.
This year’s featured poets were: Nadia Agustoni, Gian Maria Annovi, Mario Benedetti, Elena Buia Rutt, Antonio Bux, Biagio Cepollaro, Anna Maria Farabbi, Andrea Inglese, Bianca Madeccia, Giulia Niccolai, Ida Travi, and Giacomo Trinci.
Says poet Bianca Madeccia, “The reading was impeccably organized in one of the most beautiful venues of Rome’s historic center. The translations are excellent and there was a personalized critical introduction for every poet. The organizers are doing an excellent job of selecting the poets and are actually creating an inventory of contemporary Italian poetry.”
“This year we were very pleased to have JCU students join our team as translators (Diedré Blake and Loredana Mihani) and readers (Diedré Blake and Challis Popkey),” said Prof. Filardi.
The InVerse 2014 poems will be included in the next edition of the bilingual InVerse poetry anthology, which will be published in 2015 by John Cabot University Press.
