Professors Della Ratta and Geoghegan Participate in Feminist Book Fortnight

JCU Professors Donatella Della Ratta and Elizabeth Geoghegan will participate in the Feminist Book Fortnight in Rome, which is taking place at the Otherwise Bookshop between May 4 and May 18.

On May 12 at 7:30 pm, Communications Professor Della Ratta will discuss her book Shooting a Revolution: Visual Media and Warfare in Syria with Francesca Caferri, author of Non chiamatemi straniero.

Professor Della Ratta has a background in Media Studies with a specialization in Arabic-speaking media. She has authored three monographs on Arab media and curated chapters on Syrian media and politics in several collective books. As the title “Shooting a Revolution” suggests, the book is about the double meaning of the word “shooting.” In Syria, the two meanings, namely filming and firing a bullet, are dramatically intertwined. The camera can be understood as a tool that peaceful protesters use in order to counteract regime or jihadi violence, and also as the quintessential weapon to commit violence as we have seen through jihadi videos and other types of regime produced media.

On May 13 at 6 p.m. Professor Elizabeth Geoghegan, who teaches Creative Writing at JCU, will present her new short story collection Eightball. A protégé of the late Lucia Berlin, Professor Geoghegan was born in New York and grew up in the Midwest. She is the author of the bestselling memoir The Marco Chronicles, and Natural Disasters. Her work has appeared in The Paris Review, The Best Travel Writing, El Pais, Words Without Borders, and elsewhere. A Rome resident for many years, she currently teaches Creative Writing workshops in Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction at JCU.

JCU alumna Flavia Brunetti, author of All the Way to Italy (Ali Ribelli Edizioni) also took part in the Feminist Book Fortnight. On May 5, she participated in “Women Under the Influence of Nomadic Writing” with writer Lauren T. Mouat to talk about the cultural merging that influences their work.