The Panel members will be wide spectrumed, and will feature the august Dana Gioia, the new chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Gioia will be complemented by:
Paul Paolicelli, author of "Dances with Luigi," in which he searched for his Italian roots, and now his new book, "Under the Southern Sun."
Adriana Trigiani, author of acclaimed "Big Stone Gap". She has written a screen version of the first novel in the series, which she also will direct.
Chuck Conconi, will serve as moderator,
is Washingtonian Magazine editor-at-large
Conconi, and is a journalist, radio commentator,
author and media authority, and former Washington Post columnist.
To represent the other end of the spectrum,
is Bill Tonelli, of the failed Esquire Magazine, then of the Teeny Bopper
Tabloid "Rolling Stone", an author of the
immodestly titled "The Amazing Tonellis",
and under qualified editor of the newly published anthology "Italian American
Reader: A Collection..." of 68 I-A writers. Extremely strange, since Tonelli
is the most vociferous of the "I-A Assimilationists".
Such an incongruity is as incomprehensible as is Tonelli. As one of 'The Sopranos' most avid supporters, his inclusion on such a panal, with his paucity of knowledge of Italian American Literature, is an insult to the other Panel members, and to ALL Italian American "Activists" whom he constantly and relentlessly assails!
It is also an insult to the Commission
of Social Justice (CSJ), an arm of the OSIA, that is dedicated to minimizing
I-A Negative Stereotyping, to give such a person a
"platform"!
For instance, Tonelli wrote an article for the NY Times, " Given the Chance, We would all be Gangsters", and in an interview on WBUR, on 3/13/2001 said: " Tony Soprano represents the gap between, who we were, who we want to be, and who we are."
Full Press Release below:
========================================================
Dana Gioia to Speak at
Sons of Italy
Literary Conference in Washington,
Mar. 21 in Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2003 - Dana Gioia,
the new chairman of the National
Endowment for the Arts (NEA), will be
on a panel exploring new trends and
old stereotypes in Italian American literature,
Mar. 21 in Washington, D.C.
The conference, "From the Boat to the Book,"
is from 9:30 a.m. to noon at
the National Press Club in Washington
(529 14th Street NW, 13th floor). It
is sponsored by the Order Sons of Italy
in America (OSIA), the oldest and
largest national organization for men
and women of Italian descent in the
United States.
An award-winning poet, Gioia is also a
translator, opera librettist and
literary critic. His 1991 essay "Can Poetry
Matter?" sparked a national
debate on the role of poetry in modern
intellectual life. In January, the
U.S. Senate confirmed his appointment
as NEA chairman.
He and the other panelists will explore
how the Italian American experience
has been portrayed in the past, what new
trends and themes are surfacing
today and some of the challenges Italian
American authors face when writing
about their heritage. Also on the panel:
* Former television journalist
and author Paul Paolicelli
In 2000, Paolicelli published "Dances
with Luigi," in which he searched for
his Italian roots. Now his new book,
"Under the Southern Sun," explores the
values that Italian immigrants brought
here which have shaped the character
of today's Italian Americans. (St. Martin's
Press - March release)
* Best-selling author
Adriana Trigiani
Trigiani's acclaimed "Big Stone Gap" series
of novels is about a modern
Italian American woman born and raised
in a Virginia mining town. She has
written a screen version of the first
novel in the series, "Big Stone Gap,"
which she also will direct.
* Washingtonian Magazine
editor-at-large Chuck Conconi (moderator)
Conconi is a journalist, radio commentator,
author and media authority as
well as a gifted speaker and former Washington
Post columnist.
* Former Rolling Stone
editor Bill Tonelli
Journalist and author Tonelli is the editor
of "An Italian American Reader,"
a new anthology of 68 contemporary fiction
and non-fiction Italian American
writers. (HarperCollins - March release)
The conference is open and free to the
public but registration is required.
Contact Gina Guiducci at 202/547-2900
or by e-mail at gguiducci@osia.org.
Established in 1905, OSIA has more than
600,000 members and supporters and a
network of 745 chapters coast to coast.
OSIA works at the community,
national and international level to promote
the heritage and culture of an
estimated 26 million Italian Americans,
the nation's fifth largest ethnic
group, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
To learn more, visit OSIA on the
Web at www.osia.org.
# # #
--------------------------------------------------
Press contact: Diane Crespy
202.547.8115
dcrespy@osia.org
--------------------------------------------------
NEWS -- For Immediate Release