Italian Women & Other Tragedies

Gianna Patriarca: a multiple award-winning international author of 13 books, poetry, children’s literature, short fiction and essays. She was born in Ceprano, Italy in the province of Lazio. Her writing is extensively anthologized, adapted for Canada Stage, CBC radio drama and appears in numerous documentaries including Enigmatico, The Italian/Canadians, Invisible Voices and Three Women Adapting Lives Adopting Lines, and featured at Pier 21 Museum in Halifax since 2014. She has presented her work at Yale, Purdue, New York City, Paterson New Jersey, Uof Toronto, York, Trent, Western, University of Bologna, Udine, and Naples Orientale. She writes in English, Italian and in her first language the “ciociaro” dialect. Her collected and new work, This Way Home, received the Pier Giorgio Di Cicco Poetry Award in 2023. Her children’s book Nonna and the Girls Next Door was awarded the Bressani Award in 2026. She was the first recipient of the Arts and Science Award from the ICCO in 2010. Her latest collection Ciociara/?/Canadese, one voice in three languages, will be launched October 2026. She currently writes editorial pieces for Panoram/Italia magazine, and is working on a novel, The Sicilian’s Bride, a new collection of poetry, Just Go and four stories for children. She lives in Toronto’s Little Italy.