Stitch by Stitch

Stitch by Stitch

By Connie Guzzo McParland

The craft of sewing is deeply ingrained in the Italian immigrant tradition and culture. After the Second World War, when thousands of women and men left Italy with the dream of constructing a new life for themselves and their families, the women gravitated towards the garment factories of Montreal. Through years of backbreaking work, they made significant contributions to the economic growth of their families and the Italian community in Quebec. Little to nothing has been written about these strong, resilient, and selfless women. Through direct interviews with first-generation immigrant women and testimonials from those who followed them, Stitch by Stitch aims to honour the labour of these women and, through their stories, weave the broader story of the early Italian immigration experience to Canada.

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Guernica Editions (Essential Anthologies)

978-1-77849-098-9

250 pages |

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About the author

Connie Guzzo McParland holds a BA in Italian Literature and a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Concordia University. Upon graduation from the Master’s program, in 2007, she received the David McKeen Award for creative writing for her thesis-novel, Girotondo. In 2005, an excerpt from this novel, Verso Halifax, won second prize at the ninth edition of the Premio Letterario Cosseria in Cosseria, Italy. Her first novel, The Girls of Piazza d’Amore, (Linda Leith Publishing, 2013), was shortlisted for the Concordia First Novel Award by the Quebec Writers’ Federation. Her second novel, The Women of Saturn, (Inanna Publications, 2017) was translated into Italian and published in 2021 by Rubbettino Editore as Le donne di Saturno. This translated version won second prize at the 2022 Concorso Letterario Internazionale Citta di Crucoli, Lucrezia Paletta, and a special jury award from the 2022 Premio Vitruvio (Lecce, Italy). A biography of the operatic Quilico family, An Opera in 3 Acts was published in English and French in the fall of 2022 by Linda Leith Publications. The Twelfth Room is her first work of translation. She lives in Montreal and, since 2010, has co-directed Guernica Editions.