There are a range of benefits students enjoy from attending an American university in Italy, including the opportunity to explore a new culture, learn a new language, or visit historical landmarks that you’ve only ever read about in books. And students who decide to study abroad in Italy understand that one of the best ways to really get inside a new culture,is through its artistic traditions - the music, literature and artwork that shapes and reflects local people’s lives. At John Cabot University, we launched the InVerse Poetry Festival to help students get that inside access to Italy’s rich artistic production.
Whether you already have a love for poetry or are simply looking to deepen your understanding of Italy, InVerse has something to offer every John Cabot student.
The InVerse Poetry Festival was founded in 2005 by several John Cabot University professors, including Brunella Antomarini, Berenice Cocciolillo and Rosa Filardi. The event, which typically takes place once a year, provides students and poetry enthusiasts with the opportunity to listen to a variety of modern poets read their work in both Italian and English.
This past June marked the seventh edition of InVerse Italian Poets in Translation—and if you weren’t yet enrolled at JCU, you probably missed it. However, if you plan to study in Italy in the future, you will likely have the opportunity to attend the eighth—or even ninth—edition of the event.
What exactly did you miss during last year’s festival? Poets and translators, up-close and personal, reading live from to a captivated audience. 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."
Poems from InVerse 2014 and InVerse 2015 will be included in the next edition of the bilingual InVerse poetry anthology, which will be published in 2015 by John Cabot University Press. Among the extensive list of talented poets who will be featured in the upcoming 2015 publication of InVerse, are Andrea Inglese, Antonella Anedda, Mario Benedetti, Ida Travi,Giulia Niccolai.
Have you attended a previous InVerse Poetry Festival? What was the most compelling part of the experience for you?