The Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago becomes s literary salon, hosting a conversation featuring poets Gian Maria Annovi and Elisa Biagini, both finalists for recent editions of the Premio Strega Poesia.
The evening is part of the 25th Week of the Italian Language in the World, dedicated to the theme “Italophonia: Language Beyond Borders.” The program will include poetry readings, a cross-continental conversation on the state of poetry today, and a question and answer session with the authors.
Free event. Registration required.
Elisa Biagini has published various poetry collections including L’Ospite (Einaudi, 2004), Fiato. parole per musica (Edizionidif, 2006), Nel Bosco (Einaudi, 2007), The guest in the wood (Chelsea editions, 2013 – 2014 Best Translated Book Award), Da una crepa (Einaudi 2014; in the USA: Xenos books 2017; in France: Cadastre8zero 2018 – Prix NUNC 2018; in Sweden Lejd 2025), Filamenti (Einaudi 2020; in France: Le Taillis Pré, 2022; in Sweden Bökforlaget Edda 2023; and in Catalonia Saldonar, 2024), Close to the teeth (Autumn Hill books, 2021), and L’intravisto (Einaudi, 2024). She edited and translated the anthology Nuovi Poeti Americani (Einaudi) and Non separare il no dal sì (Ponte alle Grazie, 2020), a selection of poems by Paul Celan. With Antonella Anedda, she published Poesia come ossigeno. Per un’ecologia della parola (Chiarelettere, 2021). She teaches writing, literature, and art history at New York University Florence and is the artistic director of the International Poetry Festival “Voci Lontane Voci Sorelle.” www.elisabiagini.it
Gian Maria Annovi is a poet and Associate Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California. He made his poetic debut with Denkmal (l’Obliquo, 1998), followed by Terza persona cortese (d’if, 2007, winner of the Mazzacurati-Russo Prize), Self-eaters (CRM, 2007, finalist for the Antonio Delfini Prize), Kamikaze e altre persone (with a preface by Antonella Anedda, Transeuropa, 2010), Italics (Aragno, 2013), La scolta (nottetempo, 2013, winner of the Marazza Prize), Persona presente con passato imperfetto (Lietocolle, 2018), and Discomparse (Aragno, 2023, finalist for the 2024 Strega Poetry Prize). His poetry has been translated into English, Spanish, German, and French, and included in numerous anthologies. Among his most recent academic publications is the monograph Pier Paolo Pasolini: Performing Authorship (Columbia University Press, 2017), for which he received the international Flaiano Prize and the MLA Howard R. Marraro Prize in Italian Studies.
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