Events
Liam Callanan presents When in Rome
When: Wednesday, March 29 – 6:30 p.m.
Where: I AM Books, 124 Salem St., Boston MA 02113 (Register Here)
From nationally bestselling, award-winning author Liam Callanan, the story of an opportunity to start over at midlife, a chance to save a struggling convent in the Eternal City, and the dramatic re-emergence of an old flame….
Liam Callanan is a novelist, teacher, and journalist. His novel Paris by the Book, a national bestseller, was translated into multiple languages and won the 2019 Edna Ferber Prize. He’s also the 2017 winner of the Hunt Prize, and his first novel, The Cloud Atlas, was a finalist for an Edgar Award. Liam’s work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Slate, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The San Francisco Chronicle, and he’s recorded numerous essays for public radio. He’s also taught for the Warren Wilson MFA program for writers, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and lives in Wisconsin with his wife and daughters.
Paganini: HIs Life, Works and Times
When: Saturday, April 1 – 5 p.m.
Where: I AM Books, 124 Salem St., Boston MA 02113 (Register Here)
Italian author and musicologist Danilo Prefumo presents his latest work on Paganini. The event will feature special guest Maestro Markus Placci on violin performing a few compositions of Paganini’s.
Danilo Prefumo graduated in History of Music in 1977 while at the same time pursuing musical studies. For over fifteen years he collaborated with the Italian Radiotre, and since 1978 he has worked on a regular basis with the Italian Swiss Radio. His articles have been published in some of the most important Italian music magazines; his essays on 18th- and 19th-century Italian instrumental music and in particular Paganini have appeared in Il Fronimo, Chigiana, Rivista Musicale Italiana, Rivista Italiana di Musicologia and Quaderni dell’Istituto di Studi Paganiniani.
Winner of the prestigious “XXVI Vittorio Veneto Competition” on a unanimous vote of the Jury presided by Maestro Bruno Giuranna, Markus Placci is also the recipient of numerous other international awards and prizes such as the “Brahms Preis” and “Baden-Baden Philarmonie Foundation-Carl Flesch Preis” in Germany, and the “Jules C. Reiner Violin Prize” at Tanglewood. He was also a top prize winner at the “Washington International Competition 2006”.
Giacomo Mazzariol and Camilla Ghiotto in conversation (*Event in Italian)
When: Monday, April 3 – 6 p.m.
Where: I AM Books, 124 Salem St., Boston MA 02113 (Register Here)
Two of Italy’s youngest and most promising authors visit Boston to present their most recent work. Giacomo Mazzariol (Mio Fratello Rincorre I Dinosauri) and Camilla Ghiotto (Tempesta) will discuss the role of younger generations in today’s literary landscape and how their work contributes to this reality. This event will be held in Italian.
Potentially Dangerous – Documentary Film Screening with Director Zach Baliva
When: Tuesday, April 4 – 6 p.m.
Where: I AM Books, 124 Salem St., Boston MA 02113 (Register Here)
A feature-length documentary from executive producer John Turturro on the untold story of Italian immigrants persecuted and interned as America’s “Enemy Aliens” During World War II. Potentially Dangerous won the 2021 Russo Brothers Italian American Film Forum and took home the Golden Dragon for best documentary at the Ferrara Film Festival.
Director and producer Zach Baliva started his career working for the writers and producers of the hit TV show ER. He left to produce My Name is Jerry, the feature film that gave Steven Yeun (Minari) his first on-screen role. Baliva traces his roots to Italy’s Abruzzo region and has lived and worked in Rome and Venice.
Giulia Scarpaleggia – Cucina Povera
When: Thursday, April 13 – 3 p.m.
Where: Zoom Webinar (Register Here)
Join us in conversation with Tuscan chef and cookbook author Giulia Scarpaleggia about the use of humble ingredients, seasonal vegetables, and simple cooking techniques, as we celebrate the release of her newest cookbook, Cucina Povera!
The Italians call it l’arte dell’arrangiarsi, or the “art of making do with what you’ve got.” This centuries-old approach to ingredients and techniques, known as cucina povera, or peasant cooking, reveals the soul of Italian food at its best.
Jeff Biggers presents: In Sardinia
When: Tuesday, May 23 – 6 p.m.
Where: I AM Books, 124 Salem St., Boston MA 02113 (Register Here)
The second largest Italian island and a keystone in Mediterranean history, Sardinia is known largely as the playground of the global jet-set, the Blue Zone phenomenon and bandits. Award-winning historian, journalist, travel writer Jeff Biggers is shining a new light on the island with his book, In Sardinia: An Unexpected Journey in Italy (Melville House | Nonfiction | HC | On Sale 5/16/23).
Guided by insiders through its vibrant and untranslated literary traditions, Biggers chronicles a rare journey across Sardinia to experience its famed cuisine, wine, rituals and thriving cultural movements. Along the way, Biggers unveils stunning new archaeological findings that are rewriting the history of the Mediterranean.
In Sardinia blends human stories with art, music, literary, archaeological, social and political history, as Biggers weaves a compelling, witty and poetic account of an exciting cultural revival on the island, and its overlooked wellspring of famous innovators, where thousands of years of foundational history and its impact on Italy, Europe and the world have been buried until recent times.
As a major addition to Italian travel writing, history and literature, In Sardinia is a tour de force by a celebrated author of cultural histories and travel stories across the United States and Mexico, who now turns to Europe to show us that to understand Italy, you must first understand Sardinia. About the author: Jeff Biggers is an American Book Award-winning historian, journalist and playwright who has been based part-time in Italy since 1989. He is the recipient of the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year for Travel Writing, a Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Journalism, and the author of ten books of cultural history and investigative reporting. He’s had work in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Salon.com, and on NPR.