I’m delighted to announce that my new book, The Bicycle Thief and the German Wife (The Hidden War of a German-speaking Italian Family), published by Affinitá Elettive, Ancona (www.edizioniae.it) will be launched this April 2019.

With an introduction by Associate Professor Eric Haywood, Emeritus Head of the School of Italian Studies in University College Dublin and Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia, the launch dates are below.

See also Where to Buy The book will be available on Amazon from late April.

• Ancona launch: Teatro delle Muse, 6pm, Thursday, April 4th

• Fano launch: Mediateca Montanari (MeMo), 5pm, Friday, April 5th

Delighted to be invited back by Valentina Foschi to deliver two seminars to students in the Liceo Nolfi and to teachers in Mediateca Montanari this year in Fano, Italia, on December 20th.

The Orwell presentation, as part of the EFL Teacher’s Professional Develoment Series 2018-2019, takes place from 3-6pm in Memo and is entitled: Double Think or Clear Thinking: Sharing George Orwell with a New Generation.

Following my talk on the subject to teachers in Recanati in 2016, I was pleased to be invited by Valentina Foschi and the Principal of Liceo Nolfi in Fano, Italy to discuss resilience, authenticity and employability for literature and languages students on December 18th 2017.

This was followed by an afternoon session I presented for teachers in the beautifully restored surroundings of Memo – or La Mediateca Montanari. This was the inaugural seminar of Fano’s new “Think Outside The Box” lecture series which is continuing in 2018.

Humanities and Employability, Fano

Sincere thanks to Enrica Cerquoni, Nicoletta Talevi and Eusebia Palombarini for inviting me to speak again this year in the Liceo di Recanati. I look forward to our seminar  on Orwell on December 20th

I am very pleased to have been invited to speak to groups of both teachers and also students again this December in the Marche region of Italy.

This includes two sessions in the Liceo Nolfi, Fano on December 18th. In the morning I will be talking with students as part of the l’alternanza scuola-lavoro and in the afternoon I will conduct a seminar for teachers entitled:  “The value of a humanities education: resilience, authenticity and employability – an Irish perspective”

In the Liceo Giacomo Leopardi, Recanati on December 20th I am pleased to lead a session with teachers on George Orwell.

For any further information please contact:

• Liceo Nolfi, Valentina Foschi
• Liceo Leopardi, Enrica Cerquoni

For a taste of what we may cover in the two Fano sessions, I’d suggest teachers and students might read my whimsical, but seriously-intended poem, Stemming the Tide. This deals with the value of culture and a humanities education against the background of the modern working world and was published in 2014.

Came across a really interesting survey of contemporary Italian writing on BBC 4’s Open Book programme recently. Struck me all the more as by chance I’m reading Eva Dorme by Francesca Melandri who was one of the contributors.

BBC4 Open Book programme

One point made was the in the last five years Italians are reading less when many other countries in Europe are reading more. Listen to the interviewers summation of one of the Italian contributors’ explanation about Italian’s fascination with technology (i.e. mobile phones!). Made me chuckle!

Recently Dr. Eric Haywood, Emeritus Associate Professor of Italian Studies in University College Dublin, most generously accepted my invitation on behalf of Our Lady’s Hospice & Care Services to deliver a lecture to promote the hospice’s wonderful charity trek along on the Amalfi Coast this October.

In a most entertaining and as also erudite talk, Eric brought us travelling with the Irish pilgrim who in 1480s Italy on their way to Jerusalem stopped off at an inn on the outskirts of Naples to indulge in an almighty “wine tasting” as they recovered from what they had just witnessed in Rome: the wedding of the Pope’s daughter!

It was a fun evening!

To learn about the hospice trek and how to sign up please check out http://www.olh.ie/trek