Sweet Lemons 2: International Writings with a Sicilian Accent will be launched on April 14, 2011, 7:30-9:30 p.m. at The Annex Restaurant & Live Music Venue, 296 Brunswick Ave. at the corner of Bloor St. West in Toronto. Free Admission. For information about this event, contact: Michelle Alfano at notsoniceitaliangirls.blogspot.com.

Columbus Centre, 901 Lawrence Ave. West - Main Boardroom, First Floor. For information, contact: Maria at mpmarch@rogers.com.

Darlene was a guest speaker at the WEN's Monthly Breakfast Networking Meeting on February 19, 2011. The meeting was held at the Canadiana Restaurant and Banquet Hall.

Videography by Lorenzo Migliore

SWEET LEMONS 2: International Writings with a Sicilian Accent is a 400-page anthology, edited in South western Ontario, with contributions from close to 90 authors..

Published by Legas of New York, but edited in Canada by Bright’s Grove residents Delia De Santis and Venera Fazio, the anthology celebrates Sicilian writers, culture, and immigrant experiences and includes the work of a number of award-winning writers.

“Encouraged by the success of the first Sweet Lemons anthology published in 2004, co-editor Delia De Santis and I decided a second volume might be equally rewarding,” says Fazio. “The first volume sold out. It featured American and Canadian writers, was included on the Best of Sicily web site and was chosen by the magazine Italian America as one of their best picks for summer reading, 2006. For this second volume, the first of its kind, we took advantage of global networking and included not only North American writers but also authors of Sicilian heritage from other English speaking countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. A few of Sicily’s renowned authors, such as Andrea Camilleri, Elio Vittorini and Maria Messina (Medal of Gold, award winner) appear in English translation.”

Roughly one-third of the contributors are Canadian and a number of them are literary prize winners, for example, Darlene Madott (Paolucci Prize and F.G. Bressani Literary Prize) and Carmelo Militano (F.G. Bressani). “Delia and I are also pleased to include the work of two American Book Award winners, Maria Mazziotti Gillan and Daniela Gioseffi as well as a contribution by Inge Israel, who was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France),” adds Fazio.

“As in the first book, this second volume explores the complexities of a Sicilian heritage. We know, for example, that Sicilians are often painted with a broad Mafiosi brush and that’s one of the common myths about Sicilians that both books dispel. Like the first book, we believe this second one will also strike a cord with readers wanting to connect to their Sicilian heritage. For readers not familiar with Sicily, they will discover a unique island with a complex culture and a potent hold over her off springs wherever they may live.”

Books are available at $24.00 American/Canadian from Amazon.com, the editors, vfazio5@cogeco.ca, deliadesantis@yahoo.com, and the publisher, Gaetano Cipolla (gcipolla@optonline.net).

For further information: Contact Venera Fazio 519-869-2725 and /or Delia De Santis 519-869-6852

Stations of the Heart is awaiting an offer from a prospective publisher.

More Sweet Lemons, an anthology which includes one of my short-stories, will be published before Christmas.

Descant has accepted “Entering Sicily” for a special edition, forthcoming Fall, 2011.

“Fever Food” has been accepted for a prospective anthology: Canadian Italians Invitation to Table.

This past October, I performed highlights from “Making Olives” at the Not-So-Nice Italian Girls Speak Out Evening, with my version of the Charleston captured on You Tube.

My father, John Madott, and I have taken to painting again together on Sundays, in the basement of the Woodbridge home, with my mother, Francesca, clattering pots and lids in the joy of her culinary creations. “How can you concentrate?” I asked my father at my first attempt to get back, after almost thirty years. “What?” he said, pulling his eyes reluctantly off the canvas, as I pointed at the ceiling. “Oh, that. I don’t even hear.”

My latest and greatest iMovie is now available on YouTube:

Videography by Lorenzo Migliore
Enjoy!

In June 2010 I attended a Conference in Atri, Abruzzi, with AICW, the Association of Italian Canadian Writers. I read from "Entering Sicily", a literary exploration of a journey of return taken in Sicily this past October, 2009, to my maternal grandmother's birth town of Vita.

From "Entering Sicily":

Videography by Lorenzo Migliore

AICW Conference, June, 2010:

At the AICW conference in Atri, I read my reflections of Italian Canadian poet Gianna Patriarca, "Poetry in Reverse: On the experience of being translated into Italian."

Reflections on Culture, An Anthology of Creative and Critical Writing: Tooting my Father's horn!

This anthology, edited by Canton, Fazio and Zucchero, has recently been published by The Frank Iacobucci Centre For Italian Canadian Studies. The Cover features a painting by my father, John Madott, Gate to Via Agatha: Walled City of Siena, 2000, as well as 10 inside color pages, including one with John Madott at the age of 92. When I placed this publication in his hands, just before his birthday this past May, 2010 -- from the very University of Toronto through which he educated two of his daughters, he having attended the conference in 2008 which led to the publication -- he described this as "a pinnacle in my life." I am so honored to be the daughter of such a remarkable man and artist!

The Anthology includes "Afternoon in a Garden of the Palazzo Barberini," a short story which will be included in my forthcoming collection, Stations of the Heart, as well as an essay, "Contemplations of the Obstacle Race", by Darlene Madott.

The next collection is waiting on one piece of one short-story, "Cycling in Sardegna", but the proverbial penny has yet to drop. Hopefully, Atri will put new wind into the sails….

For more information about the AICW Conference, please visit their website at http://aicw.ca/2010Conference.htm