| Name | biography |
| Diego Bastianutti | Diego Bastianutti, (Fiume, 1939), migrated to North America as a D.P. Two years in international banking on Wall Street, then a Professor of Spanish and Italian literature at Queens University (1970-1997), Honorary Vice Consul of Italy (1977-1995). He now lives with his wife in Burnaby, BC. Among his more recent publications: Il punto caduto (1993); La barca in secco (1995); A Major Selection of the Poetry of Giuseppe Ungaretti, (1997); For a Fistful of Soil /Per un pugno di terra, (2006); The Bloody Thorn, (2014); Lost in Transit (2018); The Lotus Eaters/ I mangiatori di loto (2019). |
| John Calabrò | John Calabro was born in Sicily, lived in France, and came to Canada as a teen-ager. John has been an educator, author, publisher, and cultural entrepreneur. He is the author of Bellecour, The Cousin (the French translation shortlisted for a GG award), and An Imperfect Man. He has published short stories and essays in various magazines and anthologies. John is currently working on the novel, Laura’s Uncovering. |
| H & A Christensen | Alie and Hejsa Christensen are a mother-daughter writing duo based in Ontario, Canada. They discovered their affinity for working together when they were in-house writers for a film production company. They have now made the leap from silver screen to printed page. Stealing John Hancock is their first novel. |
| Bruno Cocorocchio | Bruno Cocorocchio was born in 1951 in a small Italian town south-east of Rome. In search of a better life for their children, his parents emigrated to Canada in 1964. In 1974, Bruno graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto. From graduation to retirement, a span of roughly fifty years, Bruno devoted much effort to the technical discipline for which he had trained while simultaneously developing writing skills. He took courses in scriptwriting and film-making, as well as, creative, non-fiction and memoir writing at Ryerson University, the University of Toronto and the University of Victoria. Currently, Bruno and his wife, Sandra Moffat, live happily in Sidney by the sea, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. |
| Marc Côté | Born in Ottawa, and raised there, in Québec City, and Vancouver, attended McGill University. Has worked as a bookseller, the director of a national publishing association, an officer at both the Ontario Arts Council and The Canada Council. Is currently publisher at Cormorant Books, a position held since January 2001. Over the course of the last twenty-four years, the company has been nominated Small Press Publisher of the Year multiple times, winning three. Côté has been nominated Editor of the Year multiple times, winning twice. |
| Nella Cotrupi | Nella Cotrupi is an Italian-born Canadian writer, translator and literary critic with a life-long passion for the literary and visual arts. Her seminal book on Canadian literary theorist and critic Northrop Fry, entitled Northrop Frye and the Poetics of Process, focuses on the influence of the Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico and the social and ethical implications of their ideas. Nella’s other published works include non-fiction (literary criticism and culture theory, book reviews, essays), translations, literary fiction, and poetry. Nella was on the short-list for the Winston Collins/Descant Prize for poetry, and is at work on a major translation project. |
| Alfonso Fasano | Dr. Alfonso Fasano holds the Chair in Neuromodulation at the University of Toronto (UofT) and University Health Network (UNH). He is a Professor of Neurology and co-director of the Surgical Program for Movement Disorders at UHN. He is also staff neurologist at the Hospital of Sick Children in Toronto. Dr. Fasano is a Clinician Investigator at the Krembil Research Institute and KITE – Toronto Rehabilitation Hospital. Dr. Fasano received his medical degree from the Catholic University of Rome, Italy, in 2002 and became a neurologist in 2007. After a 2-year fellowship at the University of Kiel, Germany, he completed a PhD in neuroscience at the Catholic University of Rome. He is in Canada since 2013. |
| Stanislao de Marsanich | Laureato in Diritto Costituzionale Comparato, ha approfondito per alcuni anni in Italia, Regno Unito, Francia e Belgio gli studi sugli Accordi di Schengen e le loro ripercussioni sull’Istituto del Diritto di Asilo e sulla libera circolazione in Europa. Per oltre dieci anni si è occupato di questioni di geopolitica prima grazie alla Fondazione Alcide De Gasperi, poi con l’Atlantic Treaty Association e il Comitato Atlantico Italiano con pubblicazioni su riviste specializzate nazionali e internazionali. Ha lavorato in Studi Legali e in Banca sia in Italia che in Svizzera per la promozione e lo sviluppo del Trust interno in Italia. Da più di dieci anni si occupa di sviluppo del territorio con particolare attenzione all’Italia Interna e alla rete de I Parchi Letterari® che ha riformato e presiede riunendo oltre 80 Comunità dalla Norvegia alla Sicilia, In Florida e da poco a Cuba. |
| Terri Favro | Terri Favro’s writing is inspired by a lifelong obsession with science fiction, comic books, robots, steampunk and myths. Terri is the author of four novels, most recently “The Sisters Sputnik” and “Sputnik’s Children”, and a popular science book, “Generation Robot” .She is also the co-creator with Ron Edding of a series of comic books, most recently a true-crime graphic novel, “Cold City”. Terri’s books have been included on the CBC Canada Reads longlist, the Sunburst Prize shortlist, the Globe & Mail 100 Best Books of the Year, and the Quill & Quire and CBC Books Top 10 Books of the Year. A finalist for the CBC Literary Prize for Creative Non-Fiction, Terri’s essays and short fiction have been published in numerous literary magazines and anthologies. In 2025, her climate-fiction story, Rubber Road, will be published in “Devouring Tomorrow”, an anthology from Dundurn Press. Raised in the Niagara region, Terri now lives in Toronto and blogs at terrifavro.ca |
| Gianluca Lalli | Gianluca Lalli è un cantautore, cantafavole e regista. Vincitore del premio, Rino Gaetano 2005, è tra i vincitori del premio, Demo Rai di Radio 1 nel 2011, Vincitore del premio Hard Rock Cafè nell'ambito del Festival di Venezia nel 2013. Ha vinto il premio Lucio Battisti nel 2020 . È Regista del film "RINO" nel 2019 dedicato alla vita di Rino Gaetano. Collabora con la casa editrice Elli edizioni. Nel 2022 il suo disco Letteratura in Musica, è stato candidato alle targhe Tenco. Ha realizzato 2 dischi dedicati agli scritti di Gianni Rodari. Ha collaborato con diversi programmi Rai, Linea Verde ItalianGreen, Rai Radio Kids Attualmente è in tour con due spettacoli: De Andrè, racconti e musica Le favole ecologiche, tratte dagli scritti di Gianni Rodari. |
| Emilia Luca | Dr. Emilia Luca is a Research Associate in the Hearing & Balance Regeneration Lab at Sunnybrook Research Institute, led by Dr. Alain Dabdoub. She spearheads a translational research project to develop biological solutions for regenerating human inner ear cells, including sensory cells. Dr. Luca’s research is focused on identifying gene regulatory networks and epigenetic switches that could serve as therapeutic targets for hearing and balance disorders. She holds a PhD from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Rome, as well as a Master’s degree cum laude in Proteomics and Functional Genomics. Dr. Luca has been actively involved in scientific outreach since 2018, co-founding and chairing the AIRIcerca Toronto Chapter. |
| Darlene Madott | Darlene Madott is the author of nine books, including Dying Times, Stations of the Heart and Making Olives and Other Family Secrets. She has twice won the Bressani Literary Award and has been shortlisted for the Vanderbilt-sponsored Carter V. Cooper EXILE editions award three times, and for the inaugural Nona McDonald Heaslip Best Canadian Short Stories award, 2023. A lawyer who practised over three decades in Toronto, Darlene’s Dying Times, (EXILE editions, fall 2021) her eighth book, grows out of aspects of her legal background and is a fictional exploration of the last journey. Winners and Losers, her 9th, also explores the journey of life and law, and was published by GUERNICA in spring, 2023. Winners and Losers was named The Miramichi Readers Best of 2023. Her 10th book, Closing Ceremonies (Tales of Abandonment, Betrayal and Consequence), is forthcoming. |
| Michael Mirolla | Michael is the author of numerous novels, plays, film scripts, short stories and poetry collections. His novella The Last News Vendor won the 2021 Hamilton Literary Award and his poetry collection At the End of the World was shortlisted in 2022. Three previous books were winners of the Bressani Prize. His short stories "The Sand Flea" and "Casebook: In The Matter of Father Dante Lazaro" were Pushcart Prize nominees. Michael has worked as an editor for more than 40 years, and has served as the editor-in-chief of Guernica Editions since 2010. A Symposium on his works recently took place in Toronto. He lives in Gananoque, Ontario |
| M. Laura Mosco | Born in Rome, M. Laura Mosco, PhD, made Toronto her home in the early 2000 to pursue graduate studies, specializing in representation of urban landscape in Italian literature. Before teaching Italian at the University of Toronto, she has held positions at Queen's University, and Western University. She is also a translator from English into Italian and an Italian language educator and consultant. Dr Mosco's recent collaborations are with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Toronto, Eataly, TIFA, and some of the finest musical representatives in Canadian classical music, such as Duo Oriana, Musicians in Ordinary, The Annex Singers, ProVoce Studios |
| Randall Perry | Randall Perry is a writer and editor living in Toronto, Ontario. He holds a Certificate in Publishing from Toronto Metropolitan University. He has served as administrative judge and anthology editor for both the Carter V. Cooper Short Fiction Competition and the inaugural Nona MacDonald Heaslip Short Story Prize (2023). His own fiction has appeared in "Islandside" and "On the Run" magazines, and in the anthologies "Fear from a Small Place" and "Storgy 2019." His non-fiction essays, columns, and reviews have appeared in "Wayves," "The ARC Quarterly," "Outlooks," and "fab." |
| Damiano Pietropaolo | Damiano Pietropaolo is an award-winning producer/director, writer, translator, and teacher with an extensive background in senior management in the arts at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Translations/ adaptations include: selections from Italian Renaissance drama and dramatic theory (Sources of Dramatic Theory, Renaissance drama and dramatic theory (Sources of Dramatic Theory, Volume 1, Cambridge University Press, 1991); Ugo Betti’s The Queen and the Rebels (Pro Arte Productions, Toronto, 1997); The Fellini Radio Plays, translated and adapted for the stage from radio plays by Federico Fellini (Stratford Festival 2002); Love Letters from the Empty Bed, from Ovid’s Heroides,(Canadian Opera Company’s Bradshaw Amphitheatre, 2012); Between Rothko and Three Windows: Murder at the Art Gallery of Ontario, by Corrado Paina (Quattro books, 2016); Stones into Bread (with Francesco Loriggio), by Vito Teti (Guernica Editions, 2018), and The Ocean in the Well, Vito Teti (Guernica Editions, 2018), and The Ocean in the Well, by Nino Famà, Guernica Editions, 2021 |
| Lino Rufo | Artista molisano, romano d’adozione, opera in campo musicale da oltre due ventenni. In occasione della registrazione del suo secondo LP “Notte Chiara” effettua tour con i Pooh, Vasco Rossi, Alberto Fortis e tanti altri colleghi; ottiene passaggi televisivi a “L’altra Domenica” e partecipazione al Festival di Sanremo. Poi diventa programmatore e conduttore in Rai di varie trasmissioni. Dal ‘97, ad oggi ha una frenetica attività di musica live nelle Piazze, Festival Blues Internazionali e Locali Italiani accompagnato da famosi musicisti. Nel 2008 fonda i noGospel, con cui registra due dischi, col nucleo di questi apre le date italiane del tour di John Mayall e, in seguito, registra il primo CD di Francesco Pannofino, “Io vendo le emozioni”, con cui va in tour. Conduce “Per chi suona la campana?” insieme a Giovanni Samaritani ed Ernesto Bassignano presso il Teatro Arciliuto di Roma. Ha all’attivo dodici dischi, tra singoli e album, due film per il cinema e diverse trasmissioni radiofoniche per la RAI. |
| Anna Stalteri | Anna Stalteri nata a Napoli, ha completato il Corso Di Laurea in Lettere e Filosofia presso l`Universita` di Napoli. Da oltre 27 anni e` insegnante di Lingua Italiana presso il TCDSB di Toronto. Membro eletto del Comites di Toronto. Organizzatrice di eventi miranti a promuovere e a diffondere la lingua e la cultura italiana tramite figure professionali nel campo cinematografico. Il suo motto e` " Cio che conta non e` fare molto, ma mettere molto amore in cio che si fa" . Madre Teresa Di Calcutta |
| Benjamin Stecher | Benjamin Stecher is co-author of the book Reprogramming the Brain, which details his journey with Parkinson's Disease. Benjamin speaks regularly at academic centers and biotech companies on issues related to neurodegenerative diseases, research advocacy and healthcare. He is also the founder of Tomorrow Edition, and a patient advisor to several organizations including the Toronto Western Hospital Movement Disorder Clinic and Rune Labs, a San Francisco based brain-tech company, where he chairs their patient advisory board. He has also written a book along with Prof. Alberto Espay and published by Cambridge University Press titled Brain Fables. As well as the forthcoming Reprogramming the Brain with Alfonso Fasano, published by Springer Publishing |
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