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A Poetry Reading and Dialogue on Italian Canadian Identity
An evening with Gianna Patriarca and emerging writers at the MLCRC
Date: Thursday, July 3, 2025
Time: 5:15 – 6:30 pm
Place: Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre 415 Yonge Street Suite 1802
Toronto, ON M5B 2E7
In her poem “College Street, Toronto,” Gianna Patriarca’s speaker returns to Little Italy in the 1950s, where her father lived “in the basement of a Euclid Street / rooming house / with five other men / homeless, immigrant dreamers” (50). First published in 1994, Patriarca’s poetry reclaimed the voices of Toronto’s Italian communities.
How is the Italian-Canadian immigrant experience being told today? Join us at the Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre for an evening of readings and conversation on immigration, identity, and generational change.
Author Bios
Gianna Patriarca is a foundational voice in Italian-Canadian literature, known for centering the experiences of immigrant women and challenging dominant narratives of nation, language, and belonging. Her poetry—from Italian Women and Other Tragedies (1994) to This Way Home (2021)—documents diasporic life in Toronto’s suburbs. She is now completing her first novel, The Sicilian’s Bride.
Antonia Facciponte is an emerging Italian-Canadian poet whose debut collection, To Make a Bridge (2021) was published with BlackMoss Press. Using a bridge as a metaphor, Facciponte’s collection explores the intergenerational connection between Italian immigrant grandparents and their Canadian born grandchildren.
Daniel Scarcello is an emerging Italian-Canadian author whose short stories have appeared in the Association of Italian Canadian Writers 40th Anniversary Anthology (2025) and Accenti Magazine (2025). Daniel has just completed, I By Fire, his debut novel.
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