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March 2010 News Advance reviews for
The Book of
Human Skin to be published by This book is fabulous - funny, horrific, subversive - in short a wholly addictive read. I don't think I have enjoyed anything as much since Perfume. Joanne Harris The Book of Human Skin is Michelle Lovric’s fourth novel for adults, I am eager to read her backlist on the strength of it … the storytelling is superb … The Book of Human Skin feels epic in scope and has rich historical detail, while the narrative is cleverly handled with multiple viewpoints. Really a fantastic read, which does get under the skin. Emma Giacon, Book content manager, Amazon Forthcoming book: A.L. Berridge, Honour and the Sword When Michelle Lovric was assigned
this book for a structural edit by
The Writers’ Workshop,
she immediately recognised that it was something very special. So did literary
agent Victoria Hobbs of A.M. Heath. So did Penguin. The first book in the
Honour and the Sword series will be
published on 15 April.
Michelle Lovric will be presenting a paper, The
Novelist's Baiamonte Tiepolo: The Lure of a Column of Infamy
at a conference to mark the 700th
anniversary of the foiled conspiracy of Baiamonte Tiepolo:
THE IMPERFECT CONSPIRACY
Baiamonte
Tiepolo: history, images, stories
1310 – 2010
Participants:
Giuseppe Gullino, Gherardo Ortalli, Amalia Basso
and Nelli-Elena
Vanzan Marchini
12 April, 17.30pm, at the Aula Magna of the
Ateneo Veneto
Participants:
Michele Gottardi, Michelle Lovric, Giandomenico Romanelli and Alberto Toso Fei
At left, detail of a painting of Bajamonte Tiepolo’s Column of Infamy, Michelle Lovric’s website has
been selected for preservation by the
National Library of Australia.
New writing Michelle Lovric has written about the campaign to resurrect the Column on Infamy on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure Her next ABBA blog is on 4 March.
Reminder
Bookings are now open for the Michelle Lovric’s
The San Pantalon Players pantomime Cinderella (see January
News) raised more than 3500 euros for Care & Share
Italia’s projects in
March books Lauren St John, The
White Giraffe Marcus Sedgwick, The
Kiss of Death Susan Price, The
Wolf-Sisters Liz Jensen, The
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February 2010 News
The Royal
Geographical Society, 7pm, Tuesday 1 June 2010
The Night
It’s midnight on 14 June, 1310, the
eve of the Feast of San Vito. The conspirators are gathered at Marco Querini’s
palazzo at At left, an
artist’s interpretation of Bajamonte Tiepolo’s Column of Infamy, Tickets
By post: please send a cheque made
payable to ‘ Publishing news And the German edition of The Undrowned Child, with the title Melodie der Meerjungfrauen has just been published. The Mourning Emporium, the sequel to the Undrowned Child, will now be published in November 2010.
The exhibition runs from Wednesday 13th January to Friday 5th February 2010 At left, The Sunlit Altar, Santa Maria della Salute, by Peter Kelly
New writing Michelle Lovric has done a
post on Escaping the 20th
Century on the Awfully Big Blog Adventure website. Susan Price, The Sterkarm Kiss Emily Diamand, Flood Child |
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January 2010Oh Yes It is! An English Pantomime in Venice!Novelist Laurie Graham presents a witty take on Cinderella at the Avogaria
Theatre in Dorsoduro, Venice. Her characters include Septicemia and Salmonella
(pictured left), the lovely daughters of Botulina, Cinderella’s step-mother; the
bailiff’s men, Dewey, Fleeceham and Howe; a Magpie, a Fox, Silk Moths, Glow
Worms and two surprise guest celebrities. Pietro Ferri makes his long-awaited
return to the stage as Madame Papillon, the dance teacher. The performance dates are
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In the Reader's Digest Christmas Issue, Dec 2009, A N Wilson writes: I would recommend The Undrowned Child by Michelle Lovric. This is the
sort of book that is labelled "for children" but that will be passed round the
eager family. If you like ghost stories, books set in Venice or being scared
stiff – especially by sharks –this is the book for you. And if you think you
don't fall into those categories, you will still find yourself gripped, it is so
well written. A short video based on Michelle Lovric’s Carnevale has
been posted on
YouTube. |
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New writingMichelle Lovric has done a post about writers facing the
recession for And watch out for Minou, the new Venetian cat of the month, on |
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Tears for VeniceIn a blog post for ABBA in November 2009 Michelle Lovric wrote about a woman who was wearing crystal earrings she described as ‘Tears for Venice’ at the funeral that was staged for the city on November 14th. This is in fact the real name of those earrings. They are made for the association Venezia Civiltà Anfibia, which proposes to build up a consensus of individuals along with Italian and foreign associations, to support Venice and the human rights of her citizens to continue to live in their island context. From the Venezia Civiltà Anfibia manifesto: 'When the Taliban destroyed the Buddhas of Bamiyan, the West was
horrified, but what is happening to Venice is much worse. The
political and cultural mismanagement is destroying our amphibious
civilization, which is unique in the world, and forcing the
inhabitants to move to the mainland. But a city without citizens is
not a city. Venice weeps for her lost citizens … the Tears of Venice
are a sign of love and concern for the fate of this rare and
precious gift to humanity, which could not continue to exist without
its population.
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January books
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December 2009The Undrowned
Child has been nominated for the 2009
Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards for Fantasy/Science
Fiction Photographer Kelly Morrison has produced this beautiful image of The Undrowned Child. See more of her work on FLICKR.
Reminder: Michelle Lovric is a judge for
The Brit Writers’ Awards. The organisers are looking for the
Young artist Kaitlin Zorah McDonagh lives and works in Venice. She’s scored a coup with simultaneous shows in New York and Venice during October. The waters of the Grand Canal and Venetian lagoon inspire and influence her fluid, lively paintings. Left: We Live Beyond Ourselves in Air, 2009, oil on canvas, 100 x 100cm Below left: What the Sun Does, 2009, oil on canvas, 100 x 100cm Below centre: His Visits Home, 2009, oil on canvas, 40 x 40cm Below right: Alberoni, 2009, oil on canvas, 180 x 135cm
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New writingTo continue the artistic theme, there’s a new Venetian Cat of the Month on The Undrowned Child website. Red-haired Van Gogh rules in oriental splendour in his palatial shop in San Barnaba. Follow the links through the Cat section of the site to Venetian Cats and then Venetian Cat of the Month for December. Michelle Lovric has done a post on Golems for An Awfully Big Blog Adventure on November 12th and another one on Venice’s Funeral on November 22nd.
New study opportunity in VeniceApplications are invited for the Vittore Branca International Center
for the Study of Italian Culture, a new international resource for
humanities studies aimed at young researchers and expert scholars interested in
furthering their knowledge in a field of Italian civilisation: the visual arts,
history, literature, music, drama.
December BooksMira Crouch, War Fare |
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November 2009Michelle Lovric is a judge for The Brit Writers’ Awards 2010. The organisers are looking for the UK’s best undiscovered writers of novels, stories, poems and songs. The competition closes December 18. See the Britwriters website.
New writingMichelle Lovric has done a post on Rose la Touche of Harristown Morrison-Lovric for An Awfully Big Blog Adventure on October 19th. She’s also done a diary piece about Waterproofing in Venice, on the English Writers in Italy website.
Venice videoFor a feast of music and Venetian paintings see this video on You Tube.
November BooksSimon Mawer, The Glass Room |
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October 2009
The Undrowned Child
was celebrated at the Italian Bookshop in
For the latest reviews of
The Undrowned Child, check
The Undrowned Child
website.
New writingMichelle Lovric has written a post on topping-out ceremonies for An Awfully Big Adventure for 23rd September.
Old LaughsFor a parody of pretentious Venice-speak (and Marks & Spencers) watch
this clip (two smaller sections before you get to the
CompetitionThe competition "Win a week in Venice learning Italian at the Venice
Italian School" gives you the chance to win a trip for 2 to study
Italian at the
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September 2009The Undrowned Child
will be celebrated at an event at the
Italian Bookshop
in Actress Claire Bloom and poet Geraldine Paine will read from the book. Jeff Cotton of the Fictional Cities website will interview the author
New writingMichelle Lovric has posted The Architecture of a Parrot on An Awfully Big Adventure for August 20th and Conjugal and Genre Fidelity for 27th August. |
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Young Venetian artistMatteo Bertelli is a young Venetian artist who produces enchanting and fantastical drawings, paintings and etchings of his city and political cartoons like this one depicting the proposed ‘sale’ of Venice to Coca Coca, a subject much in the news this year. For many more examples of his work, see his excellent
website. Contact him at
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September booksJames Tipton, All the Horses of Heaven/Todos los Caballos del Paraiso,
which Alexis Rotella calls a “rare combination of mostly erotic tanka...that
at the same time celebrate...the poet’s life in
Giorgio and Maurizio Crovato, The Abandoned
Ten percent of the income from sales in
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August 2009Latest reviews of The Undrowned Child
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July 2009New children’s book and websiteThe Undrowned Child is published by Orion on July 2nd. www.undrownedchild.com is now up and running. Latest reviews of The Undrowned Child'I think that it'll turn out to be easily the best Venice-set novel of
the year … This is as spooky as you'd expect from a supernatural tale
for young adults/older children, but with charm and humour too. If I'd
read this book as a child I think that my passion for Venice would've
come that much quicker. Citing the names of Potter and Pullman is not
inappropriate, but not as a marketing ploy so much as an appreciation of
the rare skillfor combining magic and humanity so that the reader is
left with his collies wobbled and his heart warmed.'
'A captivating magical fantasy in a secret watery underworld, The
Undrowned Child tells how eleven year old Teodora is swept into the
storybook world of invisible children whose task is to save the dying
city of Venice. Working alongside the mermaids Theodora’s task is
immense. Together can they save the city before the water destroys it?
With lyrical writing and an unputdownable plot this is something very
special.'
The Undrowned Child has a marvellous story and is bound with a love
of Venice. But what really distinguishes from what could have been an author's
vain attempt to write about Venice is the colourful language and detail. The
mermaid have learnt English from pirates and like curry, the nuns see ghosts,
the evil takes revenge on the bakers souring their pastries while poisoning
tourists with mint ice-cream - no doubt a dig at the poor quality gelato served
in St Mark's Square compared to the good stuff hidden in the back streets. There
are also a few sly digs at the Biennale art festival and Venetians' open
snobbishness to any foreigner, Italians included. Although aimed at a 'young
adult' audience - meaning children over ten - it seems certain the depth of the
storyline will lead it on Harry Potter's successful quest into the adult market.
ReminderMichelle Lovric will be discussing her Orange Prize-listed novel The Remedy with the SE1 Book Club at the Britannia pub in Kipling Street on Wednesday July 8th New writingMichelle Lovric supplied a Venice parable for An Awfully Big Blog Adventure June 30th http://awfullybigblogadventure.blogspot.com/ July Books
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June 2009Michelle Lovric’s fourth novel for adults, The Book of Human Skin (Bloomsbury, 2010) will be published in Canada by Penguin. There’s a Bookbag review of Michelle Lovric’s forthcoming novel, The Undrowned Child and an interview with the author at http://thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php/The_Undrowned_Child_by_Michelle_Lovric Michelle Lovric has written a diary piece about Enrico Dandolo’s gravestone for the English Writers in Italy website June edition. http://www.englishwritersinitaly.com/diary.htm and a guest blog about Disinfected Mail on http://awfullybigblogadventure.blogspot.com Patricia Guy of English writers in Italy has already read The Undrowned Child : see her busy Diary at http://www.patriciaguy.com/pGuyDiary.php Michelle Lovric will be discussing her Orange Prize-listed novel The Remedy with the SE1 Book Club at the Britannia pub in Kipling Street on Wednesday July 8th June Books
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May 2009Michelle Lovric will be in conversation with the Venetian Writer Tiziano Scarpa at the Circolo Italo Britannico at the Telecom Centre in San Salvador, Venice, at 5.30 on June 1st. She will be reading from The Undrowned Child, which has already received some reviews: ‘a stunning debut novel … Part fairy tale, part historical fiction, this is writing that is alight and alive. Two worlds are held in balance, Venice on the cusp of change, as science exerts an even stronger stranglehold against a deeper, underwater world of myth and mermaids. A beautifully told allegory that captures the power of language, this has definite crossover appeal’ – Jake Hope, Booksellers’ Choice, The Bookseller 'What an amazing sense of place the writer establishes - Venice is really the central character! The cast of characters too is fresh and quite extraordinary - how I loved those mermaids and their way of life. I didn't put it down as the story sweeps on with such speed and wonder that there's no place to stop.' - Wendy Cooling, children's book consultant. ‘This sumptuous Venetian adventure is the first novel for children by Lovric, author of Carnevale. It’s a Potter-esque 424 pages … but a great romp for more literary readers’ – Fiona Noble, Children’s Previews, The Bookseller. ‘An amazing urban fantasy for children’ – LibraryThing website The Undrowned Child will be published by Orion on July 2nd, 2009. May Books
A VERY INTERESTING NEW BLOG Mary Hoffman, author of the acclaimed Stravaganza books, has a new blog about books and the publishing industry: wwwbookmaven.blogspot.com So many quotes about writing … so few about reading, but here's one: ‘Readers may be divided into four classes: |
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April 2009April Books
A woman at last! In every country A VERY INTERESTING EXHIBITION VENEZIA 1915-1918. IMMAGINI DALLA CITTA' IN GUERRA Cassa di Risparmio di Venezia, Campo San Luca , finishes 20 April 2009 Cassa di Risparmio di Venezia, Campo San Luca , finishes 20 April 2009 This exhibition includes fascinating maps of where the bombs fell in Venice, pictures of the city during the black-out and photographs of the ‘home-guard’ aiming their guns at the enemy aircraft from the altane – rooftop terraces – where women used to bleach their hair blonde. There are also ration cards and gas-masks from the period. Planning a visit to Venice? The new Venice tourism site is now available in English. On www.veniceconnected.com you can avoid queues by booking in advance all kinds of tickets for public transport, museums and even public toilets or carparking. There are discounts for buying online for most things. The only downside: you need to book at least fifteen days in advance of travel, and then your tickets can only be collected from the airport, Tronchetto, Santa Lucia Station or Piazzale Roma during the opening hours stated on the site. According to the Comune, the tickets will definitely be at the right place at the right time … fifteen days notice should be enough. Hopefully this aspect will be streamlined, eventually. |
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March 2009THE BOOK OF THE HUMAN SKIN Michelle Lovric’s fourth novel, The Book of Human Skin, will be published by Bloomsbury in April 2010 The Book of Human Skin is a story of unmitigated villainy, Holy Anorexia, quack medicine, murder, love and a very unusual form of bibliomania. Midday, 13th May, 1784: An earthquake in Peru tears up the white streets of Arequipa. As the dust settles, a young girl with fanaticism already branded on her face arrives at the devastated convent of Santa Catalina. At the same moment, oceans away in Venice, the infant Minguillo Fasan tears his way out of his mother’s womb. The great Palazzo Espagnol, built on Peruvian silver and New World drugs, has an heir. Twelve years later, Venice is in Napoleon’s sights and Minguillo, who has already contrived to lose one sibling, is listening to the birth-cries of his new sister Marcella, a delicate, soft-skinned threat to his inheritance. Meanwhile, at Santa Catalina, the scarred young girl has become Sor Loreta, whose craving for sainthood is taking a decidedly sinister turn. Minguillo’s livid jealousy will condemn his sister to a series of fates as a cripple, a madwoman and a nun. But Marcella Fasan is not quite the soft target Minguillo imagines. Aided by a loyal servant, an irascible portrait-painter, a young doctor obsessed with skin, a warhorse of a Scottish merchant and a cigar-smoking pornographer nun, Marcella pits her sense of humour, her clever pencil and her fierce heart against Minguillo’s pitiless machinations. Her journey takes her from Napoleon’s shamed Venice to the last picaresque days of colonial Peru – where the fanatical Sor Loreta has plans of her own for the young girl from Venice … March Books
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February 2009The Venetian writer Tiziano Scarpa is winning ecstatic reviews for his beautiful novel, Stabat Mater (Einaudi, available from The Italian Bookshop in Cecil Court). His protagonist is Cecilia, a 16-year-old violinist at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice, where the composer Vivaldi takes the post of music-master – and changes her life and career forever. |
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THE VENICE IN PERIL EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS will be held from Venetian Road by Lionel Aggett and Blue Carpet by Keith Dunkley, reproduced by kind permission of the W.H. Patterson gallery February Books
Recommended Websiteswww.maryannsimmons.co.uk - beautiful silver objects with an architectural flavour http://www.patriciaguy.com/pGuyDiary.php - Food and wine writer Patricia Guy now has a monthly blog |
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January 2009The Go-Away Bird is the first collection of poetry by Geraldine Paine, one of the writers in the Clink Street Workshop. It is just out from Lapwing Publications. Sheenagh Pugh praises the range of voices that Geraldine Paine - actress, writer, magistrate - brings to this collection: 'rich, elegiac, yet more keenly aware of "now" than clinging to "then". ' ITALIAN LANGUAGE COURSES: The Dante Alighieri Institute of Venice will be offering various Italian language in 2009. info@venicedantealighieri.it or www.venicedantealighieri.it January Books
January Websiteshttp://www.friendsoffriendlesschurches.org.uk/ |
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December 2008AnnouncingOne of the Borough Market’s historic pubs is the inspiration forThe Wheatsheaf RIP, a book of portraits of its modern patrons captured by acclaimed photographer John Ross, who lives nearby. One hundred and sixty-five Whatseaf regulars made their way to his studio in Clink Street for photographic sessions. Thameslink’s building works will close the Wheatsheaf in January for an unconfirmed period. When it reopens, it will be under a new railway viaduct. The book will benefit local charity Kids. All those involved in it gave their services free. Jonathan Ellery, founder of Browns in Plantain Place, designed the layouts, FF Smith in Marlborough Grove supplied the paper, and Moore Print in Old Jamaica Road did the production. The Wheatsheaf RIP (Browns Editions £25) is available from Paul Smith in Park Street   | ||
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Cecil CourtThe Guide for People who Love Books and London. Michelle Lovric has written a personal introduction for a new book about Britain’s most famous street of antiquarian book, map and ephemera shops. This beautifully-illustrated guidebook, written by Maria Grazia Marinowith photographs Saverio Paffumi, contains interviews with the owners of the shops and highlights some astonishing items of their stock. The author also presents a meditation on the two kinds of people who inhabit the world: ‘those for whom books are everything, and those for who they do not even exist.’ Kilo’s killer brought to justice.On October 23rd, a 16-year-old girl was convicted of animal cruelty after drowning a ship's cat in the River Thames. The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, threw the cat from the gang-plank of the HMS Belfast on February 9th 2008. The cat had been adopted from the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. December Books
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November 2008The Venetian gondoliers are gathering support for Obama. Here’s their second Youtube video. If you don't see the video window above click here | |||
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Announcing …Bestagno Olive Oil, a new Social Enterprise Company based in the Borough Market London, with olive groves at Castello di Bestagno, Liguria, Italy, and CareTrade a new registered charity founded to create employment for people with autism. Bestagno Olive Oil and CareTrade have been created by Katharine Doré and Christopher Allen. Katharine, the mother of a profoundly autistic 15 year old boy, was one of the co-founders of TreeHouse, a charity set up in 1997 in response to the unmet national need for specialist education for children with autism. In picturesque Bestagno, Liguria, ancient olive terraces fan out from the two isolated towers, all that remains of the area’s 9th-century castle. Katharine Doré explains, ‘Largely abandoned after the Second World War, the olive trees, many of which are over 500 years old, were covered with canopies of ivy and brambles when we first saw them. The terraces were crumbling and many of the trees had not been pruned since the village elders were children. The stunning landscape and immense potential of the land made us determined to put together a grove of over 3000 trees. ‘We became aware of the need to create proper work opportunities for people with autism and indeed work experience for school children with autism when we were thinking about the future for our boy Toby who has profound autism. Christopher and I decided to buy and restore an olive farm in Liguria to create a work-based environment for Toby’s future. This idea developed into creating an olive oil business in order to create proper work for people with autism and work experience opportunities for school children. ‘We recognised that along with the olive oil company, which will be a social enterprise company and not for profit, we needed a registered charity. This way we could broaden the scope of what we wanted to do and work with all sorts of local companies to create work for people with autism. ‘People on the autistic spectrum vary greatly in their abilities both in terms of communication and their ability to simply ‘take part’. However their needs are similar to the rest of the population - a desire to be happy and productive, to be a part of a community where their contribution is valued, to have social and recreational lives, safe and appropriate accommodation and to be loved and valued as individuals.’ Bestagno Cold Pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil is available to order online www.bestoliveoil.org prior to its first shop opening in Borough Market in 2009 November Books
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October 2008 The gondoliers of Venice are doing their bit towards the American elections. Here Robertino Nardin delivers a musical message, with Moreno Mainardi rowing, and Diego Tagliapetra filming. If you don't see the video window above click here While everyone's eyes are on the controversial Calatrava Bridge, it seems that the most iconic bridge in Venice has problems of its own. The Rialto Bridge is full of holes - and the holes are full of rats. A report in one of Venice's newspapers, La Nuova Venezia, claims that enormous rats have been seen emerging from fissures in the stones of the Bridge. This means that the inner structure has been at least partially excavated to form the tunnels and dens of rodents of 'grosse dimensioni'.
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September 2008 Buzz, the 2008 Templar Press anthology, will feature poems by three writers from the Clink Street workshop, Pamela Johnson, Geraldine Paine and Sue Ehrhardt . All three will be reading from their works in the anthology at the Derwent Literary Festival in October. Geraldine Paine has been shortlisted for Canterbury Poet of the Year 2008. September Books Philipp Blom To Have and To Hold, An Intimate History of Collectors and Collecting Michael Chabon The Jewish Policemen’s Union Hand Luggage Only - The anthology of the shortlisted poems and winners of the 2007 International Sonnet Competition, which includes work by Clink Street writers, Geraldine Paine and Pam Johnson, now available from Amazon. Recommended websites Relief from the searing heat of Ferragosto – Venice iced over in 1929. Click here to view the video. http://wordsunlimited.typepad.com Welcome to the blogosphere! Novelist and poet Pam Johnson has just started a blog that muses on the process of writing amid the process of living. www.venessia.com A site of cartoons, observations and Veneziana. This cartoon (left) from the site shows a journalist interviewing the architect Santiago Calatrava, whose controversy-dogged bridge is finally supposed to open in the next month. The cartoonist shows a bridge that doubles up on itself and returns to Venice. The architect explains to the interviewer that this is the Mayor’s idea for stopping the depopulation of Venice. |
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August 2008 Michelle Lovric was one of the judges of the semi-final round of The Institute of Ideas and Pfizer Debating Matters National Final 2008, held at the Wellcome Trust on July 5th. The subject was ‘Is the West Unfairly Demonising China?’ www.debatingmatters.com PETA has offered a reward of £1000 for information leading to the discovery of who drowned HMS’s Belfast’s ship’s cat, Kilo, in February this year. New CCTV footage of the suspects can be seen on the SE1 website. Recommended websites www.adrianarocca.com Adriana Rocca, whose studio is on Giudecca, does wonderful paintings of crowd scenes, in some ways rather reminiscent of Tintoretto's cast-of-thousands apocalypses - except that Adriana Rocca's crowds are from the world over, and gather together serenely. Each individual, even from the back of the head, is someone completely different. The artist was born in Argentina, but has lived in Venice for twelve years. florizel.canalblog.com A beautiful French website about paper, fabric and things-in-boxes: many happy hours to be spent reading and admiring this site. August Books Nick Green Cat’s Paw Albertine La Rumeur de Venise J.C. Brown Carnival Masks of Venice – A Photographic Essay A vintage quotation Yes, it is very difficult to believe in Venice, most of all when one is in Venice. New York Times, December 1, 1901 |
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July 2008 Venice’s Mayor Massimo Cacciari has launched a poster campaign to ask people to drink the excellent tap-water in Venice, thereby avoiding the pollution caused by trucking in bottles of the designer stuff. Michelle Lovric has written a diary piece on this subject for the website of the English Writers in Italy. See www.englishwritersinitaly.com July Books Junot Diaz The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Liz Jensen The Ninth Life of Louis Drax Rose Tremain The Road Home Recommended websites www.evamariaschoen.de a German artist who works with ink and fingers to create unusual and exquisite art. www.albumdivenezia.it an archive of private and professional photographs of the terrible flood of 1966 The photograph (see left) from the Album di Venezia archive shows a frightened cat, drenched and trapped by the floodwater. It was taken in Castello by an anonymous photographer on November 4th, 1966. |
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June 2008 Reminder, Diary Date Michelle Lovric will be discussing Venice and writing about Venice with the Venetian author Tiziano Scarpa at the Italian Cultural Institute in London on July 10th. Tiziano’s Venice is a Fish has just been published in English. Details here 7pm, Thursday 10th July Tickets £5, free for members Booking essential on 0207 396 4406 June Books Edward Leeves Leaves from a Victorian Diary Rumer Godden Pippa Passes Baron Corvo The Desire and Pursuit of the Whole L. & L. M. Ragg Things Seen in Venice P. B. M. Allan The Book-Hunter at Home Jules Verne 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas Cesare Zangirolami Storie delle chiese dei monasteri delle scuole di Venezia rapinate e distrutte da Napoleone Bonaparte |
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May 2008 Not to miss: Exhibition of mosaics in Venice. Susan Adams Nickerson’s exhibition of exquisite, poignant mosaics opens on May 10th at the Giudecca 795 gallery. The artist plays on three themes interwoven by the media of found objects, mosaics, ink and mortar. Venice is evoked in the theme of relics and reliquaries: small precious objects caught in glass. Literature is evoked by words in mosaic form: letters as tesserae, words as painting, and painting as words. The rhythms of the spoken word are preserved, expressing the artist’s conviction that writing is in itself art. Finally, the artist brings into play the nature of her own medium, the mosaic itself: an interplay of colour and texture, light and concealment, and softness and permanence. Exhibition dates: May 10 – 1 June 2008 Hours of opening: Tuesday to Friday 15.30 – 20.00 Saturday and Sunday 10.00 – 12.00 and 15.30 – 20.00 Closed Mondays. Admission free. The gallery is located midway between Hotel Hilton Stucky and Harry's Dolci. Take ACTV boat lines 41, 42, or 2 to "Palanca"; at the Palanca boat stop, turn right and walk along the fondamenta. After the Sant' Eufemia bridge, continue to number 795. Tel (+39) 041 7241182 / (+39) 340 8798327 Fax (+39) 041 989614 www.giudecca795.com Professor Giordano Russo has written this essay on her work.  More jewelled Venice Last month Vicki Ambery-Smith’s Venetian ring caused quite a stir: so for May another jeweller, this time a native Venetian, whose work features natural forms and symbolic animals and fruits including many that can be found in Venetian paintings. A lizard, for example, is supposed to have the grace and wisdom of a snake without its venom. The pomegranate symbolises the unity of all the separate aspects of the Church, as well as fertility, and also resurrection. The scallop shell is the sign of pilgrimage. The Moor of course features in many places in Venice. There is much debate about the ethnic origins of the classic Venetian Moor, that one finds carved in wood, picked out in jewels, on door handles ('mascaron') all over the town, and of course immortalised in Shakespeare’s Othello. Are they from Morea? Is it Morocco? Or are the Moors of a middle-eastern provenance? Carla Mattea Piccoli graduated in architecture at the Accademia di Belli Arti di Venezia and has worked in jewellery and graphic design. Since 1994 she’s worked in collaboration with the antiquario Oreste Cagnato, whose Antiquus shops are in San Samuele and San Vio. These jewels, reminiscent of Lalique’s creations but with a definite Venetian flavour, can be seen in the shops. More pictures are available on request from info@antiquus.it |
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New hotel in Venice A beautiful new hotel has opened inside a well-known small palace on the Grand Canal. www.palazzostern.com Diary date Michelle Lovric will be discussing Venice and writing about Venice with the Venetian author Tiziano Scarpa at the Italian Cultural Institute in London on July 10th. Tiziano’s Venice is a Fish has just been published in English. May books Jerffold M. Packard Farewell in Splendour, The Death of Queen Victoria and her Age. Charles G. Leland Aradia, or The Gospel of the Witches, 1899 Recommended websites Italian Cultural Institute www.icilondon.esteri.it |
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April 2008 Il Contatore dei Veneziani: Venetian-meter The campaigning group Venessia.com has come up with a piquant way to mark the exodus of native Venetians from their city. On March 21st Venessia.com launched an illuminated digital display in the window of the historic Morelli pharmacy in San Bartolomeo. This display gives the number of Venetians in the city – on that day 60, 704. The display will be updated every week, using figures supplied by the Comune. The population of Venice has declined from a high of 175,000 in 1951. Venice on your finger Vicki Ambery-Smith makes extraordinary architectural jewellery. Venice features strongly in her work. Here is her latest ring, which shows the area around the church of Miracoli that was the home of the artist Cecilia Cornaro in Michelle Lovric’s novel Carnevale. Cecilia Cornaro also joined the cast of The Remedy and will make another appearance in the current work-in-progress The Book of Human Skin. This sequence of photos shows the initial drawings, and then the unburnished work in progress and then the final ring, which is different from each angle. See more of Vicki Ambery-Smith’s jewellery on her website: www.vickiamberysmith.co.uk   Initial drawings 
 Work in progress, before the bridges are added. 
 The finished ring Seagull Fracas If you don't see a video window above click here to view the screaming seagulls video. There appear to be many names for seagulls in Venice, and several breeds of bird. Most dominant (vocally at least) are the ‘gabbiani reali’ or ‘royal seagulls. Is this the Yellow-legged gull Larus cacchinnans? The old Venetian name for the huge, aggressive gull is ‘Magòga’ (plural ‘Magòghe’). The word for ‘wizard’ in Italian is ‘Mago’ and some Italian believe that the cold glance of a gull has a magical power. Then there are the ‘cocai’, singular ‘cocal’. Some sources say that this Venetian name refers to a smaller, less aggressive gull, of a different breed to the Magoghe, perhaps the black-headed gull Larus ridibundus. Others say the ‘cocal’ is merely a youngster of the ‘Magoga’ breed. Yet another source says that it is the masculine of the ‘Magoga’. So which breed are the Magoghe? And which the smaller birds? Mediterranean Gull Larus melanocephalus? Little Gull Larus minutes? Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus? Slender-billed Gull Larus genei? Common Gull Larus canus? Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus? Herring Gull Larus argentatus? Yellow-legged Gull Larus cachinnans ? Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus? Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla? If any reader has further information to contribute on this subject, please contact this site. Meanwhile, William Dean Howells, in his inimitable Venetian Life, speaks of how the seagulls give voice to the full desolation of winter in the town: ...but the only creatures which seemed really to enjoy the weather were the seagulls. These birds, which flock into the city in vast numbers at the first approach of cold, and, sailing up and down the canals between the palaces, bring to the dwellers in the city a full sense of mid-ocean forlornness and desolation, now rioted on the savage winds, with harsh cries, and danced upon the waves of the bitter brine, with a clamorous joy that had something eldritch and unearthly in it. |
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April Books Giuseppe Tassini Curiosità Veneziane Tiziano Scarpa Venice is a Fish Tiziano Scarpa Corpo Recommended Websites www.venessia.com Venetian website of information, pictures and campaigns (see news above). www.newsontherialto.org Cultural exchange for Venetian scholars. www.retemediterranea.com Pioneering a museum of the lagoon. www.italiantalk.com A London-based service offering translation from English, French and Spanish into Italian. |
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March 2008 Writing Notes The Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, writing in 1983, reflected on the different kinds of relationships that a writer can have with his or her work. The novelist Juan Carlos Onetti once said that the difference between him and me as writers was that I had a matrimonial relationship with literature whereas he had an adulterous relationship with it. Venetian Curiosities The parish of San Samuele, which today includes the churches of San Samuele, of Santo Stefano and the deconsecrated San Vidal (left) was the subject of a vulgar song at one time: Contrada piccola, grande bordel; Senza ponti, cattive campane, Omini becchi e donne putane. Small as it is, it’s a great big brothel Without bridges, its bells all jangly The men are cuckolds and the women whores … Congratulations! Poets from the Clink Street workshop have been recognised this past month. Carol DeVaughn has won second place in the Torriano Poets competition, in which Geraldine Paine was Recommended, and Pam Johnson and Geraldine Paine have been shortlisted in The Open Poetry Sonnet Competition March Books Octavio Paz Sor Juana, or The traps of faith. 1988 Stephen Haliczer Between Exaltation and Infamy, 2002 Kathryn Burns Colonial Habits: Convents and the Spiritual Economy of Cuzco, Peru, 1999 Susan E. Dinan and Debra Meyers (eds) Women and Religion in Old and New Worlds, 2001 Martin Luis Daughters of the Conquistadores, 1983 Mita Choudhury Convents and Nuns in Eighteenth-century French Politics and Culture, 2004 |
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 Happy New Year! January 1st 2008: the sun catches the halo of an angel on the church of San Vidal, Venice. Photo: Graham Morrison |
February 2008 Michelle Lovric was interviewed by Daphne Guinness for the Sydney Morning Herald on her research into museums around the world. The piece was published in the January 1st edition. Click here to read it. A thought-provoking comment on the British book industry by A.L. Kennedy, on winning the Costa prize for a best novel: It's such a funny climate at the moment. Getting this does mean you're at least more likely to be in the bookshops. There are greater numbers of a smaller range of books, we are trying to disassemble our culture and normally only an occupying force would do that. I'm more annoyed at things from the point of view of a British reader than a writer. February Books Indra Sinha Animal’s People Linda Newbery Catcall Hilary Mantel Beyond Black E.H. Ruddock Homœopathic Vade Mecum Medical & Surgical, 1893 Pierce Egan Real Life In London, Volumes I and II Or, The Rambles And Adventures Of Bob Tallyho, Esq., And His Cousin, The Hon. Tom Dashall, Through The Metropolis; Exhibiting A Living Picture Of Fashionable Characters, Manners, And Amusements In High And Low Life, 1821 Unknown Sinks of London Laid Open - A Pocket Companion for the Uninitiated, to Which is Added a Modern Flash Dictionary Containing all the Cant Words, Slang Terms, and Flash Phrases Now in Vogue, with a List of the Sixty Orders of Prime Coves, 1848 Recommended Websites www.catsmeatshop.blogspot.com A blog about Victorian London from the excellent novelist and historian Lee Jackson, the creator of www.victorianlondon.org, also recommended www.venetianlegends.it Alberto Toso Fei’s site with ghost stories and legends about Venice. |
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January 2008 Michelle Lovric has become a consultant editor for The Writers' Workshop which offers manuscript assessment and editorial services to first-time or unpublished novelists and poets. For more details see the website: www.writersworkshop.co.uk Recommended Websites www.sarahsalway.com Award-winning novelist and short-story writer with a fascinating blog. www.patriciaguy.com Wine and food writer and expert on the ladies of Sherlock Holmes. www.churchesofvenice.co.uk A new website from the creator of www.fictionalcities.com: a much- needed English-language guide to Venice's churches. January Books Alexei Sayle The Dog-Catcher Michelle Paver Wolf Brother Mary Hamer Incest, a new perspective Phillis Cunnington and Anne Buck Children’s Costume in England 1300-1900
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