The American Tour(s)
Two debut Europa authors, Alina Bronsky and Daniele Mastrogiacomo, have recently returned home following US tours that can only be defined as resounding successes. Both Daniele and Alina were met with overwhelming enthusiasm by the American public, and at Europa Editions we’d like to thank all our partners* for making these tours possible.
Daniele’s tour began on the West Coast, with appearances at the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco, and at one of SF’s most illustrious and dynamic independent bookstores, Book Passage. At the Italian Cultural Institute, Daniele was in conversation with journalist and author Mark Danner, who brought a touch of humor and a whole lot of professional insight to Daniele’s harrowing story.
From these very first events to the last, at PEN’s World Voices Festival in New York, Daniele managed to convey, in a very real and moving way, the story of his kidnapping at the hands of the new Taliban in Afghanistan, the experience that is at the heart of his book, Days of Fear. Daniele is a great communicator, who, cognizant of the importance of his story and the importance of speaking directly with his listeners, did a great job of presenting his story and himself to his English-speaking public. His generosity of spirit, his amenability, and the fact that he has such an incredible story to tell, won audiences over in San Francisco, Los Angeles—where he spoke to an audience of 150 at the Italian Cultural Institute and to almost 400 people at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books—Chicago, Washington DC (thanks Mike and Adam at Politics and Prose) and New York (another fantastic PEN World Voices Festival! Congrats to festival organizers.)
At Europa, we work by and large with international authors. As such, we generally have better luck bringing them together in our catalogs than we do bringing them together physically. So, it was a treat when, the night before their respective engagements in the city, Daniele Mastrogiacomo and Alina Bronsky and their respective partners met for dinner in a cold and windy Chicago, together with Words Without Borders founder Susan Harris, our fabulous Penguin rep, Brian Wilson, and Europa’s Editor in Chief, Michael Reynolds.
Alina had arrived in Chicago from a warm Frankfurt via a decidedly hot New York, where she was the guest of honor at a party held at the Goethe Institut-Wyoming Building and co-sponsored by Penguin Paperback Sales Division and the Goethe Institut New York for the launch of Broken Glass Park—and where, despite translator (and former DJ) Tim Mohr’s dismissing our editorial staff’s best efforts to play DJ that evening, a fine and wholesome night was had by all—and found the sudden mid-western cold quite a shock. (She may well be from Siberia but you wouldn't have guessed judging from the layers she was wearing in Chicago.)
After a great event at the Goethe Institute Chicago expertly moderated by Susan Harris, Alina left for an even colder, and decidedly wetter Boston. On the 27th at the Goethe Institute she appeared with Brandeis University’s Melanie Sherwood, and the following evening at Brookline Booksmith, with Michael Reynolds. Alina is a natural. Her combination of dry humor and poise won over every audience she met while on tour, none more than the students who attended her second New York event, “Face Off: Overcoming Barriers.” (see video) Alina spoke with students individually and signed books for almost a full hour after the event ended.
While Alina was in Boston at the Goethe Institute, Daniele Mastrogiacomo was speaking to one of the most intelligent, well-informed and curious publics of his entire tour at Washington’s Politics and Prose Bookstore. The event, co-sponsored by the Italian Cultural Institute, and in the presence of it’s outgoing director, the fabulous Rita Venturelli, was a highlight for Daniele. The store did a great job displaying his books and hosting the event itself. Daniele’s entire entourage—which had grown by that point to include his editor and translator, Michael Reynolds, his wife, Luisella, and numerous DC-based members of her family—was gracefully shuttled around by another of our great Penguin reps, Trudy Kallman.
After Alina’s visit to Boston, and Daniele’s to DC, both authors were reunited in New York at the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature. Chaired by Salman Rushdie, and under the direction of Caro Llewellyn, this year the festival brought together over 130 authors from across the globe for conversations, panels, readings and performances.
Each and every event at which Alina and Daniele participated was well organized and well attended. Links to photos (by the indefatigable and talented Beowulf Sheehan), video and audio of events below.
On the night of April 28th, Daniele took part in the opening reading alongside distinguished international authors at “Readings from Around the World.” Daniele’s hectic New York City day also included a hasty trip from Penn station to the WNYC building, upon arrival from DC, for an interview on the Leonard Lopate show, which can be downloaded here.
Alina’s PEN Festival debut was hard-hitting; not for nothing it was entitled “Face-to-Face: Confronting the Torturers” held at Joe’s Pub. The readings were confrontational and, for some, a little too much. But Alina did herself proud, choosing a text that was less harrowing than others but just as powerful, by renowned German journalist, Günter Wallraff.
Alina’s other events included “Incognito: Writers And the Aliases," and “Black Sheep and Exploding Turbans” at the Powerhouse Museum, sponsored by Guernica Magazine.
Daniele appeared with La Repubblica’s New York bureau chief Federico Rampini at the Italian Cultural Institute of New York mid-week, and, on Saturday, wrapped up his tour in the best possible way. Sharing a stage with distinguished journalists and authors—Deborah Amos, Philip Gourevitch, Arnon Grunberg, Sebastian Junger, and Sarah Montague—he participated in a conversation entitled WAR at Le Poisson Rouge.
After taking a bite of the Big Apple, Alina headed to Washington DC and Atlanta. In DC, at the Goethe Institute of Washington she had a fascinating conversation with poet and author Lane Jennings. The event was followed by the latest in a series of long book-signings. America’s last chance (this time round) to meet Alina was in Atlanta, where she was introduced and in conversation with Marc Fitten, author of Valeria's Last Stand. Watch the event here.
Both authors are at work on follow-ups to their exciting debuts. When they’re ready, we look forward to having Daniele and Alina back in the US to meet their growing readerships.
Visit PEN's AV page for more video, audio and photos of Alina and Daniele's World Voices events.
*Many thanks to:The Italian Cultural Institutes of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, and New York; the Goethe Institutes of Chicago, Boston, New York, Washington DC, and Atlanta; the German Book Office; Northwestern University; The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature; Mark Danner, Jonathan Kirsch, Susan Harris, Melanie Brandeis, Lane Jennings, and Marc Fitten; Book Passage (SF), Book Cellar (Chicago), Politics’ and Prose (DC) and Brookline Booksmith (Boston).
Daniele’s tour began on the West Coast, with appearances at the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco, and at one of SF’s most illustrious and dynamic independent bookstores, Book Passage. At the Italian Cultural Institute, Daniele was in conversation with journalist and author Mark Danner, who brought a touch of humor and a whole lot of professional insight to Daniele’s harrowing story.
From these very first events to the last, at PEN’s World Voices Festival in New York, Daniele managed to convey, in a very real and moving way, the story of his kidnapping at the hands of the new Taliban in Afghanistan, the experience that is at the heart of his book, Days of Fear. Daniele is a great communicator, who, cognizant of the importance of his story and the importance of speaking directly with his listeners, did a great job of presenting his story and himself to his English-speaking public. His generosity of spirit, his amenability, and the fact that he has such an incredible story to tell, won audiences over in San Francisco, Los Angeles—where he spoke to an audience of 150 at the Italian Cultural Institute and to almost 400 people at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books—Chicago, Washington DC (thanks Mike and Adam at Politics and Prose) and New York (another fantastic PEN World Voices Festival! Congrats to festival organizers.)
At Europa, we work by and large with international authors. As such, we generally have better luck bringing them together in our catalogs than we do bringing them together physically. So, it was a treat when, the night before their respective engagements in the city, Daniele Mastrogiacomo and Alina Bronsky and their respective partners met for dinner in a cold and windy Chicago, together with Words Without Borders founder Susan Harris, our fabulous Penguin rep, Brian Wilson, and Europa’s Editor in Chief, Michael Reynolds.
Alina had arrived in Chicago from a warm Frankfurt via a decidedly hot New York, where she was the guest of honor at a party held at the Goethe Institut-Wyoming Building and co-sponsored by Penguin Paperback Sales Division and the Goethe Institut New York for the launch of Broken Glass Park—and where, despite translator (and former DJ) Tim Mohr’s dismissing our editorial staff’s best efforts to play DJ that evening, a fine and wholesome night was had by all—and found the sudden mid-western cold quite a shock. (She may well be from Siberia but you wouldn't have guessed judging from the layers she was wearing in Chicago.)
After a great event at the Goethe Institute Chicago expertly moderated by Susan Harris, Alina left for an even colder, and decidedly wetter Boston. On the 27th at the Goethe Institute she appeared with Brandeis University’s Melanie Sherwood, and the following evening at Brookline Booksmith, with Michael Reynolds. Alina is a natural. Her combination of dry humor and poise won over every audience she met while on tour, none more than the students who attended her second New York event, “Face Off: Overcoming Barriers.” (see video) Alina spoke with students individually and signed books for almost a full hour after the event ended.
While Alina was in Boston at the Goethe Institute, Daniele Mastrogiacomo was speaking to one of the most intelligent, well-informed and curious publics of his entire tour at Washington’s Politics and Prose Bookstore. The event, co-sponsored by the Italian Cultural Institute, and in the presence of it’s outgoing director, the fabulous Rita Venturelli, was a highlight for Daniele. The store did a great job displaying his books and hosting the event itself. Daniele’s entire entourage—which had grown by that point to include his editor and translator, Michael Reynolds, his wife, Luisella, and numerous DC-based members of her family—was gracefully shuttled around by another of our great Penguin reps, Trudy Kallman.
After Alina’s visit to Boston, and Daniele’s to DC, both authors were reunited in New York at the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature. Chaired by Salman Rushdie, and under the direction of Caro Llewellyn, this year the festival brought together over 130 authors from across the globe for conversations, panels, readings and performances.
Each and every event at which Alina and Daniele participated was well organized and well attended. Links to photos (by the indefatigable and talented Beowulf Sheehan), video and audio of events below.
On the night of April 28th, Daniele took part in the opening reading alongside distinguished international authors at “Readings from Around the World.” Daniele’s hectic New York City day also included a hasty trip from Penn station to the WNYC building, upon arrival from DC, for an interview on the Leonard Lopate show, which can be downloaded here.
Alina’s PEN Festival debut was hard-hitting; not for nothing it was entitled “Face-to-Face: Confronting the Torturers” held at Joe’s Pub. The readings were confrontational and, for some, a little too much. But Alina did herself proud, choosing a text that was less harrowing than others but just as powerful, by renowned German journalist, Günter Wallraff.
Alina’s other events included “Incognito: Writers And the Aliases," and “Black Sheep and Exploding Turbans” at the Powerhouse Museum, sponsored by Guernica Magazine.
Daniele appeared with La Repubblica’s New York bureau chief Federico Rampini at the Italian Cultural Institute of New York mid-week, and, on Saturday, wrapped up his tour in the best possible way. Sharing a stage with distinguished journalists and authors—Deborah Amos, Philip Gourevitch, Arnon Grunberg, Sebastian Junger, and Sarah Montague—he participated in a conversation entitled WAR at Le Poisson Rouge.
After taking a bite of the Big Apple, Alina headed to Washington DC and Atlanta. In DC, at the Goethe Institute of Washington she had a fascinating conversation with poet and author Lane Jennings. The event was followed by the latest in a series of long book-signings. America’s last chance (this time round) to meet Alina was in Atlanta, where she was introduced and in conversation with Marc Fitten, author of Valeria's Last Stand. Watch the event here.
Both authors are at work on follow-ups to their exciting debuts. When they’re ready, we look forward to having Daniele and Alina back in the US to meet their growing readerships.
Visit PEN's AV page for more video, audio and photos of Alina and Daniele's World Voices events.
*Many thanks to:The Italian Cultural Institutes of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, and New York; the Goethe Institutes of Chicago, Boston, New York, Washington DC, and Atlanta; the German Book Office; Northwestern University; The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature; Mark Danner, Jonathan Kirsch, Susan Harris, Melanie Brandeis, Lane Jennings, and Marc Fitten; Book Passage (SF), Book Cellar (Chicago), Politics’ and Prose (DC) and Brookline Booksmith (Boston).