Invisible Voices: A Spotlight on Italian Canadian Women Writers

The voices of these female writers reflect on the hardships that immigrant Italian women had to face. Their literature is a reflection of Canada and brings a unique perspective, one that is not always available in mainstream Canadian writing. Many of these authors struggle to get published, and in many cases, remain invisible to mainstream culture even though their work exists in multiple languages, can be be found in anthologies and several collections, have received critical recognition, and are studied in schools and universities.

Invisible Voices: A Spotlight on Italian Canadian Women Writers takes an in-depth critical view of the authors, their work, and their community to present an unbiased, honest examination of our cultural and societal bias when it comes to Italian women writers in Canada. There is a desperate need for these writers to tell their own stories, expose the politics behind their prose, and finally address the elephant in the proverbial sitting room- as to how their work has been received and why have they remained largely ‘invisible’ despite the body of literature they have contributed to Canada.

Since we could not include all of them in one documentary, we have broken it into a three-part documentary project. In the first instalment, we hear from Gianna Patriarca (Ontario), Bruna Di Giuseppe-Bertoni (Ontario), Eufemia Fantetti (Ontario), and Monica Meneghetti (Alberta). In the second instalment, we interview Licia Canton from Quebec, Caterina Edwards LoVerso from Alberta, Gina Valle from Ontario, and Genni Gunn from British Columbia. In the third instalment, we have the pleasure of including Mary di Michele from Quebec, Darlene Madott and Giovanna Riccio from Ontario, and Tina Biello from British Columbia.