A writer closely related to Romagna, the famous Irish writer, poet and translator William Wall, is today’s guest, presented by Daniele Serafini (9pm) at the Literary Cafe in the Golden Wing (free entry). Wall will present his new novel “The Ballad of the Empty Bed” (Nutrimenti Publisher), Between Camogli and Genoa, Carlo, winner of the Giovanna Descalso 2022 Award.

A writer, as mentioned above, linked to many collaborations and translations into English by authors from Romagna, Wall is the author of four novels, two poetry collections and a short story. His provocative political blog “The Ice Moon” is a scathing critique of the Irish government’s management of the economy.

Wall, can you tell us about your ten-year partnership with Sahitya Romagna?

“For me, these always come from friendship. Years ago, at a literary convention in Lisbon, I befriended Giovanni Nadian. A few years later, Giovanni, a translator, translation teacher and author, wrote to me saying he had found me a translator. He introduced me to Adele D’Arcangelo of the University of Bologna, based in Forli: we started working together on my first collection of poems in Italian, published by Mobidic. Later the publisher Guido Liotta invited me to Fenza for a reading, and on that occasion I met other poets, including Cesare Ricciotti and Daniele Serafini. A long and fruitful collaboration with Daniel began: he published a series of my poems in “Laboratory Criticism” and wrote a review of my poetry collection for a magazine of Irish studies. As for me, I translated one of his poetry suites, “When We Were Kings,” published in a major British magazine, and three years ago he was a guest in Cork at an international literary festival with Francesca Melandri, representing Italy. – Known even abroad for his novels. On that occasion I introduced them and spoke to them. “

Wall recalled his meeting with Nadiani: “Walking through Alfama the day before San Giovanni, Q struck up a conversation with an Italian who proclaimed himself to be a poet and translator in a language no one spoke. According to Q, this was the essence of poetry. He said it was a corporate myth that poetry was about communication. His faithful translations from the unspoken language were the most faithful he had ever done. The Italian claimed to be better and yet far inferior to the original. Q, in his enthusiasm, embraced the Italian soi-far poet, and declared that he himself spoke several languages ​​unknown to science. The two soon became friends.”

Serafini, why did you define Walls as “a saving hope” in “Critical Laboratories” magazine? “The theme of solidarity recovering from loneliness and pain” can also be found in these new pages of The Empty Bed.