24 June, 2015 – Luigi Ballerini and Valerio Magrelli will represent Italy at the Poetry Festival “Vives Voix de Méditerranée en Méditerranée,” scheduled from Friday, July 24 to Saturday, August 1. The French Festival hosted every year in Sète – a municipality located in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon – the big names and new voices of contemporary poetry. Among the 40 countries represented, Italy is present this year – thanks to the support of the Italian Cultural Institute in Marseilles – with Ballerini and Magrelli. Ballerini – born in Milan in 1940 – lives between New York and Milan, and has taught modern and contemporary Italian literature at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). He published poetry collections, Italian and American poetry anthologies, critical texts, and translations. Magrelli – born in Rome in 1957 – teaches French Language and Literature at the University of Cassino. He is the author of many translations of French authors like Mallarmé, Valéry, Jarry, Char, Ponge while his works have been translated in English, French, Spanish, Serbian and Croatian. Both have won many literary awards. (Gil)
