Maria Grazia Calandrone

Maria Grazia Calandrone is a poet, playwright, journalist, performer and writer based in Rome. She presents cultural programs on RAI Radio 3 (most recent show: “Poesia in technicolor”), contributes literary criticism to Poesia, il manifesto, Corriere della Sera and 7, leads poetry workshops in schools, prisons, and mental health units, volunteers with the Piccoli Maestri children’s reading center, directs the interview series I volontari and a videoreportage about Sarajevo for Corriere TV. Her books include: Pietra di paragone (Tracce, 1998 – Nuove Scrittrici Award), La scimmia randagia (Crocetti, 2003 – Pasolini Award), Come per mezzo di una briglia ardente (Atelier, 2005) La macchina responsabile (Crocetti, 2007), Sulla bocca di tutti (Crocetti, 2010 – Napoli, Sassari and Prata Awards), Atto di vita nascente (LietoColle, 2010), La vita chiara (transeuropa, 2011), Serie fossile (Crocetti, 2015 – Marazza and Tassoni Awards), Gli Scomparsi – storie da “Chi l’ha visto?” (Gialla Oro pordenonelegge, 2016 – Dessì Award), Il bene morale (Crocetti, 2017 and 2019 – Europa and Trivio Award), Giardino della gioia (Mondadori 2019 and 2020), the translations Fossils (SurVision, Ireland 2018), Sèrie Fòssil (Edicions Aïllades, Ibiza 2019 – traduzione di Nora Albert) and the arabic anthology Questo corpo, questa luce (Almutawassit Books, Damasco 2020), the pseudo-novel L’infinito mélo, with an audio CD of her readings (Sossella Editions, 2011), Per voce sola, a collection of dramatic monologues, drawings and photos, with a CD by Sonia Bergamasco and EsTrio (ChiPiùNeArt, 2016) and Un altro mondo, lo stesso mondo. Una riscrittura del Fanciullino di Giovanni Pascoli (Aragno 2019 – Bo-Descalzo Award). She has also written short stories, present in numerous anthologies, and edited and introduced Nella Nobili’s poetry volume, Ho camminato nel mondo con l’anima aperta (Solferino 2018) and Dino Campana. Preferisco il rumore del mare (Ponte alle Grazie 2019). In 2017 she appeared in Donatella Baglivo’s documentary ll futuro in una poesia and in Israeli filmmaker Omri Lior’s Poems With a View project. Her poetry has been translated into over twenty languages. Her website is www.mariagraziacalandrone.it
Her series of poems are in Nuovi poeti italiani 6 (Einaudi, 2012) and appear in anthologies and magazines of several European and American countries; she wrote also Dalla sua bocca. Riscritture da undici appunti inediti di Alda Merini (with Michele Caccamo – Zona, 2013) and Rosa dell’Animale (with Amarji, preface by Adonis – Attakwin, Damasco and Zona, 2014); in 1993 he won the eleventh edition of Montale Award for unpublished works and, since the same year, she has been invited by the most relevant national and international festivals; since 2008 she has been staging in Italy and Europe – with the composer Stefano Savi Scarponi – the video concerts Senza bagaglio [“Without baggage”], finalist in the “RomaEuropa webfactory” 2009 and Corpo reale [“Real body”]. In 2010 her text My language is the rose has been chosen by the Malayan composer Chie Tsang, and their work has been finalist in the “Unique Forms of Continuity in Space” in Melbourne, Australia. In 2010 she has been chosen as representative of the Italian poetry for “Evropa jedna báseň”, a Czech documentary directed by Lucie Kralova. In 2012 she works for the RAI TV program “UnoMattina Poesia” and wins the Haiku Price of the Japanese Institute of Culture; in 2013 she started a collaboration with Rai 3 italian television