Ein verregneter Sommer (A Rainy Summer) Readings and Translations with Marcello Liscia
Time: April 16, 2024, 2 p.m. - 3 p.m.
Location: 156 Life Sciences - with virtual option
Marcello Liscia
Lauren Surovi (LLL)
Mona Eikel-Pohen (LLL)
Being able to read in multiple languages gives students the chance to see intercultural activities at work. In this virtual event hosted by Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, Liscia reads excerpts from his German LGBTQIA+ youth novel Ein verregneter Sonntag (Berlin 2022); Surovi reads from the Italian edition Un'estate priovosa (Graphofeel 2024), and Eikel-Pohen reads the English translation. Includes time for Q&A with the author.
For more info or to request accessibility accommodations, contact Mona Eikel-Poen by April 1.
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About the author:
Marcello Liscia was born 1971 in Paderborn, Germany. Words, whether written or spoken, have always been his perferred medium of expression, which led him to study both English and French literature and linguistics during his youth. For over 20 years he has been an executive advisor, trainer and coach, active throughout the European continent. Today, Marcello lives in Westphalian Salzkotten, not far from Paderborn. When not working on his next novel, he and his husband, Jan, tend to their 20 bee colonies.
A Summer of Rain: An Italian Gelateria sets the stage for cultural intermingling
In the late nineteen-fifties, 16-year-old Luca leaves his home in Northern Italy for Germany where he is sent to support his eight-member family. This is Luca’s first season as a Gastarbeiter in an Italian gelateria. Under Signora Colombo’s exacting tutelage, Luca soon learns the stress and strain of a seven-day work week. He is grateful for the many rainy days, setting him free to wander this foreign city.
One such day, Luca meets Hans, a German student of the same age, who has been dubbed bel biondo by the female gelateria Gastarbeiter. Surmounting language barriers the two young men become friends and together, with the help of an Italian-German dictionary, they learn to voice that for which their teenage vocabulary had yet no words.
From a unique perspective, A Summer of Rain, adeptly weaves an evocative tale of the Gastarbeiter world that decisively influenced post-war Germany.