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| Top left: Marco Sonzogni with the first prize winner of the Italian poetry competition Jean Annan Bottom right: Matteo Telara and Marco Sonzogni |
On Friday 16 April we celebrated #Dante700 with an Italian cultural evening at the Dante Auckland with a special guest: Victoria University’s Reader Marco Sonzogni. Marco talked about the making of his latest projects, two books to celebrate Dante: Quantum of Dante and More favourable Waters. On the night prizes for the Dante Italian Poetry Competition were also awarded, and Marco, the judge, commended all the students who entered (over 30) for their great works.
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| A few of the winners of our Italian poetry competition receiving their awards |
The winners, in alphabetical order, were:
Andrew van der Poll
Anne Beresford
Claude Jones
Duncan Eastwood
Gray Taylor
Helen Renwick
Jean Annan
Kathy Meyer
Mary Mason
Naomi Estall
Nobuko Delowe
Pamela Stone
Plus a class prize for the collective poems of Barbara Martelli's absolute beginners class.
The first prize was awarded to Jean Annan, (Luca's student) for this poem:
Lo Shock Culturale
Jean Annan
La Poesia
Rigida come un tavolo, congelarmi via!
Le braccia si lanciano verso di me
In silenzio frenetico, la mente urla, “Vai!”
Pressione onnipresente, un muro di cortesia.
Di notte in pizzeria aspetto il mio turno
Aspetto, aspetto, aspetto, …
La voce dentro di me dice,
“Io sono arrivata prima di voi!”.
Affronto un gioco che non posso giocare
La voce sussurra, “Devi gridare!
Gridare! Gridare!” Ma come?
Aspetto il mio turno che non arriva mai.
Sdraiata all’ombra, pronta per la caduta
Colpita dalla gentilezza di gente premurosa
Primo, secondo, il dolce … e ancora di più
Il sole dà una sbirciatina al momento laggiù
Thank you for all for attending, and special thanks to Marco for travelling to Auckland for the event, to Matteo for the MC, to Alessandra for the organisation and catering, to Il Forno for the bread and focaccia, to Edwards Sound Systems and Flavia for the PA system, and to all our volunteers who helped on the night.
If you missed the event: Marco will be at the Auckland Writers Festival on May 16, at 2pm, free entry, click here for more details. Also click here to find out more about Marco, and his books Quantum of Dante and More favourable Waters.
