JCU hosts 4th annual InVerse poetry festival

By Andrew Granger

Rome, April 24 - “We will die alone,” poet Andrea Raos told poetry enthusiasts at John Cabot University on Wednesday night.

Raos was one of five poets to speak during the InVerse poetry festival Wednesday. The two-day event was held Tuesday and Wednesday at John Cabot University this week as a way to bring the words of some of Italy's most promising poets to JCU students.

There were more uplifting messages of course.

Old and young alike filled JCU's Lemon Tree courtyard during the two-hour reading. Poems were first read in their original Italian and then translated into English.

InVerse is put on annually by John Cabot University. The event is in its fourth year. “The goal is to introduce English speakers to contemporary Italian poetry… John Cabot is the perfect place for this event,” said event organizers and JCU professors, Rosa Filardi and Berenice Cocciolillo.

The event blends well-known modern Italian poets, such as Vito Riviello and Jolanda Insana, with some of the rising stars of Italian poetry. “Many of the poems are being translated into English for the fist time,” said Filardi.

In only four years, the InVerse festival has turned into one of the largest and most anticipated events of the year at JCU and the city as well. It has been called a “must event on the calendar of Roman if not Italian poets” by JCU President Franco Pavoncello.

The night conclude with snacks and the opportunity to meet the poets. Poems from the Inverse festival are also being compiled into a book by John Cabot University Press.

If you would like a free copy of this year's InVerse festival poems please contact Prof. Cocciolillo by email at bcocciolillo@johncabot.edu.