The magnitude of the ecological crisis impacting our planet is reflected in some of the most interesting poetry written in Italy today. Yet, can Italian poetry really help to save our species from obliterating itself and destroying the earth? This talk will prove that it certainly can.

Antonello Borra, professor of Italian in the Department of Romance Languages and Linguistics, delivers the lecture "Saving the Wor(l)d: Environmentalism in Italian Poetry Today" on October 24 at 4:30 p.m. in the Memorial Lounge in Waterman.

The lecture will be followed by a short poetry reading from Borra’s forthcoming new collection Factory of Ideas: Monologues by the Mad, an indictment of the way mental illness was treated in Italy up until 1978 (the year the Basaglia Law finally closed “madhouses”). 

Borra (PhD. Brown University, 1998) is a scholar, a translator, and a poet. He has published books and articles in the fields of medieval and contemporary Italian poetry and language pedagogy. His most recent book is Guittone d’Arezzo. Selected Poems and Prose (University of Toronto Press, 2017). His poetry has appeared in some of Italy’s most prestigious journals, such as Nuovi Argomenti, L’immaginazione,  Italian Poetry Review, and Poesia as well as in other international publications. 

The College of Arts and Sciences Full Professor Lecture Series was designed to recognize faculty newly promoted to full professor rank. The next lecture in this series will be presented by Amani Whitfield (Department of History).

ADA: Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations, call University Event Services at 656-5665.