Established in 2010, Words in Journey - Parole in Viaggio is the creation of Neapolitan author, Angelo Cannavacciuolo and Barbara Burdick.
"Words in Journey is my effort to send a message to both my fellow Italians and to the world to explore literature, art and history for their knowledge and humanity and to honor Campania through the eyes of current, accomplished literary writers."
Our open invitation to Parole in Viaggio / Words in Journey features authors worldwide in an interview format open to the public. The event has been held in Pompeii at Teatro Grande, the Ravello Festival in Ravello, Italy, Sorrento and Naples, Italy at the prestigious Palazzo Zevallos.
Parole in viaggio:
Quando la nostra terra si apre volutamente agli occhi del mondo, quasi sempre riesce a mostrare la parte migliore di sé. Quella fatta di cultura, di arte, di storia e di tradizioni, passate e presenti, quella parte inscindibile da una risorsa umana che vive l’orgoglio consapevole di molteplici capacità.
La nostra è una terra di arte, di cultura millenaria, di antiche vestigia che il mondo intero ci invidia. Ed è proprio a quest’eredità che facciamo affidamento per ristabilire dei criteri di oggettiva rivalutazione del nostro territorio. Ed è questa l’eredità che vogliamo riproporre e ricordare. Un’eredità che deve, senz’altro, la sua diffusione a un fenomeno culturale di grande suggestione, di cui si sono perse le tracce, come Il Grand Tour d’Italie, quando personaggi come Goethe, Lamartine, Stendhal, Dumas, Chateaubriand e tanti altri, si sono avvicendati nel nostro territori portandolo all’attenzione di quello che era il mondo conosciuto di allora: l’Europa.
Il nostro intento, quindi, è far viaggiare le parole da un luogo lontano, portarle fino a noi, rifacendoci proprio al Grand Tour, una celebrazione di quella grande stagione che ha dato forma di diffusione e conoscenza della nostra storia e della nostra cultura, testimoniando i segni del nostro passato. Rievocarlo, quindi, attraverso i maggiori scrittori stranieri contemporanei, invitati a calarsi nella parte di nuovi viaggiatori al fine di testimoniare, con la loro presenza, con un loro scritto, un nuovo patto di conoscenza e di bellezza di quella che un tempo fu la Campania Felix.
Quando la nostra terra si apre volutamente agli occhi del mondo, quasi sempre riesce a mostrare la parte migliore di sé. Quella fatta di cultura, di arte, di storia e di tradizioni, passate e presenti, quella parte inscindibile da una risorsa umana che vive l’orgoglio consapevole di molteplici capacità.
La nostra è una terra di arte, di cultura millenaria, di antiche vestigia che il mondo intero ci invidia. Ed è proprio a quest’eredità che facciamo affidamento per ristabilire dei criteri di oggettiva rivalutazione del nostro territorio. Ed è questa l’eredità che vogliamo riproporre e ricordare. Un’eredità che deve, senz’altro, la sua diffusione a un fenomeno culturale di grande suggestione, di cui si sono perse le tracce, come Il Grand Tour d’Italie, quando personaggi come Goethe, Lamartine, Stendhal, Dumas, Chateaubriand e tanti altri, si sono avvicendati nel nostro territori portandolo all’attenzione di quello che era il mondo conosciuto di allora: l’Europa.
Il nostro intento, quindi, è far viaggiare le parole da un luogo lontano, portarle fino a noi, rifacendoci proprio al Grand Tour, una celebrazione di quella grande stagione che ha dato forma di diffusione e conoscenza della nostra storia e della nostra cultura, testimoniando i segni del nostro passato. Rievocarlo, quindi, attraverso i maggiori scrittori stranieri contemporanei, invitati a calarsi nella parte di nuovi viaggiatori al fine di testimoniare, con la loro presenza, con un loro scritto, un nuovo patto di conoscenza e di bellezza di quella che un tempo fu la Campania Felix.
Biography: Angelo Cannavacciuolo was born in Naples, Italy, in 1956, and earned his degree in Arabic from the prestigious Instituto degli Studi Orientali in Naples. He has worked as an actor, director and has written for the theatre, movies and television. He wrote the libretto for the opera Il Soffio Delle Fate (based upon his novel by the same name) that world premiered in May, 2009. In February, 2009 he was awarded the prestigious Archita by the Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici for the complexity of his literary achievements. He is currently writing his second opera with Maestro Filippo Zigante
His work includes:
Guardiani Delle Nuvole 1999 (Baldini Castoldi Dalai)
An epic story and captivating novel in the manner of Latin-American novels, the novel is both intimate and laced with an underlying melancholy. The story of an existence caught between primary needs, feelings and affections that are not only significant but leave indelible marks. As in epic tale, the novel tells the story of the impoverishment and disintegration of a country family and the loss of cultural identity between emigration to Argentina and the emergence, immediately after WWII. The protagonist, Batino, travels by bus to the neighbouring country and recalls his family’s tenuous fight for survival, the backbreaking work under terrible conditions, the discovery of love in a city brothel, pain of his father’s sudden death, the smell of wet grass, the sound of the flock’s hooves and the shouts of goat herders carried by the wind. It is the story of men who were different and unique and who were defeated and saw their existence vanish without a trace. But, as, the writer says, men who were in any case only transitory bodies, and not transitory men, because they are remembered after death by a collective memory born of an eternal code of suffering and consecrated joyless habits. What is new about this novel is the style: dry and remorseless, documented and anti-naturalist, with which the author follows his character and, through him, the reason and the unreasonableness of life.
Awards: Premio Italiano all’Estero at the Festival du Premier Roman at Chambery in France and was a finalist for the 1999 Viareggio Book Award and the Berto Book Award.
Film: The novel became a film: Guardiani dell Nuvole in 2004 directed by Luciano Odorisio with Alessandro Gassman, Claudia Gerini, Franco Nero and Anna Galiena “
Il Soffio Delle Fate 2001 (Baldini Castoldi Dalai) 2002.
Besieged Sarajevo, a martyred city, counts its dead. Three brothers, whom fate has set one against the other, are reunited: Bećir, a Muslim member of the Philharmonic Orchestra, who together with his fellow musicians decides to continue the concerts at any cost in order to give hope to their fellow citizens; Jovan, his twin, a ruthless commandant of the Serb-Bosnian irregular army; and Tom, a young American television cameraman, there to film the agony of his native country from which he escaped with his mother when he was just a year old. He is shattered by the violence he witnesses, not only of the war but also of a past about which, until now, he has known nothing. Il soffio delle fate has been presented in New York University in 2002.
Awards: finalist for the Elsa Morante Prize
Opera: An operatic version of the novel has been composed by Filippo Zigante, former director of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, with the libretto written by Cannavacciuolo. The world premiere of Il soffio delle fate was held in Ostrava, Czech Republic May, 2009.
Acque Basse, 2005 (Fazi editore) is a noir thriller set in contemporary Naples.
Oratorio di Speranza 2005 A dramatic cantata with music by Maestro Filippo Zigante. Performed in Naples Teatro Mediterraneo and in Germany - produced by the Worpommern Thater in Stransuld e Greifswald.
Le Cose Accadono, 2008 (Cairo Editore) When Things Happen is first and foremost a Neapolitan novel that courageously delves into the moral and material degradation of the city. A novel that narrates with pity and disdain the two Naples: Naples of the districts like the Vele that live off illegal daily traffic that is inevitably in collusion with the micro- and macro-criminality, that are bereaved of hopes and rights; and the other Naples, deaf and indifferent, of a middle-class hidden in the castle of its privileges, deprived of any solidarity or civil conscience.
Awards: Winner of the Premio Viadana 2009 and Premio Domenico Rea 2009.
Premio Archita
In february 2009, by the Istituto Italiano per gli Stufi Filosofici di Napoli, he receives the prestigious Award Archita for the whole of his literary works that have focused on exploring the dynamics of humanity. .Nel febbraio 2009, sotto l’egida dell’Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici di Napoli, riceve il prestigioso Premio Archita per il complesso delle sue opere letterarie, incentrate sull’esplorazione delle dinamiche umanistiche.
Words in Journey / Parole in Viaggio (2010) (Contrasto Publishing) Created by Angelo Cannavacciuolo and Barbara Burdick, “Words in Journey” premiered at Teatro Grande in Pompeii, Italy July 23 & 29, 2010. Recalling the Grand Tours of past centuries, this literary event featured American writers Gore Vidal, Jay Parini, Jim Nisbet and Ethan Canin. A component to the literary event plan was the publication of the book that featured the photography of Mimmo Jodice and written submissions from the guest authors. The book was the creation of Angelo Cannavacciuolo and includes his introduction. It is printed in Italian and English.
Words in Journey / Parole in Viaggio (2014) featured authors: Arturo Perez-Reverte (Spain), Philippe Claudel (France)
Words in Journey / Parole in Viaggio (2015) featured authors: Joanne Harris (U.K.), Jeffery Deaver (USA), Marcos Giralt Torrente (Spain)
SacrAmerica 2018 Cannavacciuolo’s fifth novel set in California, Mexico and Italy is currently in publication.
His work includes:
Guardiani Delle Nuvole 1999 (Baldini Castoldi Dalai)
An epic story and captivating novel in the manner of Latin-American novels, the novel is both intimate and laced with an underlying melancholy. The story of an existence caught between primary needs, feelings and affections that are not only significant but leave indelible marks. As in epic tale, the novel tells the story of the impoverishment and disintegration of a country family and the loss of cultural identity between emigration to Argentina and the emergence, immediately after WWII. The protagonist, Batino, travels by bus to the neighbouring country and recalls his family’s tenuous fight for survival, the backbreaking work under terrible conditions, the discovery of love in a city brothel, pain of his father’s sudden death, the smell of wet grass, the sound of the flock’s hooves and the shouts of goat herders carried by the wind. It is the story of men who were different and unique and who were defeated and saw their existence vanish without a trace. But, as, the writer says, men who were in any case only transitory bodies, and not transitory men, because they are remembered after death by a collective memory born of an eternal code of suffering and consecrated joyless habits. What is new about this novel is the style: dry and remorseless, documented and anti-naturalist, with which the author follows his character and, through him, the reason and the unreasonableness of life.
Awards: Premio Italiano all’Estero at the Festival du Premier Roman at Chambery in France and was a finalist for the 1999 Viareggio Book Award and the Berto Book Award.
Film: The novel became a film: Guardiani dell Nuvole in 2004 directed by Luciano Odorisio with Alessandro Gassman, Claudia Gerini, Franco Nero and Anna Galiena “
Il Soffio Delle Fate 2001 (Baldini Castoldi Dalai) 2002.
Besieged Sarajevo, a martyred city, counts its dead. Three brothers, whom fate has set one against the other, are reunited: Bećir, a Muslim member of the Philharmonic Orchestra, who together with his fellow musicians decides to continue the concerts at any cost in order to give hope to their fellow citizens; Jovan, his twin, a ruthless commandant of the Serb-Bosnian irregular army; and Tom, a young American television cameraman, there to film the agony of his native country from which he escaped with his mother when he was just a year old. He is shattered by the violence he witnesses, not only of the war but also of a past about which, until now, he has known nothing. Il soffio delle fate has been presented in New York University in 2002.
Awards: finalist for the Elsa Morante Prize
Opera: An operatic version of the novel has been composed by Filippo Zigante, former director of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, with the libretto written by Cannavacciuolo. The world premiere of Il soffio delle fate was held in Ostrava, Czech Republic May, 2009.
Acque Basse, 2005 (Fazi editore) is a noir thriller set in contemporary Naples.
Oratorio di Speranza 2005 A dramatic cantata with music by Maestro Filippo Zigante. Performed in Naples Teatro Mediterraneo and in Germany - produced by the Worpommern Thater in Stransuld e Greifswald.
Le Cose Accadono, 2008 (Cairo Editore) When Things Happen is first and foremost a Neapolitan novel that courageously delves into the moral and material degradation of the city. A novel that narrates with pity and disdain the two Naples: Naples of the districts like the Vele that live off illegal daily traffic that is inevitably in collusion with the micro- and macro-criminality, that are bereaved of hopes and rights; and the other Naples, deaf and indifferent, of a middle-class hidden in the castle of its privileges, deprived of any solidarity or civil conscience.
Awards: Winner of the Premio Viadana 2009 and Premio Domenico Rea 2009.
Premio Archita
In february 2009, by the Istituto Italiano per gli Stufi Filosofici di Napoli, he receives the prestigious Award Archita for the whole of his literary works that have focused on exploring the dynamics of humanity. .Nel febbraio 2009, sotto l’egida dell’Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici di Napoli, riceve il prestigioso Premio Archita per il complesso delle sue opere letterarie, incentrate sull’esplorazione delle dinamiche umanistiche.
Words in Journey / Parole in Viaggio (2010) (Contrasto Publishing) Created by Angelo Cannavacciuolo and Barbara Burdick, “Words in Journey” premiered at Teatro Grande in Pompeii, Italy July 23 & 29, 2010. Recalling the Grand Tours of past centuries, this literary event featured American writers Gore Vidal, Jay Parini, Jim Nisbet and Ethan Canin. A component to the literary event plan was the publication of the book that featured the photography of Mimmo Jodice and written submissions from the guest authors. The book was the creation of Angelo Cannavacciuolo and includes his introduction. It is printed in Italian and English.
Words in Journey / Parole in Viaggio (2014) featured authors: Arturo Perez-Reverte (Spain), Philippe Claudel (France)
Words in Journey / Parole in Viaggio (2015) featured authors: Joanne Harris (U.K.), Jeffery Deaver (USA), Marcos Giralt Torrente (Spain)
SacrAmerica 2018 Cannavacciuolo’s fifth novel set in California, Mexico and Italy is currently in publication.
