Here are some samples of my published work.
- Jindagi
- Terre d'Acqua
- JazzGazette Article
- Sott Piodau
- movingAlps Cookbook
- Corriere del Ticino
Jindagi: Himalayan Lives and Destinies
Short stories by Silvia Lafranchi • Italian to English translation &bull
Published by Nicolodi, Milan, 2005.
 From "Ajur Aama":
Perhaps she had a name when she was young, but by now she was known to all simply as ajur aama, grandmother. A little lady almost one hundred years old, tiny, wrinkled, with the wise and patient eyes of a kind person, as if straight out of a fairy tale. And, as in fairy tales, she was always there each time one opened the book, each time one entered that house of red earth, a little ways from the village, at the foot of the mountain. (p. 9)
From "Pasang Lhamu the Hermit":
There are places in the world, scattered here and there, that live on an energy of their own. Places that move to the rhythm of a logic that is completely different from the one that wraps up the rest of the planet, like an intricate tangle of ribbons around a global gift package: railroad tracks, highways, electrical cables, and electromagnetic waves that run from one country to the next, from one continent to another, bringing with them everywhere the logic of possession. The logic of being, instead, probably travels on foot. Or else, there must be a jam somewhere, because it doesn't seem to propagate as quickly. Luckily, there are still fragments of the world which are miraculously ribbon-free, where one can live in tranquility. It was in one of these privileged places that we met Pasang Lhamu, the hermit. (p. 43)
Terre d'Acqua
Text by Luciano Caprile • Italian to English translation •
Published by Arte Moderna Ammann, Locarno, 2001.
From the introduction:
We know the seed, but not its journey toward becoming a tree or a fruit. The process of becoming is a confrontation of impulses and opportunities. It is the avoidance of obstacles, the healing of wounds, the explosion of joy. It is surrender followed by resurrection. It is the eternal confrontation between water and land, conquering each other, losing each other, flattering each other, confronting each other with brutal arrogance and then caressing each other. No line can contain the indecision of such an ephemeral yet necessary relationship. (p. 26)
Kansas City Revue: From Gangsters to Blues
Printed in JazzGazette and Tessiner Zeitung •
Published July 3, 2009.
Picture a small, dark, dingy club, filled with smoke and shady dealings. A shooting takes place but the band continues to play. This is the atmosphere that Kevin Mahogany—with his deep voice and imposing physical presence—wants to evoke with the Kansas City Revue project. An atmosphere that is also depicted in Robert Altman's 1996 film Kansas City, where Mahogany plays a character based on Big Joe Turner, the legendary local shouter who recorded many rock 'n' roll and blues smash hits of the '50s and '60s—such as "Shake, Rattle and Roll" and "Sweet Sixteen"—before turning to jazz in the '60s and '70s. Read more.
movingAlps Cookbook
Text by various authors • English to Italian translation •
Published by carn@alpina, October 2007.
See a sample page spread that includes two recipes from the book.
Sott Piodau
Italian to English translation of curatorial signs • September 2008
From the introduction:
The Sott Piodau site is a rural settlement of great ethnographic and landscape value, recently restored through the initiative of the former municipality of Bignasco and easily accessible on foot in just a few minutes. The Piodau area (from pioda, stone slab) is a rocky strip overlooking the southern entrance to Bignasco. During prehistoric times, colossal boulders broke off from here, drastically changing the entire mountain side.
Corriere del Ticino
Full-page on writer Patricia Highsmith •
Published February 3, 2000.
Excerpt from "Highsmith, la poesia dell'apprensione":
La sua indole era schiva e romita, e i suoi prodotti sconcertanti, intrisi di ansia e suspense. Cinque anni fa moriva a Locarno Patricia Highsmith, la giallista americana tra le più inquietanti del genere. Dopo anni di esilio volontario in vari Paesi, in Ticino (prima ad Aurigeno e poi a Tegna) aveva trovato quella pace e quella riservatezza necessarie per scrivere. Negli Stati Uniti è da poco uscito il film tratto dal suo romanzo Il talento di Mister Ripley, diretto da Anthony Minghella, con un cast eccezionale. Finora poco conosciuta nel suo paese nativo, sta per essere scoperta, mentre qui da noi si sta manifestando un rinnovato interesse, che sarà alimentato anche dalla pubblicazione, fra un anno, della prima biografia dedicata a lei, compilata dallo scrittore inglese Andrew Wilson.
Definita scrittrice di gialli, suspense, thrillers, ma anche - da Graham Greene - "poeta dell'apprensione", con l'uscita nel 1951 di Sconosciuti in treno, di Hitchcock, la Highsmith non è mai più riuscita a sconfessare queste etichette. Da un lato la scrittrice appartiene al canone di questo genere considerato inferiore, dall'altro, però, ne trascende le regole e le convenzioni e, in definitiva, i limiti. Se i romanzi gialli appartengono notoriamente alla lettura d'intrattenimento, quelli della Highsmith disturbano, provocano e mettono in questione il nostro senso della normalità, della realtà e della moralità, facendo crollare la frontiera che separa la sanità mentale dalla follia, il reale dall'irreale, il bene dal male. Senza che ce ne accorgiamo, scivoliamo da una situazione normale e quotidiana a una di violenza, morte e follia. Man mano che seguiamo la narrazione dal punto di vista (spesso distorto) dei protagonisti-criminali, capiamo le ragioni dei loro atti estremi: l'isolamento, l'alienazione, il desiderio di essere amati e accettati, le ingiustizie e gli abusi subiti, la rabbia. Così i personaggi non solo commettono crimini senza provare sensi di colpa, ma godono anche della comprensione e a volte dell'approvazione di lettori e lettrici.
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