In the belief that our identity is open and intercultural, and in considering culture to be communication and mutual exchange between different artistic forms, visions and genres, Inkroci, after one year of life, is honoured and pleased to dedicate this special issue to welcoming the authors from the Irish Writers’ Centre.
Our love for Ireland and Irish literature won’t surprise our readers, who certainly remember the publication, in previous issues of our magazine, of an interview with Catherine Dunne by Michele Curatolo, a short story by Seumas O’Kelly, the reviews of his short story collection Waysiders, translated by Anna Anzani and of two novels by Liam O’Flaherty, The Black Soul and The Informer.
Coincidentally, our first contact with IWC neatly dates back to 2010, the year when Dublin was designated a UNESCO City of Literature in recognition of its high cultural profile and international standing as a city of literary excellence. The occasion was Catherine Dunne’s presentation of her novel Missing Julia. In 2011, once again at the invitation of our friend Federica Sgaggio, we had the opportunity of taking part in the first phase of the Italo-Irish Literature Exchange, set up as a collaboration between Catherine and Federica, and currently administered by the Irish Writers’ Centre and its Italian counterpart, ònoma.
Four years ago, Inkroci was just an idea or, rather, a dream. Our stay in Dublin, and the sympathetic and kind enthusiasm we received at the IWC, contributed to making us believe that the dream could come true. Now Inkroci is a small but brilliant reality, as since March 2013 we have published a total of six online issues of our bilingual magazine. Thanks to the IWC, we now have an invaluable opportunity to enhance the quality of our project.
To mark the start of our collaboration with the IWC, in Inkroci 7 we are publishing short stories and poems by seven Irish authors who have been designated by the IWC to participate in the forthcoming IILE 2014, taking place next June in Italy (https://www.facebook.com/events/664898216915532/). The history and context of the IILE and this year’s authors are introduced by the Director of the Irish Writers’ Centre, Valerie Bistany, who has close connections with Italy and has very kindly supported our partnership. From the next issue on, IWC will supervise a new column fully dedicated to Irish Literature. It’s title will be Words from Ireland. Besides, we plan to devote a special issue to Words from Ireland in the coming year.
In order for our readers to properly enjoy the Irish contributions, the Italian sections of the magazine have been reduced in this issue. Nevertheless, having recently celebrated April 25th and May Day, we have decided to release the first part of a long interview with the Italian actor and playwright Moni Ovadia who, among other themes, deals with the significance of these two events. In spite of the lack of social and political engagement that our country has been experiencing in recent years, we still consider them essential for our idea of freedom and our vision of life.
In the present issue we also inaugurate one more new column dedicated to classic literature. On this particular occasion, we propose another short story by Seumas O’Kelly.
Thank you for following us. Happy reading.
Anna Anzani
Michele Curatolo
Translation by Anna Anzani (supervised by Roma O’Flaherty)
