Wednesday, March 30, 6-8 pm: IAWA sponsors a Bilingual reading – Italian/English: Poets of the Italian Diaspora in the United States at 29 Cornelia St.  at the Cornelia St. Cafe, starting at 6 pm.

Participants include Luigi Bonaffini, Peter Carravetta, Paul D’Agostino, Alfredo De Palchi, Gil Fagiani, Luigi Fontanella, Irene Marchegiani, Michael Palma, Joseph Perricone, Joseph Tusiani and Paolo Valessio. Readings are based on the new book, Poets of the Italian Diaspora, a Bilingual Anthology edited by Luigi Bonaffini and Joseph Perricone, soon-to-be published by Fordham University Press. Visit http://www.fordhampress.com

Saturday, April 2, 10 am- 5 pm: The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, and the Italian American Writers Association will celebrate Poetry Month on Saturday, April 2, 2011 with the Spring Poetry Fest with a gathering of some two dozen poets, editors, translators, publishers of literary journals, and several curators of literary reading series.
Among the participants are Joel Alegretti, Peter Caravetta, Paola Corso, Gil Fagiani, Luigi Fontanella, Marisa Frasca, Daniela Gioseffi, George Guida, Annie Lanzillotto, Maria Lisella, Stephen Massimilla, Nick Matros, Alfredo de Palchi, Michael Palma, Frank Polizzi, Bob Quatrone, Vittoria repetto, Susan Scutti, Michael La Sorsa Steffen, Al Taconelli, Maria Terrone, Robert Viscusi, Angelo Zeolla.
Readings begin at 10 a.m. and will run until noon; and again from 1 pm to 5 pm. at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 West 43rd St. [bet 5th and 6th Aves.], 17th floor. Free and open to the public. Seating is limited. Please call (212) 642-2094 to pre-register with the Calandra Institute. Be prepared to show a photo ID to the building's concierge; visit www.qc.edu/calandra.

Saturday, April 9, 5:45-7:45 pm: IAWA, the longest running literary series at Cornelia St. Cafe, has the honor of presenting Michael Mirolla, one of the new faces heading up Canada’s Guernica Editions and Jay Christy an internationally exhibited visual artist, former war correspondent and Guernica author.
The reading takes place Saturday, April 9, 2011, 5:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m., at the Cornelia St. Café, 29 Cornelia Street, NYC, (212-989-9319); www.corneliastreetcafe.com. The evening starts with Open Mic readings of five minutes each. IAWA is a 501(3)©not-for-profit corporation. Since 1991, the organization has given voice to writers through its Open Reading series at Cornelia St. Café every month. For membership information, visit www.iawa.net Visit our blogs http://www.i-italy.org/bloggers/italian-american-writers-cafe and for samples of their writing, italianamericanwritersassoc.wordpress.com/