This newly designed collection of adventures in Italy takes the reader to a land of magical extremes — of ancient verities and modern vitality. Sculptors, olive harvesters, art historians, and cooks people these tales, and their stories are as evocative as opera. The book simmers with romance, culture — and the best food on earth. Authors include Tim Parks, Patricia Hampl, Mary Taylor Simeti, Luigi Barzini, Gary Paul Nabhan, and many others. “Travel writing at its glorious best.” — Chicago Tribune
Calcagno's first novel LOVE LIKE A DOG has just won three awards. Set in
contemporary Chicago, this page-turner tells the story of Dirk & his single
father and how, in rescuing a pit bull, they find themselves face to face with
the most difficult of decisions. LOVE LIKE A DOG won the prestigious
first prize for a First Novel Award from the Next Generation Indie Book Awards,
as well as being a finalist in their Animal/Pets category. It was furthermore
awarded a bronze medal in the Great Lakes Regional Fiction category at the 15th
Annual ceremony of Independent Publishers Book Awards. The novel also received
Honorable Mention in the General Fiction category from the San Francisco Book
Festival. One Top 500 Reviewer notes: "The prose is fluid, easy-to-read, and
superbly written." Another claims: "this [is] a heart warming, beautifully
written novel that will pull at your heartstrings."
For stories in her collection Pray For Yourself (TriQuarterly Books/ Northwestern University Press) Anne Calcagno received the San Francisco Foundation Phelan Literary Award, an NEA Fellowship and two Illinois Arts Council Awards. Her fiction has appeared in The North American Review, TriQuarterly, Denver Quarterly, Epoch, and other publications. She won a 2003 Illinois Arts Council Literary Award for her story "What's Yours?" published in Other Voices. Her stories have been anthologized in the Penguin book of Italian American Writing, Fiction of the Eighties, The Milk of Almonds and American Fiction, Vol 2. She has given over sixty readings and lectures throughout the country. Calcagno is currently writing an historical novel "Struck By Dina," set in Eritrea and Saudi Arabia, about Mussolini's failed colonization of East Africa.
A dual national, Italian and American, Calcagno is Editor of Travelers Tales: Italy (Travelers Tales, 1998, 2001) which won Foreward's Silver Medal for Best Travel Book of the Year. She wrote the preface to Travelers Tales: Tuscany. Her nonfiction and travel writing have appeared in The New York Times. the Italian American Historical Society, New City, The Saudi Gazette, the Chicago Sun-Times and The Chicago Tribune and In The Middle of The Middle West.
Calcagno teaches in the MFA in Writing program at the School of the Art Institute. She lives in Chicago, is married, and the mother of two tireless young people. She can be seen walking her Am Staff & her German Shepherd.
