Carmine Abate
Encyclopedia
Carmine Abate is an Italian
writer. He has written numerous short stories, novels and essays, mainly focusing on issues of migration and the encounters between disparate cultures.
Abate spent his childhood in Carfizzi
, a small village of the Arbëreshë
community in the southern region of Calabria
. He grew up speaking Arbëresh
, a variant of the Albanian language
. After graduating from the University of Bari
, he moved to Hamburg
, where his father had earlier emigrated. There he taught at a school for immigrants and began publishing his first stories. In 1984, his first collection of short stories appeared under the title Den Koffer und weg! This was followed by a socio-anthropological study conducted jointly with Meike Behrmann; their account of a community of Calabrian emigrants was published as I Germanesi. Having spent more than a decade in Germany
, Abate returned to Italy
and settled in Besenello
in Trentino, where he continues to work as a writer and teacher.
Abate has published several acclaimed novels and short story collections. Two of his award-winning books have been translated into English - Tra due mari (2002) under the English title Between Two Seas, and the novel La festa del ritorno (2004) as The Homecoming Party. His work has also been translated into several European languages and is now being translated into Arabic. He is represented by the leading publishing house Mondadori.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
writer. He has written numerous short stories, novels and essays, mainly focusing on issues of migration and the encounters between disparate cultures.
Abate spent his childhood in Carfizzi
Carfizzi
Carfizzi is a comune in the province of Crotone, in Calabria, Italy....
, a small village of the Arbëreshë
Arbëreshë
The Arbëreshë are a linguistic and ethnic Albanian minority community living in southern Italy, especially the regions of Apulia, Basilicata, Molise, Calabria and Sicily...
community in the southern region of Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
. He grew up speaking Arbëresh
Arbëresh language
Arbëreshë, also known as Arbërisht, is an ethnolect spoken by the Arbëreshë, the group of Albanian-speaking minorities in Italy.-Classification:...
, a variant of the Albanian language
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
. After graduating from the University of Bari
University of Bari
The University of Bari is a university located in Bari, Italy. It was founded in 1925 and is organized in 12 Faculties.-Organization:These are the 13 faculties in which the university is divided into:* Faculty of Agricultural Science...
, he moved to Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, where his father had earlier emigrated. There he taught at a school for immigrants and began publishing his first stories. In 1984, his first collection of short stories appeared under the title Den Koffer und weg! This was followed by a socio-anthropological study conducted jointly with Meike Behrmann; their account of a community of Calabrian emigrants was published as I Germanesi. Having spent more than a decade in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Abate returned to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and settled in Besenello
Besenello
Besenello is a comune in Trentino in the northern Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 15 km south of Trento. It is located at the entrance of the Vallagarina...
in Trentino, where he continues to work as a writer and teacher.
Abate has published several acclaimed novels and short story collections. Two of his award-winning books have been translated into English - Tra due mari (2002) under the English title Between Two Seas, and the novel La festa del ritorno (2004) as The Homecoming Party. His work has also been translated into several European languages and is now being translated into Arabic. He is represented by the leading publishing house Mondadori.
Works
- Nel labirinto della vita, Rome: Juvenilia, 1977 (poetry)
- I Germanesi: storia e vita di una comunità calabrese e dei suoi emigranti, Carmine Abate and Meike Behrmann, Cosenza Pellegrini, 1986 (non-fiction)
- Il ballo tondo, Marietti, 1991 (novel)
- Shtegtimi i unazës, Pejë: Dukagjini, 1994
- Terre di andata, Argo, 1996 (poetry)
- La moto di Scanderbeg, Fazi, 1999 (winner of the Premio Racalmare-Leonardo Sciascia)
- Tra due mari, Mondadori, 2002 (winner of the Premio Società dei Lettori, Lucca-Roma)
- La festa del ritorno, Mondadori, (2004) (winner of the Premio Napoli, Premio Selezione Campiello and Premio Corrado Alvaro)
- Il muro dei muri, Mondadori, 2006 (short stories)
- Il mosaico del tempo grande, Mondadori, 2006 (novel)
- Gli anni veloci, Mondadori, 2008 (novel)
- Vivere per addizione a altri viaggi, Mondadori, 2010 (short stories)