Book Launch: Ascolta Women Write, ‘Stories from the Inside’

Ascolta Women is a collective of creative multi-generational Italo-Australian and Italian-affiliated women. They formed from the forum ASCOLTA! Listening to unheard stories: Italian Australian Multi-generation Women’s Experiences and Migration Legacies, and Writing Women’s Stories: Creative Writing Workshop, held in March 2020 at CO.AS.IT Carlton. Since then the women, from around Australia and London, meet regularly on zoom to discuss, document and creatively express their shared and diverse experiences and reflections of Italian migration legacies within contemporary global and Australian contexts. Birthed at the commencement of COVID-19 in Australia, Ascolta Women bring their unique perspectives to the experiences of lockdown and quarantine during 2020 through short stories and photographs in their first publication: Stories from the Inside. The 16 contributing writers to ‘Stories from the Inside’ include: Adele Murdolo, Maria Fantasia, Anna Maria Dell’oso, Sara Bavato, Elena Callipari, Daniela Zannoni, Maria Pallotta Chiarolli, Teresa Capetola, Fortunata Maria Callipari, Giuseppina (Pina) Marino Leyland, Concetta Abate, Elena Maria Callipari Nemtsas, Monica Sestito, Vivian Gerrand, Margherita Angelucci, and Luci Callipari-Marcuzzo. The day will also include the launch of Recalling the Journey II, a book curated by Lella Cariddi, which reflects the experience of migration from twenty-six different perspectives, including some local voices.