Alessandra Bava
@alessandrabava.bsky.social
Poet provocateur™, short fiction writer, translator & collagist ✂️. | Editor of poetry series HerKind (Ensemble). | Diane Seuss's Italian translator | WIP: Writing SF Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman's bio. | she/her
Pinned
One of my poems in translation has been accepted by Beloit Poetry Journal. "Winter Interior" by poet Maria Grazia Calandrone will appear in a forthcoming issue. I am over the moon! 🌕
Tom Stoppard was an exceptional playwright and man. I was so lucky as to be his interpreter in 2012 here in Rome. (Photo source: Teatro di Roma)
November 29, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Tom Stoppard was an exceptional playwright and man. I was so lucky as to be his interpreter in 2012 here in Rome. (Photo source: Teatro di Roma)
Reposted by Alessandra Bava
From Dylan Thomas’ shopping list to a note from Sylvia Plath’s doctor: newly uncovered case files reveal the hidden lives of famous writers
From Dylan Thomas’ shopping list to a note from Sylvia Plath’s doctor: newly uncovered case files reveal the hidden lives of famous writers
Exclusive: Hardship grant applications to the Royal Literary Fund, including unseen letters by Doris Lessing and a note from James Joyce saying that he ‘gets nothing in the way of royalties’, show authors at their most vulnerable
www.theguardian.com
November 28, 2025 at 4:21 PM
From Dylan Thomas’ shopping list to a note from Sylvia Plath’s doctor: newly uncovered case files reveal the hidden lives of famous writers
Reposted by Alessandra Bava
New film adaptation of Camus’s L’Étranger opens old colonial wounds
New film adaptation of Camus’s L’Étranger opens old colonial wounds
François Ozon’s handling of classic novel draws both praise and criticism, including from the author’s daughter
www.theguardian.com
November 28, 2025 at 3:55 PM
New film adaptation of Camus’s L’Étranger opens old colonial wounds
I am reading FLUSH by Virginia Woolf. It is not the mere biography of a dog but, in truth, it is so much more, since Flush is poet Elizabeth Barrett (to be Browning)'s dog. This book is such a gem, a delight.
November 29, 2025 at 7:09 AM
I am reading FLUSH by Virginia Woolf. It is not the mere biography of a dog but, in truth, it is so much more, since Flush is poet Elizabeth Barrett (to be Browning)'s dog. This book is such a gem, a delight.
November 21, 2025 at 3:20 PM
In honor of Patricia Smith, today's poem (#119 for the record) is the opening poem from her National Book Award for Poetry's winning collection, The Intentions of Thunder: "What's it's Like to Be a Black Girl (For Those of You Who Aren't)." Such a powerful poem.
November 21, 2025 at 3:16 PM
In honor of Patricia Smith, today's poem (#119 for the record) is the opening poem from her National Book Award for Poetry's winning collection, The Intentions of Thunder: "What's it's Like to Be a Black Girl (For Those of You Who Aren't)." Such a powerful poem.
Congratulations to Patricia Smith on winning the National Book Award for Poetry. So deserved!
In 2018 I had the pleasure of translating three of her poems in an Anthology I edited. I am truly thrilled.
The Anthology also included the future Pulitzer prize winners Diane Seuss and Natalie Diaz. ❤️
In 2018 I had the pleasure of translating three of her poems in an Anthology I edited. I am truly thrilled.
The Anthology also included the future Pulitzer prize winners Diane Seuss and Natalie Diaz. ❤️
November 20, 2025 at 5:36 AM
Congratulations to Patricia Smith on winning the National Book Award for Poetry. So deserved!
In 2018 I had the pleasure of translating three of her poems in an Anthology I edited. I am truly thrilled.
The Anthology also included the future Pulitzer prize winners Diane Seuss and Natalie Diaz. ❤️
In 2018 I had the pleasure of translating three of her poems in an Anthology I edited. I am truly thrilled.
The Anthology also included the future Pulitzer prize winners Diane Seuss and Natalie Diaz. ❤️
Today's poem, #115, is "Gallarus Oratory" by Seamus #Heaney. Many years ago I spent 3 weeks traveling troughout Ireland and this place, a stonework built by ancient masons, became an obsession. 25+ years later I wrote a poem, today, inspired by this very place.
November 17, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Today's poem, #115, is "Gallarus Oratory" by Seamus #Heaney. Many years ago I spent 3 weeks traveling troughout Ireland and this place, a stonework built by ancient masons, became an obsession. 25+ years later I wrote a poem, today, inspired by this very place.
Reposted by Alessandra Bava
The death of Icarus, oil on canvas di Alexander Cabanel (1843)
November 14, 2025 at 11:44 AM
The death of Icarus, oil on canvas di Alexander Cabanel (1843)
Reposted by Alessandra Bava
"November has tied me to an old dead tree
Get word to April to rescue me..."
Tom Waits - November youtu.be/aSFrdnOw8uQ?...
Get word to April to rescue me..."
Tom Waits - November youtu.be/aSFrdnOw8uQ?...
Tom Waits - "November"
YouTube video by Tom Waits
youtu.be
November 10, 2025 at 12:53 PM
"November has tied me to an old dead tree
Get word to April to rescue me..."
Tom Waits - November youtu.be/aSFrdnOw8uQ?...
Get word to April to rescue me..."
Tom Waits - November youtu.be/aSFrdnOw8uQ?...
I have lit my lantern. Seek your inner light, today. Winter is coming. Happy #Martinmas.
November 11, 2025 at 8:26 AM
I have lit my lantern. Seek your inner light, today. Winter is coming. Happy #Martinmas.
Arthur Rimbaud (20 Oct. 1854 - 10 Nov. 1891)
November 10, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Arthur Rimbaud (20 Oct. 1854 - 10 Nov. 1891)
“Solo l’amare, solo il conoscere conta, non l’aver amato,
non l’aver conosciuto.
Dà angoscia il vivere
di un consumato amore.”
Pier Paolo Pasolini
non l’aver conosciuto.
Dà angoscia il vivere
di un consumato amore.”
Pier Paolo Pasolini
November 2, 2025 at 2:55 PM
“Solo l’amare, solo il conoscere conta, non l’aver amato,
non l’aver conosciuto.
Dà angoscia il vivere
di un consumato amore.”
Pier Paolo Pasolini
non l’aver conosciuto.
Dà angoscia il vivere
di un consumato amore.”
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Reposted by Alessandra Bava
“We rescued one another. . . . He was the artist and I the storyteller.” In a new essay, Patti Smith reflects on her early days in New York and her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe.
Essay by Patti Smith: Art Rats in New York City
Finding my own words.
www.newyorker.com
November 1, 2025 at 3:38 PM
“We rescued one another. . . . He was the artist and I the storyteller.” In a new essay, Patti Smith reflects on her early days in New York and her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe.
Five years without our beautiful, beloved Ghibli. 💔
November 2, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Five years without our beautiful, beloved Ghibli. 💔
Aidan Turner as Valmont, Lesley Manville as the Marquise de Merteuil. Coming next year at the National Theatre. To die for!
November 2, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Aidan Turner as Valmont, Lesley Manville as the Marquise de Merteuil. Coming next year at the National Theatre. To die for!
I was rewatching "Dangerous Liasons" again last night and fell in love again with those extraordinary costumes.
November 2, 2025 at 8:47 AM
I was rewatching "Dangerous Liasons" again last night and fell in love again with those extraordinary costumes.
I am about to write my 100th poem of the year! A challenge begun last July together with @jcsmith0919.bsky.social. I am drawing inspiration by ORLAM by P.J. Harvey, a book she wrote in Dorset dialect and retranslated into English.
November 2, 2025 at 8:44 AM
I am about to write my 100th poem of the year! A challenge begun last July together with @jcsmith0919.bsky.social. I am drawing inspiration by ORLAM by P.J. Harvey, a book she wrote in Dorset dialect and retranslated into English.
Reposted by Alessandra Bava
Uccisero Pasolini il poeta la notte tra il 1 e il 2 novembre 1975. E Roma non fu più la stessa. #PierPaoloPasolini
November 1, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Uccisero Pasolini il poeta la notte tra il 1 e il 2 novembre 1975. E Roma non fu più la stessa. #PierPaoloPasolini
Reposted by Alessandra Bava
New 2025 editions in house!
October 29, 2025 at 1:43 PM
New 2025 editions in house!