Grazia Valente
LA RAGAZZA DALLA VITA DI VESPA

Description

Do not give in to fashion, do not submit to the market, do not abjure your principles and your literary creed. A difficult choice, but the uncompromising poet does not work for himself, but for poetry and poetry is a free space, where you can sail in the open sea, under a sky without borders,
This volume collects lyrics taken from previous collections published over a thirty-year period, lyrics that, in the author’s opinion, best represent her inner universe and towards which she feels a particular emotional harmony.
Between autobiography and reflections on life and death, the author explores the classic themes of poetry of all time such as: love, the passing of time, old age and death, without shying away from reflection on what it is, and what it means, to be or feel like a poet. The disenchantment and bitterness that shine through in the verses of many lyrics are nonetheless mitigated by a style that assumes the lightness and freshness of the verse and the image as an element of an often joyfully ironic and musically valuable spontaneity.
The overall result is a polyphonic concert that uses words and images, sounds and visions, a mirror that is sometimes clear and sometimes blurry of life itself.
An unreleased piece completes the collection.

Grazia Valente was born in Turin, where she lives.
She is the author of prose and poems, some of which have been awarded and published in magazines and anthologies.
In 1999 she won the national Haiku Contest prize promoted by the Japanese Cultural Institute (Rome). One of her stories, winner of a R.A.I. competition, was broadcast on the radio and included in an anthology (Edizioni ERI).
Some of her poems have been set to music by the Duo Pizzulli. (voice, piano and violin).
The contemporary artist Chen Li has graphically interpreted some poems taken from various published and unpublished collections.
She currently collaborates with Letizia Gariglio’s online periodical Parole in rete.
Works:
with the publishing house Portaparole the following have been published:
“Il poeta” (The poet), 2012 and “Fillide amorosa”, 2013.
With the publisher Achille e La Tartaruga:
“Ambaradonna”, 2015; “La fatal quiete” (The fatal quiet), 2017; “Se un filo d’erba basta a farti ombra” (If a blade of grass is enough to cast a shadow on you), 2018; “Galleria delle bellezze – Ritratti femminili in forma di collage” (Gallery of beauties – Female portraits in the form of collages), 2018; “All’ombra dello zen – 99 microracconti” (In the shadow of zen – 99 micro-stories), 2019; “Haiku dei timidi passi” (Haiku of timid steps), 2021; “A proposito di Thomas B. – viaggio nel labirinto della scrittura di Thomas Bernhard” (About Thomas B. – a journey into the labyrinth of Thomas Bernhard’s writing), 2022.
With Prinp Editore: “Il sogno – poesie di Grazia Valente – opere di Chen Li” (The dream – poems by Grazia Valente – works by Chen Li), 2022; “Il tempo che rimane” (The time that remains), 2024.