John Fowles Center Presents, Dacia Maraini, Mar. 7

The John Fowles Center for Creative Writing promotes and advances the discipline of creative writing in all its aspects: fiction, poetry, drama, creative nonfiction and screenwriting. For fourteen years the center has invited international writers to Chapman as: Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, Salman Rushdie, Maxine Hong Kingston among others. This year’s 2011 literary series is devoted to Italian authors. First up, Dacia Maraini, on March 7, 2010.

Dacia Maraini, daughter of a Sicilian princess and famed as the longtime companion of novelist Alberto Moravia, is a world-acclaimed author and playwright.  She has won many awards for her work, including the Formentor Prize for “L’età del malessere” (“The Age of Discontent,” 1963); the Premio Fregene  for “Isolina” (1985); the Premio Campiello and Book of the Year Award for “La lunga vita di Marianna Ucrìa” (“The Silent Duchess,” 1990); and the Premio Strega for “Buio” (1999).  She co-founded the Teatro del Porcospino, devoted to producing new Italian works, and established Rome’s feminist experimental theatre La Maddalena.  Her play “Mary Stuart” has been performed in New York and on stages around the world, and her other plays continue to be translated and widely performed.   She currently lives in Rome. Maraini will be reading her favorite poetry, discussing her successful career and available for signing books.