On October 1, John Cabot University hosted InVerse 2025 – Italian Poets in Translation, marking the 20th anniversary of the festival. Founded in 2005 by JCU Professors Brunella Antomarini, Berenice Cocciolillo, and Rosa Filardi, InVerse serves as a forum where the JCU community and guests discover some of the most compelling voices in contemporary Italian poetry, presented both in the original and in English translation.
This year’s edition was co-sponsored by the Department of Modern Languages and Literature and the Institute for Creative Writing and Literary Translation.
The event also marked the presentation of the ninth bilingual InVerse anthology, published by John Cabot University Press. Edited by Professors Antomarini, Cocciolillo, and Filardi, the volume features poetry by Carlo Bordini, Fiammetta Cirilli, Silvia Righi, Gherardo Bortolotti, Gabriele Stera, Fabio Pusterla, Francesco Maria Tipaldi, Vincenzo Frungillo, Fabio Teti, Mariasole Ariot, Francesco Dalessandro, Prisca Baccaille, Piergiorgio Viti, Sara Ventroni, and Rahma Nur.
Over the past 20 years, InVerse has featured 138 poets, ranging from established figures who have become part of Italy’s literary history to emerging voices that the editors believe deserve wider recognition in the English-speaking world.
Poet Fiammetta Cirilli (left) and translator Lauren Sunstein
Special thanks were extended to JCU President Franco Pavoncello, who, as Professor Cocciolillo emphasized, “supported the founding of InVerse 20 years ago, allowing it to grow and become one of the University’s most important cultural events.”
Translators, who are the cornerstone of this project, include JCU faculty, staff, and alumni. Quoting Paul Auster, Professor Cocciolillo said, “Translators are the shadow heroes of literature, the often-forgotten instruments that make it possible for different cultures to talk to one another, who have enabled us to understand that we all, from every part of the world, live in one world.”
This year’s translators include Christopher Schwarten, Berenice Cocciolillo, James Schwarten, Jasmine Garcia, Catherine Schoenfeld, Brunella Antomarini, Andrew Rutt, Elena Buia Rutt, Lauren Sunstein, Jennifer Panek, Andrea Casson, James Cascaito, Elisa Aceri, Allison Grimaldi Donahue, and Riccardo Pugliese.
Many poets and translators attended in person, while others participated online. JCU’s Dean of Academic Affairs Stefano Arnone and Professors Juliana Barbassa, Alessandra Grego, and Will Schutt also lent their voices as readers.
Reflecting on two decades of InVerse, Professor Antomarini noted that “it has been possible to create a large archive of Italian poetry of the new millennium,” adding that poetry remains “alive and well in Italy, thanks also to many small publishers.”
