Author Talk with Giusy Sciacca
Castle & Cathedral District presents:
Local Author Celebration Series featuring Giusy Sciacca, author of "Truth: Stories of Sicilian Women"
Where: Carriage House on the Joslyn Castle & Garden Grounds (3902 Davenport Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68131).
When: Wednesday, August 7 from 6:00pm to 7:00pm (Doors open at 5:30pmpm).
What: This event is free and open to the public – an all-ages event.
"Truth: Stories of Sicilian Women," the English translation of the original “Virità, femminile singolare-plurale” (Edizioni Kalòs, 2021), written by Sicilian writer Giusy Sciacca, is now available.
From Sicily, the very heart of the Mediterranean Sea, where many immigrants to the U.S. came from, the author aims to spread the maternal voice of the Island as far as she can through a choir of twenty women. Not by chance, Truth: Stories of Sicilian Women is dedicated “to the Sicilians of Omaha (NE) and to all the daughters and sons of Sicily in the world.” Goddesses, saints, queens, scientists, artists, revolutionaries, and more. All are Sicilian, but they were influential beyond regional boundaries because “Sicily is an island and an entire world.”
Each of the timeless women who speaks in this book has something to reveal about herself, something the history books never recorded. Shaped by female contemporary vision, these assembled narratives become a choir of voices that reach beyond any stereotypes or patriarchal filters. A bibliography details the extensive research the author conducted in archives and in forgotten areas of Sicily.
“Sicily is female,” Sciacca writes, and she corroborates this theme with quotes from classical authors and thinkers, such as Homer and Cicero.
Throughout history, Sicily has been claimed and dominated by many. The Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Spaniards, and others came from all directions and inhabited the island for long periods, leaving behind unique aspects of their cultures, languages, and, of course, even distinct physical traits in the inhabitants. These various influences inform the uniqueness of each of the women who speaks in Truth—one story from each historical era, introducing the reader to Sicily’s rich, complex, and multilayered past. Within Truth: Stories of Sicilian Women, the readers will meet some beloved figures, like Saint Lucia, who is venerated worldwide and to whom many Italian American churches are devoted in the U.S.; as well as others whose stories may be less well known but are equally fascinating: Bint Muhammad Ibn ‘Abbad, “the Cleopatra of Sicily”; Anna Saragola, “the heretic slave”; and Verdimula, a 16th-century self-taught gynecologist.
Unforgettable protagonists from Sicily’s history—mothers and sisters, wives and daughters—women speaking up as they never have before.
The English-language edition of the book will be presented in August 2024, in Omaha, NE, and the author will be present at the Historical boot during the Santa Lucia Festival.
About Giusy Sciacca:
Sicilian author and playwright Giusy Sciacca lives between Rome and Syracuse. After Virità, femminile singolare-plurale (Kalòs, 2021), her novel D’amore e di rabbia was published by the prestigious Italian publisher Neri Pozza in 2023. In addition to writing, she is also an air-traffic controller holding a managerial position for the implementation of technology in airports.
