Rose Romano (born 1951) is an Italian-American poet, novelist, essayist, and editor. She founded and edited the journal ''la bella figura'', which promoted the work of Italian-Americans. After a brief but successful run, she folded the journal when she decided to live in Italy. Before leaving the United States, she edited an anthology of poems that had appeared in the journal. She is the author of several novels and volumes of poetry, and her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies.
Life
Romano was born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
in 1951. She began writing novels at the age of eight and poetry at the age of 14. As the grandchild of immigrants from
Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
and
Sicily
Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
, she often writes on
Italian-American
Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...
themes, and on the intersection of Italian-American and
sexual identities. She has been living in Italy since 2003.
Her first two books, ''Vendetta'' (1992) and ''The Wop Factor'' (1994), have been widely used in women's literature and multicultural studies courses.
As the editor of malafemmina press, she has published chapbooks by a number of Italian-American women poets.
In 1988, as Italian-American literature experienced something of a "renaissance," Romano reasoned that perhaps Italian Americans had finally become "American enough that we can afford to be Italian."
Through her poetry and editing, Romano became a key figure in the newly developing field of Italian-American
lesbian
A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...
and
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
writing. She was the first Italian-American lesbian to present papers to the American Italian Historical Association that spoke of her experiences as an Italian-American lesbian.
She has published three novels, ''You'll never have me like you want me'' (2016), ''Beyond the Leash'' (2017), and ''In braccio alla mamma'' (2019), several books of poetry, including ''Neither Seen nor Heard'' (2016).
Works
* ''Vendetta'' malafemmina press, 1992.
* ''La Bella Figura 1988-1992: A Choice'' malafemmina press, 1993.
* ''The Wop Factor'' malafemmina Press, 1994.
* ''Neither Seen Nor Heard'' malafemmina press, 2016.
* ''You'll Never Have Me Like You Want Me'' malafemmina press, 2016.
* ''Beyond the Leash'' malafemmina press, 2017.
* ''In braccio alla mamma'' malafemmina press, 2019.
References
External links
Rose Romano at Poets & Writersmalafemmina press*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romano, Rose
1951 births
20th-century American writers
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American writers
21st-century American women writers
American writers of Italian descent
Living people