Giulia Niccolai (21 December 1934 – 22 June 2021) was an Italian photographer, poet, novelist, and translator.

Biography

The daughter of an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

father and an American mother, she was born in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, and grew up in both Italy and the United States. During the 1950s, she began working as a photojournalist for various Italian, European and American publications, including ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'', ''

Paris Match ''Paris Match'' () is a French-language weekly gossip magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features. ''Paris Match'' has been considered "one of the world's best outlets for photojournalism". ...

'' and ''

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

''. In the late 1960s, she quit professional photography to focus on writing. She was a member of the neo-avant-garde group of writers known as

Gruppo 63 The Neoavanguardia ("New Vanguard") was a postmodern avant-garde Italian literary movement oriented towards radical forms of experimentation with language and art. Some of its most prominent members include Nanni Balestrini, Edoardo Sanguineti, Um ...

. She produced her first book of poetry ''Humpty Dumpty'', written in English, in 1969. In 1970, with Adriano Spatola, she founded the poetry journal ''Tam Tam''. Niccolai published her one and only novel ''Il grande angolo'' in 1966. In 1974, she published ''Poema & Oggetto'', a collection of

visual poetry Visual poetry is a style of poetry that incorporates graphic and visual design elements to convey its meaning. This style combines visual art and written expression to create new ways of presenting and interpreting poetry. Visual poetry focuses on ...

. During the 1980s, she became interested in Eastern philosophy, spending time in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and becoming a

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

nun in 1990. In 1994, she published a collection of poems ''Frisbees--Poesie da lanciare'', which won the Premio Feronia. Niccolai has also translated the works of American and English writers into Italian.

Selected works

Poetry

* ''Greenwich'' (1971) * ''Poema & Oggetto'' (1974, 2nd edition 2014) * ''Substitution'' (1975) with Paul Vangelisti, Los Angeles: Red Hill Press. ASIN: B001NBIC64 * ''Facsimile'' (1976) * ''Russky salad ballads & webster poems'' (1977) * ''Harry's bar e altre poesie, 1969-1980'' (1981) introduction by

Giorgio Manganelli Giorgio Manganelli (15 November 1922 – 28 May 1990) was an Italian journalist, avant-garde writer, translator and literary critic. A native of Milan, he was one of the leaders of the avant-garde literary movement in Italy in the 1960s, Gruppo ...

* ''Frisbees. Poesie da Lanciare'' (1981) * ''Orienti/Orients'' (2004) * ''Le due sponde'' (2006) Archinto Publisher. * ''Poemi & Oggetti'' (2012) ed. by Milli Graffi, introduction by Stefano Bartezzaghi * ''Frisbees della vecchiaia'' (2012) Campanotto Publisher * ''Cos'è poesia'' (2015) Edizioni del Verri. * ''Pubblico & Privato'' (2016) bilingual introduction by Alessandro Giammei * ''Foto & Frisbee'' (2016) Oedipus Publisher

Translations

Prosper Mérimée Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, an import ...

''La notte di San Bartolomeo'' (''St. Bartholomew's Day massacre'') (1975) with Adriano Spatola *

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh), and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903, and ...

''La storia geografica dell'America, o Il rapporto della natura umana con la mente umana'' (''The Geographical History of America, or, The Relation of Human Nature to the Human Mind'') (1980) *

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer, whose works include the poems " Do not go gentle into that good night" and " And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Un ...

'' Il mio Natale nel Galles'' (1981) *

Beatrix Potter Helen Beatrix Heelis (; 28 July 186622 December 1943), usually known as Beatrix Potter ( ), was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' ...

'' Le favole di Ludovico Coniglio'' (1981) * Alexander Sutherland Neill ''La nuvola verde'' (''The last man alive,: A story for children from the age of seven to seventy'') (1981) *

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

''La La vedova e il pappagallo: una storia vera'' (The Widow and the Parrot) (1984) *

Angela Carter Angela Olive Pearce (formerly Carter, Stalker; 7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992), who published under the name Angela Carter, was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picar ...

''Gatto Marino e re Drago'' (''Sea-Cat and Dragon King'') (2000)

Others

* ''La nave nel prato'' (''The Ship in the Fields'') (1972), children's literature * ''Esoterico biliardo'', memoir, Archinto Publisher (2001), Collection Gli aquiloni.

References

1934 births 2021 deaths Italian women poets Italian photojournalists Italian women novelists Italian people of American descent English–Italian translators Italian Buddhist nuns 20th-century Italian Buddhists 20th-century Buddhist nuns 21st-century Buddhist nuns Gruppo 63 People from Milan {{Italy-writer-stub