The Guernica Writers Series
In 2000, Antonio D'Alfonso, a bilingual writer and translator working in English and French, established the 'Writers Series' which was later renamed 'Essential Writers Series'. Each monograph was devoted to a Canadian author and edited by senior Canadian academics. Initially co-directed by Antonio D'Alfonso and Joseph Pivato, Pivato became the sole editor in 2010. By 2019, the series included over 50 volumes with monographs on such Canadian authors as Sheila Watson, Robert Kroetsch, M.G. Vassanji, Jack Hodgins, George Elliott Clarke, Nino Ricci, Alistair MacLeod, Aritha Van Herk, F.G. Paci, Al Purdy, Mary di Michele, David Adams Richards, Anne Hebert, Daniel David Moses, Caterina Edwards, Don McKay, P.K. Page, Nicole Brossard, Drew Hayden Taylor, Joy Kogawa, Gary Geddes, Kristjana Gunnars, Pier Giorgio DiCicco and others. A number of Guernica anthologies have been used as texts in college and university literature courses. They include ''The Anthology of Italian-Canadian Writing'' (1998), ''Voices in the Desert: An Anthology of Arabic Canadian Women Writers'' (2002) (Sugars), ''Pillars of Lace: The Anthology of Italian-Canadian Women Writers'' (1998) (Gundale), ''Ricordi: Things Remembered'' (1989), ''Social Pluralism and Literary History'' (1996) (Verduyn) ''Adjacencies: Minority Writing in Canada'' (2002) and other titles. (Pivato 2007)Literary Awards
Several Guernica books have won literary prizes, including *''Remembering History'' by Rhea Tregebov won the 1983 Pat Lowther Award for Poetry. *''Les Ages de l'amour'' by Dorothy Livesay and translated by Jean Antonin Billiard won the 1989 Governor General translation award. *''Aknos'' by Fulvio Caccia won the 1994 Governor General award for French poetry. *''Contrasts: Comparative Essays on Italian-Canadian Writing'' by J. Pivato won the 1985 Bressani Prize. *''Island of the Nightingales'' by Caterina Edwards won the 2001 Howard O'Hagan Award for Short Fiction. *''Keeping Afloat'' by M. Travis Lane won the 2002 Atlantic Poetry Award. *''The Stalinist's Wife,'' by France Théoret and translated by Luise von Flotow, was shortlisted for the 2013 Governor General's Award for Translation (French to English). *''Where the Sun Shines Best'' by Austin Clarke was shortlisted for the 2013 Governor General's Award for Poetry (English Language). *''Eye'' by Marianne Micros was shortlisted for the 2019 Governor General's Award for Fiction (English Language).References
Clarke, George Elliott. "Let Us Compare Anthologies: Harmonizing the Founding African-Canadian and Italian-Canadian Literary Collections." ''Directions Home: Approaches to African-Canadian Literature.'' Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012. Hutcheon, Linda. "The Canadian Mosaic: A Melting Pot on Ice: The Ironies of Ethnicity and Race." ''Splitting Images: Contemporary Canadian Ironies''. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1991. Pivato, Joseph. "Twenty Years of Change: The Paradox of AICW." ''Strange Peregrinations''. eds. Delia De Santis, Venera Fazio, Anna Foschi Ciampolini. Toronto: Centre for Italian-Canadian Studies, University of Toronto, 2007. Sugars, Cynthia C. ed. ''The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Literature.'' New York: Oxford U. P. 2016. 5-6. Verduyn, Christl. ed. ''Literary Pluralities.'' Peterborough: Broadview Press, 1998. 57, 290. Wilke, Gundale. "Triculural Landscape." (''Pillars of Lace'') ''Canadian Literature'' 178 (Autumn 2003) 164-66.External links