About the Author

Antonio D'Alfonso was born in Montreal. He studied at Loyola College from 1970 to 1975, where he got his B.A. in Communication Arts. Later on he went to Universite de Montreal to complete his Master's Science Degree in Communication Studies, specializing in Semiology; his thesis was on Mouchette, a film by Robert Bresson. In 1978 he founded Guernica Editions, where he edited over 450 books by authors from around the world. In 1982 along with three other writers, he founded the trilingual magazine, Vice Versa. In 1986, along with three other writers, he founded the Association of Italian-Canadian Writers. He has taught at Universite of Montreal, Continuing Studies at University of Toronto, University of California, in San Diego. He is presently a writer in residence at McGill University (French language and literature department). Pasquale Verdicchio teaches literature and film in the department of literature at the University of California-San Diego. As a poet, translator, and essayist, he has published translations of Pasolini, Merini, Caproni, Porta, and Gramsci. He is the author of Devils in Paradise: Writings on Post-Emigrant Cultures and the poetry collection The House Is Past, Passenger: Selected Poems (Porta, Antonio and Pasquale Verdicchio, 2000) and The Wall of the Earth (Caproni, Giorgio and Pasquale Verdicchio, 1992).