Product of Italy, Made in Canada:: An Immigrant's Love Letter to Food, Family, and Resilience - Paperback

by Rosanna Micelotta Battigelli (Author)

In this creative non-fiction collection, award-winning teacher and author Rosanna Micelotta Battigelli depicts roles she has assumed over the decades after immigrating with her family to Canada when she was three. Rebelling at some of the handmade clothes she had to wear in her youth, spending time in hospital as her dad's health fails, learning some life lessons from her students, and reflecting on the influences of her first language and culture as well as her pride in her adopted country, Battigelli shares these and other stories vividly. Whether navigating the choppy waters of family challenges and loss or recounting lighter moments, Battigelli writes with unflinching honesty, measured doses of humour, and with heart and spirit. The stories encapsulate the moments and incidents that have impacted her in various ways throughout her life, ways that ultimately helped shape her character and sensibilities as a daughter, sister, mother, teacher, and writer.

Author Biography

A multiple award-winning teacher and writer, Rosanna Micelotta Battigelli was born in Calabria, Italy, and immigrated to Canada with her family at three years of age. An alumna of the Humber School for Writers, she has been published in twenty anthologies and journals and has read at many conferences and literary events in Canada, the U.S. and Italy. Her novel La Brigantessa (Inanna Publications, 2018) was awarded a 2019 Gold IPPY Award for Historical Fiction, and was a finalist for two Canadian Literary Awards in 2019. Pigeon Soup & Other Stories (Inanna, 2021) was honoured as a Finalist in the Fiction: Short Story category of the 2021 American BookFest Best Book Awards and the 2022 International Book Awards.