Interview with Giuseppe Sofo, editor of Nerosubianco and Calypso
GIUSEPPE SOFO is a 26 year old book writer, editor, translator, teacher, journalist and blogger. He's from Italy but he also moves quite a lot between different countries. He is currently the series editor of Nerosubianco and Calypso, which contain books by Caribbean authors for the Italian market (titles include Edwidge Danticat’s Behind the Mountains and Aimé Césaire’s Une Tempête). Giuseppe has also authored fiction books himself, such as Dollville and Qui Lo Chiamano Blues (Here they call it blues), which were released in 2006 and 2008 respectively. His third and fourth book, the novel Quest'alba Radioattiva and the diary Fango e Colori (Mud and colours), based on his experience in Trinidad, are due in 2011.
Q: Your name is jee-u-seppy----did I pronounce that correctly?
Ahahah no, but don't worry, I gave up a long time ago on the correct pronounciation or spelling of my name. Every place I go to, I hear a new pronounciation of my name, and I actually like that. It's like having a different identity for every different place you go to. Most people in Trinidad just called me G, Italian boy, or simply bwoy.Q: You do what many people would envy you for: you get paid to read and write. What is your academic background, and what publishing company do you currently work for?
Well, I actually don't get paid as much as one would think, which is why it's not my main job. I've been (and I am) teaching Italian in several schools around the world (from kindergarten in France to university in the States). This also gives me the opportunity to discover new countries and cultures, and still leaves time for writing and all the rest. As a writer I'm working for Morellini Editore, for which I'm writing a travel guide about Bremen, a beautiful city in Northern Germany, for Las Vegas Edizioni, that is going to publish my next novel, and for Miraggi Edizioni, that is going to publish my diary on Trinidad. As a translator I work for Incontri Editrice, and CartaCanta Editore, but I also collaborate with several other publishers and companies in Italy and France.Q: Tell us about Nerosubianco and Calypso, the Caribbean book series for the Italian market. Why this series? How big is the demand in Italy for books featuring the Caribbean?
Nerosubianco is actually a series of postcolonial literatures, but the focus for the moment is on Caribbean literature, because it's what I enjoy working on the most. The first titles, to be released in October, are going to be “Une Tempête” by Aimé Césaire, “Behind the Mountains” by Edwidge Danticat and “Sweetheart” by Alecia McKenzie. Calypso is a series dedicated to Caribbean short stories. I love the genre, and I think Caribbean writers have a lot to say in the field. Our first title is going to be “Four Taxis Facing North” by Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw. It's two small series by small publishers, but that's how you start bringing a literary world into a market. The bigger publishers will soon or later realize Jamaica Kincaid and V.S. Naipaul are not the only Caribbean writers worth being translated...Q: What is your role in the series?
I choose the books I like, I get the rights for them, and most of the times I translate them.Q: Authors such as Danticat and Césaire have a very distinctive voice. How difficult is it to stay true to that voice in translation?
Translation is always a difficult task, but also a fascinating one. I consider this work as a gift, something that usually gives me more than what it takes from me. As a writer, I know how important it is to not alter the meanings and the wordings of an author, so I try to stay as close as possible to the original. I think the reader has to make an effort to go towards the author, rather than the opposite. Especially when it's writers from completely different worlds, and the reading of a book becomes in fact a traveling experience.Q: What aspects of Caribbean literature appeal most to you, and why?
The first Caribbean text I ever read was “Pantomime” by Derek Walcott. I remember being fascinated by the language, by the attempt to deconstruct a traditional text and to reconstruct it in a completely different setting with completely different meanings. I was moved by it in a way no European text had moved me in many years before then. When I read a book I like being taken to a new place I have never been before, mentally and physically. Caribbean literature is often able to make me experience this.Q: You have done research on Trinidad Carnival Theater at UWI (St. Augustine, Trinidad). Sounds interesting.
Yes, I wrote my MA thesis on Trinidad Carnival, it's titled “Jouvay of a culture. Cultural awakening and resistance in Trinidad Carnival Theatre.” It was a beautiful experience. I was in Trinidad twice and I was very well assisted by all the staff of the Department of Creative and Festival Arts, as well as by all the people I met during my time there.Q: How was Trinidad, anyway? How long were you there, what did you do?
It was bessssss :) What can I say? I was there in Fall for a couple of months and then back for other two months around Carnival. It was definitely one of the most amazing times of my life. I did everything I could do. I made mas (with MacFarlane's hat-trick band Africa), I played mas, I played jouvay (something I will never forget), I hate more doubles than any other European has ever tried to (and I think I'm the only European who's actualy able to make good ones :)), I went to concerts, theatre plays, performances, readings, art exhibitions, fetes (of course), beaches, “mountains”, clubs, panyards, what else?Q: You have authored some books yourself, such as Dollville and Qui Lo Chiamano Blues (Here They Call It Blues). What are they about?
They're very different, actually. The first is a theatre monologue, where a character tells a story that doesn't exist about a city that doesn't exist. It's also available as an e-book in English. Qui Lo Chiamano Blues was a collection of three short stories settled in the United States. This was actually written in English before than in Italian, but it was never published in English. Anyone out there interested? :)Q: Your blog (www.giuseppesofo.net) boasts some terrific pictures of your travels through the world. Is it safe to assume that photography is a big hobby of yours?
At the beginning, it was only a way to keep something with me of the places I visit, and to show my family and friends at home where I was, but then it became much more. I opened the blog after a hard-disk with all the pictures of my first trip to Trinidad broke, leaving me with no picture of those months. After that, I realised how dear I held my pictures, and how much I would have loved to start doing something with them. So there they are.CLS: Thanks, Giuseppe
Giuseppe Sofo may be contacted through the following media:
Blog: GiuseppeSofo.net
Email: giuseppesofo@yahoo.it
Facebook: Giuseppe Sofo
CLS Profile Page: Giuseppe Sofo
