GREAT BAY, St. Martin (March 20, 2022)—The work of St. Martin writer Lasana M.Sekou was the lecture topic last Thursday at the University of the Third Age (UNITRE) in Mestre, mainland Venice, Italy.
“I introduced Lasana Sekou and his work; talked about the geopolitical situation of St. Martin; then we showed videos of Lasana’s performances and read some poems in Italian. People were ecstatic!” said Dr. Michela Calderaro.
“It was a beautiful afternoon with Federica Messulam,” translator and co-presenter of the lecture at the university, also known as Università della Terza Età (UNITRE), said Dr. Calderaro.
Calderaro is an author and comparative literature professor who has been pioneering the critical study of Caribbean literature in Italy.
“We also talked about the publication of a collection of Lasana Sekou’s poems that are translated by Federica Messulam, Elisabetta Giotto, Caterina De Col,” said Calderaro, who supervised the Italian translation. She is also the editor of the selected poems and will write the scholarly introduction to the upcoming book.
During the previous week at a UNITRE literary presentation, Dr. Calderaro and Adriana De Nadai discussed and read poems by award-winning writers Jacqueline Bishop (Jamaica/USA) and Shara McCallum (USA).
