Helen Barolini's "Umbertina" Wins Major Italian Literary Prize

Helen Barolini has received word from the Prize committee that the Italian edition of her novel Umbertina has been declared the winner.  This edition of the Premio Acerbi is dedicated to

the literature of Italian Americans and aims to acquaint both Italy and the U.S.with the narrative

writings of each country. The prize is an international one and each year a different country's writers have been nominated for the award.

Umbertina was written with the support of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts,

was first published by Seaview Books in 1979, and is still in print with The Feminist Press. Very relevant in the novel is the inter-cultural connection between the U.S. and Italy as experienced through fourgenerations of a family.

Barolini will flown to Italy to receive the award on November 8, 2008. The Prize is named to honor Giuseppe Acerbi, the 18th C. resident of Castel Goffredo, a town near Mantua. He was a noted explorer and writer.  His pluralistic view of cultures  was in the avant-garde among those ofhis time for his international vision. Thus the international focus of the Prize honors him as well as the Prize winners.

More information about the author is available at:  http://www.helenbarolini.com.

Info about the prize in Italian is available at www.premioacerbi.com/