Rules of IAWA: Read Each Other, Write or Be Written, Buy Each Other’s Books! And review each other!
Anna Monardo and Alise Versella
Thursday, November 13, 2025 at
the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute
25 W. 43rd St., 17th Floor
LIVE 6-8 PM EST; Open Mic begins at 6; admission is free
Anna Monardo is the author of After Italy: A Family Memoir of Arranged Marriage (Bordighera Press, 2024) and the novels Falling In Love with Natassia and The Courtyard of Dreams, which Bordighera Press reissued in May 2025. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Creative Nonfiction, Ovunque Siamo, and has been anthologized in Helen Barolini’s The Dream Book. Monardo is professor emerita in the Writer’s Workshop at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. www.annamonardo.com
Alise Versella is the author of five poetry collections her most recent being Inaccurate Histories (Golden Dragonfly Press 2025) a collection on memory and matriarchy within her Italian American family. She is an International Impact Book Awards winner, Storytrade Book Awards finalist and has been nominated for Pushcart and Best of the Net. Versella’s work has been published widely in such journals as Press Pause Press and The Opiate, is forthcoming in The Paterson Literary Review and Beach Badge. www.aliseversella.com
To renew or join IAWA, https://iawa.net/join/
Nov. 16: Big Red Books & IAWA, Nyack, NY
Nov. 20: Celebrating Jenn Martelli – Virtual
Dec. 11: Buon Natale Festa & Open Mic
Boston IAWA takes place on 3rd Saturdays @ IAM Books