A blast from the past. This link takes you to the ABC Radio Australia archives. It's an interview I did with Richard Aedy about this blog. A potted history of my life to that date in 2009. Fascinating to listen to yourself almost fifteen years on.
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/meet-the-listener-the-adventures-of-steve-capelin/3079516
It took almost eighteen months but Paradiso A Novel eventually arrived in Melbourne for a covid delayed launch.Thanks to the support of Co.As.It. Melbourne, Readings Books and The Veneto Club, Bulleen, Melbourne the trip south was a great success.
Co.As.It. Italian Museum, Carlton Tuesday 21 February 2023
Sixty people attended the first event at the Co.As.It. Italian Museum in Carlton. The audience was a mix of Italians with some knowledge of this story, lovers of Italy and Italian culture and a smattering of friends and personal connections. My co-presenter was well known Melbourne academic Ilma Martinuzzi O'Brien who has a connection to the story through one of the major characters and has done a mountain of work on Italian Australian history. We entertained the audience for an hour with stories which lay behind this novel and some lively questions from the floor. And we sold some books (thanks to Readings). Paolo Baracchi the Cultural Programs Manager at Co.As.It. described the book as "indeed a remarkable, foundational Italian Australian story."
The Veneto Club Thursday 23 February 2023
The Veneto Club event was quite different. Where the Co.As.It. gig was free, The Veneto Club was a paid event and it sold out. Again, Ilma and I did a double act but this time to an audience heavily invested in this Venetian story. Most knew little but were eager to learn. a few were descendants, one of whom was a second cousin I'd never met (his grandmother and my grandfather were siblings). Before we began we were overrun with people wanting to buy copies of the book sight unseen. That was a great start to the night. Many in the audience knew the Italian villages where this story began, all were fascinated that such an unusual story could happen under their noses and yet be so little known. They had me on my toes.
In the final wrap-up my second cousin rose to his feet, a dog-eared copy of Paradiso in his hand, marked with multiple post-it-notes. I was nervous. Was this the moment that my research would be revealed as wanting? Would he be about to criticise me for including his relatives without his permission? None of the above. He had marked all the pages where his ancestors (Spinaze) had been mentioned and in his short speech went on to give his opinion about the importance of the book to him personaly, and to Australian history. It was the best sales pitch I could have asked for and a lovely way to end the evening.
The book is (to date) stocked by Readings at all three of their Melbourne stores.
