1978: Language escapes: Italian-Canadian authors write in an official language and not in Italiese

Abstract

The important year for Italian-Canadian literature is 1978-1979, the year in which three writers separately and simultaneously made conscious decisions to write in a standard official language of Canada rather than in standard Italian or their immigrant dialect, Italiese. That year in Toronto, Pier Giorgio Di Cicco brought out Roman Candles the first anthology of Italian-Canadian poetry which augured the beginning of this new ethnic minority literature. As editor Di Cicco had deliberately decided that this anthology should include only work in English. In Ottawa in 1978 F.G. Paci published his first novel, The Italians in English and it soon became a bestseller. In Montreal in 1979 Marco Micone staged of his first play, Gens du Silence in standard French rather than in Italiese.