Nino Ricci is the Pathy Visiting Professor in Canadian Studies at Princeton University for Fall 2013. His course “Nationalism and Internationalism in the North American Novel” will look at literature’s complicity in the formation of national and cultural identity.

Hailed as one of America’s “Top Ten Literary Gatherings” by USA Today, Aspen Summer Words 2013, June 16-21, is a six-day retreat that supports writers in developing their craft by providing a winning combination of inspiration, skills, community and opportunity. From author readings to behind-the-book panel discussions, it also offers readers a chance to explore the craft of writing and celebrate the literary arts. 2013 faculty includes: Kathleen Anderson, Tom Barbash, Laura Fraser, Paul Harding, Pam Houston, Scott Lasser, David Lipsky, David St. John and Nino Ricci.

 

In They Love to Tell the Story: Five Contemporary Novelists Take on the Gospels, Kevin Brown examines how Nikos Kazantzakis, Anthony Burgess, Norman Mailer, José Saramago, and Nino Ricci portray each of the major figures from the gospel stories against the backdrop of biblical and legendary lore.

Kevin Brown is an Associate Professor at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. They Love to Tell the Story is available from Kennesaw State University Press.

Bread, Honey & Fire by Nooshin Salari is a moving story of family and loss set against the backdrop of Iranian history. Salari’s characters go straight to the heart, caught up in forces that move them relentlessly forward even while they keep them always circling back to the past.

Born in Tabriz, Iran, Nooshin Salari moved to Canada in 1992. Her first collection of stories, The End of the Apple Tree, was published by Movarid Press in Tehran and was nominated for a number of literary prizes.

Bread, Honey & Fire is available at Amazon.ca.

TORONTO, November 7, 2012 —– At a ceremony in Toronto’s Isabel Bader Theatre tonight, Nino Ricci was presented with the $25,000 Writers’ Trust Engel/Findley Prize, awarded to a writer in mid-career for a body of work.

The award, presented as part of a ceremony that included the awarding of five other prizes and the distribution of a total of $114,000 to Canadian writers, is sponsored by the Writers’ Trust of Canada’s Board of Directors, Amazon.ca, and David Ellins. Past recipients include Michael Winter, Miriam Toews, and Wayne Johnston.

“One sometimes hears grumbling in the world at large that there are too many literary prizes,” Ricci said in his acceptance speech, “but what such grumbling fails to take into account is that other professions have perks writers don’t. They’re called incomes.”

This year’s prize was juried by writers Stan Dragland, Wayne Johnston, and Miriam Toews. “Nino Ricci’s prose embodies a sweeping range of talent and technique,” they wrote in their citation. “There are layers upon layers of meaning within his stories, all of which are presented with profound empathy, with compassion not only for his characters, but also for the messy human condition in which we invariably find ourselves. His writing is elegant and understated but driven by an urgent and confident hand. Whether he is examining the life of Jesus or an adulterous Italian mother or a self-loathing academic, Nino Ricci is a superb story-teller. Each of his books is a rare and delicious cocktail. In them a particular time and place is richly brought alive and made palpable, a challenge to the intellect and an exploration of the soul.”

For more information visit www.writerstrust.com.

Nino Ricci is avoiding personal appearances for the time being in the hopes of actually completing another novel. Any enquiries involving free merchandise, travel to exotic locations, or large sums of money, however, can still be directed to his publicist Saverio Mancina at saverio@ninoricci.com.