Chelsea Editions
Catalog of Titles
Modern Italian Poets in Bilingual Editions
Modern French Writers in Bilingual Editions
Xenos-Chelsea Editions Collaborations
In Memorium:
Alfredo de Palchi (1926-2020)
Poet and Founder of Chelsea Editions
Our books still in print are available at Amazon.com,
and through our affiliate SPD Books
The following books are out of print. Check with SPD Books and with Amazon.com for available copies:
An Orchid Shining in the Hand
And, Nonetheless
The Dragonfly
The Guest in the Woods
Natural Theater
Other Signs, Other Circles
Painted Fire
New
Alfredo de Palchi, TERMINAL EVENTS. This last book by the late poet (1926 - 2020) ends a life in poetry well-planned: it presents an imagined discourse with poet Eugenio Montale, a fanciful and self-deprecatory autobiography, and a liberation of the planet Earth from the cruelty of man, with de Palchi's characteristic rage against violence, glorification of Mother Nature and love of freedom much in evidence. A Xenos Books—Chelsea Editions Collaboration.
Modern Italian Poets in Bilingual Editions
Cristina Annino, CHRONIC HEARING. Poems of intense sensitivity, keen observation and feminine intuition touching on dark themes. Translated by Adria Bernardi.Attilio Bertolucci, THE BEDROOM. A narrative poem that traces the history of the poet's family across seven generations with directness, precision and attention to everyday details, major events and fantastic surprises. Translated by Luigi Bonaffini, with an introduction by Paolo Lagazzi.
Roberto Bertoldo, VICTIMS' CRAM: Selected poems 1965-2015. Poems by a prolific philosopher, novelist and postmodern poet written on the edge of lyricism, tempered by a hardheaded realism and often set in a nocturnal mode. Translated, with a foreword, by Steven Grieco-Rathgeb.
Carlo Betocchi, AWAKENINGS: Selected Poems 1932-1982. Betocchi developed a distinct voice with clean, graceful and religiously tinged poems. Translated by Ned Condini.
Elisa Biagini, THE GUEST IN THE WOOD: A Selection of Poems 2004-2007. Cryptic, searching, probing, these are innovative poems of the mysteries of the body, of everyday life, of mortality. Translated by Diana Thow, Sarah Stickney & Eugene Ostashevsky, with an introduction by Angelina Oberdan. Winner of the 2014 Best Translated Book Award. OUT OF PRINT
Claudio Borghi, THE STILL FLIGHT. Poetic meditations on nature, time and space, both in prose and verse, by a young Italian poet and physicist. The works, presented in Italian and English, are marked by a calm clarity and sensitivity to light and delicate structures.Franco Buffoni, WINGS: Selected Poems 2000-2005. Deeply subtle and psychological poems. Translated by Emanuel Di Pasquale.
Rinaldo Caddeo, SIREN'S SONG: Selected Poetry and Prose, 1989-2009. Poems and prose poems that range from the Sphinx and Cleopatra to a street in
Milan, from dust to black cats, from the Archaeopteryx to the Siren's Song, written with grace and wit. Translated by Adria Bernardi.
Lorenzo Calogero, AN ORCHID SHINING IN THE HAND: Selected Poems 1932-1960. Poems of mystery, ambiguity, self and other, self as other, radiant moments between moonlight and sea, expression on the outer edge of language. Translated by John Taylor. OUT OF PRINT
Giorgio Caproni, THE EARTH'S WALL: Selected Poems 1932-1986. Considered one of the giants of the 20th century, Caproni wrote clear and compressed lines that convey both a robust passion and a cool intellect. Translated by Ned Condini.
Bartolo Cattafi, WINTER FRAGMENTS: Selected Poems 1949-1979. Cattafi sought to capture the fleeting moments of life with a dry humor and an erotic sensibility. Translated by Rina Ferrarelli.
Ned Condini, HEADING FOR VALPARAíSO: Selected poems 1980—1996. A quest of memory, hope and prayer, with a full recognition of the pains and joys of nature. These are carefully crafted, thought-provoking poems with unexpected edges. Originally written in Italian and translated by the award-winning translator and author.Ennio Contini, JOURNEY INTO THE DARK: Selected Poems 1930 -1979. A creator of charming evocations of sea and countryside, tender celebrations of family love, anguished cries from a soul condemned, hymns of hope for the future. These are poems written in the high style, with a personal voice and accessible meaning. Selected and edited by Francesca Bergadano; translated by Michael Palma.
Agostino Contò, THE MERCHANT OF MASKS. A collection of 62 poems selected from five collections spanning 1974 — 2019: Trilogie con Dedica / Trilogies with Dedication; Oh, Ah; Ella; Pin Pin; Musici, Guitti / Players, Mummers; and Vacanze / Vacations. Agostino Contò, friend of books and classic culture, captures the classic in the everyday and the everyday in the classic by means of plain speech. The gentlemen and ladies at court, the pursuant lover, the tourists all speak the same language as they seek answers amid players, mummers and masks. This book can be read almost as a mystery novel.
Maurizio Cucchi, NO PART TO PLAY: Selected Poems 1965-2009. A sequence of poetic statements, experiences, observations, letters and fragments creating a life story and a history of the time shared and interpreted by the reader. Translated by Michael Palma.
Milo de Angelis, BETWEEN THE BLAST FURNACES AND THE DIZZINESS: A Selection of Poems 1970-1999. Poems of startling imagery, oblique references and disorientation in the midst of machines. Translated by Emanuel di Pasquale.
Alfredo de Palchi, THE AESTHETICS OF EQUILIBRIUM. The evolution of the anthropoid killer Homo sapiens and the lion who opposes him, presented in 64 prose poems. A powerful blast against human cruelty and devastation. Translated from Italian by John Taylor.Alfredo de Palchi, NIHIL. A wholly original book of poetry and prose in which the author imaginatively floats down the river of his youth, the Adige, and describes scenes of beauty and horror, com¬ment¬ing upon them. The river leads to memories, time and space; the forward motion – to more extreme reaches of human experience; and the mood – to a more powerful rage against cruelty, viciousness and death. Translated, with a preface, by John Taylor.
Alfredo de Palchi, PARADIGM: New and Selected Poems 1947—2009. The lifework of the poet in one volume, containing complete texts or large portions thereof of seven original collections. Translated by Sonia Raiziss and other outstanding translators; selected, edited and introduced by John Taylor.Ubaldo de Robertis, THE RINGS OF THE UNIVERSE: Selected Poems. Verse by a nuclear scientist, novelist and poet that challenge the reader with new ways of seeing space, time and transience. Translated, with an introduction, by Adria Bernardi.
Gabriela Fantato, THE FORM OF LIFE: New and Selected Poems 1996-2009. A selection from eight collections of meditative poems that examine the things of life with objective precision and subjective emotion. Translated by Emanuel di Pasquale, with a Preface by Giancarlo Pontiggia.
Annamaria Ferramosca, OTHER SIGNS, OTHER CIRCLES: A Selection of Poems, 1990—2009. A selection from five volumes of poetry by the internationally acclaimed Roman poetess Annamaria Ferramosca. Trained as a scientist, Ferramosca displays a keen interest in animals, elements and celestial bodies, as well as classical and Biblical subjects, and she explores human relationships with a cool and clear vision. OUT OF PRINT
Luigi Fontanella, LAND OF TIME: Selected Poems 1972-2003. A poet of heartfelt lyricism, colloquial narrative and "pure azure memory." Translated by Carol Lettieri, Irene Marchegiani and others.
Alfonso Gatto, THE WALL DID NOT ANSWER: Selected Poems 1932-1976. War, death and the search for justice are infused with beauty, metaphysical wonder and the celebration of life in the work of one of the great poets of the Resistance. Selected and translated, with an introduction, by Philip Parisi.
Mariangela Gualtieri, BEAST OF JOY. Gualtieri is one of Italy's admired lyrical poets. Beast of Joy, with selections from her six collections of verse, is her first book in English. Bilingual edition.Stefano Guglielmin, MAYBE IT'S RAINING. Themes of identity, the flowing river, social injustice, love and death dominate in the experimental, transformative poetry of Stefano Guglielmin, who provides an explanatory preface and endnotes. Translated by Gray Sutherland.
Giorgio Linguaglossa, THREE STILLS IN THE FRAME: Selected Poems, 1986-2014. Works of singular originality combining plain talk, high style and conversations of dark angels to break the monotony of modern culture and create a new and authentic poetic experience. Translated by Steven Grieco.
Valerio Magrelli, INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO READ A NEWSPAPER & OTHER POEMS. The daily newspaper as seen through the eyes of poetic consciousness. Introduction by Peter Hainsworth, edited by Anthony Molino, translated by Riccardo Duranti, Anamaría Crowe Serrano and Anthony Molino.Sandro Montalto, BECKETT AND KEATON: THE COMIC AND THE ANGST. A history and analysis of a major work by Samuel Beckett, the neglected 1965 film called simply Film, starring Buster Keaton.
Giampiero Neri, NATURAL THEATER: Selected Poems, 1976—2009. Precise and succinct capsules of time that, taken together, create the shadowy landscape of a violent history. Edited with an introduction by Victoria Surliuga. Translated by Ron Banerjee. OUT OF PRINT
Michael Palma, FAITHFUL IN MY FASHION: Essays on the Translation of Poetry. One of the outstanding translators of Dante in our time discusses the art of translation and literary companionship in eleven genial and witty essays, plus an interview. A Xenos-Chelsea Editions collaboration.
Francesca Pellegrino, CHERNOBYLOVE: The Day After the Wind: Selected Poems 2008-2010. Terse, sharp, introspective, these poems open up a feminine perspective on the unspoken moments of modern life, mostly malign. Selected, edited and translated by Adria Bernardi.
Giovanni Raboni, EVERY THIRD THOUGHT: Selected Poems 1950-2004. Themes of love and loss; the rewards and responsibilities of being a son, a husband, a father and a lover; the sweep of Italian history from Mussolini to Berlusconi. Translated by Michael Palma with an Introduction by Patrizia Valduga.
Amelia Rosselli, THE DRAGONFLY: A Selection of Poems: 1953—1981. Jewish, anti-fascist, experimental, Rosselli embodies the clash of the traumatized self with the psyche of the post WWII generation. Translated by Giuseppe Leporace and Deborah Woodard. OUT OF PRINTAntonio Sagredo, POEMS. Early, middle and recent work (1969-2014) of an experimental yet readable poet whose poems, steeped in culture, semantically challenging, always on edge, aim at a new synthesis of past and present. Translated, edited & introduced by Sean Mark.
Camillo Sbarbaro, SHAVINGS: Selected Prose Poems 1914-1940. Sbarbaro experimented with an idiosyncratic blend of poetry and prose, full of humor and unexpected turns, that he called trucioli—"shavings." Translated by Gayle Ridinger.
Maria Luisa Spaziani, PAINTED FIRE: Selected Poems 1954—2006. Glimpses from different angles at the details of everyday life, transforming it into a mystery. Translated by Lynne Lawner. OUT OF PRINT
Adam Vaccaro, SEEDS: Selected Poems 1978-2006. Searching for home in a changed landscape, the poet like Ulysses sees images, people and memories of a world that is gone. Selected, translated and introduced by Sean Mark.
Antonella Zagaroli, MINDSKIN: A Selection of Poems 1985-2010. Fluid and constantly evolving, this is poetry that flows from traditional verse to dialogue to prose to reportage to epic poem and back again in a stream of Protean invention. Translated with an introduction by Anamaría Crowe Serrano. 12 copies in stock.
Collections
HOW THE TOJAN WAR ENDED I DON'T REMEMBER. A generous selection of the work of fourteen poets writing in Italian today. In alphabetical order they are: Chiara Catapano, Alfredo de Palchi, Mario Gabriele, Donatella Costantin Giancaspero, Steven Grieco-Rathgeb, Letizia Leone, Giorgio Linguaglossa, Renato Minore, Gino Rago, Antonio Sagredo, Giuseppe Talia, Lucio Mayoor Tosi, Anna Ventura, Antonella Zagarole.
