Award-winning poet Pietro Federico is coming to Grace College’s campus to campus for a book reading 7 p.m. Thursday, April 10, in the Grace College Morgan Library.

News Release

WINONA LAKE — Grace College will host award-winning poet Pietro Federico to campus for a book reading 7 p.m Thursday, April 10 in the Grace College Morgan Library, 200 Seminary Drive, Winona Lake.

Federico will read from his latest work, “Most of the Stars: An American Song,” and discuss the translation of his book from Italian into English with Grace College Professor of English Dr. John Poch, who helped with the translation. The free reading is open to the public. Books will be available for purchase.

“Pietro and I met in Rome around 2020 through an academic colleague we had in common,” said Poch. “Over lunch, we immediately recognized in each other a shared poetry aesthetic, cultural vision and Christian faith.”

Pietro, fluent in English, began translating Poch’s work into Italian. As a result, Poch’s book of selected poems, “Cantiamo, Prendiamo Il Coltello (We Sing, We Take the Knife)” was published in Italy by Ensemble Edizioni in 2022. Likewise, Poch began translating Pietro’s work from Italian into English, resulting in the publication of his book “Most of the Stars” in March by St. Augustine’s Press.

The muse of Federico’s collection of poems is the United States of America, its people and landscapes. In fifty poems, the book explore the depths of the historic, geographic, political, emotional, psychological and metaphysical realms through a variety of voices of these fifty states.

“Nobody in Italy is writing poems like this and it is an incredible privilege to work with Pietro in making this book available in the United States,” said Poch. “It is, after all, a book written to us Americans, a kind of love letter in verse that honors our wonderful diversity, landscape, beauty and freedom.”

The reading is the fourth installment of Grace College’s Lila Carson Lecture Series, a new donor-funded initiative of the Department of Humanities. The series promotes the understanding of literature by bringing writers of national and international repute each spring to Grace, inspiring students and faculty to be creative and excel in the literary arts.

Federico’s book can be ordered on Amazon.

For more information about the Lila Carson Lecture Series at Grace College, visit Grace College’s website.