Rosanna Micelotta Battigelli
Author of LA BRIGANTESSA, scheduled for 2018 publication by INANNA PUBLICATIONS
Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Writing and Editing
Current
Self-employed Writer/Author
Previous
Sudbury Writers’ Guild, Sudbury Catholic District School Board
Education
Laurentian University/Université Laurentienne
LA BRIGANTESSA is based on true events in the aftermath of Italy’s 1861 Unification, a turbulent period known as “The Decade of Fire” (1860-1870), when scores of brigands rebelled against the harsh policies imposed by the new government, which in turn ordered the destruction of these outlaws and anyone harbouring them. Gabriella Falcone is a peasant girl who works for Don Simone, the parish priest. She is forced to flee her hamlet of Camini in 1862 after stabbing Alfonso Fantin, a wealthy landowner who sexually assaulted her. Devastated to leave her fiancé Tonino, and knowing her fate will be life imprisonment at best if apprehended, she allows the priest to lead her through the harsh Aspromonte mountain range to seek refuge in an isolated monastery. They soon discover that Fantin has survived and is employing the forces of law to pursue Gabriella and bring her to justice. Gabriella and Don Simone continue their journey to seek yet another safe haven but soon fall into the hands of brigands. Gabriella is catapulted into a world she has only ever heard about in nervous whispers, a world where right and wrong, justice and vengeance take on new meanings, and where the boundaries between good and evil are blurred. Gabriella is drawn into the role of brigantessa and discovers that the convictions she once held dear no longer have a place in this wild, unlawful territory.
Rosanna Micelotta Battigelli Summary
I was born in Calabria, Italy; I emigrated to Canada with my family at three years of age. I developed a love for language and literature early in life, studying English, Italian, French, Latin, Spanish and German. Since 1981, I have taught kindergarten to Grade 8, in French Immersion and English. I have been writing fiction for adults and children since 1986. My short stories have been published in Canadian anthologies. I belong to several writing organizations and in 2002 helped organize the 81st annual Canadian Authors Association Conference. I have taken courses at the Humber School for Writers in Toronto. My completed manuscript, for which I received an Ontario Arts Council Writer’s Works-in-Progress Grant, is set in Italy in the 1860s and is entitled: La Brigantessa. I retired from teaching in June 2015 and will now be concentrating fully on writing goals.