This Darkness Will Never End -- Publication date! And pre-order link!

One day, Leo spotted a book in translation on a shelf in our house. Looking at the cover where the translator's name appeared, he said, "When will we see a book that says, 'Translated by Jeanne Bonner'?" 

Today, my son. Today! (Because when you were born, I was reborn.)

A box of copies of my translation, This Darkness Will Never End, arrived today. So it's real! I can scarcely imagine the joy you'd feel if you published a book of your own writing. I am elated to bring out the work of another writer through my translating hand but I would guess seeing your own thoughts published in a book would make you (=me) weak in the knees.

Nothing is really like birthing a baby but, wow, birthing a book is also a long, tense, task-filled process!

It's been 7 years since I first read Edith Bruck's short story collection, Andremo in città. Seven years since I felt that lightning bolt: these stories need to be available in English. And now they are.

Thanks to those of you asking about how to buy a copy of my translation.

The book will be officially published on April 22 but you can order it directly from the publisher (Paul Dry Books) and it will be shipped to you immediately:

https://www.pauldrybooks.com/products/this-darkness-will-never-end

Or you can buy it from Bookshop:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/this-darkness-will-never-end/21622230

Amazon has it, too.

https://www.amazon.com/This-Darkness-Will-Never-End/dp/1589882016

Give me feedback if you encounter a problem. I am not sure when Amazon or Bookshop will ship the book.

Readings

I'll be reading from the book at various libraries and bookstores in the Northeast, including:

Philadelphia City Institute Library

May 5

5:30 p.m.

Stay tuned for other readings!

I hope to reach a lot of people through events. Are you part of a group that would like to host me? Is your book club looking to read a lost Italian/Jewish classic short story collection? Let me know!

If you're interested in learning more about Edith Bruck or finding other examples of her work in English, keep reading.

I wrote an article for the journal, The American Scholar, on overlooked women writers who have borne witness to the Holocaust that features Edith:

https://theamericanscholar.org/the-forgotten-writers-of-the-shoah/

I've translated some of her poems, including one that made it into The American Scholar's Read-Me-a-Poem podcast:

https://theamericanscholar.org/at-the-american-express-office-by-edith-bruck/

More poetry here, published by Asymptote Journal in 2020:

https://www.asymptotejournal.com/poetry/edith-bruck-versi-vissuti/

You can also read one of the stories from This Darkness Will Never End -- “Silvia.” It won a prize and was published in Hunger Mountain:

https://hngrmtn.org/issues/hunger-mountain-27/translation/

You can also read her other books in English: Who Loves You Like This and Lost Bread (also published by Paul Dry Books of Philadelphia) or Letter to My Mother (published by MLA Publications).

Grazie di cuore!

 -30-

What I bought at Rizzoli (Jan. 2025)

I had to travel light when a few weeks ago I visited Rizzoli, my favorite bookstore in New York City: so just two books. But the one by Donatella Di Pietrantonio? (Borgo Sud) Pinch me! -- I had actually met her that day as part of the Multipli Forti Italian literature conference organized by the Italian Cultural Institute, NYU, Fordham and Rizzoli, among other organizations.

As for Un bene al mondo, by Andrea Bajani, well, I am still limping after immersing myself in his novel, Se consideri le colpe, (stunning English translation by Elizabeth Harris, "If You Kept a Record of Sins," published by Archipelago). It's about a boy whose jet-setting mother largely abandons him to pursue a career -- and a love life away from her husband -- in Romania. I can only hope this new title by Bajani offers slightly less anguish, otherwise I won't recover.

I must admit -- having just reviewed a new Patrick Modiano novel for the Boston Globe -- that I fleetingly eyed the French section. As the Rizzoli shopping bags proudly proclaim, the bookstore carries books in Italian, English AND French!

I'm sure some visit the store because it is stunningly elegant.

Others may visit the store because it is a short block from Eataly, or because it's on a wonderfully tranquil block of Broadway that more or less deadends into Madison Square Park.

And, of course, the shop has dozens of book-adjacent gift items -- the most incredible journals, for example. (And sometimes La Settimana Enigmistica).

But I go for the foreign books, and one day, I am going to give into my urge to buy French books, too!

-30-