Beppe Costa
Encyclopedia
Beppe Costa, born Concetto Costa, on August 25, 1941, Catania, Italy, nationality: Italian. Poet and novelist.
Costa published his first book of poems in 1970 (A Comfortable Armchair, Giuseppe Di Maria publisher), which, like the others that followed, was characterized by the theme of love and anticonformism. Costa also supervised the editing of two tour guides, one about Catania, from whom it takes its title, "Catania, Guide to the Monuments" and the other about the whole region of Sicily, "Sicily, Guide to the Monuments." Both were published by Muglia. He also helped with the translation of books by the playwrights Fernando Arrabal
and Alejandro Jodorowsky
.
In 1976 he founded his own publishing company :it:Pellicanolibri, promoting and helping shy, awkward or outcast artists. In 1989, he discovered and published tales by Luigi Capuana
under his own publishing company, Pellicanolibri, and along with a volume that Federico De Roberto
has dedicated to his city, Catania. He has also translated the texts of contemporary French philosopher Gaston Bachelard
.
In 1978, he met the poet Dario Bellezza
with whom he started a great friendship and a fruitful collaboration in the publishing field.
In 1980, Costa translated and published the first work by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán
titled Manifesto Subnormal. He would later publish writers such as :it:Luce d'Eramo, Alberto Moravia
, Dario Bellezza
, Anna Maria Ortese :it:Anna Maria Ortese, Goliarda Sapienza :it:Goliarda Sapienza and Arnoldo Foà
.
He reached notoriety with his autobiographic book Sicilian Romance, that talks about a Sicilian intellectual's struggle against the South and the mafia. The novel's success opened the door to friendship with Alberto Moravia
, Dacia Maraini
, Léopold Sédar Senghor
, and Léo Ferré
. In the U.S, the novel was reviewed by the magazine World Literature Today
.
Until 1985, Costa collaborated in writing articles for the newspapers led by Giuseppe Fava, Journal of the South and Siciliani. He published on the Giornale di Sicilia interviews with Alberto Moravia
, Enzo Jannacci
, Leopold Sedar Senghor
, Leo Ferrè
. He also participated in the radio program by RadioRai named Nadir & Zenit.
In 1985 Beppe Costa definitely left Sicily and with Dario Bellezza started to participate in literary events. In 1986 with :it:Adele Cambria, he also helped to establish for the first time the Bacchelli Law :it:Legge Bacchelli in favor of the writer :it:Anna Maria Ortese. He kept publishing other collections of poems and he received the "Akesineide" prize for "Made for Love" and "Love Song".
In 1989, he won the Alfonso Gatto :it:Alfonso Gatto prize with his collection "Impaginato per Affetto". Many of his poems are read by actors Lina Bernardi, Arnoldo Foà
, Viviana Piccolo and Valeria Di Francesco, and his poetry is put to music by the great composers Giovanni Renzo http://www.giovannirenzo.it/, Giuliano Perticara and Mario Pettenati.
The same year 1989 he discovered and published tales by Luigi Capuana
under his own publishing company, Pellicanolibri, and along with a volume that Federico De Roberto
has dedicated to his city, Catania. He has also translated the texts by the contemporary French philosopher Gaston Bachelard
. From a meeting with Jodorowsky rose the idea of publishing the book about the "Panic Movement", a movement founded by the surrealist Jodorowsky himself and with the cooperation of artists Fernando Arrabal
and Roland Topor
.
In 2008 with Beatrice Niccolai, Costa inaugurated the Massa art exhibition called Malaspinarte. From January 18 to 25 of 2009, he has been the protagonist (from the Caffè Letterario in Rome) for a tour of poetry and music in Salento with the piano composer Giovanni Renzo. At the same time Costa and Fabio Barcellandi started to organize http://www.myspace.com/fabiobarcellandi "Poets and Painters from Space http://www.facebook.com/people/Poeti-Dallo-Spazio/100000862590163" bringing together poets, painters, musicians and actors from all over Italy. Additionally he collaborated with the French singer Eva Lopez :it:Eva Lopez, :fr:Eva Lopez, on the show "I Still Want a Dream", interpreting his own poems and songs by Ferrè, Piaf
, Brel
, Brassens, Alessandra Celletti
, Mario Pettenati, René Aubry
, Gianluca Attanasio
.
In 2008, his encounter with the poet and composer Mario Salis :fr:Mario Salis helped to give a more synergy to the Italian edition of Terranova Festival http://www.teranova.fr/, born in France and founded by Mario Salis and Fernando Arrabal
. Since 2009 Beppe Costa has become an integral part of the festival with the support of the young poets Fabio Barcellandi http://www.myspace.com/fabiobarcellandi, Chiara Daino http://www.chiaradaino.it/, Andrea Garbin http://www.myspace.com/andreagarbin and Mariaelisa Giocondo http://www.myspace.com/marugiocondo.
In 2009 he was also invited as an honor guest to the festival "Ottobre in Poesia" http://www.ottobreinpoesia.it/, which took place in the town of Sassari
.
In March 2010 an important event took place: for the cycle "Beppe Costa Meetings" Fernando Arrabal
came to Rome
as host of Pellicanolibri and spent two days with the "Poets From Space http://www.facebook.com/people/Poeti-Dallo-Spazio/100000862590163", a group of poets from different Italian regions, selected by Fabio Barcellandi http://www.myspace.com/fabiobarcellandi. Each of them, in their territory with their own resources, undertakes activities to promote poetry, theater, cinema, music and painting.
Costa's last poems collection, Anche ora che la luna is published in June 2010 by Multimedia Edizioni (Casa della Poesia http://www.casadellapoesia.org/ in Baronissi - Salerno), with a letter by :it:Adele Cambria.
In 2010 he participated in several meetings with students from different schools. At the end of the Festival "October in poetry", he received at the Sassari's civic theatre, the poetic key of the city.
2011: The unpublished section of the Literary Prize of the city of Sassari takes Beppe Costa's name, with the sponsorship of Unesco in October in Poetry.
Biography
Born into a poor family, Beppe Costa grew up in an environment rich in books because his mother, divorced, lived with the publisher Dante Muglia. While young, he played the drums in local bands, and while in high school, he wrote plays, including Man, which were performed in Sicilian schools.Costa published his first book of poems in 1970 (A Comfortable Armchair, Giuseppe Di Maria publisher), which, like the others that followed, was characterized by the theme of love and anticonformism. Costa also supervised the editing of two tour guides, one about Catania, from whom it takes its title, "Catania, Guide to the Monuments" and the other about the whole region of Sicily, "Sicily, Guide to the Monuments." Both were published by Muglia. He also helped with the translation of books by the playwrights Fernando Arrabal
Fernando Arrabal
Fernando Arrabal Terán is a Spanish playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist and poet. He settled in France in 1955, he describes himself as “desterrado,” or “half-expatriate, half-exiled.”...
and Alejandro Jodorowsky
Alejandro Jodorowsky
Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky, known as Alejandro Jodorowsky, is a Chilean filmmaker, playwright, actor, author, comic book writer and spiritual guru...
.
In 1976 he founded his own publishing company :it:Pellicanolibri, promoting and helping shy, awkward or outcast artists. In 1989, he discovered and published tales by Luigi Capuana
Luigi Capuana
Luigi Capuana was an Italian author and journalist and one of the most important members of the Verist movement. He was a contemporary of Giovanni Verga, both having been born in the province of Catania within a year of each other. He was also one of the first authors influenced by the works of...
under his own publishing company, Pellicanolibri, and along with a volume that Federico De Roberto
Federico De Roberto
Federico De Roberto was an Italian writer, who became well known for his novel I Vicerè . He began his writing career as a journalist for national newspapers, where he met Giovanni Verga and Luigi Capuana, the most prominent writers of the Verismo style. Verga introduced him into the literary...
has dedicated to his city, Catania. He has also translated the texts of contemporary French philosopher Gaston Bachelard
Gaston Bachelard
Gaston Bachelard was a French philosopher. He made contributions in the fields of poetics and the philosophy of science. To the latter he introduced the concepts of epistemological obstacle and epistemological break...
.
In 1978, he met the poet Dario Bellezza
Dario Bellezza
Dario Bellezza was an Italian gay poet, author and playwright. He won the Viareggio, Gatto, and Montale prizes.-Biography:Dario Bellezza was born in Rome on September 5, 1944...
with whom he started a great friendship and a fruitful collaboration in the publishing field.
In 1980, Costa translated and published the first work by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán
Manuel Vázquez Montalbán
Manuel Vázquez Montalbán was a prolific Spanish writer: journalist, novelist, poet, essayist, anthologue, prologist, humourist, critic, as well as a gastronome and a FC Barcelona supporter....
titled Manifesto Subnormal. He would later publish writers such as :it:Luce d'Eramo, Alberto Moravia
Alberto Moravia
Alberto Moravia, born Alberto Pincherle was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation, and existentialism....
, Dario Bellezza
Dario Bellezza
Dario Bellezza was an Italian gay poet, author and playwright. He won the Viareggio, Gatto, and Montale prizes.-Biography:Dario Bellezza was born in Rome on September 5, 1944...
, Anna Maria Ortese :it:Anna Maria Ortese, Goliarda Sapienza :it:Goliarda Sapienza and Arnoldo Foà
Arnoldo Foà
Arnoldo Foà is an Italian film actor. He has appeared in over 130 films since 1938. He was born in Ferrara, Italy.-Selected filmography:* Un giorno nella vita * Bellezze in bicicletta...
.
He reached notoriety with his autobiographic book Sicilian Romance, that talks about a Sicilian intellectual's struggle against the South and the mafia. The novel's success opened the door to friendship with Alberto Moravia
Alberto Moravia
Alberto Moravia, born Alberto Pincherle was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation, and existentialism....
, Dacia Maraini
Dacia Maraini
Dacia Maraini is an Italian writer. She is the daughter of Sicilian Princess Topazia Alliata di Salaparuta, an artist and art dealer, and of Fosco Maraini, a Florentine ethnologist and mountaineer of mixed Ticinese, English and Polish background who wrote in particular on Tibet and Japan...
, Léopold Sédar Senghor
Léopold Sédar Senghor
Léopold Sédar Senghor was a Senegalese poet, politician, and cultural theorist who for two decades served as the first president of Senegal . Senghor was the first African elected as a member of the Académie française. Before independence, he founded the political party called the Senegalese...
, and Léo Ferré
Léo Ferré
Léo Ferré was a Franco-Monegasque poet, composer, singer and musician.Born in Monaco, Ferré mixed love and melancholy with moral anarchy, lyricism with slang, rhyming verse with prose monologues...
. In the U.S, the novel was reviewed by the magazine World Literature Today
World Literature Today
World Literature Today is an American magazine, published bimonthly at the University of Oklahoma. It was founded in 1927 by Roy Temple House as Books Abroad. In January 1977, the journal became World Literature Today...
.
Until 1985, Costa collaborated in writing articles for the newspapers led by Giuseppe Fava, Journal of the South and Siciliani. He published on the Giornale di Sicilia interviews with Alberto Moravia
Alberto Moravia
Alberto Moravia, born Alberto Pincherle was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation, and existentialism....
, Enzo Jannacci
Enzo Jannacci
Vincenzo Jannacci , more commonly known as Enzo Jannacci , is an Italian singer-songwriter, actor and stand-up comedian...
, Leopold Sedar Senghor
Léopold Sédar Senghor
Léopold Sédar Senghor was a Senegalese poet, politician, and cultural theorist who for two decades served as the first president of Senegal . Senghor was the first African elected as a member of the Académie française. Before independence, he founded the political party called the Senegalese...
, Leo Ferrè
Léo Ferré
Léo Ferré was a Franco-Monegasque poet, composer, singer and musician.Born in Monaco, Ferré mixed love and melancholy with moral anarchy, lyricism with slang, rhyming verse with prose monologues...
. He also participated in the radio program by RadioRai named Nadir & Zenit.
In 1985 Beppe Costa definitely left Sicily and with Dario Bellezza started to participate in literary events. In 1986 with :it:Adele Cambria, he also helped to establish for the first time the Bacchelli Law :it:Legge Bacchelli in favor of the writer :it:Anna Maria Ortese. He kept publishing other collections of poems and he received the "Akesineide" prize for "Made for Love" and "Love Song".
In 1989, he won the Alfonso Gatto :it:Alfonso Gatto prize with his collection "Impaginato per Affetto". Many of his poems are read by actors Lina Bernardi, Arnoldo Foà
Arnoldo Foà
Arnoldo Foà is an Italian film actor. He has appeared in over 130 films since 1938. He was born in Ferrara, Italy.-Selected filmography:* Un giorno nella vita * Bellezze in bicicletta...
, Viviana Piccolo and Valeria Di Francesco, and his poetry is put to music by the great composers Giovanni Renzo http://www.giovannirenzo.it/, Giuliano Perticara and Mario Pettenati.
The same year 1989 he discovered and published tales by Luigi Capuana
Luigi Capuana
Luigi Capuana was an Italian author and journalist and one of the most important members of the Verist movement. He was a contemporary of Giovanni Verga, both having been born in the province of Catania within a year of each other. He was also one of the first authors influenced by the works of...
under his own publishing company, Pellicanolibri, and along with a volume that Federico De Roberto
Federico De Roberto
Federico De Roberto was an Italian writer, who became well known for his novel I Vicerè . He began his writing career as a journalist for national newspapers, where he met Giovanni Verga and Luigi Capuana, the most prominent writers of the Verismo style. Verga introduced him into the literary...
has dedicated to his city, Catania. He has also translated the texts by the contemporary French philosopher Gaston Bachelard
Gaston Bachelard
Gaston Bachelard was a French philosopher. He made contributions in the fields of poetics and the philosophy of science. To the latter he introduced the concepts of epistemological obstacle and epistemological break...
. From a meeting with Jodorowsky rose the idea of publishing the book about the "Panic Movement", a movement founded by the surrealist Jodorowsky himself and with the cooperation of artists Fernando Arrabal
Fernando Arrabal
Fernando Arrabal Terán is a Spanish playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist and poet. He settled in France in 1955, he describes himself as “desterrado,” or “half-expatriate, half-exiled.”...
and Roland Topor
Roland Topor
Roland Topor , was a French illustrator, painter, writer and filmmaker, known for the surreal nature of his work...
.
In 2008 with Beatrice Niccolai, Costa inaugurated the Massa art exhibition called Malaspinarte. From January 18 to 25 of 2009, he has been the protagonist (from the Caffè Letterario in Rome) for a tour of poetry and music in Salento with the piano composer Giovanni Renzo. At the same time Costa and Fabio Barcellandi started to organize http://www.myspace.com/fabiobarcellandi "Poets and Painters from Space http://www.facebook.com/people/Poeti-Dallo-Spazio/100000862590163" bringing together poets, painters, musicians and actors from all over Italy. Additionally he collaborated with the French singer Eva Lopez :it:Eva Lopez, :fr:Eva Lopez, on the show "I Still Want a Dream", interpreting his own poems and songs by Ferrè, Piaf
Piaf
Piaf is a French word:* Édith Piaf* Musée Édith Piaf* Sans Fusils, Ni Souliers, à Paris: Martha Wainwright's Piaf Record* Piaf * 3772 Piaf , a main-belt asteroid discovered on 1982 by L. G. Karachkina...
, Brel
BREL
British Rail Engineering Limited , was the railway systems engineering division of British Rail, until the design and building of trains in the UK was privatised in 1993. On 31 October 1969, the company was incorporated as British Rail Engineering Limited.-Main products:The vast majority of BREL's...
, Brassens, Alessandra Celletti
Alessandra Celletti
Alessandra Celletti is an Italian pianist, vocalist, songwriter and composer, best known as an interpreter of Erik Satie.-Biography:...
, Mario Pettenati, René Aubry
René Aubry
René Aubry is a French composer born in 1956. He is a multi-instrumentalist known for blending classical harmonies with modern instrumentation. Aubry has composed for choreographers such as Carolyn Carlson, Pina Bausch and Philippe Genty...
, Gianluca Attanasio
Gianluca Attanasio
Gianluca Attanasio is a singer-songwriter, composer, record producer, screenwriter, film director, photographer and journalist....
.
In 2008, his encounter with the poet and composer Mario Salis :fr:Mario Salis helped to give a more synergy to the Italian edition of Terranova Festival http://www.teranova.fr/, born in France and founded by Mario Salis and Fernando Arrabal
Fernando Arrabal
Fernando Arrabal Terán is a Spanish playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist and poet. He settled in France in 1955, he describes himself as “desterrado,” or “half-expatriate, half-exiled.”...
. Since 2009 Beppe Costa has become an integral part of the festival with the support of the young poets Fabio Barcellandi http://www.myspace.com/fabiobarcellandi, Chiara Daino http://www.chiaradaino.it/, Andrea Garbin http://www.myspace.com/andreagarbin and Mariaelisa Giocondo http://www.myspace.com/marugiocondo.
In 2009 he was also invited as an honor guest to the festival "Ottobre in Poesia" http://www.ottobreinpoesia.it/, which took place in the town of Sassari
Sassari
Sassari is an Italian city. It is the second-largest city of Sardinia in terms of population with about 130,000 inhabitants, or about 300,000 including the greater metropolitan area...
.
In March 2010 an important event took place: for the cycle "Beppe Costa Meetings" Fernando Arrabal
Fernando Arrabal
Fernando Arrabal Terán is a Spanish playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist and poet. He settled in France in 1955, he describes himself as “desterrado,” or “half-expatriate, half-exiled.”...
came to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
as host of Pellicanolibri and spent two days with the "Poets From Space http://www.facebook.com/people/Poeti-Dallo-Spazio/100000862590163", a group of poets from different Italian regions, selected by Fabio Barcellandi http://www.myspace.com/fabiobarcellandi. Each of them, in their territory with their own resources, undertakes activities to promote poetry, theater, cinema, music and painting.
Costa's last poems collection, Anche ora che la luna is published in June 2010 by Multimedia Edizioni (Casa della Poesia http://www.casadellapoesia.org/ in Baronissi - Salerno), with a letter by :it:Adele Cambria.
In 2010 he participated in several meetings with students from different schools. At the end of the Festival "October in poetry", he received at the Sassari's civic theatre, the poetic key of the city.
2011: The unpublished section of the Literary Prize of the city of Sassari takes Beppe Costa's name, with the sponsorship of Unesco in October in Poetry.
Prizes
- Ragusa, sicilian book of the year 1984
- Akesineide 1987
- Alfonso Gatto, 1990
- Città di Ascoli, 1992
- Joppolo, 1997
- Ciac for the poem Castel Sant'AngeloCastel Sant'AngeloThe Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as the Castel Sant'Angelo, is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family...
, Rome), 2008
- Iceberg News for "...parole..." Teranova Festival (Villa MediciVilla MediciThe Villa Medici is a mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and now property of the French...
, Rome), 2008
Guide books
- Catania, Guida ai monumenti, (with Luccjo Cammarata), Muglia publisher
- Sicilia, Guida ai monumenti, (with Luccjo Cammarata), Muglia publisher
Antology
- Documento Sicilia, Giuseppe Di Maria publisher
- Almanacco di Galleria, Salvatore Sciascia publisher, 1st year n. 2, 1991
- Poesia '90, edited by Giorgio Weiss and Riccardo Reim, 1990
- Poesia '90, edited by Giorgio Weiss and Riccardo Reim, 1991
- ContrAppunti perVersi, 1990, Pellicanolibri publisher
- Il Policordo, Rivista, a cura di Dante Maffia 6th year numbers 2 and 3
- ConVersiAmo, 1991, Pellicanolibri publisher
- Ponte degli angeli, Scripta Manent publisher
- Acqua privata? no grazie, by Marco Cinque, 2011, Ilmiolibro
Prose and Poetry
- Una poltrona comoda, Vincenzo di Maria, 1970
- Un po' d'amore, Muglia, 1975
- Metamorfosi di un concetto astratto in due tempi con accompagnamento di ottavino, (preface by Dario BellezzaDario BellezzaDario Bellezza was an Italian gay poet, author and playwright. He won the Viareggio, Gatto, and Montale prizes.-Biography:Dario Bellezza was born in Rome on September 5, 1944...
), :it:Pellicanolibri, 1982 - Romanzo siciliano, :it:Pellicanolibri, 1984
- Canto d'amore (with Ivana Buschini illustrations), :it:Pellicanolibri, 1986
- Fatto d'amore (preface by :it:Dante Maffia), :it:Pellicanolibri, 1987
- Impaginato per affetto (preface by :it:Giacinto Spagnoletti), :it:Pellicanolibri, 1989
- Il male felice, :it:Pellicanolibri, 1992
- Due o tre cose che so di lei (preface by :it:Luce d'Eramo), :it:Pellicanolibri, 1995
- D'amore e d'altro (preface by :it:Luce d'Eramo), :it:Pellicanolibri, 1996
- Poesie per chi non sa fare altro, :it:Pellicanolibri, 2002
- Anche ora che la luna, a poetry and music CD with the composer Giovanni Renzo, 2009
- Anche ora che la luna (with a letter by :it:Adele Cambria), poetry, Multimedia Edizioni http://www.casadellapoesia.org/estore-elenco/multimedia-edizioni/Libri, 2010