Luigi Ballerini, born in Milan in 1940, currently living in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 and Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, is an Italian poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

, professor of modern and contemporary Italian Literature

Italian literature

Italian literature is literature written in the Italian language, particularly within Italy. It may also refer to literature written by Italians or in Italy in other languages spoken in Italy, often languages that are closely related to modern Italian....

 at UCLA and a historian of gastronomy. He is the father of actor Edoardo Ballerini

Edoardo Ballerini

Edoardo Ballerini is an actor, writer and director. He is best known for his work on screen as junkie Corky Caporale in The Sopranos , a hotheaded chef in the indie hit Dinner Rush , and an NFL businessman in the blockbuster Romeo Must Die...

.

His works of poetry were issued under the following titles:

• eccetera. E (Guanda, 1972)
• Che figurato muore (Scheiwiller, 1988)
• Che oror l'orient (Lubrina, 1991)
• Il terzo gode (Marsilio, 1994)
• Stracci shakespeariani (Quasar 1996)
• Uscita senza strada (Edizioni della Battaglia, 2000)
• Uno monta la luna (Manni, 2001).
• Cefalonia 43 e altre poesie (Mondadori, 2005).

He has published several anthologies of American and Italian Poetry. La rosa disabitata in 1981, Shearsmen of Sorts in 1992 and The Promised Land in 1999. In this same year, he also published the anthology of Gertrude Stein

Gertrude Stein

Gertrude Stein was an American writer, poet and art collector who spent most of her life in France.-Early life:...

 under the title La sacra Emilia e altre poesie.

He also translated into Italian the works of Henry James

Henry James

Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....

, Herman Melville

Herman Melville

Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....

, William Carlos Williams

William Carlos Williams

William Carlos Williams was an American poet closely associated with modernism and Imagism. He was also a pediatrician and general practitioner of medicine, having graduated from the University of Pennsylvania...

, James Baldwin

James Baldwin (writer)

James Arthur Baldwin was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic.Baldwin's essays, for instance "Notes of a Native Son" , explore palpable yet unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western societies, most notably in mid-20th century America,...

 and Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...

. He is also known as a cooking historian. He edited Pellegrino Artusi

Pellegrino Artusi

Pellegrino Artusi is best known as the author of famous Italian cookbook "La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiare bene" ....

's Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well and Maestro Martino's The Book of the Culinary Art.

In 1992 he was awarded the Feronia Prize for Poetry.

See also: Luigi Ballerini - the biography at the web site of his UCLA department.