This selection is drawn from six collections spanning Pusterla’s poetry career from 1985 to 2011. There is a spareness and austerity about his poetry – born of the age-old struggle with the harsh environment of the Swiss Alps. The natural world clearly matters a great deal to Pusterla, as does family life, and occasionally the veil of everyday reality is lifted to reveal moments of pure happiness and exuberance.
With an Introduction by Alan Brownjohn.
Fabio Pusterla was born in 1957. For his work, widely translated, he has been awarded the Premio Montale (1986), the Schiller Prize (1986, 2000 and 2011), the Premio Dessì (2009) and the Premio Lionello Fiumi (2008, 2010), the Premio Prezzolini for translation (1994), the Premio Marazza (2009) and, in 2007, the Gottfried Keller Prize. He teaches Italian literature in Lugano.
Simon Knight specialises in writers from Italian-speaking Switzerland and is currently translating Il fondo del sacco (1970) by Plinio Martini.