For Rosanna Micelotta Battigelli, Product of Italy, Made in Canada is more than just the title of her new book. It captures her experience of growing up between two worlds.
In her soon-to-be-released collection of creative non-fiction short stories, the retired educator and award-winning author reflects on the struggles, lessons and joys that have shaped her life as an immigrant daughter and as a proud Canadian.
The book, Product of Italy, Made in Canada: An Immigrant’s Love Letter to Food, Family and Resilience, reflects on her life after immigrating to Canada as a child, capturing experiences from family loss and cultural identity, to lessons learned from students and moments of joy. With honesty, humour and emotion, she shares the stories and challenges that shaped her roles as a daughter, sister, mother, teacher and writer.
Micelotta Battigelli wrote the stories over 23 years, with some being previously published in anthologies. “I wrote each piece after either experiencing a significant event in my life or while reflecting on a past experience many years later,” she said. “Sometimes it takes time to process events and relationships in your life, and sometimes their impact is felt immediately, and you feel compelled to write about it, which is a way of dealing with thoughts and feelings that perhaps you’re not ready to share yet.
“I had no intention of sharing some of the stories publicly, as they were so personal, but with the passing of time, I felt that the themes and experiences would resonate with readers.”
One poignant story, Angel of God, explores the unexpected death of the author’s 17-year-old sister, a customary mourning period and the subsequent decades it took for her to process the grief.
“Some stories were not written originally with the intention of seeing them published,” Micelotta Battigelli said. “I wrote them because I had experienced sadness, grief or loss, and I felt the need to process my feelings through the act of writing. Writing is a way of validating your emotions, your vulnerability, your reality. If you are a private person, revealing personal stories to the public can make you feel even more vulnerable.”
While she originally wrote Angel of God for herself, she later submitted it to a Toronto publication because a measure of distance existed at that time between the geographic spaces. She decided to include it in this collection because she is in a different point in her life and writing career.
“I know that the personal stories in this collection will resonate with those who might have had similar experiences, and perhaps encourage some readers to process their own feelings by writing,” she said.
Additionally, the author said that considering Canada’s cultural makeup, chances are, many readers can identify with her experiences.
“Canada is filled with immigrants from all over the world, and feelings of being different, trying to fit in while preserving your initial culture, traditions and mother tongue, and learning a new language are all relevant in the life and challenges of an immigrant,” she said.
Micelotta Battigelli said that as an immigrant, one experiences two cultures and often struggles to identify with either one or the other.
“Your beliefs, your ethics, your strengths evolve from your experiences of both your heritage and of your adopted country,” she said. “Which is why one of my stories — and the title of this collection — is Product of Italy, Made in Canada, which is how I see myself.
“Born in Calabria, Italy, I inherited a culture that I love and that I’m proud of, and having immigrated to Canada when I was three, I spent my formative years, youth, adolescence, and adulthood in Canada (with several trips back to Italy), and therefore, I feel very Canadian, and proud of my adoptive country. My experiences as an Italian-Canadian have made me who I am as a daughter, mother, sister, teacher and writer.”
Micelotta Battigelli has written other stories and books inspired by her culture. Her novel, La Brigantessa, was awarded Gold in Historical Fiction in the 2019 Independent Publisher Book Awards. It was also a 2019 Finalist in the Canadian Authors Association Fred Kerner Book Award and the Northern Lit Award. In addition, it received an Honourable Mention in the 2024 Hollywood Book Festival.
Micelotta Battigelli’s short story collection, Pigeon Soup & Other Stories, garnered an American BookFest Best Book Award in 2021 and an International Book Award in 2022 in the Fiction: Short Story Category.
Her six romance novels are published with Harlequin UK (the sixth book released this month) and distributed worldwide. She also has two children’s books, with Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round (2019) on the Bank Street College of Education’s 2020 list of The Best Children’s Books of the Year.
Published by Latitude 46, Product of Italy, Made in Canada: An Immigrant’s Love Letter to Food, Family and Resilience, is set to launch in October. A launch party is forthcoming. In the meantime, the book is available to pre-order through www.latitude46publishing.com.
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