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BIO NOTE
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LIFE
Caterina Edwards was born in Earls Barton, England, in 1948, and moved to Alberta, Canada in her childhood, growing up in Calgary but spending summers with her mother’s family in Italy. Growing up as the child of an English father and an Italian mother, she learned English and Italian simultaneously. Edwards moved to Edmonton to attend the University of Alberta, where she received a Bachelor of Arts, Honours in English. She continued at the University of Alberta, where she studied with Sheila Watson and Rudy Wiebe, earning a Master of Arts degree. She is the author of fiction, creative nonfiction, and docudrama, and has edited two anthologies. Edwards continues to reside in Edmonton, and visited the Canadian Literature Centre for her Brown Bag Lunch reading on September 23, 2009.
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AWARDS2016
City of Edmonton Arts and Culture Hall of Fame (Inductee)2015
National Post,’s Top 99 Books of 2015 for The Sicilian Wife,2010
F.G. Bressani Literary Prize for Writing about Immigration for Finding Rosa,2009
The Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize for Finding Rosa, (Shortlisted)
Received the Wilfred Eggleston Award for Nonfiction from the Writers Guild of Alberta for Finding Rosa,2006
Received the CBC Alberta Anthology Creative Non-Fiction Prize, Professional Category, for “Who Remembers?”
Submitted as official Canadian entry for the International Competition for Radio Plays at the New York Radio Festival for The Great Antonio,2003
Awarded Fellowship at Literary Journalism Program at Banff Centre for the Arts2002
Received Jon Whyte Essay Prize for “What Remains?”2001
Howard O’Hagan Award for Short Fiction from the Writers Guild of for Island of the Nightingales, (Won)1991
Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama from the Writers Guild of Alberta for Homeground: A Play, (Shortlisted)
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PROUST QUESTIONNAIREIf social media had existed in the 1960s, what would you have been Tweeting or Facebooking about?
Simone di Beauvoir, Bob Dylan, Lawrence Durrell, and Leonard Cohen.What is the best thing about Canadian literature today?
The quality and the quantity, as well as the scope. The number of important aboriginal writers is heartening.Which Canadian fictional character do you most admire?
Hagar Shipley.Have you ever dreamt in a language other than your maternal language?
A tricky question. Technically my maternal language was Venetian dialect, but my primary language is English. I have dreamt in both.Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
I know it is in here somewhere. (And) I’m sorry.Do you have a recurring nightmare?
I had night terrors for most of my life. They always consisted of monstrous being about to obliterate me.What does your favourite outfit say about you?
My wrap DVF dress with a pattern of giant lips says I follow the rules, but still have an independent streak.Have you ever had a Proust-like madeleine experience?
Yes, a certain chocolate pastry found in Italian bakeries brings back my childhood holidays on Venice’s Lido.Do you have a good luck charm?
No.When do you feel most compelled to write?
Early afternoon and late in the evening when I should be going to bedited byWhat book do you wish you had written?
So many to choose from! In the last year or so, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, by Anthony Marra. And In Search of Time Lost, - of course.What do you consider to be your greatest extravagance?
Expensive face cream , but then I have to deal with Edmonton winters.What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
My tendency to give in to negative thoughts and to judge myself as a failure.What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Dishonesty in the broadest sense.What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Being moderate in all things.On what occasion do you lie?
I sometimes lie if telling the truth will wound someone.If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I wish I was more methodical and less erratic.What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My two daughters. But I do think they would have been wonderful, whoever was their mother.What is a question you hope never to be asked again?
This one.
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PRIMARY BIBLIOGRAPHY
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EDITED BOOKSEdwards, Caterina and Kay L. Stewart editors. Eating Apples: Knowing Women’s Lives. NeWest P, 1994.Edwards, Caterina and Kay L. Stewart, editors. Wrestling with the Angel: Women Reclaiming their Lives. Red Deer P, 2001.
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LONG FICTIONEdwards LoVerso, Caterina. Vases: Six Short Stories. Dissertation, U of Alberta, 1973, National Library of Canada, 1973.Edwards, Caterina. The Lion’s Mouth. NeWest P, 1982.Edwards, Caterina. Homeground: A Play. Guernica, 1990.Edwards, Caterina. A Whiter Shade of Pale/Becoming Emma: Two Novellas. NeWest P, 1992.Edwards, Caterina. Island of the Nightingales. Guernica, 2000.Edwards, Caterina. The Sicilian Wife. Linda Leith Publishing, 2015.
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LONG NON-FICTIONEdwards, Caterina. Finding Rosa: A Mother with Alzheimer’s, a Daughter in Search of the Past. Greystone Books, 2008.
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PLAYSEdwards, Caterina. Homeground: A Play. Guernica, 1990.
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RADIO DOCUDRAMASEdwards, Caterina. The Great Antonio. Little Italies, CBC Audio, 2007.
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SHORT FICTIONEdwards, Caterina. “The Last Young Man.” Journal of Canadian Fiction, vol. 2, 1973, pp. 25-8.Edwards, Caterina. “All Life from the Sea.” Branching Out: Canadian Magazine for Women, vol. 1, no. 1, 1974, pp. 18-20.Edwards, Caterina. “Everlasting Life.” Getting Here, edited by Rudy Wiebe, NeWest P, 1977, pp. 89-106.Loverso, Caterina. . “Full Moon.” The Story So Far, vol. 5, 1978, pp. 107-15.Edwards, Caterina. “Island of the Nightingales.” More Stories from Western Canada, edited by Rudy Wiebe and Atitha van Herk, Macmillan of Canada, 1980, pp. 182-97.Edwards, Caterina. “Quirks and Quarks.” Double Bond: An Anthology of Prairie Women’s Fiction, edited by Caroline Heath, Fifth House, 1984, pp. 171-81.Edwards, Caterina. “Prima Vera.” Alberta Bound: Thirty Stories by Alberta Writers, NeWest P, 1986, pp. 34-47.Edwards, Caterina. “The Mind’s Eye.” The Best of Alberta, edited by Tom Radford and Harry Savage, Hurtig Publishers, 1987, pp. 81-92.Edwards, Caterina. “All Things Rememberedited by” Ricordi: Things Remembered, edited by C.D. Minni, Guernica, 1989, pp. 127-41.Edwards, Caterina. “Home and Away.” Other Voices, vol. 5, no. 1, 1992, pp. 27-37.Edwards, Caterina. “The Lion’s Mouth: IX, XII, XV.” Pillars of Lace: The Anthology of Italian-Canadian Women Writers, edited by Marisa de Franceschi, Guernica, 1998, pp. 155-71.Edwards, Caterina. “Loving Italian.” The Toronto Review of Contemporary Writing Abroad, vol. 16, no. 3, 1998, pp. 56-62.Edwards, Caterina. “Stella’s Night.” Pillars of Lace: The Anthology of Italian-Canadian Women Writers, edited by Marisa de Franceschi, Guernica, 1998, pp. 171-9.Edwards, Caterina. “(Back)Water.” The Anthology of Italian-Canadian Writing, edited by Joseph Pivato, Guernica, 1998, pp. 43-53.Edwards, Caterina. “Island of the Nightingales.” Italian Canadian Voices: An Anthology of Poetry and Prose, edited by Caroline Morgan DiGiovanni, Mosaic P, 1984, pp. 91-100.Edwards, Caterina. “On a Platter.” Boundless Alberta: New Fiction, edited by Aritha van Herk, NeWest, 1993, pp. 344-52.
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SHORT NON-FICTIONEdwards, Caterina. “Language and Self.” Branching Out: Canadian Magazine for Women, vol. 6, no. 3, 1979, p. 43.Edwards, Caterina. “Discovering Voice: The Second Generation Finds its Place.” Italian Canadiana, vol. 2, 1986, pp. 63-7.Edwards, Caterina. “A Playwright’s Experience.” Writers in Transition: The Proceedings of the First National Conference of Italian-Canadian Writers, edited by C. Dino Minni and Anna Foschi Ciampolini, Guernica, 1990, pp. 107-110.Edwards, Caterina. “Pen of Many Colours (Book).” Canadian Ethnic Studies, vol. 27, no. 1, 1995, pp. 172-3.Edwards, Caterina. “Care Calling Care.” Eating Apples: Knowing Women’s Lives, edited by Caterina Edwards and Kay Stewart, NeWest, 1996, pp. 210-16.Edwards, Caterina. “The Power of Allegiances: Identity, Culture and Representational Strategies by Marino Tuzi (Review).” University of Toronto Quarterly, vol. 69, no. 1, 1999, pp. 304-5.Edwards, Caterina. “Where the Heart Is.” 234-42. True North: Canadian Essays for Composition, edited by Janice E. MacDonald, Addison-Wesly, 1999, pp. 234-43.Edwards, Caterina. “Where the Heart is.” Palinsesti Culturali: Gli Apporti delle Immigrazioni Alla Letterature del Canada, edited by Anna Pia De Luca, Jean-Paul Dufiet, and Alessandra Ferraro, Forum, 1999, pp. 27-35.Edwards, Caterina. “Our Grandmothers, Ourselves: Reflections of Canadian Women.” The Canadian Forum, Jan.-Feb. 2000, pp. 43-4.Edwards, Caterina. “Where They Have to Take You In.” Wrestling with the Angel: Women Reclaiming their Lives, edited by Caterina Edwards and Kay Stewart, Red Deer P, 2001, pp. 100-108.Edwards, Caterina. “The Confessions of Mark Trecroci: Style in Frank Paci’s Black Blood and Under the Bridge.” F.G. Paci: Essays on His Works, edited by Jospeh Pivato, Guernica, 2003, pp. 19-27.Edwards, Caterina. “Virtual Italian Storia.” Legacy, vol. 8, no. 3, 2003, pp. 22-6.Edwards, Caterina. “The Confessions of Mark Trecroci: Style in Frank Paci’s Black Blood and Under the Bridge.” F.G. Paci: Essays on His Works, edited by Joseph Pivato, Guernica, 2003, pp. 19-27.Edwards, Caterina. “Return.” Twelve Writers Remember: Writer in Residence Reunion 2004, Grant MacEwan College, 2004, pp. 25-6.Edwards, Caterina. “Wrestling with the Angel, the Self and Publisher in Life Writing.” Shaping History: L’Identità Italo-Canadese nel Canada Anglofono, edited by Anna Pia De Luca and Alessandra Ferraro, Forum, 2005, pp. 23-30.Edwards, Caterina. “Oltre la storia.” Shaping History: L’identità italo-canadese nel Canada anglofono, edited by Anna Pia de Luca e Alessandra Ferraro:,Forum Edition, 2005, pp. 23-30.Edwards, Caterina. “Translating Experience as Narrative.” Association of American Writers and Writing Programs, Austin, TX, 10 Mar. 2006.Edwards, Caterina. “A Circular Journey.” Quaderni d’Italianistica, vol. 28, no. 1, 2007, pp. 192-3.Edwards, Caterina. “Dreaming a City.” Legacy, vol. 14, no. 1 2009, pp. 12-4.Edwards, Caterina. “Songs of Myself: Translation, Exactitude and Form.” Investigating Canadian Identities: 10th Anniversary Contribution, edited by Anna Pia De Luca, Forum, Centro di Cultura Canadese, 2010, pp. 63-8.Edwards, Caterina. “The End of the Line.” Alberta Views, vol. 15, no. 7, 2012, p. 58.Edwards, Caterina. “Light and Space in the Piazza.” New Quarterly, vol. 128, 2013, pp. 8-15.Edwards, Caterina. “#YEG: Blossoming with Hope.” Avenue Edmonton, May 2015, 114.Edwards, Caterina. “Under My Skin.” Going some Place, edited by Lynn Van Luven, Coteau, 2000, pp. 167-74.
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SECONDARY BIBLIOGRAPHY
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BOOK REVIEWS
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FINDING ROSAButala, Sharon. “Mother’s with Alzheimer’s.” Literary Review of Canada, vol. 17, no. 4, 2009, pp. 24-5.“Finding Rosa.” A Lit Chick, blogspot, 5 Jan. 2009.Fowler, Deb. “Finding Rosa: A Mother with Alzheimer’s, a Daughter in Search of the Past.” Feathered Quill Book Reviews, n.d.Gom, Leone. “Finding Rosa.” Alberta Views, vol. 12, no. 4, 2009, p. 58.
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HOMEGROUND: A PLAYClement, Lesley. “Two Returns.” Nature, Politics, Poetics Spec. issue of Canadian Literature, vol. 136, 1993, pp. 136-8.
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ISLAND OF THE NIGHTINGALESBesner, Neil. “Fiction 2.” University of Toronto Quarterly, vol. 71, no. 1, 2001-02, pp. 20-38.
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THE LION’S MOUTHBishop, Tedited by “Cave and Crystal.” B.C. Writers/Reviews, Spec. issue of Canadian Literature, vol. 102, 1984, pp. 118-21.Fachinger, Petra. “Italianità.” DeMille’s Utopian Fantasy, Spec. issue of Canadian Literature, vol. 145, 1995, pp. 150-2.
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THE SICILIAN WIFEDel Borello, Rochelle. “The Sicilian Wife,” Times of Sicily, WordPress, 26 July 2015.Napier, Jim. “The Sicilian Wife,” Reviewing the Evidence, May 2015.Ruthnum, Nabem. “Crimewave: Around the World.” National Post, 30 Apr. 2015.
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A WHITER SHADE OF PALE/BECOMING EMMABurford Mason, Roger. “Brief Reviews.” Books in Canada, Feb. 1993.Geist Staff. “A Whiter Shade of Pale,/Becoming Emma,” Geist, n.d.
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WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL: WOMEN RECLAIMING THEIR LIVESHeaps, Denise Adele. “Gender and Genre.” Canadian Literature, vol. 172, 2002, p. 162.Thomas, Mary. “Wrestling with the Angel: Women Reclaiming their Lives,” CM, vol. 7, no. 17, 2001.
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BOOKS/DISSERTATIONSBonata, Lisa. Mothers and Daughters in Italian-Canadian Women’s Literature. M.A. Thesis, U of Alberta, 1994, National Library of Canada, 1994.Canton, Licia. The Question of Identity in Italian-Canadian Fiction. Dissertation, U de Montréal, 1998, National Library of Canada, 2001.Fachinger, Petra. Counter-Discursive Strategies in “First World” Migration Writing. Dissertation, U of British Columbia, 1993, Retrospective Theses and Dissertations, 1919-2007.Padovan, Graziella. Memorie Etniche e Strutture Metanarrative nei Rommanzi di Joy Kogawa e Caterina Edwards. TS, M.A. Thesis, U di Udine, 1991.Pivato, Joseph edited by Caterina Edwards: Essays on Her Work. Guernica, 2000.Pivato, Joseph. Echo: Essays on Other Literatures. Guernica, 2003.Sarlo-Hayes, Elizabeth. The Italian Immigrant Woman in Post World War II Canada: Overt and Covert Stories. M.A. Thesis, Trent U, 1997, National Library of Canada, 1999.Sozzi, Graziella. Dualismo Etnico e Scoperta di Sé in ,The Lion’s Mouth di Caterina Edwards. TS, M.A. Thesis, U degli Studi di Catania, 1995.Tuzi, Marino. Identity, Multiplicity and Representational Strategies in Italian-Canadian Fiction. Dissertation, York U, 1995, National Library of Canada, 1995.Tuzi, Marino. The Power of Allegiances: Identity, Culture, and Representational Strategies. Guernica, 1997.Seccia, Maria Cristina. Translating Caterina Edwards’ ,The Lion’s Mouth into Italian: An Example of Cultural Translation in Practice. Dissertation, Bangor U, 2014, British Library, 2014..Verdicchio, Pasquale. Devils in Paradise: Writings on Post-Emigration Cultures. Guernica, 1997.
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INTERVIEWSEdwards, Caterina. “Caterina Edwards on Lady Sleuths.” By Kerry Clare, 49th Shelf, 9 July 2015.Edwards, Caterina e Jacqueline Dumas. “Dialogo tra Caterina Edwards e Jacqueline Dumas (traduzione dall’ingelese di Egidio Marchese).” Bibliosofia Canada: Letteratura canadese e alter culture/Canadian Literature and Other Cultures Prima serie/First Series, n.p.Edwards, Caterina. “Discovering Another Edmonton Author to Make Us Proud.” By Elizabeth Withy, Edmonton Journal, 30 Apr. 2015.Edwards, Caterina. “Implicated: In Conversation with Caterina Edwards.” By Susan Scott.,The New Quarterly, 19 Dec. 2013.Edwards, Caterina. “Interview with Caterina Edwards.” By Susan Olding, Susan Olding, 17 May 2009.Edwards, Caterina. “Constructing Memories through Imagination: An Interview with Caterina Edwards.” By Sabrina Francesconi, Bibliosofia Canada: Letteratura canadese e alter culture/Canadian Literature and Other Cultures Prima serie/First Series, n.p.Edwards, Caterina. “U of Alberta Writers-in-Residence Interviews: Caterina Edwards 1997-98).” By rob mclennan, rob mclennan’s blog, blogspot 8 Apr. 2016.
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PEER-REVIEWED ACADEMIC ARTICLES
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FINDING ROSABowering Delisle, Jennifer. “‘Genealogical Nostalgia: Second-Generation Memory and Return in Caterina Edwards’ Finding Rosa,” Memory Studies, vol. 5, no. 2, 2011, pp. 131-44.
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HOMEGROUND: A PLAYCaucci, Frank. “Cinderella Revisioned: The Female Persona in Caterina Edwards, Genni Gunn, and Mary di Michele.” Caterina Edwards: Essays on her Work, edited by Joseph Pivato, Guernica, 2000, pp. 83-96.
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THE LION’S MOUTHCanton, Licia. “Narrating an Identity in The Lion’s Mouth.” Bibliosofia Canada: Letteratura canadese e alter culture/Canadian Literature and Other Cultures Prima serie/First Series, n.p.Caucci, Frank. “Cinderella Revisioned: The Female Persona in Caterina Edwards, Genni Gunn, and Mary di Michele.” Caterina Edwards: Essays on her Work, edited by Joseph Pivato, Guernica, 2000, pp. 83-96.De Luca, Anna Pia. “The Death of Illusion in Caterina Edwards’ The Lion’s Mouth.” Cross-Cultural Studies: American, Canadian and European Literatures: 1945-1985, edited by Mirko Jurak, English Department, Filozofska Fakulteta, 1988, pp. 471-6.De Luca, Anna Pia. “Ethnic Writing in Canada: The Confrontation of Two Worlds.” Rivista di Studi Canadesi, vol. 6, 1993, pp. 37-51.Di Giovanni, Caroline M. “Italian Canadian Writers: Themes of the First Generation.” Canada ieri e oggi: atti del 6 convegno internazionale di studi canadesi, Selva di Fasano, 27-31 marzo, 1985, Associazoni Italiana di studi Canadesi, Schena, 1985.Fachinger, Petra. “Edmonton Versus Venice: The Whole Truth.” Caterina Edwards: Essays on her Work, edited by Joseph Pivato, Guernica, 2000, pp. 39-55.Marchese, Egidio. “The dualità di Caterina Edwards: tra Italia e Canada.” Bibliosofia Canada: Letteratura canadese e alter culture/Canadian Literature and Other Cultures Prima serie/First Series, n.p.Pivato, Joseph. “Constantly Translating: The Challenge for Italian-Canadian Writers.” Canadian Review of Comparative Literature/Revue Canadienne de Litterature Comparée, vol. 14, no. 1, 1987, pp. 60-76.Pivato, Joseph. “Italian-Canadian Women Writers Recall History.” Canadian Ethnic Studies, vol. 18, no. 1, 1986, pp. 79-88.Pivato, Joseph. “The Return Journey in Italian-Canadian Literature.” Canadian Literature, vol. 106, 1985, pp. 169-76.Tuzi, Marina. “The Social Construction of Subjectivity in Edwards’ The Lion’s Mouth,” Caterina Edwards: Essays on her Work, edited by Joseph Pivato, Guernica, 2000, pp. 56-82.Verdicchio, Paquale. “Research Notes on Edwards’ Fiction.” Caterina Edwards: Essays on her Work, edited by Joseph Pivato, Guernica, 2000, pp. 97-100.
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OEUVREDe Luca, Anna Pia. “Attaverse Froniere Immaginarie: L’Identità Transculturale di Caterina Edwards.” Itinerranze e Transcodificazioni: Scrittori Migranti dal Friuli Venezia Giulia al Canada, edited by Alessandra Ferraro and Anna Pia De Luca, Foffrum, 2008, pp. 167-78.Francesconi, Sabrina. “A Cycle of Longing and Loss: Venice by Caterina Edwards.” In that Village of Open Doors: le nuove letterature crocevia della cultura moderna, edited by Shaul Bassi, Simona Bertacco, and Rosanna Bonicelli, Cafoscarina, 2002, pp. 97-103.Franscesconi, Sabrina. “Caterina Edwards’ Short Stories: Shiny Archives of Memory.” Il Canada del nuovo secolo: gli archivi della memoria, edited by Giovanni Dotoli, Schena, 2002, pp. 111-21.Marchese, Egidio. “Presentiamo Caterina Edwards.” Bibliosofia Canada: Letteratura canadese e alter culture/Canadian Literature and Other Cultures Prima serie/First Series, n.p.Minni, C.D. “The Short Story as an Ethnic Genre.” Contrasts: Comparative Essays on Italian-Canadian Writing, edited by Joseph Pivato, Guernica, 1985, pp. 61-76.Pivato, Joseph. “Edwards, Caterina (b. 1948).” Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature, edited by Eugene Benson and William Toye, 2nd edition, Oxford UP, 1997, pp. 351-2.Pivato, Joseph. “Introduction. A Marriage of Life and Art.” Caterina Edwards: Essays on her Work, edited by Joseph Pivato. Toronto, 2000, pp. 7-18.Sarlo-Hayes, Elizabeth. “Entrapped Women: Edwards’ Short Stories.” Caterina Edwards: Essays on her Work, edited by Joseph Pivato, Guernica, 2000, pp. 19-38.
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A WHITER SHADE OF PALE/BECOMING EMMACaucci, Frank. “Cinderella Revisioned: The Female Persona in Caterina Edwards, Genni Gunn, and Mary di Michele.” Caterina Edwards: Essays on her Work, edited by Joseph Pivato, Guernica, 2000, pp. 83-96.De Luca, Anna Pia. “A Short Note on Becoming Emma.” Caterina Edwards: Essays on her Work, edited by Joseph Pivato, Guernica, 2000, pp. 101-4.Francesconi, Sabrina. “Self-Naming as History Negotiation: Becoming Emma by Caterina Edwards.” Shaping History: L’identità Italo-Canadese nei Canada Anglofono, edited by Anna Pia De Luca and Alessandra Ferraro, Forum, 2005, pp. 31-5.Verdicchio, Paquale. “Research Notes on Edwards’ Fiction.” Caterina Edwards: Essays on her Work, edited by Joseph Pivato, Guernica, 2000, pp. 97-100.
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EXCERPTS (TEN CANADIAN WRITERS IN CONTEXT)
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FROM JOSEPH PIVATO’S CRITICAL ESSAY
Edwards’s Finding Rosa is a work of creative nonfiction, which explicitly tries to uncover the truth about her mother’s early life in Istria and Venice. This book has mystery, conflict, love, nostalgia, history, memory, and forgetting. The author has combined three storylines into one book. It is, first, the story of the turbulent life of Edwards’s mother, Rosa, from the First World War to 2001. It is also the reconstructed his- tory of the Italian refugees from Istria who lost their country at the end of the Second World War and became exiles all over the world. And it is the story of Edwards’s own re-examined and troubled relationship with her mother, Rosa. These narrative strands are contained in the subtitle of Finding Rosa: A Mother with Alzheimer’s, a Daughter in Search of the Past,
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FROM CATERINA EDWARDS’ FINDING ROSA,
Armida flipped back to 1950, when her husband was taken away for three months of forced labour. Everyone had to go. Then the soldiers with the red star on their caps came to her door and told her she had no right to be here. She must be gone in twenty-four hours. She was married, five months pregnant. At least the soldiers didn’t come in the night, as they did for some. Some people would say they weren’t worried — their consciences were clear — then you’d never see them again. Someone had denounced them. A neighbor who coveted their land, we used to think. Or someone they had crossed maybe years before. It was a time of revenge.
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