15 SECONDS OF FAME!

This is the video of the first TV interview that Antonio Lonardo and I did about the poetry book and what a palaver it's been to get it on here! First of all I tried to record it and failed, but a friend had managed it and gave me the VHS tape yesterday. I had to take it to the video store to get it copied onto a DVD, then, when I got home, none of the 5 or so formats turned out to be youtube -compatible. So first I searched for, then downloaded, a free converter [I could have cut out the search as I later discovered there's a link to one on youtube itself] then I had to find the part of the download that I needed and every time I thought I'd uploaded the thing youtube told me I had been unsuccessful because the format had been impossibile da convertire. Finally I used the link on youtube, which got me to the right part of the converter immediately, and I was literally jumping for joy when, after an hour, I saw the word caricato [uploaded]: but after that I had to wait for the elaborazione [processing] and, just as I was giving up hope, there it was - completata. I will NOT be beaten by information technology [well, not tonight, anyway] - by the video recorder, yes.

Here is an English transcript of the clip:

Commentator: More than 40 prizes in just a few years; this is the achievement of the Modican poet Antonio Lonardo, who is bringing out a new collection of his work, Il Profumo del Pensiero, published by Edizioni Nuovi Poeti. The collection mostly consists of a selection of poems from his first two books, Desiderio di Luce and Le Stagioni del Cuore, but there is an important difference: the collection includes a translation of the poems into English, thanks to Lonardo's fortunate encounter with the English-mother-tongue translator and interpreter, Patricia Eggleton.

Me: I have a blog in which I write about my life in Sicily. I happened to be present at the launch of one of Antonio Lonardo's books and I asked him if I could put one of his poems on the blog, which I did. Then he contacted me to ask if I would be interested in translating another poetry collection.

Antonio: It's a selection from my first two poetry books. It contains only one previously unpublished poem.

Commentator: This is a success which Lonardo can add to the many prizes he has already been awarded. The next one will take him to Arezzo, where on the 14th June he'll receive the Casentino Literary Prize.

Antonio: I've received many poetry prizes in many competitions and on the 13th June I 'm going to the Province of Arezzo to receive my 41st prize in 3 years.

That's all, folks!