American Italian Heritage Association and Museum - 1227 Central Avenue, Albany, New York 12205. Ms. Cerrone is an Italian American author who recently published The Hunger Saint (Bordighera Press 2017), a novella that tells the story of hope and survival set in Sicily.

The story follows a young boy’s survival from the sulfur mines of rural Sicily. Set in post WWII-era Italy, this book reflects upon the religious, cultural, social and economic factors that helped normalize the practice of child labor abuse in Italy. The carusi, the child-aged sulfur miners of Sicily, were documented as working as young as six years old. The Hunger Saint draws from years of historical research, along with the oral histories of former miners living in Sicily today.

Olivia Kate Cerrone’s Pushcart Prize-nominated fiction won the Crab Orchard Review’s 2016 Jack Dyer Fiction Prize. Her work has appeared in various publications including The Rumpus, The Paterson Literary Review, and New South. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Ragdale Foundation, the VCCA, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences, where she was awarded a “Distinguished Fellowship” from the National Endowment for the Arts http://www.oliviacerrone.com/