To honor the legacy of the late Francesco Durante, an annual prize of $1,000 was created for the best original essay in English or Italian submitted by an emergent scholar of Italian American literature or history, either from Italy or from the United States. Click here to register for the presentation on April 13 at 12:15 pm EST.
 
The award is generously sponsored by James Periconi, environmental lawyer, scholar of Italian American literature and culture, and one of three editors (with Robert Viscusi and Anthony Julian Tamburri) of the English version of Durante’s Italoamericana: The Literature of the Great Migration, 1880–1943 (Fordham University Press, 2014).
 
The inaugural winner of the award is Dr. Chiara Grilli, University of Bari, for her essay “The Making of the Italian American Colonizer: Colonialism, Race, and the Italo-Ethiopian War.” The presentation will take place online Tuesday, April 13, 2021, 12:15 pm EST (18:15 in Italy). After receiving the award, Dr. Grilli will be interviewed by Fred Gardaphé, Distinguished Professor of English and Italian American Studies, Queens College, CUNY.