Poet

Biancamaria Frabotta

(Italy, 1946)

Biography

Biancamaria Frabotta lives and works in her birthplace, Rome. She teaches modern Italian literature at the city’s ‘La Sapienza’ University. Her début collection Affeminata (1976) reflects strong feminist and left-wing sympathies.

At that time she edited the anthology Donne in poesia (1977), which established her name. In both endeavours she was supported and promoted by Antonio Porta, a protagonist of the New Avant-Garde, which rocked Italian poetry in the 1960s. As a scholar she also contributed to the emancipatory struggle with a collection of essays entitled Letteratura al femminile (1980). Other literary essays from her hand include a study on the poet Giorgio Caproni.

She broke through as a poet with the collection Il rumore bianco (1982), followed after a lengthy pause by La viandanza (1995) and Terra contigua (1999).

Most of Frabotta’s poems are expressions of protest. In her earlier years this resulted in poems approaching pamphlets, but more recently she added a note of critical introspection, not to be confused with narcism. She is now milder, more inclined to make fun of herself.

[Biancamaria Frabotta took part in the Poetry International Festival Rotterdam 2000. This text was written on that occasion.]

Publications (selection)
Il rumore bianco (1982)
Appunti di volo e altre poesie (1985)
Controcanto al chiuso (1991)
La Viandanza (1995)
Ne resta uno (1996)
High Tide (1998, Italian and English)
Terra Contigua (1999)