ABOUT THE POET ~
Lionello Grifo (August 1934), Italian poet and writer, was born in Rome in 1934 by parents who were both Italian government officials, nominated at the unanimity "Premio della Cultura 2004 della Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri" (Prize for Culture 2004 from the Presidency of the Italian Ministries Council) "for his outstanding, prestigious contribution to the field of Poetry". He started his working life in the world of politics and the press". He holds a PhD in Political and Social Sciences (Brussels, 1958) and has worked as a translator and interpreter in Luxembourg, Brussels and Geneva. After a second successful career in international finance, marketing and consultancy he retired in 1982 for 15 years to Southern Spain to concentrate on his literary interests. He writes from the age of 17 but published his first book in 1980: "Sottovoce, parole in cerca di musica" (Whispering, words in search of music), E.T.L., Turin. It was followed by "La Mia Poesia", Novograf, Murcia 1989 in Italian with English and Spanish translation, which was presented to the International Poetry Week Festival in San Francisco in 1989 and won the "Genti and Paesi" (People and Countries) International Poetry Prize 1990; "Polglosem", Warszawa 1990, Polish translation with parallel text in Italian; "Sottovoce, poesia come musica" (Whispering, Poetry as Music)and "Sempre Sottovoce, poesia come vita" (Always whispering, Poetry as Life), Fiorina, Sion 1992; "My Poetry", Book Guild, London 1993 in English and Spanish translation with parallel text in Italian; "Regazo susurrante de poesía", Universidad de Murcia 1997; "Tu che mi tacci di poeta impudico", MEF L'autore Libri, Florence 2004, which has been presented in June 2004 at the Italian Literature students at the University of Luxembourg with a lecture titled "50 years of Poetry: Elisir of Infinity". His work has been widely reviewed in UK and in the United States and translated by the italianists of the University of Stanford, California; Warsaw University, Poland and Seville University, Spain. He has given poetry readings at American and European Universities. He is a life-long member of Rome's Dante Alighieri Society.
