In the spotlight is Judith Valente and her new book The Italian Soul: How to Savor the Full Joys of Life. Valente — a journalist, poet and the author of six spirituality titles and three poetry collections — worked previously as an on-air correspondent covering faith and values for PBS and was also a staff writer at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal and was twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in journalism. Valente grew up in Bayonne, N.J., where she was surrounded by a large, boisterous Italian American family.
We discuss:
>> The contemplative life
>> How Italians make an art of conversation
>> The sanctity of the dinner table
>> “Slow tourism”
>> The life expectancy of Italians
>> Why procreation among Italians has slumped
>> The Catholic Church
>> Italy’s reverence for its art and architecture
>> Elena Ferrante and her Italy-based Neapolitan novels
>> Etc.
Learn more about Judith Valente here: https://www.judithvalente.com/
Novelist Spotlight is produced and hosted by Mike Consol. Check out his novels here: https://snip.ly/yz18no
Write to Mike Consol at [email protected]