Viviana Fiorentino: We are Collectors of Others

Chosen Tongue

Viviana Fiorentino is an Italian poet, novelist, and translator living in Ireland. Her poems in English appeared in anthologies (Dedalus Press, Salmon Poetry, and Arlen House), magazines (Banshee, The Stinging Fly, Southword, The London Magazine) , on public transports in Dublin (Poetry in Motion, Poetry Ireland), on air for RTÉ 1, in the The Irish Poetry Reading Archive.

She translated into Italian the Irish poets Freda Laughton (Arcipelago Itaca, 2022), Doireann Ní Ghríofa (VersoDove, rivista di Letteratura, n. 23, 2024), Paula Meehan (Il Pietrisco, 2023) and Lakota poet Layli Long Soldier (Verodove, rivista di Letteratura, n. 22, 2023). She published an essay on Anne Carson with translations in the volume Trasparenze 8/22 of San Marco dei Giustiniani (2022).

In Italian, she published a novel (Transeuropa Edizioni, 2019) and two poetry collections (Controluna Press 2019, Zona Contemporanea 2021). Viviana’s short stories, poems, interviews and essays have been published in Literary Journals and online magazines such as Italian Poetry Review, Nazione Indiana, Nuovi Argomenti, Balena Bianca.

She is the 2022 Irish Chair Of Poetry Student Prize winner and finalist in the Gregory O’Donoghue Poetry Competition 2024. Viviana is currently a PhD candidate at the Seamus Heaney Centre (Queen's University Belfast.)

We discussed Viviana's journey as a poet and writer who transitioned from Italian to English after moving to Ireland, the role of translation in her creative process, and the emotional shield English has given her.