Italian-American
Writers Community:
Being
an Amazing Leader
Interview
with Tiziano Thomas Dossena
by
Maria Teresa De Donato
One of the most exciting experiences I had so far in the United States is becoming part of the Italian-American Writers Community.
Today I am very happy and
honored to host Tiziano Thomas Dossena, who has been very active since he moved
to the States, thus becoming one of the main pillars of our Italian-American
Community.
Tiziano has a very
impressive biography for he has kept himself quite busy over the years.
However, instead of listing all his accomplishments – literary and otherwise –
I would rather prefer to let him talk about them.
MTDD: Hi Tiziano and
welcome to my Virtual and Cultural Salon. It’s a pleasure meeting with you
today.
TD: I
am honored to meet you today and to be interviewed by you.
MTDD: Tiziano, Why don’t
you start by introducing yourself to our readers and explaining how and why you
ended up moving to the United States?
TD: I
came to the United States in 1968 with my parents. My father was a renowned
artist and wanted to take a chance in America. He did well, but Italy ‘called
him’ and he returned to the motherland in 1976. I wrote a first book on his work
(The
World as an Impression, the Landscapes of Emilio Giuseppe Dossena) this
year and a full biography will be published by the end of the year…By 1977, I
had completed 2 Bachelors and one Associate and wanted to go to Medical school,
so I left for Italy. It was a great experience, but I never completed my
studies in Medicine. I had gotten married in 1979 with my college sweetheart
and had an import/export agency to run. It was too intense and the traveling
took a toll since I had to attend to various medical and dental conventions all
over the world. So, when my father passed in 1987, since my mother-in-law lived
in New York, I returned with my wife and my first child William to USA. It was
my second emigration from Italy…
MTDD: You hold several
degrees in different fields. Have you always been involved in the Publishing industry
or you previously held other positions in more technical fields to make a
living?
TD: Well,
I have a B.A in Italian, a B.S in Liberal Studies, and a B.A in Environmental
Science. It may sound confusing, but there is logic to it. The Italian and Liberal
Studies gave me the basis for my publishing activities, while the Environmental
Science degree, enhanced by an Associate in Mathematics, an Associate in
Environmental Technology and two certificates in Building Technology gave me
the tools to perform well as a building engineer for over 30 years… I worked in
a research center for the NYNEX Company, which then became Verizon, for over 16
years, then 11 years with UBS bank at the largest open trading center in the
world, and finally the last two years at Madison Square Garden. Having the
financial security of that job gave me the opportunity to run L’Idea Magazine for
the past 31 years without any constrains or pressure related to the economic
aspect. That also allowed me to become an editor without any major concerns
about income and focusing instead on the preciousness and validity of the books
I wrote, edited, and published.
MTDD: Your life is
strictly connected to Art in general and especially to writing, music, and
sculpture. Over the years, you have received many awards, nominations, and
prizes.
Tell us about them.
TD: It
all started with a third prize for
sculpture at the “Biennale di Boniprati in 1978”. I confess, though, that I have not produced
any more statues since those years… Additional awards and nominations were won
on in the following years, for poetry, journalism, and fiction. Among those
worth noting, the first prize for essays at the “De Finibus Terrae” contest;
the second prize for poetry at “Voci Nostre;” the first prize for fiction
“Coppa del Mare” at the “Premio Città di Modica;” the second prize for poetry
at “Noi e gli Altri;” the Gold Medal for Journalism at “Premio Emigrazione;”
the second prize with a silver medal at the “Premio Europa” for fiction. Most
recently, in 2012, I was awarded the Globo Tricolore Award for outstanding work
in the publishing industry and my journalistic work; this award is considered
the Italian Oscar of the publishing industry. I also won the Sons of Italy
Literary Award in 2019 for my lifetime literary work, and I was recently inducted by the Marquis
Who’s Who in the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. I feel very lucky
to be recognized in so many ways, but I confess that the most emotional day for
me was when, in 2012, I was asked to read poems on the commemoration of 9/11 in
my city, Yonkers.
MTDD: 1990 was a very important year for
you. You became the Editorial
Director and also the Publisher of L’Idea
Magazine (Brooklyn, New York), and founder and Editor-in-Chief of
OperaMyLove and OperaAmorMio magazines.
What prompted you to
start these activities?
TD: My
interest in the Arts in general goes back to my experience with my father’s
work and the friends of our family: writers, artists, opera singers,
playwrights, etcetera. When I came back to USA in 1987, Leonardo
Campanile, who was the editor-in-Chief of L’Idea
contacted me because he knew I had experience writing (I had published many
poems, short stories, and technical articles in various magazines and I also
had translated a couple of scientific books to round off my income). He just wanted
a little help with the magazine. I started writing front page articles for him
and in a short while I was asked to become the Editorial Director, a title that
I still retain. That position gives me the privilege to decide on the content
of the magazine.
Opera always fascinated
me. I founded the two opera magazines initially as blogs, but they grew so fast
and became full-fledge online magazines. The opera magazines were then absorbed
in the Idea Graphics Group,
which I and Leonardo Campanile formed a few years ago. The Group also includes
two Imprints (Idea Press and Idea Publications) and obviously L’Idea Magazine.
Also, one more imprint for Music scores is in the process of being born.
MTDD: Has your Italian
heritage impacted your literary work and social involvement, and if yes, how
and to what extent?
TD: I
believe my being Italian influenced my literary choices throughout my whole
life. I am part of the Sons of Italy Organization, wherein besides cultural
activities related to Italy we provide scholarships for students of the Italian
language. I financed, edited, and published anthologies of Italian American
Writers. In our publishing company we produce musical scores of Italian
composers, and our emphasis is always on Italian Americans and Italians,
whether as writers or as subjects. So, I can safely say that my Italian
heritage is the focus of all my literary activities as author, editor, and
publisher.
I also write exclusively
about Italy, Italians, and Italian Americans. For example, I am the author of a
book of short stories in Italian (Caro Fantozzi, Scriptum Press, 2009), a
bilingual (Italian and English) book of poetry (Sunny Days and Sleepless Nights,
Idea Press, 2016), the bilingual book on art mentioned previously, four bilingual
books on the libretti of the operas of the Italian composer Niccolò van
Westerhout, (Doña Flor, Fortunio, Colomba, and Cimbelino), a bilingual book of essays on Niccolò van
Westerhout (Doña Flor, an opera by
Niccolò van Westerhout, Idea Publications, 2010), and three
anthologies (A feast of Narrative, an Anthology of Short Stories by Italian
American Writers, Vol.1,Vol. 2, Vol. 3; Idea press
2020). In a few days my book in Italian on Federico Tosti, a prolific poet in
Roman dialect, will be available, and by the end of the year two more books by
me (the biography of my father in Italian and its version in English) will also
be published.
There are also the books
that I edit, all of them by Italians or Italian Americans. One more item I
would like to add is the fact that my bilingual books can find an excellent use
in the classrooms for students of Italian, especially the poetry one.
MTDD: The Italian-American Community in the US
has always played a fundamental role in the evolution of the history of this
country. What is your personal view on the matter, given all that
happened over the last couple of years?
TD: It
is very sad that the cancel culture does not have ‘culture’ in itself. All you
need is someone making an accusation, even if unfounded as in the case of Christopher
Columbus, and the people want an historical character to be erased from the
public places, history books and our memories. By going along with that
reasoning, we won’t have any historical characters to look up to. In a court,
you have to be proven guilty before being sentenced, but with Columbus, it
didn’t work like that. He was used as a scapegoat for all the horrible actions
that the conquistadors and the following Europeans have committed against the natives
and found guilty without a trial. The people just wanted blood and some of his
statues went down. It was a lynching of the character. Some Italian Americans
stated that there are better role models for our community and that we should
let that go, but they are missing a point. He was for a long time a symbol of
courage and sense of adventure for the Italian American community and removing
it without due process is unfair. You cannot rewrite history. We are not going
to ‘cancel’ Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy because they were womanizers,
are we? Are we judging historical characters on their achievements or
otherwise?
Other than the cancel
culture on Columbus, I believe our community should put more emphasis on
attempting to correct the blunders of history, such as replacing Graham Bell
with Meucci as the inventor of the telephone, for example.
We have a large number of
Italian Americans, even presently, who have been the roots and strength of our
American society and have been successful in so many fields. Let’s talk about
them, let’s brag a little bit; we deserve it.
MTDD: Along
with your commitment to the literary work, you have been very busy socially on
several fronts, collaborating or at least being a member of a variety of
organizations.
Could you tell us more
about your involvement in these kinds of activities?
TD: In
1998-2004, I was a member and the Recording Secretary of the local Com.It.Es. (Committee
of Italians Abroad), a representative body of the Italian community, directly
elected by compatriots residing in New York and Connecticut. I have been member
of the Lions, IAWA, the Sons of Italy, the New York Academy of Science, a few
Italian Academies, the Circolo Culturale di Mola and the organizations
connected to my day job, such as ASHRAE and RSES. I have organized food
pantries collections, charity events, cultural presentations, and many other
activities. Sincerely, though, I have now, since retirement from my engineering
job, focused on my literary and publishing activities, finally completing
projects that I hold dear and that previously could not be finalized because of
the excessive time requirements.
MTDD: Tiziano, it has been such a pleasure
meeting with you today. Thank you for taking part in this interview.
Is there any other
information about you and your activities you would like to share with our
readers, starting with telling them how they can get in touch with you or buy
your publications?
TD: Thank you for having me. I take this
opportunity to remind our Italian and Italian American writers that I am
available to consult on possible publication of their manuscripts and that
people can reach me at editoreusa@gmail.com.
If a writer, instead,
wants to contribute to our magazines L’Idea or OperaMyLove,
they can contact me at lideaeditor@gmail.com
Furthermore, all my books
are available on Amazon or they can be bought directly from the publisher
(ideapress-usa.com). Signed copies can be bought from me, naturally, using one
of the email addresses above.
I send my best wishes for
success and serenity in life to all your readers.
