Professor Joseph Luzzi Describes His Storytelling Inspiration in LitHub
Joseph Luzzi. Photo by Helena Baillie
In a story published by LitHub, Professor Joseph Luzzi details how inspiration for his 2011 memoir My Two Italies came from his mother, Yolanda. Part memoir of his family’s life in southern Italy and part work of cultural criticism, My Two Italies was named a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice upon its release. But before the book’s accolades came numerous morning coffees and summer dinners Luzzi and his mother shared. “But make no mistake,” he writes, “those summertime stories about love and loss in Calabria, about the first uncertain steps of a family in the New World, were as much for her as for me. Yolanda Luzzi understood the first cardinal rule of a great story: it has to be interesting to you first, if it’s going to hold the attention of your listeners and readers.”
Professor Luzzi is the author of eight books, the most recent of which, The Innocents of Florence: The Renaissance Discovery of Childhood, was named one of the New Yorker’s Best Books of 2025. He teaches in the Literature Program at Bard, which emphasizes cultural, linguistic, and geographic diversity, challenging national, cultural, and disciplinary boundaries.
Post Date: 10-20-2026
Professor Luzzi is the author of eight books, the most recent of which, The Innocents of Florence: The Renaissance Discovery of Childhood, was named one of the New Yorker’s Best Books of 2025. He teaches in the Literature Program at Bard, which emphasizes cultural, linguistic, and geographic diversity, challenging national, cultural, and disciplinary boundaries.
Post Date: 10-20-2026