Giovanna is currently working on a full-length documentary film about Italians in America, specifically the existence of the Italian social clubs in northern California, and how they helped incoming Italian immigrants adjust to life in a new land. Her film is entitled Italian Americans in Oakland: Our Community, Our History. This is an exciting new development and direction.
Giovanna was also the recipient of a film grant in the year 2020, sponsored by the Russo Brothers Italian American Film Forum and the National Italian American Foundation. For more information, please check out their program and her film, as well as the other grant recipients, featured here: https://agbo.com/community-fellowships-and-mentorship
Giovanna Capone is a poet, fiction writer, and playwright. She was raised in an Italian American neighborhood in New York, whose strong immigrant influence still resonates in her life. She has been living in California for over twenty years, but she will always be a New York Italian.
Giovanna’s work has appeared in various publications, including Curaggia: Writing by Women of Italian Descent, Bless Me Father: Stories of Catholic Childhood, Unsettling America: An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry, Avanti Popolo: Italian-American Writers Sail Beyond Columbus, Queer View Mirror 2, Lesbian & Gay Short Short Fiction, and Fuori: Essays by Italian/American Lesbians and Gays. Her recent fiction has appeared in The Paterson Literary Review. Giovanna’s first play, Her Kiss, was produced and performed to sold-out audiences in San Francisco by Luna Sea Women’s Performance Project, in their first Dyke Drama Festival. She also co-edited Hey Paesan! Writing by Lesbians & Gay Men of Italian Descent with Tommi Avicolli Mecca and Denise Nico Leto.
Her most recent project is an anthology of short fiction and memoir by lesbian writers, which she co-edited with Xequina Berber and Cheela Romain Smith. It’s titled Dispatches from Lesbian America and it came out on February 25, 2017.
Giovanna lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she has worked as a public librarian for both city and country libraries, taught creative writing through California Poets in the Schools, and edited several books. She is working more recently on a documentary film and has received a grant award from the Russo Brothers Italian American Film Forum for year 2020. This award seeks to increase representation of diverse creative voices. Their focus is on new filmmakers whose work explores the Italian American experience.