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Each October, Italian culture and language are celebrated globally through a contest. This year the connection between Italian language and literature in the contemporary world, highlighting the role of books as a medium of Italian cultural heritage was the focus of submitted works. 

The Italian Consulate in Boston, in cooperation with the American Association for Teaching Italian (AATI), sponsored the New England regional competition for schools ranging from kindergarten to collegiate levels. Each team selected an author and completed a project on how that author’s work connects with the Italian language and culture. A team of Mount Holyoke students from Morena Svaldi’s Intermediate Italian course took on Dacia Maraini’s book “Dizionarietto Quotodiano,” which means “daily little dictionary.”

“It was a great opportunity for students to make the book more personal, because I think the students tend to see literature that is very distant from their experience,” Svaldi said. “But instead, it’s a comfort, because through other people and other experiences, we can reflect [on] what is going on in our life.”

More than 200 schools submitted projects for the contest. Maggie Donovan ’27, Cristina Lopez Mendoza ’27 and Amelia Pozniak ’26 were awarded an honorable mention for their work, with Maraini in attendance for the acceptance of their award.

“It was a very touching ceremony, because Dacia Maraini was there!” Svaldi said. “So we received the prize from the author. And we didn't expect it — it was completely a surprise. We all are so amazed by her contribution to Italian literature and culture.”