Lina Medaglia

Festival Participant

Lina Medaglia’s love of the written word has taken her in surprising directions. In 2008-2009, she completed a novel, The Demons of Aquilonia (soon to be released by Inanna Publications), based on her life as a young immigrant coming from terroni-- a peasant, working-class family from the Southern Italian region of Calabria. Using narrative inquiry, she examines the concept of passing (moving through, going forward, getting to the other side by pretending to be someone else), as it is embedded in family stories of hardship and survival.

Besides being a writer, Medaglia is a peace activist, a crisis intervention counsellor for abused women and children, an advocate for environmental justice, and a professor in a unique women’s program that is nested in a Toronto college. She has performed her poetry, and has had her songs performed at various community events. She has authored the libretto for a three-hour feminist musical called Casanova, has written lyrics for a progressive country CD, and two albums of political rock.

Medaglia lives in Toronto with her life-partner and collaborator. In 2006, they returned to Italy where she became re-acquainted with over one hundred and fifty relatives.