Felix Calvino's Blog, page 7
November 24, 2016
So Much Smoke I Avid Reader
November 25, 20016
Felix Calvino - So Much SmokeFriday 16 December 2016
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
In store at Avid Reader BookshopRegister until 16 December 2016 6:00 PMThis event commences at 6.30pm. Printed tickets are not issued for this event. There is a door list with your booking under your surname.Join Patrick Holland as he launches So Much Smoke, a collection of short stories by Felix Calvino.The short stories in So Much Smoke owe much to Félix Calvino’s own experiences as a migrant who moved from the Galicia region of Spain to Australia, a country and culture radically different from the peasant village he left behind. The majority of the stories chronicle the hardships and small joys of village life, while the Australian stories tell of the migrant experience in which all that is known is forfeited in the search for material security. Félix Calvino is a PhD Candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Queensland. He is the author of the short story collection, A Hatful of Cherries (2007), and the novella Alfonso (2013) released by Australian Scholarly Publishing.
Felix Calvino - So Much SmokeFriday 16 December 20166:00 PM – 8:00 PM
In store at Avid Reader BookshopRegister until 16 December 2016 6:00 PMThis event commences at 6.30pm. Printed tickets are not issued for this event. There is a door list with your booking under your surname.Join Patrick Holland as he launches So Much Smoke, a collection of short stories by Felix Calvino.The short stories in So Much Smoke owe much to Félix Calvino’s own experiences as a migrant who moved from the Galicia region of Spain to Australia, a country and culture radically different from the peasant village he left behind. The majority of the stories chronicle the hardships and small joys of village life, while the Australian stories tell of the migrant experience in which all that is known is forfeited in the search for material security. Félix Calvino is a PhD Candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Queensland. He is the author of the short story collection, A Hatful of Cherries (2007), and the novella Alfonso (2013) released by Australian Scholarly Publishing.
A Hatful of Cherries
November 25, 2016
Review
Cass Moriarty Author15 mins ·
What a delight to discover Felix Calvino's short story collection, A Hatful of Cherries. Originally from Galacia in the northwest of Spain, Felix grew up on a farm but fled his homeland to avoid military service under General Franco. His eclectic mix of stories are inspired either by his memories of his childhood in that country, and the political, economic and cultural difficulties of the time, or by his experience as an immigrant to Australia in the sixties, and his subsequent life in this country.
Felix writes in a style that is spare, sparse and simple. He depicts everyday actions and situations with an experienced eye for detail and nuance. His descriptions of characters and of the weather and the landscape are concise and meticulous. The tension in each of his stories is taut; he engages the reader on a tightly held line, and reels us in slowly but deliberately to the resolution.
Each story is self-contained and complete, but all are open-ended - there remains a question, a possibility of further thought, at the conclusion of each.
I love the terrible inevitability of Basilio, the misunderstanding of Detour, the sharp childhood memories of The Pocketknife, the humour of An Old Sheep, the poignancy of A Hatful of Cherries, the playful familiarity and mirth of The Laundry Incident, the hopefulness of The Bride, the gritty depiction of addiction in Restless Hands, the imagination of Ghosts on the Beach, and the melancholy of Silvia, and of Unfinished Thoughts. This is a highly readable and appealing compilation that is moving, empathetic and engaging. Thank-you Melissa Ashley for introducing us.
Review
Cass Moriarty Author15 mins ·
What a delight to discover Felix Calvino's short story collection, A Hatful of Cherries. Originally from Galacia in the northwest of Spain, Felix grew up on a farm but fled his homeland to avoid military service under General Franco. His eclectic mix of stories are inspired either by his memories of his childhood in that country, and the political, economic and cultural difficulties of the time, or by his experience as an immigrant to Australia in the sixties, and his subsequent life in this country.Felix writes in a style that is spare, sparse and simple. He depicts everyday actions and situations with an experienced eye for detail and nuance. His descriptions of characters and of the weather and the landscape are concise and meticulous. The tension in each of his stories is taut; he engages the reader on a tightly held line, and reels us in slowly but deliberately to the resolution.
Each story is self-contained and complete, but all are open-ended - there remains a question, a possibility of further thought, at the conclusion of each.
I love the terrible inevitability of Basilio, the misunderstanding of Detour, the sharp childhood memories of The Pocketknife, the humour of An Old Sheep, the poignancy of A Hatful of Cherries, the playful familiarity and mirth of The Laundry Incident, the hopefulness of The Bride, the gritty depiction of addiction in Restless Hands, the imagination of Ghosts on the Beach, and the melancholy of Silvia, and of Unfinished Thoughts. This is a highly readable and appealing compilation that is moving, empathetic and engaging. Thank-you Melissa Ashley for introducing us.
November 18, 2016
So Much Smoke
November 19, 2016
Imprint: Australian Scholarly Publishing
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781925333992
Released: 1 December 2016
Available to pre-order
A$29.95 PRE-ORDERSo Much SmokeBy Félix Calvino
The short stories in So Much Smoke owe much to Félix Calvino’s own experiences as a migrant who moved from the Galicia region of Spain to Australia, a country and culture radically different from the peasant village he left behind. The majority of the stories chronicle the hardships and small joys of village life, while the Australian stories tell of the migrant experience in which all that is known is forfeited in the search for material security.
Imprint: Australian Scholarly Publishing
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781925333992
Released: 1 December 2016
Available to pre-order
A$29.95 PRE-ORDERSo Much SmokeBy Félix Calvino
The short stories in So Much Smoke owe much to Félix Calvino’s own experiences as a migrant who moved from the Galicia region of Spain to Australia, a country and culture radically different from the peasant village he left behind. The majority of the stories chronicle the hardships and small joys of village life, while the Australian stories tell of the migrant experience in which all that is known is forfeited in the search for material security.
July 26, 2016
The Road
July 27, 2016
My short story, The Road, appears in Social AlternativesVolume No.35 [1]http://socialalternatives.com/issues/silence-power
My short story, The Road, appears in Social AlternativesVolume No.35 [1]http://socialalternatives.com/issues/silence-power
July 15, 2016
Correo Gallego
July 15, 2016
Readings I May 27 I Santiago de Compostela
Readings I May 27 I Santiago de Compostela
May 5, 2016
Mallorca
May 6, 2016
THE 2nd AUSTRALIAN SEMINAR SERIES AT THE UIB
The juxtaposition of Spanish and Australian cultures in the writings of Félix Calviño
Félix Calviño was born in Galicia and grew up on a farm. To avoid military service under General Franco, he went to England.A few years later he migrated to Australia.
The short stories contained in his forthcoming book ‘So Much Smoke’ owe much to their creator’s own experiences as a migrant from the Galicia region of Spain who has chosen to move to Australia, a country and a culture that is radically different from that of the peasant village he left behind. The majority of the stories chronicle the hardships and small joys of village life, while the Australian stories investigate the migrant experience in which all that is known is forfeited in the search for material security. May 17 at 16.00 AULA DE GRAUS - RAMON LLULL BLG.
Presented by Dr Eduard Moyà and recommended to those interested in Migrant Literatures, Australian Studies, Cultural Studies, Creative Writing and Literatures in English.
April 7, 2016
Cultural Diversity in the Australian Short Story
April 7, 2016
‘Cultural Diversity in the Australian Short Story is a collection of Australian short stories for translation and publication in China. The collection will be used by students in Chinese universities and will be distributed through the network of Australian Studies Centres in China.
‘The editors of the collection are Michael Griffiths, Huang Zhong and Wenche Ommundsen. The translators are members of the English department of Wuhan University. This project comes out of a long-standing collaboration between the University of Wollongong and Wuhan University, supported by both universities and the Australia China Council.’
My story ‘The Bride’ A Hatful of Cherries (2007) is included in this anthology.
The publishing of a new work is always an important occasion for me. In this case there is the added feeling of representing Australia (albeit in a minuscule way), the country I now call home.
September 27, 2015
Quadrant Magazine
September 28, 2015
The Sleepwalker
(A piece from my next short story collection)
I was a child sleepwalker, as much an object of village suspicion and distrust as a black cat with intense yellow eyes or a woman picking herbs by moonlight. Mother called on her favourite saints for help. Masses were said, candles lit, and a piglet raffled off for the church’s roof appeal…
https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2015/09/
The Sleepwalker
(A piece from my next short story collection)
I was a child sleepwalker, as much an object of village suspicion and distrust as a black cat with intense yellow eyes or a woman picking herbs by moonlight. Mother called on her favourite saints for help. Masses were said, candles lit, and a piglet raffled off for the church’s roof appeal…
https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2015/09/
June 27, 2015
April 16, 20015Grady Harp's review Alfonso by&n...
April 16, 20015
Grady Harp's review
Alfonso
by Felix Calvino
Cultural Heritage and Miscegenation
Félix Calvino knows the immigrant experience as well as anyone writing. His newest novel, ALFONSO, not only substantiates that his book of short stories, A HATFUL OF CHERRIES, suggested the arrival of an important new voice on the literary scene, it also proves that his brief ideas about finding one’s place in a new country can and have been successfully developed into a full-fledged novel.
Calvino was born in Galicia and spent his childhood on a farm not unlike that of his main character the title. Under the reign of General Franco, Calvino fled to England to study and work and eventually migrated to Australia where he currently lives and writes his magical prose. And it is with that insight that Calvino writes about Alfonso, a Spaniard who has immigrated to Australia (Sydney) via stopovers in England and other entertainingly at times hilarious and at other times frightening places. Once in Australia he must learn a new language, work at any job available to immigrants whose language skills of the new home are nascent, make friends with both other people who are form Spain as immigrants and form other countries: Australia is as much a melting pot a s the USA!
But Alfonso is determined, moves form his meager ‘bed sitter’ to purchase a house that needs more than cosmetic repairs, discovers the behavior patterns of neighbors not used to immigrant status and cultures and customs, continues to seek the woman whom he can share his life, meets his dream, Nancy, who is Australian and takes trips to Europe, placing what Alfonso perceives is already an inherent distance between their lives. How Alfonso adjusts during the years in which this novel takes place (1962 to 1971) defines so much more about the immigrant experience and the effects of the Vietnam War and other world events on our transplanted Spanish Australian that many history books piled atop each other could.
Félix Calvino’s voice may be a gentle and quiet one, but it is all the more powerful for the caring way he imparts his story. He has created such poignant phrases as ‘Divorces and funerals are wives’ ultimate weddings’, but to give the reader a sample of his rather astonishingly vivid method of approaching his subject the following extract is a fine one to study:
‘The four walls he had washed and painted twice as a gesture of friendship would have captured, as a mirror would, his frustration at trying to sew on a button, or trying not to scorch a new shirt; his clumsy attempts at cooking dinner with half of the ingredients missing until he trained himself to write a shopping list before going shopping; his relentless learning and relearning of English words; his chores of washing, cleaning, daily bed-making, and weekly changing of the bed sheets. These same walls would have recorded his loneliness in daytime and sadness always at night. The narrow wardrobe, the Triumph stove, the couch, two wooden chairs, and the aluminum table with the green Formica top would have watched his character crossing from youth to man, although he could not identify the exact turning point. Perhaps the pieces came together like a jigsaw. He remembered feeling proud of doing his job well, of having the first thousand-dollar balance stamped in his ANZ Bank savings book. Above all, he had been deeply thankful for having escaped poverty, for being in control of his life, and for how good a life he had. And there was the vague beginning, and understanding, of the forming of his two selves – one made of past memories, the other of new dreams. Dreams had been good companions in the village and they remained so in Australia. Three of them had crystallized into purpose: the satisfactory command of the English language, the owning of a house, and the companionship of a woman. The first two were going well, he thought.’
This extraction from his novel, not unlike his short stories, shows the power in this writer’s mind and hands. He has arrived.
Grady Harp
Grady Harp's review
Alfonso
by Felix Calvino
Cultural Heritage and Miscegenation
Félix Calvino knows the immigrant experience as well as anyone writing. His newest novel, ALFONSO, not only substantiates that his book of short stories, A HATFUL OF CHERRIES, suggested the arrival of an important new voice on the literary scene, it also proves that his brief ideas about finding one’s place in a new country can and have been successfully developed into a full-fledged novel.
Calvino was born in Galicia and spent his childhood on a farm not unlike that of his main character the title. Under the reign of General Franco, Calvino fled to England to study and work and eventually migrated to Australia where he currently lives and writes his magical prose. And it is with that insight that Calvino writes about Alfonso, a Spaniard who has immigrated to Australia (Sydney) via stopovers in England and other entertainingly at times hilarious and at other times frightening places. Once in Australia he must learn a new language, work at any job available to immigrants whose language skills of the new home are nascent, make friends with both other people who are form Spain as immigrants and form other countries: Australia is as much a melting pot a s the USA!
But Alfonso is determined, moves form his meager ‘bed sitter’ to purchase a house that needs more than cosmetic repairs, discovers the behavior patterns of neighbors not used to immigrant status and cultures and customs, continues to seek the woman whom he can share his life, meets his dream, Nancy, who is Australian and takes trips to Europe, placing what Alfonso perceives is already an inherent distance between their lives. How Alfonso adjusts during the years in which this novel takes place (1962 to 1971) defines so much more about the immigrant experience and the effects of the Vietnam War and other world events on our transplanted Spanish Australian that many history books piled atop each other could.
Félix Calvino’s voice may be a gentle and quiet one, but it is all the more powerful for the caring way he imparts his story. He has created such poignant phrases as ‘Divorces and funerals are wives’ ultimate weddings’, but to give the reader a sample of his rather astonishingly vivid method of approaching his subject the following extract is a fine one to study:
‘The four walls he had washed and painted twice as a gesture of friendship would have captured, as a mirror would, his frustration at trying to sew on a button, or trying not to scorch a new shirt; his clumsy attempts at cooking dinner with half of the ingredients missing until he trained himself to write a shopping list before going shopping; his relentless learning and relearning of English words; his chores of washing, cleaning, daily bed-making, and weekly changing of the bed sheets. These same walls would have recorded his loneliness in daytime and sadness always at night. The narrow wardrobe, the Triumph stove, the couch, two wooden chairs, and the aluminum table with the green Formica top would have watched his character crossing from youth to man, although he could not identify the exact turning point. Perhaps the pieces came together like a jigsaw. He remembered feeling proud of doing his job well, of having the first thousand-dollar balance stamped in his ANZ Bank savings book. Above all, he had been deeply thankful for having escaped poverty, for being in control of his life, and for how good a life he had. And there was the vague beginning, and understanding, of the forming of his two selves – one made of past memories, the other of new dreams. Dreams had been good companions in the village and they remained so in Australia. Three of them had crystallized into purpose: the satisfactory command of the English language, the owning of a house, and the companionship of a woman. The first two were going well, he thought.’
This extraction from his novel, not unlike his short stories, shows the power in this writer’s mind and hands. He has arrived.
Grady Harp
March 8, 2015
Alfonso I UQ eSpace
March 9, 2015
Alfonso is a short novel set in Sydney between 1962 and 1971. The protagonist is a man from the northwest of Spain who migrates to Australia to escape poverty. When he arrives in Australia he confronts language problems, homesickness and isolation. He works as a carpenter and eventually buys an old house in Surry Hills, unaware of the cost and commitment associated with old houses and feuding neighbours. When the house is finished he meets a woman and they fall in love, but the woman leaves for England. The story then traces his search for love and in the process he finds a way to belong in his new country. More than a love story, this is a novella about the migrant experience in which all that is known is forfeited in the search for material security.
http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/
Alfonso is a short novel set in Sydney between 1962 and 1971. The protagonist is a man from the northwest of Spain who migrates to Australia to escape poverty. When he arrives in Australia he confronts language problems, homesickness and isolation. He works as a carpenter and eventually buys an old house in Surry Hills, unaware of the cost and commitment associated with old houses and feuding neighbours. When the house is finished he meets a woman and they fall in love, but the woman leaves for England. The story then traces his search for love and in the process he finds a way to belong in his new country. More than a love story, this is a novella about the migrant experience in which all that is known is forfeited in the search for material security.
http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/
