Speakers Bureau

Sons & Daughters of Italy Speakers Bureau

Need a speaker for your club meeting or a special event? Contact these experts directly. Some may require travel expenses and/or honorariums. For more speakers see: www.osia.org at “Culture & History.” To apply as a speaker, contact Miles Fisher at mfisher@osia.org

Don’t forget: You can host speakers over Zoom!

ILLINOIS Author and Historian Major Peter L. Belmonte (U.S. Air Force, ret.) speaks about Italian Americans in the U.S. military from the Civil War through World War II, specializing in World War I and the Old West. He has authored 11 books on such top ics and was recently featured as an on-camera consultant for a Netflix series about soldiers who received the Medal of Honor (speaking on Vito Bertoldo, a soldier from Illinois who fought World War II and received the Medal of Honor). Book signing and presentation. Contact: (618) 803-1889 Email: Belmontep@att. net Website: https://doughboypublishing.weebly.com Will also travel to: Areas surrounding St. Louis, Chi cago, Milwaukee, and Cincinnati

NEW JERSEY Cavaliere Dr. Gilda Battaglia Rorro speaks about her memoir—Gilda, Promise Me—which focuses on her Italian-American upbringing and has a special introduction written by Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. She highlights themes such as women’s issues, civil rights, and the signifi cance of learning Italian. She has served as Honorary Vice Consul for Italy in Trenton. Book signing and presentation. Contact: (609) 587-7000 Email: honvconsul4italy@verizon.net Will also travel to: Philadelphia and New York City

PENNSYLVANIA Retired Philadelphia teacher Ben Lariccia speaks about Italian immigration in the 1870s, early Italian immigrants in Ohio’s coal mines, and sheepherding in the Mezzogiorno. He is a seasoned writer with La Gazzetta Italiana news paper and coauthored Coal War in the Mahoning Valley: The Origin of Greater Youngstown’s Italians. Book signing. Contact: 267-259- 2304 Email: blaricci@mac.com Website: http://immigrationfromcapracotta.com CANADA (ONTARIO) Professor of Creative Writ ing and Author Maria Coletta McLean speaks about the immigrant experience and how the daughter of parents with limited education became an English professor and published author. She has published two works of nonfiction: My Father Came From Italy, which is about her first trip to Italy with her 83-year-old father; and Summers in Supino, which is about buying a house in her father’s village and becoming part of the people. She was awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for her contribution to the Canadian literary landscape. Book signing. Contact: (647) 969-7813 Email: maria.colettamclean@gmail.com Will also travel to: Northeast and North Midwest United States

MONACO Author and Grand Prior Magistral of Knights Templar Domizio Cipriani speaks about his recent novel, Templars and Rosicrucians: The Inner and the Secret Part of the Templar Order. Contact: +33 669641969 Email: templiersmonaco@yahoo.fr Website: www.knighttemplar.net

• UNITED KINGDOM Author Peter Crawley speaks about Sicily (Lipari, Messina), Corsica, London, and novel writing—including historic research and re cording oral history. He recently published Constant Tides, a novel set in Sicily. His novel, Mazzeri: Love and Death in Light and Shadow, which is set in Corsica, was nominated for the Ameri can Library in Paris Book Award. Book signing. Contact: +44 7831423200 Email: petercrawleybooks@gmail.com Website: www.peter-crawley.com Will also travel to: United States, Europe, and Beyond