Making Literature Travel

Maurizio Mattiuzza was born near Zurich and returned to his father’s homeland, Friuli (a region in the Northeast of Italy next to the Slovenian border), in 1976. His beginnings as a poet go back to the time of his involvement in the Usmis magazine and the poetry movement of Trastolons, of which he was one of the co-founders. He published four books, notably L’inutile necessità(t) (2004) with a preface by Luciano Morandini and a postface by Claudio Lolli and his most recent, Gli alberi di argan (2011). He also works as a lyrics writer and spoken word performer in collaboration with songwriter Lino Straulino. Together, they recorded the album Tiere nere (Nota Records) and went on a very long tour, as part of which they also held a live concert for the Swiss RTV. Maurizio is the winner of a number of important Italian literary awards and has appeared at several poetry festivals. He writes poems in Italian and Friulian and even in the dialect spoken in a valley in the Italian Alps, where his mother comes from.