I first visited Italy in the winter of 1986 at the age of nineteen. It was a visit that changed my life. I decided that I had to learn the language, so the following summer I attended Middlebury College Summer School, where I acquired a strong grammatical base and studied with Prof. Mario Moffa. At that point, my prior knowledge of French was definitely an advantage. During my years as an undergraduate student of Comparative Literature at Mills College, I cross-registered at the University of California at Berkeley and took as many Italian literature classes as possible. I went on to spend my entire junior year at the University of Florence, studying medieval manuscripts, Renaissance history, and cultural studies.   

After receiving my Bachelor's degree in 1989, I moved back to Florence to teach English, going on to settle in the rural and isolated Casentino Valley for five years. In 1994, I returned to the USA and the inspiring chaos of New York City. I was employed by the Italian Academy at Columbia University and then at the Consulate General of Italy, I obtained a Master’s degree in Italian from Columbia University, I taught English in the NYC public schools, and I started translating literature. With regard to the latter, I received significant encouragement from the American Literary Translators Association when I won a fellowship for emerging translators. In 2001, I published my first translation from Italian with City Lights, and have been translating novels, short stories, and personal essays ever since. When I relocated to Italy in 2009, I went back to teaching English, worked at two major wineries in Tuscany, and wrote for a small newspaper, but I have principally devoted my time to literary translation. While I do periodically take on commercial work, I am especially focused on the translation of modern and contemporary Italian literature. 

In 2018, I taught a graduate-level class on translation theory and practice at Middlebury College Summer Schools. In 2019, I attended Middlebury College Breadloaf Translation Workshop. In 2021, I took part in a specialized course for the teaching of literary translation with the Petra-E framework hosted by BCLT, the European School of Literary Translation, and the Fondazione San Pellegrino. 

Contact me with any questions you may have.