Skylark Farm
ABOUT
THE BOOK
After forty years in Venice, Yerwant is planning a long-awaited reunion with his family at their homestead in the Anatolian hills of Turkey. But as joyful preparations begin, Italy enters the Great War and closes its borders. At the same time, in Turkey, the Young Turks, determined to rid their nation of minorities, force his family on a brutal march of hunger and humiliation. We follow Yerwant’s relatives as they strain to stay alive and as four children set out on a daring course to reach Yerwant—and safety—in Italy.
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Geoffrey
Block
Geoffrey Brock earned an MFA in poetry from the University of Florida and a PhD in comparative literature from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of two books of poetry, the editor of The FSG Book of 20th-Century Italian Poetry, and the translator of numerous volumes of poetry and prose. n 1999, Brock received the Raiziss/de Palchi Translation Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets for his work on Cesare Pavese’s poetry. The resulting volume, Disaffections: Complete Poems 1930–1950 (Copper Canyon, 2002), received the MLA’s Lois Roth Translation Award and the PEN Center USA’s Translation Award. It was also named one of the “Best Books of 2003” by the Los Angeles Times. Brock’s translation of Last Dream by Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli (World Poetry Books, 2019) was awarded the 2020 Raiziss/de Palchi Book Prize. He is also the translator of books by Roberto Calasso and Umberto Eco. His first collection of poems, Weighing Light (Ivan R. Dee, 2005), received the 2004 New Criterion Poetry Prize.
Geoffrey Brock earned an MFA in poetry from the University of Florida and a PhD in comparative literature from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of two books of poetry, the editor of The FSG Book of 20th-Century Italian Poetry, and the translator of numerous volumes of poetry and prose. n 1999, Brock received the Raiziss/de Palchi Translation Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets for his work on Cesare Pavese’s poetry. The resulting volume, Disaffections: Complete Poems 1930–1950 (Copper Canyon, 2002), received the MLA’s Lois Roth Translation Award and the PEN Center USA’s Translation Award. It was also named one of the “Best Books of 2003” by the Los Angeles Times. Brock’s translation of Last Dream by Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli (World Poetry Books, 2019) was awarded the 2020 Raiziss/de Palchi Book Prize. He is also the translator of books by Roberto Calasso and Umberto Eco. His first collection of poems, Weighing Light (Ivan R. Dee, 2005), received the 2004 New Criterion Poetry Prize.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
Winner of the 2004 Italian Campiello prize, it is a moving debut novel inspired by the author’s own family and their experiences of the Armenian genocide. Strong female characters and elegant prose suggest to nominate it for the Prize. The author is a well known university teacher and writer of literary essays. A film loosely based on the novel was directed by Taviani brothers.