Alessandro Portelli

Biography

Alessandro Portelli has taught American Literature at the Universities of Siena and Rome. He has served as an advisor on historical memory to the Mayor of Rome and is the founder of the Circolo Gianni Bosio, an independent organization for the critical study and promotion of peoples’ cultures, oral history, and folk music. He has been a visiting professor and research fellow at several universities worldwide. His work published in English includes The Death of Luigi Trastulli and other Stories. Form and Meaning in Oral History (1991), The Text and the Voice. Writing, Speaking and Democracy in American Literature (1994), The Battle of Valle Giulia. Oral History and the Art of Dialogue (1997), The Order has Been Carried Out. History, Memory and Meaning of a Nazi Massacre in Rome (2003), and They Say in Harlan County: an Oral History (2011).