Marisa De Franceschi

Teacher, editor, author

Marisa De Franceschi is a celebrated local author, editor and educator. Born Marisa De Monte in the Italian province of Udine in 1946, she came to Canada with her family in 1948 at the age of two. The family joined her grandfather who had previously settled in Windsor. Although Marisa has lived the bulk of her life in Canada, she frequently visits Fruili, Italy, and these visits have served as inspiration for her writing. “De Franceschi started recording events at an early age, events that would later serve as the backdrop for her fiction. It was on her first trip back to Friuli, at the age of ten, that she felt the strong urge to record her words.” (Canton 2006) Her career as a writer began when her first work of fiction, “The Providers”, was published in the Canadian Author and Bookman in the mid-1970s.

De Franceschi is a graduate of the University of Windsor and holds degrees in English and French literature. She has taught a variety of grade levels in both of these subjects and even returned to live and teach in Italy in the late 1960s.

Marisa is well-known for and most enjoys working in the short story format but she has certainly not limited her work to this form. Her body of work includes the 1994 novel Surface Tension. Surface Tension tells the story of an Italian immigrant family to the Essex County area and its protagonist, Margaret Croft is, “a woman in crisis…faced with a momentous decision”. The Windsor Star calls it “a powerful novel” and a must read.

She has also authored a book of short stories and poetry called Random Thoughts and Stories About Real People, a reader for ESL students. De Franceschi has also served as editor for collection of short stories called Pillars of Lace, an anthology highlighting the works of Italian-Canadian women writers. Her short stories have been included in a number of anthologies and she has had articles published in many Canadian newspapers and magazines including: The Mystery Review, The Windsor Star, and Accenti Magazine. She is also a two-time winner of the Okanagan Short Story Contest. De Franceschi continues to live and write in Windsor.

Sources:

http://canadian-writers.athabascau.ca/english/writers/mdefranceschi/mdefranceschi.php

http://www.windsor-communities.com/italian-writer-france.php

http://www.guernicaeditions.com/author/54

http://www.bibliosofia.net/files/marisa_de_franceschi__di_licia.htm