{"id":13,"date":"2020-09-05T08:10:23","date_gmt":"2020-09-05T08:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.opendoorsreview.com\/?page_id=13"},"modified":"2026-01-05T21:18:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T21:18:27","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.opendoorsreview.com\/","title":{"rendered":"About\/Contact"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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About The Open Doors Review<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Open Doors Review is a seasonally published literary & arts magazine. We feature short fiction, essays, poetry, visual art and interviews with authors and local artisans. We publish work submitted in Italian and in English.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Open Doors Review \u00e8 una rivista non solo letteraria ad uscita stagionale. Ci occupiamo di short fiction, saggi, poesie ed arti visive, includendo interviste con autori ed artigiani locali. Pubblichiamo lavori in lingua italiana ed inglese. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Open Doors Manifesto<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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In popular culture, Italy is frequently seen as two things: a soap opera Mafiosi video game or a picture postcard tourist dreamland of the Dolce Vita<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s add more stories to this picture. Let\u2019s look under the surface. Let\u2019s highlight the creativity and skill of the people in Italy. Now. Today. The point is not to produce something Italy-focused. It\u2019s to create a collection of writing and visual art that is Italy-grown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who do you love? What do you believe in? What do you know? These days, truth is under attack. Reality means different things to different people. While language is increasingly black and white the issues, like our hearts, never are. Art lives in these spaces between. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are cracking open, evolving, breaking up with the old world, breaking down the new. That\u2019s where art grows. That\u2019s where conversations happen. There, in that space, we find our humanity when we share and connect with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I challenge you to step into that place and create. Come on in, the doors are open.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Agli occhi di uno straniero, L’Italia viene spesso vista come il paese della pizza, della Mafia e della Dolce Vita<\/em>. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00c8 l’ora di condividere storie ed immagini per scardinare questa stereotipo e dare un’occhiata pi\u00f9 nel profondo. Mettiamo in risalto la creativit\u00e0 e l’abilit\u00e0 delle persone del “Bel Paese.” Adesso. Oggi. L’obiettivo non \u00e8 di creare qualcosa che sia incentrato solo sull’Italia. Si tratta di diffondere una raccolta di scritture ed arti visive cresciuta in questo posto. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chi ami? In che cosa credi? Cosa \u00e8 reale? In questi giorni la verit\u00e0 \u00e8 in pericolo. La realt\u00e0 viene percepita in maniera diverse a seconda del punto di vista delle persone. Mentre il linguaggio \u00e8 sempre pi\u00f9 categorico, i problemi (come i nostri cuori) non lo sono. L’arte fiorisce proprio in questo terreno di mezzo. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ci stiamo aprendo. Ci stiamo evolvendo. Stiamo rompendo con il vecchio mondo e mettendo il nuovo alla prova. \u00c8 qui che avvengono le conversazioni. \u00c8 cos\u00ec che cresce l’arte.<\/span> Qui, in questo spazio, condividendo e connettendoci l’uno con l’altro, ritroviamo la nostra umanit\u00e0.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Non ti resta che entrare in questo luogo e iniziare a creare. Le porte sono aperte. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Launch of Open Doors 7 in Florence.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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About The Editor<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Lauren Mouat founded the Open Doors Review in 2020. A writer, editor, teacher and guide, she has called Italy home since 2010. She is the author of the book Intermezzo<\/a>, a founding member of the Florence Literary Society<\/a> and contributes regularly to publications in Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open Doors<\/strong> is a way to share enthusiasm and encourage the exchange of ideas that only art can bring to the surface. My aim is to connect writers and artists to reveal another side of Italy, a country that is so much more multifaceted than we are used to seeing in mainstream culture. The world is going through vast changes and I believe that what we create now and the conversations we have today, will decide our future.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Sono Lauren Mouat. Sono nativa della California ma dal 2010 l’Italia \u00e8 la mia casa. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leggere e scrivere sono una parte essenziale della mia vita. Quando scrivo, penso. Quando leggo, mi evolvo. In questi anni ho scritto per numerose pubblicazioni e ho cercato di creare vari gruppi di scrittura per condividere progetti ed idee. I primi incontri sono avvenuti a Roma in un piccolo appartamento a Monti e successivamente attorno ad un tavolo verde vicino al Campidoglio (sapete chi siete!). Da qualche anno esercito la professione di guida turistica. Parlando di arte e storia Italiana, ho avuto il desiderio di esplorare e condividere la scrittura contemporanea, ricercando tutta quella creativit\u00e0 che sta crescendo oggi in Italia. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open Doors<\/strong> \u00e8 un modo per condividere entusiasmo, incoraggiare lo scambio di idee e portare in superficie le cose che solo l’arte pu\u00f2 mostrare. Connettere scrittori ed artisti \u00e8 l’unico modo per rivelare il vero carattere dell’Italia. Queste conversazioni decideranno il futuro di un mondo che sta evolvendosi sempre pi\u00f9 velocemente.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Poetry & Fiction Editor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Monica lives and writes in Florence, Italy. Her international spirit travels with an American passport. She moonlights as a legal researcher when not parenting, managing projects, or writing. Her writing has been published in Across the Margin, Mediterranean Poetry, Bosphorus Review of Books, Fevers of the Mind, The Florentine, Rome-ing: Firenze, Adamah, and Synapse. Find out more at sharpmonica.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Art Editor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Luca Misuri is a visual artist and musician living and working in Livorno. He is the creator of the \u201cCrumbling World\u201d project and curator of Studio 124, an artist col- lective located in Livorno. Wendepunkte (\u201cturning points\u201d in German) is his some- time alias for visual and musical projects. www.lucamisuri.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Italian Fiction Editor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Morgan Chiarella, regista e sceneggiatore, ha pubblicato il suo primo romanzo per Marsilio nel 2005. \u00c8 traduttore professionista e insegna inglese all\u2019Universit\u00e0 Roma Tre. Lavora come writing coach ed \u00e8 tra i fondatori del sito eventoscatenante.com<\/a>, che offre servizi di coverage e coaching per sceneggiatrici e sceneggiatori.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Josiah Kaplan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Poetry English Reader<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Josiah is a humanitarian aid worker and recovering academic. He is based in Tuscany and London, drawing inspiration from the deep well of creativity and talent that makes Firenze such a special place.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nora Studholme<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fiction English Reader<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nora Studholme grew up in the country- side of Virginia and now lives and writes in Florence Italy. Her work has appeared in various literary magazines and can be found at NoraStudholme.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norah Leibow<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Non Fiction English Reader<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norah Leibow grew up in the San Fran- cisco Bay Area\u2014and first met the Med-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

iterranean when she was 16 on an ex- change trip. She is a running enthusiast, lover of architecture, art and taking long walks around San Francisco where she lives with her husband Adam and two cats. She is the author of the weekly newsletter \u201cBe Soothed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michela Guida<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Italian Copy Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michela Guida \u00e8 un\u2019insegnante di lin- gua italiana a stranieri. Durante la sua esperienza di docente, ha collaborato con diverse istituzioni tra cui universi- t\u00e0 americane, case editrici e piattaforme per l\u2019insegnamento online. Ha lavorato come redattrice per riviste online, e con- tinua questo lavoro come autrice di testi didattici, redattrice di articoli e content editor per siti di apprendimento online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHo la fortuna di insegnare la mia splen- dida lingua agli studenti stranieri. Ques- to lavoro mi ha dato tante opportunit\u00e0 di crescere e di fare nuove esperienze professionali, anche perch\u00e9 sono un\u2019ap- passionata delle parole. Adoro leggere e scrivere su tutto e di tutto quello che mi piace. E quando non trovo le parole, fo- tografo e cerco di immortalare qualsiasi cosa mi lasci a bocca aperta!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Readers & Editors of the Open Doors Review<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Past Guest Judges of the Open Doors Review<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Flavia Brunetti<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Flavia Brunetti is the author of All the Way to Italy: A Modern Tale of Homecoming through Generations past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The novel tells the story of Little, a girl who, until the death of her father, considered herself a Californian. Now, thanks to half a letter, a symbol she can\u2019t quite remember, and a case of writer\u2019s block, she finds herself back in Italy with a lot of questions about her family and her country. On her journey throughout Italy, Little will enlist the help of the aunt who raised her, friends old and new, and the country itself, in her search for the answers she needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a powerful story that will appeal to anyone who has ever bal- anced wanderlust with the need to come home, a reminder that al- though we may be fragments, we are never a lost cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flavia is the guest judge for the January 2021 issue of the Open Doors Review. She joined me in a caffe in Rome for a conversation about her book and Italy. You can listen to the audio recording of our conversa- tion on opendoorsreview.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heather Jane Johnson<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Heather Jane Johnson is the guest judge for the May 2021 issue of the Open Doors Review and the author of 1500, a young adult novel set in Venice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children are disappearing in Venice. Rumor has it a demon is to blame, but no one knows for sure. Beatrice de la Piet\u00e0, an orphan on the brink of a new life, cannot be bothered with such stories though. Meeting the expectations of her new employer, Cassandra Fedele, is all she cares about, and she\u2019ll do anything to hold onto her new apprenticeship as a cook and maid in her household. Demons and missing children will have to wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Signora Fedele\u2019s requirements of Bea take a sharp turn from domestic work to more academic pursuits however, the orphan begins to fear one day she may let the famed scholar down. Matters only become more complicated when Bea meets a girl obsessed with stopping the demon she was so determined to forget. Prompted by her new friend\u2019s dedication to justice, and bolstered by the humanistic education she never bargained on receiving, Beatrice reluctantly dives into the danger and daring that flow through the heart of her watery world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our conversation covered Heather\u2019s decision to move to Italy, the research process of writing a book set in Venice, how city\u2019s could be compared to lovers and what she learned while self publishing her novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Giacomo Barba<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Giacomo \u00e8 uno scrittore e insegnante a Roma. Insegna Lin- gua e Letteratura Inglese presso il Liceo Scientifico \u201cEnnio Quirino Visconti\u201d e ha un dottorato in Lingua e Letteratura Inglese. \u00c8 l\u2019autore de \u201cLa Libert\u00e0 dell\u2019Oddio,\u201d Graphofeel edizioni, \u201cThe Teacher,\u201d un romanzo che ho seguito, anche se in modo inesperto, nella traduzione dall\u2019italiano all\u2019in- glese quasi un decennio fa. A settembre 2021 \u00e8 uscito il suo romanzo \u201cNon Dite a Romeo che Giulietta mi piace.\u201d Nell\u2019intervista, chiedo un consiglio su quali libri leggere, in inglese e in italiano, cosa cambia quando leggi o scrivi in almeno due lingue, sul proprio processo di scrittura e sulle diverse fasi della vita di uno scrittore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Giacomo is a writer and teacher living in Rome. He teach- es Language and English Literature at the \u201cEnnio Quirino Visconti\u201d highschool in Rome and has a doctorate in En- glish language and literature. He is the author of \u201cLa Libert\u00e0 dell\u2019Oddio,\u201d Graphofeel edizioni, \u201cThe Teacher,\u201d a novel I assisted, however inexpertly, in translating from Italian into English nearly a decade ago. His novel \u201cNon Dite a Romeo che Giulietta mi piace\u201d came out in September 2021. As<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a teacher of english literature in Rome, I wanted to ask his advice on what books to read, in English and Italian, what changes when reading or writing in multiple languages, about his own writing process and the different phases of a writer\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Giovanni Vergineo<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Giovanni Vergineo \u00e8 archeologo, guida turistica di Roma e imprenditore. E\u2019 nato a Benevento nel 1984 ma vive nella capitale dal 2009. Nel 2010 \u00e8 stato finalista del premio \u201cItalo Calvino\u201d con la raccolta di racconti \u201cPippe\u201d. Nel 2015 \u00e8 stato semifinalista del premio \u201cLa Giara\u201d con il romanzo \u201cLa scom- parsa delle Cotolette\u201d selezione regione Campania. Ha pub- blicato alcuni dei suoi racconti in varie riviste e raccolte, tra le quali \u201cOschiLoschi\u201d \u2013 Nevermind edizioni, Benevento, curata da F. Ignelzi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Giovanni Vergineo is an archaeologist, tour guide in Rome and entrepreneur. He was born in Benevento in 1984 but has lived in the capital since 2009. In 2010 he was a finalist for the \u201cItalo Calvino\u201d award with the collection of short stories \u201cPippe\u201d. In 2015 he was semi-finalist of the \u201cLa Giara\u201d award with the novel \u201cLa scomparsa delle Cotolette\u201d in the Campa- nia region selection. He has published some of his stories in various magazines and collections, including \u201cOschiLoschi\u201d \u2013 Nevermind editions, Benevento, edited by F. Ignelzi.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Contact<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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If you would like to submit, please refer to our page of Submission Guidelines<\/a> before sending an e-email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have a question or an opinion you want to share? Write to us at contact@opendoorsreview.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Se si desidera inviare del materiale, fare riferimento alla nostra pagina delle Linee guida<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Per qualsiasi domanda o opinione scrivici ad contact@opendoorsreview.com.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Read the First issue for free<\/h2>\n\n\n\n