A Confederacy of Joy - Poems (Paperback, First)

SIENA PRESS is proud and excited to announce the release of the debut collection of poetry by author, Juan-Paolo Perre entitled "A Confederacy of Joy" which is the 2014 official selection of Siena Press' inaugural LEGACY POETRY SERIES designed to highlight significant contributions to poetry whether it be by new or established poets; the sole criteria being works of substantial promise and enduring quality. ""A Confederacy of Joy" is like an intimate journey of the soul through the landscape of the body - Whitman-esque - an auspicious introduction of promise." Echoing the haunting specter of Federico Garcia Lorca's duende, this auspicious debut collection hums of a humane music with themes both personal and universal. These are the poems of a soul seeking and of one searching. They are the poems of the prodigal - who journeys out eager into the world and returns having found it once again in shades bucolic, melancholic and buoyant. One can clearly see in these poems his ancestral bloodline: from Pablo Neruda to Hart Crane and Walt Whitman to Philip Levine. These poems clamour with a sure and pervasive vision. In fact, these are, in their purest essence, love poems: sometimes solemn as prayers and more often than not, rhapsodic; the love of words, of place, of persons past and present and a love for and of a world which seems always in a miraculous flux between the sacred and profane. "Like incantations or the lingering lyric of a departed balladeer, they are the poems written by a new type of visionary - one that sees the world but then dares to step back into it - taking his place once again but now militantly hopeful and armed with a certain kind of impenitent joy." Born in Siena, Italy, Mr. Perre emigrated as a child to London, England and then later to New York City. An acclaimed polymath, he regularly engages in "a nifty, polymathic juggling act" with a variety of art forms. He began his artistic career at age 7 as a soloist church chorister which lead to an audition with renowned conductor/composer, Leonard Bernstein for his Broadway musical, "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue." As a concert violinist and pianist, he has performed in solo, chamber music and orchestral concerts worldwide. As an actor and singer, (under his nom d'artiste, Adam Alexi-Malle, starring in numerous films, on television and in theatre, on Broadway, in "Titanic," "The Threepenny Opera" and most notably in the American premiere of British playwright/film director, Mike Leigh's play, "Goose-Pimples" which garnered him critical acclaim in an award-nominated performance the New York Times and national press described as "simply astounding." and "Too much cannot be said about the importance of Adam Alexi-Malle." This performance lead to his invitation to Hollywood to star opposite Steve Martin. In addition, he is a sought-after voice artist having lent his voice in film, television and as a narrator for Penguin/Random House Audio Books in titles such as "The Second Empress," "Letters from Skye" and "The Anatomy Lesson" and has just embarked on a major project as the voice of the celebrated French author, Alexandre Dumas where all of the author's books will be recorded. He attended the Interlochen Arts Academy, The Juilliard School and the universities of Wisconsin and Maryland earning a Bachelor's and Master's degrees. Doctoral and advanced graduate work continued at the Universite de Paris, the Paris and Moscow Conservatories as well as the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. A recipient of numerous fellowships including the New York Philharmonic Scholarship, the Harriet Hale Woolley Fellowship in Paris and an Aerodyne Grant, his writing has previously appeared in the Cream City Reader, The Red Wheelbarrow and A Delicate Balance, among others. He has recently been appointed an editor of the literary magazine, "Il Palio Review.""