The United Theatre: Barnflower – A Rhode Island Farm Memoir

The UNITED and the Dante Society host Westerly native Carla Panciera for an author talk and signing discussing her latest book, Barnflower: A Rhode Island Farm Memoir – moderated by author and writer Betty J. Cotter. The talk and book signing will be followed by a reception sponsored by The Dante Society.

A retired high school teacher in Massachusetts, Panciera grew up on the family farm in Westerly.  She spent years with her father and his famous herd traveling from county fair to county fair, and answering the same question: “Are you Aldo Panciera’s daughter?” These connected stories are based on the real man and his efforts to make a living at what he loved. “Barnflower” is about the bond between a father and daughter and their love for the kind of life they shared, a kind of life that is both a critical and a vanishing part of our history. Panciera has published two poetry collections: “One of the Cimalores” and “No Day, No Dusk, No Love.”  Her short story collection, “Bewildered,” received AWP’s Grace Paley Prize.

Cotter is the author of two novels, a columnist for The Sun and an instructor of journalism at the University of Rhode Island.