ROME – British biographer Lucy Hughes-Hallett will be reading from, and discussing, her award-winning biography on poet Gabriele D’Annunzio on Oct 9.

Her book, “The Pike: Gabriele D’Annunzio: Poet, Seducer & Preacher of War” has won many accolades including the 2013 Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction and the 2013 Costa Book Awards Biography of the Year. Copies will be available at the museum shop during the event, which is set to include the talk, in English, followed by a Prosecco reception and book-signing.  

D’Annunzio was a hugely important and controversial literary and political figure, who, as Hughes-Hallett’s blurb states: “was Italy's premier poet at a time when poetry could trigger riots. A brilliant self-publicist, he used his fame to sell his work, seduce women (the great actress Eleonora Duse, among them) and promote his extreme nationalism.”

“An evening with Lucy Hughes Hallett on D’Annunzio” will take place Oct. 9 at 18.30. Tickets are eight euros and must be purchased in advance through the Keats-Shelley House Museum (email: info@ksh.roma.it; telephone: 06 678 42 35).