Talking about Italian-American Art & Life with best-selling author Gina Barreca | Press Releases

6 p.m., Sunday, March 4, 2012
Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts

"Gina Barreca is very, very funny." - Dave Barry

Now that's Italian! Nationally recognized best-selling author, humorist, educator, essayist, blogger, feminist, and sometimes stand-up comedienne, Gina Barreca, makes an exclusive stage appearance at 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 4, 2012, in a presentation entitled " Talking about Italian-American Art & Life with Gina Barreca" at Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. Tickets are $25 and available by calling (203) 254-4010, or visiting http://www.fairfield.edu/quick .

Publishers Weekly says "... Barreca is more about laughs than lecturing." And Author Rita Ciresi concurs: "Barreca is probably the funniest woman writer in America."

Gina Barreca's witty, freewheeling and highly original take on everything Italian will be presented in conjunction with the current exhibition "From Italy to America - Photographs of Anthony Riccio," a show documenting in word and image the experiences of Italians and Italian-Americans in Southern Italy, Boston's North End, and New Haven's "Little Italy," and on view at Fairfield University's Bellarmine Museum of Art, through March 30, 2012.

Throughout her career, Gina Barreca has shared her wit and wisdom with television audiences nationwide, appearing regularly on 20/20 , The Today Show , CNN , Dr. Phil and Oprah , discussing everything from gender to politics to humor. She's also a favorite on National Public Radio's The Faith Middleton Program . She contributes to The Chronicle of Higher Education Brainstorm blog, Psychology Today's blog, and regularly spars with Gene Weingarten, with whom she co-authored two books, in his "Below the Beltway" column for The Washington Post. She also pens a bi-monthly column from the Hartford Courant , which is distributed worldwide by the McClatchy-Tribune Syndicate . In addition, Dr. Barreca is a Professor of English and Feminist Theory at the University of Connecticut, and she holds degrees from Dartmouth College, Cambridge University, and the City University of New York.

A self-proclaimed "nice Italian girl," Gina Barreca grew up in Brooklyn and on Long Island, and now lives with her husband in Storrs, CT. She is the editor of the irreverent Don't Tell Mama: The Penguin Book of Italian- American Writing and A Sitdown with The Sopranos: Watching Italian American Culture on T.V.'s Most Talked About Series .

Gina Barreca's best-selling books have been translated into several languages, including Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, and German. She is most recently the editor of Make Mine A Double: Why Women Like Us Like To Drink (or Not) published by the University Press of New England in 2011, and author of It's Not That I'm Bitter: How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Visible Panty Lines and Conquered the World (St. Martin's, 2009). Her earlier books include the bestselling They Used to Call Me Snow White But I Drifted: Women's Strategic Use of Humor, and Babes n Boyland: A Personal History of Coeducation in the Ivy League .

Quick Center audiences have a chance to laugh out loud with Gina Barreca and experience her humor. Visit www.ginabarreca.com .

Tickets are available through the Quick Center Box Office: (203) 254-4010, or toll-free 1-877-ARTS-396 (1-877-278-7396). Tickets can also be purchased online at http://www.fairfield.edu/quick .

The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts is located on the campus of Fairfield University at 1073 North Benson Road in Fairfield, Connecticut. Entrance to the Quick Center is through the Barlow Road gate at 200 Barlow Road. Free, secure parking is available. Access for people with disabilities is available throughout the Quick Center for audience members and performers. Hearing amplification devices are available upon request at the Box Office. Fairfield University is located off exit 22 of Interstate-95. For further information and directions, call (203) 254-4010 or 1-877-278-7396, or visit http://www.fairfield.edu/quick .

Media Contact: Laura Rossi Totten, (401) 487-2453, Laura@laurarossipublicrelations.com