The author Eufemia Fantetti joins Joseph Planta to discuss her new memoir My Father, Fortune-tellers and Me (Mother Tongue Publishing, 2019), the immigrant experience, mental health, and more.

My Father, Fortune-tellers and Me by Eufemia Fantetti (Mother Tongue Publishing, 2019). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: My Father…

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

Eufemia Fantetti joins me again. She has just published a new memoir: My Father, Fortune-tellers and Me. It’s a fascinating book that chronicles her coming of age, the daughter of two southern Italian immigrants. It’s an acrimonious marriage that her parents have, made all the more difficult because of her mother’s schizophrenia. Growing up in a family that is superstitious, relying on tarot or fate for guidance complicates life, as well as adds wit. The book is a marvelous look at the immigrant experience in Canada, as well as the challenges of children born to those immigrants. And the view onto mental health is at once harrowing as it is empathetic. Eufemia Fantetti is a graduated of SFU’s Writer’s Studio, and the University of Guelph. She is an award winning playwright, and former stand-up comic. She was first on the program in 2013 when her debut short story collection A Recipe for Disaster & Other Unlikely Tales was published. Visit www.eufemiafantetti.com for more, and the Twitter handle is @EufemiaFantetti. This new book is from Mother Tongue Publishing. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Eufemia Fantetti; Ms. Fantetti, good morning.

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