Domenico A. Beneventi

The queer experience is not traditionally discussed in Italian-Canadian households. It’s not a topic for Sunday lunch with the whole family. This paper explores and analyzes the cultural production and lived realities of Canadian writers who function at the intersection of two communities: the LGBTQ+ and the Italian-Canadian. We will look at interviews and creative works by Christopher DiRaddo, Monica Meneghetti, Liana Cusmano, and Steve Galluccio, among others. We will discuss 1) the writers’ experiences at the intersection of their sexual/gender and ethnic identities; 2) their published creative work and its connection to their gender/sexual and ethnic identities and experiences. In particular, we will look at Christopher DiRaddo’s The Family Way (2021), Monica Meneghetti’s What the Mouth Wants (2017), and writings in Licia Canton’s Here & Now: An Anthology of Queer Italian-Canadian Writing (2021).