Connie Guzzo McParland holds a BA in Italian Literature and a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Concordia University. Upon graduation from the Master’s program, in 2007, she received the David McKeen Award for creative writing for her thesis-novel, Girotondo. In 2005, an excerpt from this novel, Verso Halifax, won second prize at the ninth edition of the Premio Letterario Cosseria in Cosseria, Italy. Her first novel, The Girls of Piazza d’Amore, (Linda Leith Publishing, 2013), was shortlisted for the Concordia First Novel Award by the Quebec Writers’ Federation. Her second novel, The Women of Saturn, (Inanna Publications, 2017) was translated into Italian and published in 2021 by Rubbettino Editore as Le donne di Saturno. This translated version won second prize at the 2022 Concorso Letterario Internazionale Citta di Crucoli, Lucrezia Paletta, and a special jury award from the 2022 Premio Vitruvio (Lecce, Italy). A biography of the operatic Quilico family, An Opera in 3 Acts was published in English and French in the fall of 2022 by Linda Leith Publications. The Twelfth Room is her first work of translation. She lives in Montreal and, since 2010, has co-directed Guernica Editions.