Breidenbaugh Hall in Spring 2023. (Photo Alyssa Guevara/The Gettysburgian)
By Liv Smith, Contributing Writer
Emerging writer lecturer and professor Rachele Salvini read from her upcoming book during an event held by the English department today. Salvini has taught in this position for four years, with this semester being her last at the College.
Salvini grew up in Livorno, Italy and attended the University of Florence for her undergraduate degree. She received her Ph.D in English from Oklahoma State University and her M.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Westminster in London.
Salvini has published works in both English and Italian with a focus in fiction and creative nonfiction. She writes on various topics such as gender, mental illness and addiction. Salvini also studies the relationship between humans and nature, which is the focus of her current project.
Her first published work was a chapbook named “Oklahoma Bestiary,” which was also a runner-up for 2023 Quarterly West Chapbook Award.
Salvini was introduced by Fred G. Leeborn, an English professor and colleague of Salvini. Leeborn stated, “[Salvini] is the longest serving, most adored emerging writer lecturer in our history of 22 emerging lecturers over 27 years.”
She then introduces herself and her current project, a fiction book, “Come Over Here Girl.”
Regarding her novel, Salvini remarks, “It’s about Oklahoma, and I’ve just been thinking about the relationship between the way that humans treat animals and nature, and how it reflects on how we treat each other across cultures and socio-economic classes.”
The piece of her book that she shares takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is about a single mother and her young daughter. The daughter becomes friends with a 13-year-old boy, Tucker, who she first finds crushing tadpoles with a rock. Tucker greets the girl, saying, “come over here girl,” and later takes her on an adventure to find Bigfoot.
Upon their adventure, Tucker pulls the girl into what he claims is a cave that Bigfoot hides in and kisses the girl. After concluding her reading, Salvini is asked what her inspiration was for this book, and reveals that it was inspired by a young boy she had class with in Italy and had brought her behind a bush to kiss her.
It is unclear at this time as to when Salvini plans to publish the book. A complete list of her publications can be found here.
