Visible Cities : Lockdown to liberation stress to sustainability Aotearoa fiction inspired by Italo Calvino

The celebrated Italian writer Italo Calvinos novel Invisible Cities explored the intersection of reality and imagination over 11 wondrous chapters. A hundred years after his birth 11 emerging writers from Aotearoa have each taken a city from their own country and written a short story that pays tribute to Calvino and addresses the bigger themes that shape their city in the twenty-first century.

Marco Sonzogni is a reader in translation studies and intercultural communication at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington. A widely published scholar, he is also an award-winning translator, poet, editor and cultural activist.

Sydney Shep is a reader in book history and the printer at Wai-te-ata Press, Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington. A widely published scholar, she is also a practising letterpress printer, exhibiting book artist and designer bookbinder.