John M. Glionna

Freelance journalist specializing in literary nonfiction. Based in Vegas, baby.

[John M. Glionna @jglionna]

Woot! Advance copies of my book “No Friday Night Lights: Reservation Football on the Edge of America,” a story of losses and lessons on the rural gridiron, is due out in June. Here’s how to order:
https://t.co/MsRP3Odazv

[John M. Glionna @jglionna]

My book, “NO FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: Reservation Football on the Edge of America” will be published next spring by the University of Nebraska Press. You can preorder it now on Amazon, https://t.co/LBxUVD30qL, and Barnes and Noble, https://t.co/Wmj0GumPly. Thanks for taking a look.

[John M. Glionna @jglionna]

Night after night, I have a front row seat to the most wondrous of sports pursuits. I watch my Italian cousins play soccer at a small pitch in the center of town. For me, the feats they can perform with their feet are nothing less than a revelation. https://t.co/ZFTu9mWs6k

[John M. Glionna @jglionna]

Who wields more power in Southern Italy, the president or the pope, the priests or the politicians? In Pomarico, I sense the lessoning power of the Catholic Church and need look no further than my own family to tell the tale. https://t.co/53MxbPjIQ6

[John M. Glionna @jglionna]

For seven long years, the McDermitt Bulldogs were high-school football doormats, a team that never won and lost big. This week, with an untested female player and a walk-on freshman quarterback, they beat their arch-rivals. Winning sure feels good. https://t.co/FGPntv2teL

[John M. Glionna @jglionna]

Giuseppe Passarelli grew up a boy with a shovel, spade and a goal to dig up the past. Today, he’s an archeologist whose backyard brims with antiquity from cultures dating back centuries. For him, it’s all about extended family. https://t.co/W9RqxzWZXo

[John M. Glionna @jglionna]

Bound Together 2023: ALTA Magazine lists my book OUTBACK NEVADA: Real Stories from the SILVER STATE as a preferred nonfiction/travel book to buy for the holidays. WOOT WOOT! Thanks ladies and gents!! https://t.co/5rCBGY04yv

[John M. Glionna @jglionna]

@StevePadilla2 Welcome back, Steve Padilla!

[John M. Glionna @jglionna]

One morning, I accompany my cousin Giovanni to the place where my ancestor await. I met some in life; others died decades ago. But they are all here, in the local cemetery, where it is quiet and everything is in its place. https://t.co/nOCcKQJiNW

[John M. Glionna @jglionna]

@JohnVaillant Congrats John! Can’t wait to dig into this one!

[John M. Glionna @jglionna]

In Pomarico, I meet a young poet who is using his art to fathom the unthinkable: the death of his mother. I see myself in his struggles, his words, as I try to understand my own loss. https://t.co/1jiovfdJ16

[John M. Glionna @jglionna]

Summer is over. It’s time to leave Pomarico. I will remember its sounds, images and its moments. But mostly, I will not forget its people. https://t.co/dYdY0WmuKs

[John M. Glionna @jglionna]

A scholar discovers that his hometown’s entire archival history has been collected in garbage bags and dumped in an old slaughterhouse. A town’s collective memory has been destroyed, just like that. Not on Giovanni Palumbo’s watch. https://t.co/TCCAhTXhHp

[John M. Glionna @jglionna]

A small hill town in Basilicata has a direct family connection to Antonio Vivaldi, one of the world’s greatest Baroque composers? Who knew? https://t.co/E53uWHh3Y6

[John M. Glionna @jglionna]

For decades, Vinnie Palma has run the bar and pizzeria that his father, Antonio, opened 75 years ago. Eventually, the family went to the U.S. to follow the American Dream. After his father’s death, Vinnie came home to keep alive the Italian Dream. https://t.co/MIa8cuxhLo

[John M. Glionna @jglionna]

We went to the sun-drenched town of Bernalda, looking for influences of its newfound benefactor, the Italian-American director Francis Coppola. That’s when we found Bernalda’s real cultural Godfather. https://t.co/5XBtbtekgi

[John M. Glionna @jglionna]

My Italian cousin Bruno has lost something precious in life. And his reaction, the way he handled a devastating family crisis, fills me with awe. It makes me love him like a brother. https://t.co/ObSulzbRJQ

[John M. Glionna @jglionna]

He arrived in Italy from India without knowing a word of the language. A year later, he took a summer-long assignment in a small town far off the beaten track. The way the locals have celebrated him is nothing less than remarkable. https://t.co/9OaJXGYlLk

[John M. Glionna @jglionna]

Carlo Levi was a northerner who remains a hero in Southern Italy, a writer banished by the Fascists who in the mid-1930s exposed the harsh conditions endured by the residents across Basilicata. I have come to trace his footsteps. https://t.co/dadUXgJYsh