This past weekend, I Am Books, an independent Italian American bookstore in the North End of Boston, the city’s historic Italian immigrant neighborhood, hosted its first Idea festival, “an Italian-inspired festival of books, authors, and culture”, according to its website. I Am Books is the first bookstore Italian American bookstore in the US, opened just three years ago but already an epicenter of cultural life in the neighborhood.

There was a wide array of events at the festival, ranging from silent film screenings to discussions on how to raise American children as Italian parents, but a few of the events revolved specifically around Italian American themes and issues. Two of these were “Getting Italian Americans Into Print: Publishers and Editors Talk” and “Italian American Poetry,” both on Saturday. Together, they exposed an Italian American community with a strong sense of identity as well as a desire to be heard and recognized for their unique viewpoint.