Albert Russo (born 26 February 1943) is a Belgian bilingual (English and French) author of novels, short stories, essays and poems, as well as a photographer. His main themes are fighting racism of all stripes, and defending individual and collective rights, including ethnic, religious and gender rights.
His first novel, La Pointe du Diable, written in French, and dealing with apartheid, is published in Brussels, (Belgium) in 1973 and the following year he wins both the Prix Colette in Cannes (France) and the Prix de la Liberté in Paris. In 1975 he goes back to New York where he teaches languages to adults, meanwhile he pursues his writing mainly in English and publishes poems and short stories, contributing, both as writer and translator to various magazines, such as Confrontation, The Literary Review, The Poet, Atlas World Review, and Philadelphia Poets. He also translates film scripts for children's documentaries at UNICEF. In 1978 he went back to Europe and decided to live in Paris.
Translated in a dozen languages,[3] Albert Russo has written more than 25 works, including novels, books of short stories and of poetry. Africa is one of his major themes. Mixed Blood (published first by Domhan Books in New York, then by Imago Press in Arizona) garnered the Best Fiction Award in 1985 by Volcano Review in California. Both Mixed Blood and Eclipse over lake Tanganyika were nominated for the 2001 e-books award at the Frankfurt International Book Fair. Among his other novels are Le Cap des Illusions[3] (formerly entitled La Pointe du Diable) republished by Editions du Griot in Paris, France, his humorous Zapinette series[4] (in both English and French), his large volume of short stories, fables and essays The Crowded World of Solitude, vol 1, started in New York in the late 1970s, as well as the bilingual books of poetry Futureyes, and the large volume of poems (40 years of writing) The Crowded World of Solitude, vol 2. He has also produced about 50 books of photography with and without poetic captions.
During the 1980s, having in common their Congolese experience, their love of and their interest for Africa, he befriends the Italian artist and philosopher Joseph Pace, founder in Paris of Filtranisme, a neo-existential philosophical and artistic current.[6][7] In the 2000s he also befriended the poet, artist and photographer Adam Donaldson Powell, with whom he authored in 2009 Gaytude,[8] a volume of poetry encompassing the gay experience on the five continents with photography by Albert Russo.
As a photographer he has garnered several prizes in the US, especially from National Indie-Excellence (winner and finalist), photo pursuit (formerly photo challenge), Gallery Photografica (silver medal). Some of his photos have been exhibited at the Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne (Switzerland).
Albert Russo has had seven books translated into Italian, L'Amante di mio padre (2001),[9]Sangue Misto (2008),[10]Shalom Tower Syndrome (2008),[11]Sotto il Picco de Diavolo (2012),[12][13]Io, Hans, figlio di nazisti (2013)[14] and Zapinette a Parigi (2013).
2020 Artavita certificate of excellence for his photos
Selected bibliography
Novels (in English and in French)
Eclipse over Lake Tanganyika, Domhan Books, USA, 2000, then Imago Press, 2007
Mixed Blood, Domhan Books, USA, 2000, then Imago Press, USA, 2007
Shalom Tower Syndrome, Xlibris, USA, 2007, then Paraguas, 2010
Zany Zapinette New York, Domhan Books, USA, 2000
Oh Zaperetta, Xlibris, USA, 2005
The Benevolent American in the Heart of Darkness, Xlibris, USA, 2005
The Black Ancestor, Imago Press, USA, 2009
Zulu Zapy wins the Rainbow Nation, Cyberwit, India 2010; Poetry Printery, South Africa, 2010
And there was David-Kanza, Imago Press, USA, 2011
Gosh Zapinette (4 of the Series of 7 Books), Imago Press, USA 2012
Mother beloved, Mamica mia Createspace/Amazon, USA 2013
Ode to Mamica mia, Mother beloved, Createspace/Amazon, USA 2013
ZAPINETTE’S BIBLE ODYSSEY continues in Japan, Mexico and the North Pole, series, KDP Amazon 2020– Award-Winning Finalist in the 2020 International Book Awards, in both the humor and fiction & novella categories
MÉMOIRES D’UN FILS DE NAZIS, roman, KDP Amazon 2020
ZAPINNÈT A PARI, romen en fransè fonétik, KDP Amazon 2020
CURIOSITY / CABINET / DE CURIOSITÉS, photobook, KDP Amazon 2020
Livre collectif: DES ITALIENS AU CONGO, AUX ITALIENS DU CONGO, l’Harmattan, 2020, avec étude de Sang Mêlé d’Albert Russo
HOLYLAND ZAPINETTE, translated into Hebrew זאפי בארץ הקודש, Saar Publishing, Tel Aviv, 2019, KDP Amazon edition, 2020
SPEAK TO ME MOTHER BELOVED, large book of poems and photos, l’Aleph, Sweden, 2019
CALL ME CHAMELEON, a memoir of prose, poetry and photos, 1,113 page-long e-book, l’Aleph, Sweden, 2019,- 2019 Book Excellence Award Finalist
UNDER THE SHIRTTAILS OF ALBERT RUSSO, biography by Adam Donaldson Powell, l’Aleph, Sweden, 2017
GOSH SZAPINETTE! The first ever series of Global Humor, Cyberwit.net, 2016 – 2018 Book Excellence Award Honoree
La série de 6 Zapinette et son Tonton homo, Editions Textes Gais, Paris, 2016 & 2015
A RAINBOW NAMED TEL AVIV, photobook, KDP Amazon, 2015
L’AMANT DE MON PÈRE – JOURNAL PARISIEN, Editions Textes Gais, Paris, 2015
L’AMANT DE MON PÈRE – JOURNAL ROMAIN, Editions Textes Gais, Paris, 2015
PRINCES AND GODS, novel, l’Aleph, Sweden, 2014
EUR-AFRICAN EXILES, novel, l’Aleph, Sweden, 2014
ADOPTED BY AN AMERICAN HOMOSEXUAL IN THE BELGIAN CONGO, l’Aleph, Sweden, 2014
LÉODINE OF THE BELGIAN CONGO, novel, l’Aleph, Sweden, 2014
SANDRO’S NOTEBOOK – EUR-AFRICAN EXILES Movie by Albert Russo, 90', Wildsound Festival, Canada, 2014
זאפי בארץ – Holyland Zapinette translated into Hebrew by Isabella Arad .20 .2019, Saar publishing, Tel Aviv – הקודש
Novels (in Italian)
L’amante di mio padre, Edizioni Libreria Croce, 2001
