Victoria Fante Cohen, at Zócalo’s panel celebrating her father John Fante, read an excerpt from his West of Rome. The story features a father grumbling about the antics of his grown daughter, Tina, who returns home to do laundry and purloin olive oil. “After that book was written, my father and mother called me out on the patio,” Fante Cohen said, “and explained to me that I should not misunderstand, I was not Tina, that this was a fictitious character. I’m sure I stomped out.” Learn more about Fante Cohen below.
Q. What do you wake up to?
A. I live in Malibu, and I wake up to the sun coming through my window.
Q. What music have you listened to today?
A. Motown.
Q. What do you find beautiful?
A. Life.
Q. How would you describe yourself in five words or fewer?
A. Fortunate, happy, grateful.
Q. If you could take only one more journey, where would you go?
A. Italy.
Q. What is your favorite cocktail?
A. All of them.
Q. What is your most prized material possession?
A. Old family photos.
Q. Who is the one person living or dead that you’d most love to have a beer with?
A. My father and ask him all the questions I didn’t ask him as a child. As a child I had no clue who he was and what he knew.
To read more about Fante Cohen’s panel on her father, click here.
*Photo by Aaron Salcido.