Annemarie Schiavi Pedersen’s stories are a rare chance for readers to visit the Italian Renaissance, a time of artistic enlightenment and medieval darkness. Those passions create a dangerous mix for her sensual and sometimes scandalous characters.
The proud Italian descendant of a gear-maker and secretary/homemaker, Annemarie lives in metro Detroit with her handsome, motor-head husband Brian. Between working on her stories and texting all day with the rest of her family—her three kids, their spouses, and the bellissimi grandchildren—she’s constantly writing.
She shares a blood line with Petrarch, the Renaissance poet whose lyrical prose about smiles and eyes inspired Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa—and who, like Annemarie, was a natural-born crier. The following poem (probably written by Petrarch as he wept) is Annemarie’s favorite.
I feed my heart with sighs, that’s all it asks,
I live on tears, I think I’m born to weep;
I don’t complain of that, since in my state
Weeping is sweeter than you might believe
— Great Uncle Petrarch
Annemarie studied journalism and history at The University of Michigan and is an award-winning author, journalist, and editor.
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It was clear no one believed Rinaldo was able to hurt the bird, and so he was left looking like a fool.
Hummingbird video by Brian Pedersen
Annemarie grows lemons and figs in her garden, like the de’ Medici’s (only she does it in de’ Motown).
“Fig me, again.”
-Capo to Celestina
