Maria Petringa
Maria Petringa was interviewed for BookCast by Fairfax County Public Library Director Sam Clay.
Maria Petringa is the author of Brazza, A Life for Africa, the biography of a humanitarian 19th-century explorer. She became interested in her subject while living in Brazzaville in the Republic of the Congo and wondered why the town was named for a white colonial.
She researched the book in France, Italy and Congo-Brazzaville. She met with the explorer's Italian and American descendants. The book is a National Sons of Italy 2007 Book Club selection.
Born in Boston, a graduate of Harvard and the Sorbonne Nouvelle, Petringa has spent her adult life in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. She has worked as a teacher and translator, and is now a non-fiction writer and art critic. She lives in Paris.
From a review: "This is a fascinating story of a truly inspiring man . . . Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza. I had very little knowledge of . . . this hero who was so beloved in Paris - and surprisingly, the Congo."
About Brazza, A Life for Africa.