Kate Driscoll Receives Scaglione Publication Award for a Manuscript in Italian Literary Studies
Kate Driscoll is assistant professor of Romance Studies at Duke University.
The Modern Language Association of America is awarding its 28th annual Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Publication Award for a Manuscript in Italian Literary Studies to Kate Driscoll, assistant professor of Romance Studies. Her manuscript, "Tasso and Women Readers: Literary Hospitality in Early Modern Italy," will be published by Cambridge University Press.
The award is one of 23 that will be presented on January 9, 2026 during the association’s annual convention, to be held in Toronto. The members of the selection committee were Martin Eisner (Duke Univ.); Elena Margarita Past (Wayne State Univ.); and Alessia Ricciardi (Northwestern Univ.), chair.
Founded in 1883, the Modern Language Association of America and its over 20,000 members in 100 countries work to strengthen the study and teaching of languages and literature. The MLA sustains one of the finest publication programs in the humanities, producing a variety of publications for language and literature professionals and for the general public. The Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Publication Award for a Manuscript in Italian Literary Studies is awarded under the auspices of the association’s Committee on Honors and Awards. The Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Endowment Fund was established and donated by Aldo Scaglione to the Modern Language Association in 1987. The fund honors the memory of Scaglione’s late wife, Jeanne Daman Scaglione.
The committee’s citation for the winning manuscript reads:
Kate Driscoll’s "Tasso and Women Readers: Literary Hospitality in Early Modern Italy" situates Torquato Tasso in new company: the female patrons, poets, and performers whose support for the poet were crucial to his legacy. In clear and engaging prose, Driscoll brings Tasso’s writings into dialogue with theories of horizontal patronage and literary hospitality, showing how his writings directed to women were premised on accoglienza, a reciprocal relational dynamic. Rather than the canonical, tortured, and isolated figure Tasso is often remembered to be, the poetic milieu that emerges in "Tasso and Women Readers" is communal and responsive. Alongside the poet, the book elevates a vital community of women patrons and artists, opening vibrant new perspectives on readers and readership.