Albert Russo who has published worldwide over 65 books of poetry, fiction and photography, in English and in French, his two mother-tongues, is the recipient of many awards, such as The American Society of Writers Fiction Award, The British Diversity Short Story Award, several New York Poetry Forum Awards, Amelia Prose and Poetry awards and the Prix Colette, among others.  His work has been translated into a dozen languages, including German, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Turkish, Bengali and Polish, and broadcast by the World Service of the BBC, publishing on the five continents, in 22 countries.  He has also garnered several prizes for his photography books, Indie Excellence awards, among others.  He was a member of the 1996 jury for the prestigious Neustadt International Prize for Literature which often leads to the Nobel Prize of Literature.  His hilarious Zapinette stories have been acclaimed in America, Great Britain, India and Continental Europe. http://www.albertrussobilingual.com/ 

Zapinette, a sharp-tongued and whimsical teenager of American, French and Italian descent, lives with her mother, a staunch ‘felinist’ who owns a beauty parlor in Paris, as well as with Firmin, the latter’s boyfriend.  The girl however feels much closer to her ‘Unky Berky’, in spite of the fact that he is “such a weirdo at times and can get on her bloomin’ nerves”.  Through Firmin, ‘the vermin’, she learns that her beloved uncle is a ‘homey setchual’.  They will travel together to Italy, Switzerland, New York and, finally, South Africa, experiencing a rollercoaster of extraordinary adventures.