Book Launch: Ghosts of Ortona by Ian Cosh
About this event
Join Library and Archives Canada for a conversation with writer and anthropologist Ian Cosh about his new book, Ghosts of Ortona: Reckoning with the Traumas of Canadian World War II Veterans.
More than fifty years after the Battle of Ortona, Cosh began listening to the people who had lived through it. Based on extensive conversations with Canadian veterans, German veterans, and Italian civilians, Ghosts of Ortona explores what happens to memories of war over a lifetime and the tensions between lived experience and public remembrance. It is also a reflection on listening, the relationships formed through research, and what can be understood differently when we return years later to the stories we have been told.
In conversation with war art historian Dr. Sarafina Pagnotta, Cosh will discuss the questions these encounters raised about violence, trauma, and reconciliation, as well as what he came to understand differently through the process of writing the book. Their conversation will also consider some of the connections between veterans’ memories and Canadian war art.
The evening will include a reading from Ghosts of Ortona, followed by a book signing. The interview portion of this event will be audio recorded and may be used in a podcast series.
About the author
Ian Cosh is a writer and anthropologist based in Toronto. His work brings together oral history, ethnography, archival research, and literary nonfiction. His first book, Ghosts of Ortona: Reckoning with the Traumas of Canadian World War II Veterans (Sutherland House, 2026), draws on extensive conversations with Canadian veterans, Italian civilians, and German veterans to examine the long aftermath of war and the uneasy relationship between lived experience and public memory.
About the moderator
Dr. Sarafina Pagnotta is a Canadian war art historian specializing in 20th-century war art and material culture. She has worked with Canada’s leading cultural institutions, teaches at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, and is currently writing her first book on Canadian soldier art.
Sessions
A book signing organized by Perfect Books will take place after the conversation.
Parking
Paid parking spaces are available at 395 Wellington Street, on the west side of the building. Parking meters and public parking lots can also be found on the surrounding streets.
Bike racks are also available in front of the building.
Several OC Transpo and Société de transport de l’Outaouais bus routes serve stops located near 395 Wellington Street.
Stay in touch
Do you have questions about this event? Email us at evenements-events@bac-lac.gc.ca.