Bensonhurst native to present Brooklyn-inspired stories
Brooklyn BookBeat
Author, poet and playwright John Biscello is a Bensonhurst native, but he’s lived in Taos, NM for the past eleven years. This summer he will be returning to New York to read from various Bensonhurst-inspired stories.
In spite of his geographical distance from Brooklyn, Biscello says that he harbors an undying connection to the borough. “There’s always this Brooklyn ‘movie’ running inside me, 24-7, that I can tune in to,” he told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. “The Brooklyn–inside-me has grown stronger, sharper, more visceral…it’s had time to transform into fiction and personal mythology,” he explained.
Biscello says that his stories are largely inspired by the “character” of his old neighborhood. He recalls Bensonhurst – largely inhabited by working-class Italian-Americans – as having “saltiness, grit, coarseness, and aggressiveness, not to mention the underlying sensitivities and desperation.” Biscello notes that hanging out with his friends, who would rap and tell stories on the streets and in the park, was helpful in developing his ear for dialogue, language, and storytelling. “Some of the greatest oral storytellers and comedians I ever encountered were kids I knew and hung out with when I was younger,” he contends.