Background
She was the daughter of Luisa Sisco and Luigi Petrone and sister to the lawyer Alfred Petrone. She was born in Portuguese Arthur, Ontario (now part of Thunder Bay).
educator executive philanthropist writer
She was the daughter of Luisa Sisco and Luigi Petrone and sister to the lawyer Alfred Petrone. She was born in Portuguese Arthur, Ontario (now part of Thunder Bay).
She received her Doctorate in English Literature from the University of Alberta. Her research on the Canadian poet Isabella Valancy Crawford resulted in two books: The Selected Short Stories of Isabella Valancy Crawford and The Fairy Tales of Isabella Valancy Crawford. Petrone also pioneered the critical study of aboriginal literature in Canada with her landmark books First People, First Voices and Northern Voices.
Her Native Literature in Canada was the first book-length history of the literature of Canada"s First Peoples.
Foreign this ground-breaking research, Petrone was made an honorary Indian Chief by the Gull Bay Ojibwa and gained international recognition. After her retirement from Lakehead University, Petrone"s scholarly focus shifted to the study of her Italian heritage.
She formed "I Literati", a local reading group which focused on Italy"s cultural heritage in the fields of literature, art, music, history and film as well as on the Italian immigrant experience in North America.