Maria Gillan to read at Poets House

This Friday, April 27th, at 7 pm, there will be an Italian American Poetry Festival at Poets House, New York City,which will feature readings of and by poets past and present, including Maria Mazziotti Gillan reading Diane De Prima.

A reception with refreshments and autographed & discounted authors' book will follow the readings.

For more information, see our earlier post.

Gillan Reads For Poetry Month at Voorhees High School

April is National Poetry Month and the English Department at Voorhees High School celebrated with a number of activities, including a visit from poets coordinated by the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry foundation.

Poets that visited Voorhees on Friday, April 20 included Michael Cirelli, Emari DiGiorgio, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Lois Marie Harrod, Charles Johnson and BJ Ward.

Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April, when publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets around the country band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of businesses and non-profit organizations participate through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, and other events.

Maria Mazziotti Gillan at Penn State Worthington Scranton

Renowned poet, author and educator Maria Mazziotti Gillan, visited Penn State Worthington Scranton recently to share some of her works as part of the UNICO Italian Heritage Series at Penn State Worthington Scranton.

Ms. Mazziotti Gillan is the founder and executive director of the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College in Paterson, NJ and the editor of the Paterson Literary Review. She is also the director of the creative writing program and a professor of poetry at Binghamton University-SUNY.

She has published 14 books of poetry and her work has appeared in Prairie Schooner, New Letters, The New York Times, Poetry Ireland, Connecticut Review, The Los Angeles Review, The Christian Science Monitor, LIPS, and Rattle, as well as numerous other journals and anthologies.

Her poems have been read by Garrison Keillor on The Writer’s Almanac, and she has been interviewed and read her poems on National Public Radio’s (NPR) All Things Considered, The Brian Lehrer Show, The Poet and the Poem, and The Leonard Lopate Show, as well as In Honor of National Poetry Month, The Charles Osgood Show on CBS-Radio, Pacifica Radio, and the Voice of America.

She has been featured on several PBS-TV (Public Broadcasting System) programs and her books have been chosen as Editor’s Choice by Booklist, New York Public Library Book List, and one of the American Library Association’s Outstanding Books for Lifelong Learners.

Her poems are included on state and national tests in North Carolina, Tennessee, Minnesota, Texas and Italy.

In addition to her recent appearance at Penn State Worthington Scranton, she has read her poems numerous times at universities, festivals and poetry centers throughout the USA and in Italy, France, Yugoslavia, Finland, Wales and Ireland. The Maria Mazziotti Gillan Collection of her papers is housed at the Binghamton University Libraries.

The program that hosted Ms. Mazziotti Gillan was made possible thanks to a permanent endowment established by the Scranton Chapter of UNICO National. The endowment funds a three-tiered program in Italian Studies, Heritage and Culture at Worthington Scranton that focuses on academics, co-curricular and out-of-classroom experiences, as well as community outreach.


UNICO National is an Italian American, membership-based service organization that works to increase the prestige of the Italian American community through its activities and volunteer efforts in the community and for various charities, as well as scholarship awards, fundraising efforts and holiday observances.


Penn State Worthington Scranton and the Scranton Chapter of UNICO National have enjoyed a very positive relationship for the past several years by virtue of an endowed scholarship the group created in 2002. This fund has been of tremendous assistance in helping local students pursue a Penn State education close to home.

source: http://www.sn.psu.edu/Information/News/31407.htm

Gillan to Read at Italian American Poetry Festival

On April 27th (Friday) at 7 pm, there will be an Italian American Poetry Festival at Poets House, New York City, hosted by Daniela Gioseffi.

This event is free and open to all. It will feature readings of and by poets past and present, including:

• Peter Covino reading Joseph Ceravalo
• Donna Masini reading Lawrence Ferlinghetti
• Maria Mazziotti Gillan reading Diane De Prima
• Daniela Gioseffi reading Alfredo de Palchi
• George Guida reading Paul Violi
• Robert Viscusi reading Emanuel Carnevali
• and a special Mystery Guest reading John Ciardi

A reception with refreshments and autographed & discounted authors' book will follow the readings.

Poets House is at 10 River Terrace, corner of Murray St. Battery Park City, Lower West side of Manhattan.  All trains to Chamber’s Street & City Hall vicinity.  See PoetsHouse.org





This event funded by and made possible by Daniela Gioseffi, Editor/Publisher, American Book Award winning author of  Blood Autumn: Poems New and Selected, (Autunno di sangue) Folios/Bordighera Press, winner of the 2007 John Ciardi Award for Lifetime Achievement.

PCCC Fourth Annual Faculty-Staff Poetry Reading

In celebration of National Poetry Month, Passaic County Community College will hold its Fourth Annual Faculty-Staff Poetry Reading.

Tuesday, April 3

1:10-2:30 PM

in the Paterson Room on the Paterson Main Campus

(directions and map)

Come hear the writing of PCCC's poetic community. Featured readers will include Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Richard Marranca, Ken Ronkowitz, Elizabeth Nesius and Susan Balik. Admission is free and it is open to the public.

The reading will be followed by an open reading for any PCCC faculty, staff, or students.