Tara Betts on Maria Gillan's Influence

Tara Betts is returning to Binghamton University Friday, February 24, for a reading from her new collection Refuse to Disappear. Tara was a student of Maria Gillan and received her Ph.D. in 2014.

In an interview, Tara spoke about Maria's influence on her poetry.

"I came to Binghamton after a dramatic life change, and for some years a dream of mine was to do my PhD. [Professor Emeritus] Maria Gillan was really instrumental in bringing me to the campus — she reached out to me directly, right when I was thinking about applying. When I came up there, I felt like I had done so much as a writer before I got the Ph.D. I had been teaching at Rutgers.

The faculty at Binghamton were very supportive; they wanted to see me win. They really believed in my writing and my work. It was challenging at times because it’s not like living in a major American city, but it did remind me a lot of home. I grew up in a small town, so in some ways, it was comforting. I was able to study and read a lot, and I made some friends that I still stay in touch with from the program. That time was the key to where I am now.

[Maria Gillan] has been in touch with so many amazing writers, including one of my mentors, Afaa Michael Weaver. Without them, I don’t think I would be the poet that I am. They both encourage you not just to write narrative poems. We’re in an era where a lot of people do formal poems and poems that have different kinds of clever structures and conceits, but there’s strength in writing something where you feel vulnerable."

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's newest poetry collection is When the Stars Were Still Visible (2021). Other recent publications are the poetry and photography collection, Paterson Light and Shadow, and the poetry collections What Blooms in Winter and The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets, a pairing of her poems with her paintings.
Maria's artist website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.

Faculty and Their Students Toiling in the Fields of Literature

Maria Mazziotti Gillan, as professor of English and director of the Creative Writing Program and the Binghamton University Center for Writers, works diligently with her graduate students to get their writing out into the world and read. Some alumnus have even become independent publishers and started small presses. These are alumnus that Gillan would call role models for her students.

“What I always do with my students is encourage them to be what I call ‘good literary citizens,’ that is to not only think of themselves but think, ‘Well, what can I do to help other writers and what can I do to increase people’s interest and love of literature?’” Gillan says.

Maria is famous in the poetry world for her indefatigable energy for helping new poets young and old not only write, but also get read.

She is thrilled whenever she receives a note from an alumnus telling her that he or she has had a poem published, a manuscript accepted or has started a magazine or a press.

"You have to spend a long time toiling in the fields of literature. But what you get back is the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve created something, that you’ve made a change in the world."

“I feel that that’s a success for our program and for Binghamton because they’re going out into the world and representing us, and they’re also going out into the Binghamton community and representing us,” Gillan says.

Source: binghamton.edu/news/

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's most recent books are the poetry and photography collection, Paterson Light and Shadow  and the poetry collection, What Blooms in Winter . Her collection of poems along with some of her paintings is The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets . Maria's official website is MariaGillan.com.

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