Background
Costanzo was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1949 and grew up in Linden, New Jersey with her parents and brother Keith.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Charlene Costanzo
Edit ProfileCareer
She also facilitates experiential workshops. She is best known as the author of The Twelve Gifts collection of books She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Saint Bonaventure University and an Master of Arts in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica.
Costanzo says that helping children of all ages to build inner strength and self-worth is the primary intention of her work.
In 1999, she published the book and discussed its message in hospitals, churches, prisons, and schools throughout the United States in what she called the Polished Stone Tour. At the end of that tour, Costanzo sold rights for the independently-published book to HarperCollins.
Costanzo’s second, book, The Twelve Gifts for Healing was written while she was in treatment for advanced Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2001. Costanzo said of the book: “Cancer led me to examine my convictions and look at these life gifts more deeply.
Truly, they helped me heal.” Her third book, The Twelve Gifts in Marriage was published in 2005.
In 2011 Costanzo published The Thirteenth Gift, a novella. In 2012 she published Touchstones: Stories for Living The Twelve Gifts, a narrative of stories that demonstrate the gifts at work in everyday life.
Achievements
-
Costanzo won the Glyph Best Book Award for The Twelve Gifts of Birth. The Glyph Best Inspirational/Spiritual Book for The Twelve Gifts of Birth. The Glyph Best Gift Book for The Twelve Gifts of Birth. The ForeWord Magazine Bronze Award for The Twelve Gifts of Birth. MIPA awards for The Twelve Gifts of Birth in three categories. A Gold IPPY Award for The Thirteenth Gift. A Silver IPPY for Touchstones: Stories for Living The Twelve Gifts, and the SCOTTY for outstanding literary achievement for The Twelve Gifts of Birth.
