Background
Maria Gillan was born on March 12, 1940, in Paterson, New Jersey, the United States, to Arturo (a janitor and boilermaker) and Angelina Suhiavo (a seamstress) Mazziotti.
400 S Orange Ave, South Orange, NJ 07079, USA
Maria Mazziotti Gillan graduated from Seton Hall University with a bachelor's degree.
New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
Maria Mazziotti Gillan graduated from New York University with a master's degree in Literature. She enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Drew University from 1977-1980.
(A multicultural array of poets explore what it is means t...)
A multicultural array of poets explore what it is means to be American This powerful and moving collection of poems stretches across the boundaries of skin color, language, ethnicity, and religion to give voice to the lives and experiences of ethnic Americans.
https://www.amazon.com/Unsettling-America-Anthology-Contemporary-Multicultural/dp/014023778X/?tag=2022091-20
1994
(Stories navigating the complicated terrain of race in Ame...)
Stories navigating the complicated terrain of race in America, from acclaimed writers like Toni Morrison, E.L. Doctorow, Sandra Cisneros, Sherman Alexie, and Amy Tan The editors who brought us Unsettling America and Identity Lessons have compiled a short-story anthology that focuses on themes of racial and ethnic assimilation.
https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Up-Ethnic-America-Contemporary/dp/0140280634/?tag=2022091-20
1999
(In stories and poems that explore how our society shapes ...)
In stories and poems that explore how our society shapes us, Identity Lessons features a wide array of ethnic perspectives on growing up in America.
https://www.amazon.com/Identity-Lessons-Contemporary-Learning-American-ebook/dp/B002SR2PLU/?tag=2022091-20
1999
(Written to read like a memoir, this collection of poetry ...)
Written to read like a memoir, this collection of poetry details the life of a family across generations and provides a moving and haunting portrait of the Italian mother who is the center around which this family revolves. But this is much more than a story about ethnicity; it transcends any single identity and explores instead the many ways in which people learn to identify themselves.
https://www.amazon.com/ITALIAN-WOMEN-BLACK-DRESSES-Essential-ebook/dp/B00DELH74Y/?tag=2022091-20
2002
(Constructed in the form of a memoir, these poems take on ...)
Constructed in the form of a memoir, these poems take on an emotional tone as the author details the story of her life. The collection is populated by her memories of childhood, courtships and marriage, family illness, children, and grandchildren. At its core is a woman struggling to deal with all the complexities of love and the difficulties of achieving compassion and tenderness in the face of adversity. Brave, honest, and beautiful, these poems shed new light on what it means to be human.
https://www.amazon.com/All-That-Lies-Between-Us-ebook/dp/B00DELH05A/?tag=2022091-20
2007
(Maria Mazziotti Gillan weaves a tapestry of one woman's l...)
Maria Mazziotti Gillan weaves a tapestry of one woman's life - wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, grand-daughter, Italian American. Reading these poems in one volume makes us acutely aware of how memory is layered, each new poem adding another detail, another color, another perspective so that we watch as the poet and the people around her change.
https://www.amazon.com/What-Pass-Collected-1980-2009-Essential/dp/1550713043/?tag=2022091-20
2010
(Poetry. The place that Maria Mazziotti Gillan calls home ...)
Poetry. The place that Maria Mazziotti Gillan calls home is a universal haven built of enduring memories and peopled by loving family. In Gillan's newest book of poetry, The Place I Call Home, we share her complex emotions of an immigrant childhood in Paterson, New Jersey, in the 1950s, her long marriage, her husband's devastating illness, and her subsequent widowhood.
https://www.amazon.com/Place-I-Call-Home/dp/1935520679/?tag=2022091-20
2012
(What I hope to accomplish in this book is to give writing...)
What I hope to accomplish in this book is to give writing prompts that will help you to get past all the outside influences that keep you from believing in yourself and in your ability to write. In order to write, you need to get rid of notions about language, poetic form, and esoteric subject matter?
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Poetry-Save-Your-Life/dp/1550717472/?tag=2022091-20
2013
(Poetry. In The Silence in an Empty House, Maria Mazziotti...)
Poetry. In The Silence in an Empty House, Maria Mazziotti Gillan comes to the limit of human experience, stares death in the face, and struggles to keep moving. These moments she faces and speaks of so clearly are unavoidable, and the long illness and death of her husband, Dennis, is her personal version of the fundamental struggle we all face.
https://www.amazon.com/Silence-Empty-House-Mazziotti-Gillan/dp/193552089X/?tag=2022091-20
2013
(Poetry. Italian American Studies. Maria Mazziotti Gillan'...)
Poetry. Italian American Studies. Maria Mazziotti Gillan's Ancestors' Song takes the reader on a journey, one in which she recognizes deep within herself "the voices of the women who came before," their words blending together, forming, as she tells the reader, "the beat I move to."
https://www.amazon.com/Ancestors-Folios-Maria-Mazziotti-Gillan/dp/1599540630/?tag=2022091-20
2013
(The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets combines Maria Mazzio...)
The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets combines Maria Mazziotti Gillan's unique gifts as a visual artist with her already internationally known and prize winning poetry. Gillan’s imagination, whimsical sense of line and vibrant use of colors shine forth through this beautiful picture book in a manner that both compliments and contrasts with the wonderful poems.
https://www.amazon.com/Girls-Chartreuse-Jackets-Mazziotti-Gillan/dp/0991152328/?tag=2022091-20
2014
(In What Blooms in Winter, Maria Mazziotti Gillan finds ca...)
In What Blooms in Winter, Maria Mazziotti Gillan finds cause to celebrate the clarity and comfort of people and times past. This book is a praise song for all that is human and that survives despite grief and loss. It is one woman's story of an immigrant girl growing up in the 1950s in Paterson, NJ, and seeing over a distance of so many years all that she was given to carry into her life as a woman - wife, mother, daughter, grandmother, widow, and arts and eco-activist.
https://www.amazon.com/Blooms-Winter-Maria-Mazziotti-Gillan/dp/1630450111/?tag=2022091-20
2016
(Paterson Light and Shadow tells the stories in poetry and...)
Paterson Light and Shadow tells the stories in poetry and photography of Paterson, New Jersey, from one of the most gifted poets, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, and fine art photographer Mark Hillringhouse.
https://www.amazon.com/Paterson-Light-Shadow-Mazziotti-Gillan/dp/0997779756/?tag=2022091-20
2017
Maria Gillan was born on March 12, 1940, in Paterson, New Jersey, the United States, to Arturo (a janitor and boilermaker) and Angelina Suhiavo (a seamstress) Mazziotti.
Maria Mazziotti Gillan graduated from Eastside High School. She also graduated from Seton Hall University with a bachelor's degree, and from New York University with a master's degree in Literature. She enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Drew University from 1977-1980.
Maria Gillan is the Founder and Executive Director of the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College in Paterson, New Jersey, and editor of the Paterson Literary Review.
Maria Gillan is a Bartle Professor and Professor Emerita of English and creative writing at the Binghamton University-State University of New York.
Maria has published more than twenty books of and about poetry and has edited four anthologies. Her most recent books are the poetry and photography collaboration with Mark Hillringhouse, Paterson Light and Shadow (Serving House Books, 2017) and the poetry collection, What Blooms in Winter (NYQ, 2016). Her collection of poems along with some of her paintings is The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets (Redux Consortium). Other recent publications are Ancestors' Song (Bordighera Press), Writing Poetry to Save Your Life: How to Find the Courage to Tell Your Stories (MiroLand, Guernica) and the bi-lingual poetry collection, In a Place of Flowers & Light (poems in English & Italian with a preface by Elisabetta Marino, edited by Osvaldo Marrocco (San Mauro and Mia Mama).
Maria is co-editor with her daughter Jennifer of four anthologies: Unsettling America, Identity Lessons, and Growing Up Ethnic in America (Penguin/Putnam), Identity Lessons: Contemporary Writing About Learning to Be American (Penguin) and Italian-American Writers on New Jersey (Rutgers).
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, and numerous other journals and anthologies.
Her poems have been read by Garrison Keillor on “The Writer’s Almanac.” 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”, “The Leonard Lopate Show”, as well as “In Honor of National Poetry Month”, “The Charles Osgood Show” on CBS-Radio, also on Pacifica Radio, and the Voice of America. She has also been featured on several PBS-TV (Public Broadcasting System) programs. 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.
Maria has read her poems numerous times at universities, festivals, and poetry centers throughout the USA and in Italy, France, Yugoslavia, Finland, Wales, and Ireland.
(A multicultural array of poets explore what it is means t...)
1994(Written to read like a memoir, this collection of poetry ...)
2002(Paterson Light and Shadow tells the stories in poetry and...)
2017(What I hope to accomplish in this book is to give writing...)
2013(The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets combines Maria Mazzio...)
2014(In stories and poems that explore how our society shapes ...)
1999(Maria Mazziotti Gillan weaves a tapestry of one woman's l...)
2010(In What Blooms in Winter, Maria Mazziotti Gillan finds ca...)
2016(Constructed in the form of a memoir, these poems take on ...)
2007(Stories navigating the complicated terrain of race in Ame...)
1999(A great selection from a fine New Jersey poet.)
1995(Poetry. The place that Maria Mazziotti Gillan calls home ...)
2012(Poetry. In The Silence in an Empty House, Maria Mazziotti...)
2013(Poetry. Italian American Studies. Maria Mazziotti Gillan'...)
2013Maria is married to Dennis P. Gillan (a professor) since June 28, 1964. They have two children: John and Jennifer.