Maria Giura PhD grew up in the Dyker Heights section of Brooklyn, NY, a neighborhood that she adored and that finds its way into much of her writing. She is the author of Celibate: A Memoir published by Apprentice House Press, which won First Place in the 2020 Independent Press Awards, and What My Father Taught Me published by Bordighera Press. (WMFTM is a collection of memory poems and was a finalist for the Paterson Book Prize.) Her writing has also appeared in many journals including Prime Number, Presence, VIA, Italian Americana, Ovunque Siamo, Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival, Wagner Magazine, Godspy, Lips, and Tiferet and has won awards from the Academy of American Poets, the Paterson Literary Review, and the Center for Women Writers. She was also a finalist for the Milton Center Fellowship and is a judge for the Lauria/Frasca Poetry Prize. She reads excerpts from her memoir at numerous universities, writers’ groups, and professional organizations, and is a workshop leader on topics including writing memoir and contemplative prayer. Maria has also written for television— Telecare TV, The Christophers, CBS Newspath, and New Morning TV. Maria has taught Literature and Writing at St. John’s University, Montclair State University, and Binghamton University where she earned her PhD in English. She lives in NYC.

     Some of Her Favorite Reads:
The Boys of My Youth Joann Beard 
Limbo A. Manette Ansay
When I Was Puerto Rican Esmeralda Santiago
The Story of A Soul Saint Therese of Lisieux
Vertigo Louise DeSalvo
The Slow Art of Writing Louise DeSalvo  
The Art of Memoir Mary Karr
Maria Mazziotti Gillan's books of poetry including, What We Pass On, The Blooms in Winter, The Silence in the Empty House, and The Place I Call Home
Looking for the Gulf Motel, poems by Richard Blanco
The Right to Write Julia Cameron
The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde 
Manhattan When I Was Young Mary Cantwell
The Dream Book edited by Helen Barolini
Selected Poems T.S. Eliot
The Essential Rumi translations by Coleman Barks
The Unwilling Celibates, A Spirituality for Single Adults by Jean Sheridan 
The Daily Reader for Contemplative Living: Excerpts from the Works of Father Thomas Keating OCSO
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith
The Fortunate Pilgrim Mario Puzo