Maria Giura 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 in October 2019 and What My Father Taught Me published by Bordighera Press in 2018. (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 by Joann Beard Limbo by A. Manette Ansay When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago The Story of A Soul Saint Therese of Lisieux Vertigo by Louise DeSalvo The Slow Art of Writing by Louise DeSalvo The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr All of 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 by Julia Cameron The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On by Dawn Eden 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 by Betty Smith The Fortunate Pilgrim by Mario Puzo
