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 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 The Story of A Soul Saint Therese of Lisieux The Reed of God Caryll Houselander 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 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