Italian Women in Black Dresses

by Maria Mazziotti Gillan

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.

Genres: Poetry

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 29, 2002

About the author

Maria Mazziotti Gillan is a recipient of the 2011 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award from Poets & Writers, and the 2008 American Book Award for her book, All That Lies Between Us (Guernica Editions). Her latest book is What We Pass On: Collected Poems 1980-2009 (Guernica Editions, 2010).

She is the Founder and Executive Director of the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College in Paterson, NJ, and editor of the Paterson Literary Review. She is also Director of the Creative Writing Program and Professor of Poetry at Binghamton University-SUNY.

She has published twelve books of poetry, including The Weather of Old Seasons (Cross-Cultural Communications), and Where I Come From, Things My Mother Told Me, and Italian Women in Black Dresses (Guernica Editions). With her daughter Jennifer, she is co-editor of four anthologies: Unsettling America, Identity Lessons, and Growing Up Ethnic in America (Penguin/Putnam) and Italian-American Writers on New Jersey (Rutgers).

Maria was born and raised in Paterson, New Jersey, attended Paterson public schools and is a graduate of Eastside High School. She now lives in Hawthorne, New Jersey.

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Triggers many memories. Often sad, and moving.

Notes:
11... Blessed
43... In the Stacks at the Paterson Public Library
51... Bed ... I'd see those years as the treasure I'd try to recreate in poems and stories
53... Going to the Movies
56... Learning to Sing
63... So Many Secrets
93... Sometimes I Forget That You're Dead
142... Learning How to Love Myself

[Jacquelyn Fusco · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad I saw this poet on NJTV and looked her up! I was so excited to hear about an Italian-American poet writing about her life. I love her poems and have lents my books to my mom to read.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful collection of poems. The beginning especially really resonated with me; I pictured my family living in Brooklyn as Italian immigrants, putting peaches in their wine.

Maria Mazziotti Gillan writes about grief, complicated relationships, and her own identity growing up in clear, direct lines that read quickly yet linger for awhile.