Martha Silano

Poet

Bellevue, WA
Washington US
Email: 
marthasilano@gmail.com
Website: 
bluepositive.blogspot.com

Author's Bio

Martha Silano has authored five poetry books, including Gravity Assist (Saturnalia Books, 2019), The Little Office of the Immaculate Conception, winner of the 2010 Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize and a Washington State Book Award finalist, and Reckless Lovely (Saturnalia Books, 2014).  She also coauthored, with Kelli Russell Agodon, of The Daily Poet: Day-By-Day Prompts For Your Writing Practice. 

Silano's poems have appeared in Poetry, Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, Paris Review, AGNI, North American Review, American Poetry Review, New Ohio Review, Prairie Schooner, Crab Orchard Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Kenyon Review Online, ​Blackbird, Copper Nickel,  Mississippi Review, and elsewhere. Her poem "Love" appears in The Best American Poetry 2009. She taught at Bellevue College. Silano died at the age of sixty-three on May 5, 2025.

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:
Poems in Books & Anthologies: FEAST: Poetry and Recipes for a Full Seating at Dinner (Black Lawrence Press, 2014)
,
St Peter’s B-list: Contemporary Poems Inspired by the Saints (Ave Maria Press, 2014)
,
Alive at the Center (Ooligan Press, 2013)
,
The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop (Wind Publications, 2013)
,
A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poetry (Akron University Press, 2012)
,
The Poetry Gymnasium: Exercises for Your Imagination (MacFarland & Company Inc, 2011)
,
Seriously Funny: Poems About Love, God, War, Art, Sex, Madness, and Everything Else (University of Georgia Press, 2010)
,
Starting Today: Poems for Obama’s First 100 Days (University of Iowa Press, 2010)
,
The Best American Poetry Series (Scribner, 2009)
,
The Working Poet: Seventy-Five Exercises in Poetry Writing (Autumn House Press, 2009)
,
Letters to the World: Poems from the WOM-PO Listserv (Red Hen Press, 2008)
,
Not For Mothers Only: Contemporary Poems on Child Getting and Child Rearing (Fence Books, 2008)
,
White Ink: Poems on Mothers & Motherhood (Demeter Press, 2008)
,
Long Journey: Contemporary Northwest Poets (Oregon State University Press, 2007)
,
Birds in the Hand: Fiction and Poetry About Birds (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004)
,
Red, White, & Blues: Poetic Vistas on the Promise of America (University of Iowa Press, 2004)
,
Poetry Daily: 366 Poems from the World’s Most Popular Poetry Website (Source Books, 2003)
,
American Poetry: The Next Generation (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2000)
Books:
Reckless Lovely (Saturnalia Books, 2014)
,
The Little Office of the Immaculate Conception (Saturnalia Books, 2011)
,
Blue Positive (Steel Toe Books, 2006)
,
What the Truth Tastes Like (Nightshade Press, 1999)
Journals:
American Poetry Review
,
Beloit Poetry Journal
,
Cincinnati Review
,
Folio
,
Green Mountains Review
,
Kenyon Review Online
,
Nebraska Review
,
North American Review
,
Paris Review
,
Ploughshares
,
Poetry Daily
,
Prairie Schooner
Prizes won: 

The 2010 Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize The Cincinnati Review's 2013 John and Adele Schiff Poetry Award

More Information

Identifies as: 
Italian American
Born in: 
New Brunswick, NJ
New Jersey
Raised in: 
Metuchen, NJ
New Jersey
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Jul 24, 2025