Printable view of Robert Piazza

Listed as:

Poet

Public address:

Litchfield, CT

Connecticut US

Bio:

Rob Piazza is an American poet and classical guitarist who earned his MFA in Creative Writing at Fairfield University and his BA in music from Boston College. In addition, he earned his MA at the Bread Loaf School of English, Middlebury College, where he studied with poet Paul Muldoon. He teaches literature and composition at colleges and universities throughout New England. His poems have recently appeared in Helix Literary Magazine at CCSU, The Bookends Review, and Long River Review at UCONN. In 2023, he was a featured reader at the Mad River Literary Festival sponsored by CT State Northwestern. Currently, he serves as Poet Laureate of Litchfield, Connecticut.

Gives readings:

Yes

Travels for readings:

Yes

In which languages are you fluent?:

English

Favorite authors:

Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, WD Snodgrass, WS Merwin, William Stafford, Theodore Roethke, Elizabeth Bishop, Randall Jarrell, James Dickey, Dylan Thomas, Derek Wolcott, Richard Wilbur, Paul Muldoon, Seamus Heaney, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Liz Addonizio, Li Young Lee, & Baron Wormser.

Born in:

Heidelberg

Germany

Raised in:

Pottstown, PA

Pennsylvania

Website:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-piazza-4… [2]

Prizes won:

Recipient of Individual Writers Grant, Litchfield Community Writers Group, January 2025;

Reappointed Poet Laureate of Litchfield, Connecticut, 2024;

Artist of the Month, Feature Article, Litchfield Arts Council, March 2024;

Recipient of Individual Writers Grant, Litchfield Community Writers Group, January 2024;

Headline Poet at Trinity Open-Mic, Torrington, CT, September 2023;

Featured Reader at Mad River Literary Festival sponsored by Northwestern Connecticut Community College, April 2023;

Recipient of Individual Writers Grant, Litchfield Community Writers Group, February 2023;

Featured Reader, Post University Open-Mic, Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, CT, October 2022;

Poet Laureate of Litchfield, Connecticut, 2021;

Honorable Mention for "Boston, 1989" in Robert Haiduke Poetry Prize, Bread Loaf School of English, Middlebury College, 2004;

Poet Laureate, Chatsworth Elementary School, Larchmont, NY, 1980.

Education:

Fairfield University

What I'm reading now:

Poetry as Survival by Gregory Orr

100 Poems to Break Your Heart by Edward Hirsch

This Exquisite Loneliness by Richard Deming

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

He Held Radical Light by Christian Wiman

The Secret Gospel of Mark: A Poet's Memoir by Spencer Reece

Affirmations for Artists by Eric Maisel

A Scrap in the Blessings Jar by David Bottoms

Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry by Jane Hirshfield

Robert Frost: A Life by Jay Parini

The Wild Card: Selected Poems by Karl Shapiro

Writers Retreats:

The Frost Place

Identifies as:

Italian American

Lithuanian American

Prefers to work with:

Any