Maria Mazziotti Gillan is a recipient of the 2014 George Garrett Award for Outstanding Community Service in Literature from AWP, 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). She is the founder/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 Binghamton Center for Writers and the creative writing program, and professor of English at Binghamton University-SUNY. She has published 21 books, including "What Blooms in Winter" (NYQ Books, 2016);"The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets" (Cat in the Sun Books, 2014); "Ancestors’ Song" (Bordighera Press, 2013); "The Silence in an Empty House" (NYQ Books, 2013); "Writing Poetry to Save Your Life: How to Find the Courage to Tell Your Stories" (MiroLand, Guernica Editions, 2013); "The Place I Call Home" (NYQ Books, 2012); and "What We Pass On: Collected Poems 1980-2009" (Guernica Editions, 2010). With her daughter Jennifer, she is co-editor of four anthologies. Visit her website at www.mariagillan.com [2].