Native New Yorker, and Queens born and bred, Maria Lisella is the sixth winner in the competition for Queens Poet Laureate and the first Italian American. She is the author of the collection, Thieves in the Family (NYQ Books), and two chapbooks Amore on Hope Street (Finishing Line Press) and Two Naked Feet (Poets Wear Prada).

She is the Poetry Editor for VIA: Voices in Italian Americana (Bordighera Press), co-curates the Italian American Writers Association reading series now in its 31st year, and is a charter member of the online poetry circle, brevitas.

Cited for Honorable Mention for the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award several times, Lisella has led several series of Writing Workshops for the Queens Public Library, SAGE with the Teachers and Writers Collaborative, Heights & Hills Brooklyn Older Adults Program, the The Noguchi Museum, Greater Astoria Historical Association and the Writers Guild Initiative with the Body Politic.

She is an award-winning travel and culture writer whose work appears in Never Stop Traveling, the bilingual La Voce di New York, USA TODAY and The Jerusalem Post.