Maria Giura is the author of Celibate: A Memoir, which won a 1st Place Independent Press Award and What My Father Taught Me, a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Book Prize. Her writing has appeared in New York Quarterly, Prime Number, I-70, Liguorian, Presence, Midstory, Voices in Italian Americana, Lips and the Paterson Literary Review. An Academy of American Poets winner, Giura has taught writing at multiple universities including Binghamton University where she received her PhD in English. She currently teaches writing workshops for Casa Belvedere Cultural Foundation.