Daniela Gioseffi

Poet, Fiction Writer, Creative Nonfiction Writer, Spoken Word Artist

Maplewood, NJ
New Jersey US
Twitter/X: 

Author's Bio

Daniela Gioseffi is an American Book Award winning author of 18 books of poetry & prose. She edits www.Eco-Poetry.org/  including the finest poets of our time. Her latest book of poems is WAGING BEAUTY as the Polar Bear Dreams of Ice, http://amzn.to/2q0I89H. Her 6th book of poetry BLOOD AUTUMN; Autuonno di sangue, in bilingual edition received The John Ciardi Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry, 2008, and her first EGGS IN THE LAKE (Boa Editions) contained poems which won a NY State Council for the Arts Award in Poetry. She has read her work at colleges, universities, theatres, and cultural venues throughout the USA & Europe, to enthusiastic audiences. Daniela is a skilled performer as well as widely published poet, novelist, essayist and literary critic. Daniela appears on nationally syndicated radio shows, The Poet & the Poem, of the Library of Congress, sponsored by The National Endowment for the Arts https://www.loc.gov/poetry/media/avfiles... She's also read her work on NPR's "All Things Considered", BBC, CBS, Pacifica Radio and other TV & radio stations throughout the USA & abroad. She's won grant awards from The NY State Council for the Arts in both poetry & fiction, and appeared at most major poetry venues including national and international book fairs: The Peoples Poetry Gathering of Poets House in Manhattan, Barcelona Book Fair, Miama Book Fair, NY & Brooklyn Book Fairs, and at the United Nations, as a featured reader/speaker. Her latest novel, The Story of Emily Dickinson's "Master" with a non-fiction essay upon which it's based; "Lover of Science & Scientist in Dark Days of the Republic," has won sterling reviews for its revelatory disclosures and scholarly non-fiction essay. The Dickinson book The Story of Emily Dickinsonn's 'Master" is now in an e-book available on line for all e-readers. Daniela has taught Creative Writing & World Literature throughout the Met. Area. She created The First Brooklyn Bridge Poetry Walk in 1972 written of in A Cultural History of the Brooklyn Bridge, by Richard Haws, and featuring famous musician David Amram as well as accomplished poets. Daniela has had plays produced Off-off B'way and is featured on several video readings and interviews on Youtube channel at "Daniela Gioseffi" and on her new website www.DanielaGioseffi.com
           Her latest book published in 2020  is #MeToo, Anch'io
https://amzn.to/2BpmE12
          Throughout her venerable career as a multicultural pioneer, poet & prose author, as well as editor of prize winning anthologies of world literature, she has championed a multi-cultural canon. As a perfromer of multi-media poetry, she has appeared at The Brooklyn Museum, Mecca Milwaukee, The Academy of American Poets, The Poetry Society of America, Poets House, NY, the Geraldine R. Dodge National Poetry Festival, and The United Nations, as well as on college and university campuses throughout the USA and Europe. She always receives a big round-up applause for her readings and performances, and began her career as an intern journalist devoted to Civil Rights in the days of the Freedom Rides. She's been an Equity actress in classical theatre and toured with the National Players, as well as been a professional, mainstream jazz singer, and taught as a Poet-in-Residence at many institutions of learning. One of her latest seminars was given at Poets House, NY and titled Transcendtalism in American Poetry from Dickinson and Whitman to the Present. It was attended by a packed and enthusiastic audience. She has taught workshops titled "How to Avoid Rhetoric in Writing Ecological Poetry to Inspire your Audience and Humanize Your Themes," and is available to do so at a nominal fee, tailored to your needs, because of her interest in teaching such a workshop. She has recently appeared at Hofstra U., St. John's U., Seaton Hall U., CUNY Calandra Institute, The Maya Daren Theatre, screening Author and Activist and giving readings for and discussions with the audience.

Writers Retreats: 

Publications & Prizes

Creative Nonfiction

Anthology:
Women on War: International Writings..., AMERICAN BOOK AWARD WINNER (Feminist Press at CUNY, 2003)
Books:
Pioneering Italian American Culture: Escaping la Vita della Cucina (Bordighera: VIA FOLIOS: Calandra Inst' CUNY, 2013)
,
On Prejudice: A Global Perspective (Anchor/Doubleday, 1993)

Fiction

Books:
The Story of Emily Dickinson's Master: E-Book (Amazon Crossing, 2013)
,
Wild Nights, Wild Nights (Plain View Press, Austin, TX, 2010)
,
In Bed with the Exotic Enemy: Stories and Novella (Avisson Press, 1995)
,
The Great American Belly... (Bantam/Doubleday/Dell, 1979)
,
The Great American Belly Dance (Doubleday, 1977)
Journals:
Ms.
,
Paris Review
, , ,
The Nation

Poetry

Books:
Waging Beauty as the Polar Bear Dreams of Ice (Poets Wear Prada, 2017)
,
Blood Autumn (Bordighera: VIA FOLIOS: Calandra Inst' CUNY, 2007)
,
Symbiosis: Poems (Rattapallax Press, 2002)
,
Going On: Poems (Bordighera: VIA FOLIOS: Calandra Inst' CUNY, 2000)
,
Word Wounds and Water Flowers (Bordighera: VIA FOLIOS: Calandra Inst' CUNY, 1995)
,
Eggs in the Lake (BOA Editions, Ltd., 1977)

Spoken Word

Performances:
College Campuses; USA & Europe (2010)
,
WNYC, BBC, WBAI Pacifica Radio, NPR (2009)
,
The United Nations (2004)
,
Bowery Poetry Club (2003)
,
CUNY Graduate Center, Manhattan (2003)
,
National Public Radio, All Things Considered (2003)
,
Poets House & The People's Poetry Gathering (2003)
,
Geraldine R. Dodge National Poetry Festival (2002)
,
Miami National Book Fair (1990)
Prizes won: 

The American Book Award, 1990 The John Ciardi Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry, 2007, The OSIA NY State Literary Award, 2008, Grant Awards from the New York State Council for the Arts, 1971-77; PEN Syndicated Fiction Award, 1993: Winning Story chosen by Alan Cheuse aired on The Sound of Words, NPR. Her verse is etched in marble on a wall of the 7th Ave. Concourse of PENN Station, NYC, with Walt Whitman's & William Carlos Williams's. Her poem Carbon Summer or Nuclear Winter won a Robert Frost Foundation Award, 2015. A documentary film regarding her life in Civil Rights, Women's Rights and Climate Justice Activism titled AUTHOR & ACTIVIST: The Daniela Gioseffi Story has screened around the Met Area and can be shown with an appearance and reading by the author, with seminar discussion with the audience. Contact the author. The film was produced and directed by prize-winning filmmaker Anton Evangelista of ComprenhensiveFilms.org Daniela's papers and books are archived and preserved at the Yale U. library's Beinecke Library of special collections, as The Daniela Gioseffi Papers. She appears on the websites of The Poetry Foundation of America and The Academy of American Poets. She reads poems and give talks on Climate Crisis and The Green New Deal, with Q & A for the audience. She has edited a free, non-profit e-anthology featuring accomplished poets of the USA as well as world class poets abroad at www.Eco-Poetry.org/ and is a member of many environmental groups for climate justice including GreenFaith.org and WorldWarZero.com

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
William Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Mary Oliver, Alicia Ostriker, Grace Paley, Galway Kinnell, Pablo Neruda, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Ernesto Cardenal, John Logan, Rachel Carson, Bill McKibben, Charles Darwin, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Carl Sagan, Michio Kaku, Elizabeth Korbert....
What I'm reading now: 
The Origin of the Species, Poems by Ernesto Cardenal, Begin Again, Collected Poems by Grace Paley, Eaarth:: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet by Bill McKibben, Deep Ecology by Bill McKibben, OUR CHOICE: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis by Al Gore

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
American
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Orange, NJ
New Jersey
Raised in: 
Montclair, NJ
New Jersey
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Oct 14, 2020