Rules of IAWA: Read Each Other, Write or Be Written, Buy Our Books! And review each other!
@ John D. Calandra Italian American Institute 25 W. 43rd St., 17th Floor, NYC
Duo Book Debut: Maria Lisella & Nicole Santalucia
2nd Thursday, September 10, 2026
LIVE 6-8PM EST; Open Mic begins at 6PM; admission is free
Maria Lisella is the author of At the Hour of Now (Bordighera Press, 2026), Thieves in the Family (NYQ Books, 2014), Amore on Hope Street (Finishing Line Press, 2009), and Two Naked Feet (Poets Wear Prada, 2009). Her poem The Lady in 5A aired on NPR-WNYC during National Poetry Month, Still a Man appeared in The New York Times and new work appears in Lily Poetry Review. Poetry editor for Voices in Italian Americana (VIA), she curates the IAWA-NY readings. The sixth Queens Poet Laureate (2015-19), she was awarded a Poet Laureate Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets in 2020.
Nicole Santalucia is the author of Lesbian Dinosaurs / Dinosaur Lesbians (Bordighera Press, 2026), The Book of Dirt (NYQ Books, 2020), Spoiled Meat (Headmistress Press, 2018), and Because I Did Not Die (Bordighera Press, 2015). She is a Professor of English, the Director of First-Year Writing, member ofthe LGBTQ+ Advisory Council, and she serves on the steering committee of the Institute for Social Inclusion at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. She received her M.F.A. from The New School University, her Ph.D. from Binghamton University, and she is currently working toward an M.S. in Social Work.
Oct. 3: NJ Bookfair
Oct 8: Teresa Cometto with Glauco Maggi & Suzanne Cope
Nov. 12: Chris O’Hanlon & John Trause
Dec. 10: Buon Natale Festa & Open Mic
BOSTON: 3rd Saturdays PHILADELPHIA: check iawa.net
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