Mary di Michele (born 6 August 1949) is an Italian-Canadian poet and author.Joseph Pivato. Mary Di Michele: Essays on Her Works. Guernica Editions; 2007. . p. 206–."Mary di Michele: on the Integrity of Speech and Silence" . by Nathalie Cooke, University of Western Ontario She was a professor at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, where she taught creative writing until 2015.Elaine Kalman Naves. Putting Down Roots: Montreal's Immigrant Writers. Véhicule Press; 1 January 1998. . p. 41.
Early life and education di Michele was born in Lanciano, Italy. She immigrated to Toronto, Ontario with her family in 1955. She obtained an Honours B.A. in English Literature at the University of Toronto in 1972. Later, she completed an M.A. in English and creative writing at the University of Windsor in 1974.
Career di Michele published her first book of poetry, Tree of August, in 1978."Mary di Michele". The Canadian Encyclopedia She traveled to Chile in 1987 as part of a literary cultural exchange.Susan L. Rosenstreich. Encounters with Quebec: Emerging Perspectives on Quebecois Narrative Fiction. Global Academic Publishing; 1998. . p. 165–. In 1990, she became a professor of English at Concordia University.
By 1995, di Michele had written six volumes of poetry. That year she published her first novel, Under My Skin."Debriefing the Poet, An lnterview with Mary di Michele." ARC 34 (Spring 1995): 25-31. May 1995 She continued to write and publish poetry, and in 2005 released a second novel, Tenor of Love."Bicycle Thieves: An Interview with Mary di Michele". Prism Magazine, 7 July 2017. Nathaniel G. MooreDavid Skene-Melvin. Investigating Women: Female Detectives by Canadian Writers: An Eclectic Sampler. Dundurn; 1 December 1995. . p. 34–.
In 2011, di Michele released The Flower of Youth: Pier Paolo Pasolini Poems which returns to the terror of WWII in Italy and the experiences of her family before she was born. It anticipates her next book of poetry on the post-war years, Bicycle Thieves in 2017."Reviews: Bicycle Thieves by Mary di Michele, Thing Is by Suzannah Showler". Quill and Quire, Jason Wiens"Poetry Review". Montreal Review of Books, by Gillian Sze, Summer 2017 issue
In 2007, Guernica Editions published Mary di Michele: Essays on Her Works, edited by Joseph Pivato, which includes studies by ten literary critics and indicates the high regard for her literary production. In 2024, her works are held in more than 1,400 libraries."Mary de Michele", WorldCat.
Works Tree of August – 1978 Bread and Chocolate – 1980 Mimosa and Other Poems – 1981 Necessary Sugar – 1984 Anything is Possible: A Selection of Eleven Women Poets (editor) – 1984 Immune to Gravity – 1986 Under My Skin (novel) – 1994 Luminous Emergencies – 1990"Book Reviews", Toronto Star – Toronto, Ont. Oughton, John. 18 Aug 1990 M.6 Stranger in You: Selected Poems and New – 1995 Debriefing the Rose – 1998 Tenor of Love (novel) – 2005 The Flower of Youth: Pier Paolo Pasolini Poems – 2011 Bicycle Thieves poems – 2017 Montreal Book of the Dead poetry chapbook – 2020
See also List of Canadian poets
References
External links Mary di Michele's web page Institute of Advanced Studies (Univ. of Bologna) poet in residence, 2003 Athabasca University's Canadian Writers page