Italian Diaspora Studies

The Italian Diaspora Studies Writing Retreat 2023 will offer a principal writing workshop led by Maria Mazziotti Gillan:

Interior and Exterior Landscapes: New Perspectives in an Ancient Land

This writing intensive workshop will focus on how travel enables us to see ourselves and our relationship to the landscape in a new way and explore our past and memories through this altered perspective. The writing can take the form of poetry, prose poems, memoir, or some combination. What is essential is the willingness to tell the truth and to be vulnerable. We will explore our writing and make connections between ourselves and the other group members in an encouraging and supportive atmosphere. Individual courage leads to group courage and a celebration of the places we explore, the discoveries we will make about Calabria, and the definitions of home and place.

Maria Mazziotti Gillan is an American Book Award recipient for All That Lies Between Us (Guernica Editions) and author of twenty-four books. She founded the Poetry Center in Paterson, NJ and is editor of the Paterson Literary Review. She is Professor Emerita of English and Creative Writing at Binghamton University- SUNY. Her newest poetry collection is When the Stars Were Still Visible (Stephen F. Austin University Press, 2021). Other recent publications include What Blooms in Winter (NYQ 2016) and the poetry and photography collaboration with Mark Hillringhouse, Paterson Light and Shadow (Serving House Books, 2017).

Poetry Website: mariagillan.com

In addition to Maria Mazziotti Gillan’s workshop, the Writing Retreat 2023 will offer other optional workshops (held during free time):

1.  Photographing Calabria, Its People, and Places

led by Mark Hillringhouse

This digital photography workshop focuses on helping program participants photograph people and places using the environment to capture moments in the day-in-the-life of an Italian town. A camera technique will be introduced in this workshop that is a time-tested, proven approach for making spontaneous and authentic photographs in the Cartier-Bresson spirit of capturing the “decisive moments” in daily life. This workshop will help participants develop a body of photographic work that speaks to their individual and unique visions based on their particular interests and passions.

Participants should have a digital camera, preferably a digital SLR or mirrorless camera, an excellent point-and-shoot digital camera, and a way to upload or save their images on a laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Mark Hillringhouse is a poet, essayist, and photographer. His poetry has appeared in numerous publications, and his photographs have been widely exhibited. His photography and writing have appeared in The American Poetry Review, The New York Times, The Paris Review, and in other venues. He was the winner of the United States National Parks Calendar Photography Contest. He also took first prize in the New York Arthouse Gallery’s “Captured! A Moment in Time” exhibition. His recent books include Between Frames (Serving House Press), a book of his poems and photographs, and Paterson Light and Shadow (Serving House Press), a collection of Maria Mazziotti Gillan’s Paterson poems and his black and white Paterson photographs.

Photography Website: mhillringhouse.zenfolio.com

2.  Watercolor Workshop

led by Linda Hillringhouse

This informal workshop is unlimited in scope and style and will include painting from memory, imagination, photographs, direct observation, and more. Painting subjects may include, but are certainly not limited to, family history and heritage; portraits; local scenes and scenery; and representations of feelings connected to Calabria or to any place that has special meaning for you. The workshop facilitator will encourage participants to play, explore, and take some risks, especially if you’ve never painted before. Supportive critiquing will be available.

Linda Hillringhouse is a poet and self-taught painter. She has shown her work at the Newark Museum, Newark, NJ; the Paterson Museum, Paterson, NJ; Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT, among many other venues. She was selected for inclusion in the 20th Century Self-Taught Artists Archive at The Museum of American Folk Art in New York. Her book of poetry, The Things I Didn’t Know to Wish For (NYQ Books 2020), was shortlisted for the Eric Hoffer Book Award Grand Prize (2021).

3.  Conversational Italian

led by University of Calabria students