{{Short description|Italian-Canadian poet and author (born 1949)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}} {{infobox writer |name=Mary di Michele |image=Mary Di Michele au petite librairie D&Q.jpg |birth_date={{birth date and age|df=yes|1949|8|6}} |birth_place=[[Lanciano]], [[Abruzzo]], Italy |occupation={{flatlist| *Poet *author }} |nationality=Italian-Canadian |education=[[University of Toronto]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[University of Windsor]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]]) |website={{URL|http://hayne.net/dimichele/}} }} '''Mary di Michele''' (born 6 August 1949) is an [[Italian-Canadian]] poet and author.<ref name="Pivato2007">Joseph Pivato. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=NNtpotEWPcgC&pg=PA206 Mary Di Michele: Essays on Her Works]''. Guernica Editions; 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-55071-249-0}}. p. 206–.</ref><ref>[http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/cpjrn/vol26/cooke.htm "Mary di Michele: on the Integrity of Speech and Silence"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104233743/http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/cpjrn/vol26/cooke.htm |date=4 January 2011 }}. by Nathalie Cooke, University of Western Ontario</ref> She was a professor at [[Concordia University]] in [[Montreal]], [[Quebec]], where she taught creative writing until 2015.<ref name="Naves1998">Elaine Kalman Naves. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=MjpAAQAAIAAJ Putting Down Roots: Montreal's Immigrant Writers]''. Véhicule Press; 1 January 1998. {{ISBN|978-1-55065-103-4}}. p. 41.</ref>
==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.<ref name=ce>[https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/mary-di-michele/ "Mary di Michele"]. ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''</ref> She traveled to Chile in 1987 as part of a literary cultural exchange.<ref name="Rosenstreich1998">Susan L. Rosenstreich. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=oWDoNwdpIawC&pg=PA165 Encounters with Quebec: Emerging Perspectives on Quebecois Narrative Fiction]''. Global Academic Publishing; 1998. {{ISBN|978-1-883058-58-6}}. p. 165–.</ref> In 1990, she became a professor of English at Concordia University.<ref name=ce />
By 1995, di Michele had written six volumes of poetry. That year she published her first novel, ''Under My Skin''.<ref>[https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2732115 "Debriefing the Poet, An lnterview with Mary di Michele."] ARC 34 (Spring 1995): 25-31. May 1995</ref> She continued to write and publish poetry, and in 2005 released a second novel, ''Tenor of Love''.<ref>[http://prismmagazine.ca/2017/07/07/bicycle-thieves-an-interview-with-mary-di-michele/ "Bicycle Thieves: An Interview with Mary di Michele"]. ''Prism Magazine'', 7 July 2017. Nathaniel G. Moore</ref><ref name="Skene-Melvin1995">David Skene-Melvin. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Y447AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA34 Investigating Women: Female Detectives by Canadian Writers: An Eclectic Sampler]''. Dundurn; 1 December 1995. {{ISBN|978-1-4597-2690-1}}. p. 34–.</ref>
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.<ref>[https://quillandquire.com/review/bicycle-thieves/ "Reviews: Bicycle Thieves by Mary di Michele, Thing Is by Suzannah Showler"]. ''Quill and Quire'', Jason Wiens</ref><ref>[http://mtlreviewofbooks.ca/reviews/poetry-12/ "Poetry Review"]. ''Montreal Review of Books'', by Gillian Sze, Summer 2017 issue</ref>
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.<ref>[http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n79024202/ "Mary de Michele"], WorldCat.</ref>
==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<ref>[https://www.proquest.com/docview/436252471 "Book Reviews"], ''Toronto Star'' – Toronto, Ont. Oughton, John. 18 Aug 1990 M.6</ref> *''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== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://hayne.net/dimichele/ Mary di Michele's web page] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20040409225635/http://italiani.clifo.unibo.it/AmericaIt/CanadaIt/mary_di_michele.htm Institute of Advanced Studies (Univ. of Bologna) poet in residence, 2003] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20040404175800/http://www.athabascau.ca/cll/writers/dimichele_bio.html Athabasca University's Canadian Writers page]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Michele, Mary}} [[Category:1949 births]] [[Category:20th-century Canadian novelists]] [[Category:20th-century Canadian poets]] [[Category:21st-century Canadian novelists]] [[Category:21st-century Canadian poets]] [[Category:Canadian women poets]] [[Category:Italian emigrants to Canada]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:20th-century Canadian women novelists]] [[Category:21st-century Canadian women novelists]] [[Category:20th-century women poets]] [[Category:21st-century women poets]]