Maria Mazziotti Gillan, professor of English and award-winning poet, was honored on June 29 by the Cultural Ministery of San Mauro, Cilento, Italy, province of Salerno, the region her parents came from before they emigrated to America in 1936. Gillan was presented with a book of her poems about the town of San Mauro called, In a Place of Flowers and Light. In addition, a parade was held in her honor, as well as a concert of traditional Italian songs, a reading of her poems in Italian and English, and a dinner. Gillan was then escorted by the mayor to her mother’s childhood home, where a plaque dedicated to the writer and her literary contributions to the town of San Mauro had been affixed to the front of the stone house. The following evening Gillan was again honored with a reading of her poems in Italian, as well as a concert of Italian folk songs and a dinner. She was later interviewed by Italian television. The broadcast was aired in Southern Italy.
Maria Mazziotti Gillan
August 18, 2014