Joanna Clapps Herman

Last updated
Joanna Clapps Herman
Born1944
Waterbury, CT
Alma mater City College of New York, M.A., SUNY Empire State College, B.A.
Known forCreative nonfiction, Italian American themes, memoir, poetry
Scientific career
Fields Creative nonfiction, fiction
Institutions Manhattanville College

Joanna Clapps Herman is an Italian American writer, editor and poet. She is the author of three books of prose, editor of two anthologies, and her essays and writing have been published in many anthologies and literary journals, including Creative Nonfiction, [1] Inkwell [2] and The Massachusetts Review. [1]

Contents

She teaches at Manhattanville College, [3] where she is on the Master's of Fine Arts faculty in creative writing.

Education

Herman has a Bachelor of Arts in English from SUNY Empire State College and a Master of Arts in American Studies from City College of New York, where she studied with Francine du Plessix Gray. Herman's writing topics often include her Italian American heritage and family. [4]

Honors and awards

Heritage and family history

Herman was born to second-generation Italian American parents. Her grandparents are all from the province of Basilicata, also known as Lucania. These towns are part of the area's ancient history. Her father's family is from Avigliano, where the name Claps is a common one. Her mother's family (Becce), is from Tolve, which it is said Hannibal burned to the ground on his sweep through Italy. In the fields outside Tolve, are the remains of a 4th Century BCE Roman Villa.

The customs of this part of Italy were kept alive during her childhood in America. Herman's maternal grandparents were farmers and cheesemakers [10] The men in her paternal family were blacksmiths in Avigliano and became ironworkers in the U.S. This history is reflected in Herman's writing, where the subject of being a southern Italian woman raised in a Post-World War II New England industrial town, is addressed.

Publications and works

Books

Prose

Poetry

Book reviews

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References

  1. 1 2 Creative Nonfiction, Authors: Joanna Clapps Herman.
  2. Joanna Clapps Herman, My Skin Turns to Bark [ dead link ], Inkwell, Spring 2008, Issue 23, p. 103.
  3. Manhattanville College, Core Faculty.
  4. Family photos on Joanna Clapps Herman's website.
  5. Herman, Joanna Clapps (2000). "Perfect Hatred". Italian Americana. 18 (2): 197–205. JSTOR   29776641.
  6. "Henry Paolucci Award Recipient, 2009". Anne and Henry Paolucci. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  7. SUNY Press Awards.
  8. Dominic Candeloro, "From the Field: Updates on Activities in Italian American Studies". Italian/American Digital Project, i-italy.org. January 20, 2009. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  9. "Featured Italian American Writers, Joanna Clapps Herman and Richard Vetere". Italian American Digital Project. September 30, 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  10. "Joanna Clapps Herman, Farm & Food: Making Cheese" . Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  11. Joanna Clapps Herman, Visiting Our Dead, 2013.
  12. "Flesh, Bone, and Song" in Map Literary: A Journal of Contemporary Writing and Art, William Paterson University, Fall 2012.
  13. Donna Lee Miele, Review of "No Longer Not Yet," The Rockland Times, March 20, 2014.
  14. Lisa Jardine, Review of "No Longer and Not Yet,", The Harrison Review, March 2014.
  15. Fred Gardaphe, Family Writing Workshop, review of The Anarchist Bastard: Growing Up Italian in America, October 2011.
  16. Ciao America! Review of The Anarchist Bastard: Growing Up Italian in America. CiaoAmerica.net, June 2011. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
  17. Feile-Festa: The Literary Arts Journal of The Mediterranean Celtic Cultural Association and Paradiso-Parthas Press, review of The Anarchist Bastard: Growing Up Italian in America, SUNY Press, Spring 2011.
  18. Donna Miele, "Review of The Anarchist Bastard: Growing Up Italian in America,", The Rockland Times, April 2011.
  19. Good Reads, community reviews of The Anarchist Bastard: Growing Up Italian in America.
  20. Alane Salierno Mason, Buona Sera, Social Clubs? 3 Italian American Anthologies Reviewed, Boston Review, October/November 2003.
  21. Wisconsin Public Radio, Here On Earth: Radio Without Borders. Guest, Joanna Clapps Herman, wpr.org, June 16, 2011. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
  22. Connecticut WPKN Radio, Guest, Joanna Clapps Herman, wpkn.org, October 13, 2011. Retrieved October 24, 2012.