Di Cicco, Pier Giorgio 1949-

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Di CICCO, Pier Giorgio 1949-

PERSONAL: Born July 5, 1949, in Arezzo, Italy; immigrated to Canada, 1952; son of Giuseppe and Primetta (Liberatore) Di Cicco. Education: University of Toronto, B.A., 1972, B.Ed., 1976, M.Div., 1990; St. Paul's University, B.S.T., 1990. Religion: Roman Catholic.

ADDRESSES: Home—P.O. Box 839, Station P, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2Z1, Canada. Offıce—St. Anne's Church, Brampton, Ontario, Canada.

CAREER: Bartender in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1972-75; freelance writer, beginning 1979; Order of St. Augustine, member; ordained Roman Catholic priest, 1993; St. Anne's Church, Brampton, Ontario, Canada, associate pastor, 1993—. Instructor at educational institutions, including Three Schools of Art, Toronto, 1977-78, Humber College, Toronto, 1981-82, 1984, and Columbus Centre, Toronto, 1985. Worked as chemist, detective, and teacher. Gives readings in the United States and Canada, including television and radio broadcasts. Consultant to Ontario Arts Council.

MEMBER: League of Canadian Poets.

AWARDS, HONORS: Canada Council awards for poetry, 1974, 1976, and 1980; Italo-Canadian Literary Award, Carleton University, 1979.

WRITINGS:

POETRY

We Are the Light Turning, Missing Link Press (Scarborough, Ontario, Canada), 1975, revised edition, Thunder City Press (Birmingham, AL), 1976.

The Virgin-Maker, McClelland & Stewart (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1976.

The Sad Facts, Fiddlehead Books (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 1977.

The Circular Dark, Borealis Press (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), 1977.

Dancing in the House of Cards, Three Trees Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1978.

A Burning Patience, Borealis Press (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), 1978.

Dolce-Amaro, Papavero Press (Tuscaloosa, AL), 1979.

The Tough Romance, McClelland & Stewart (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1979.

A Straw Hat for Everything, Angelstone Press (Birmingham, AL), 1981.

Flying Deeper into the Century, McClelland & Stewart (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1982.

Dark to Light: Reasons for Humanness: Poems 1976-1979, Intermedia Press (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 1983.

Women We Never See Again, Borealis Press (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), 1984.

Post-Sixties Nocturne, Fiddlehead Books (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 1985.

Twenty Poems, University of Guadalajara Press (Guadalajara, Mexico), 1985.

Virgin Science: Hunting Holistic Paradigms, McClelland & Stewart (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1986.

The City of Unhurried Dreams: Poems, 1977-1983, Guernica Editions (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), 1993.

Living in Paradise: New and Selected Poems, Mansfield Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2001.

Work represented in anthologies, including This Is My Best: Poems Selected by Ninety-one Poets, edited by Kenneth Peregrine Grist, Coach House Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1976; Whale Sound, edited by Greg Gatenby, J. J. Douglas (North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 1977; The New Oxford Book of Canadian Verse, edited by Margaret Atwood, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1982; Canadian Poetry Now: Twenty Poets of the Eighties, edited by Ken Norris, House of Anansi (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1984; and The New Canadian Poets, 1970-1985, edited by Dennis Lee, McClelland & Stewart (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1985. Contributor of more than 200 poems to magazines, including Poetry Canada Review, Canadian Literature,Canadian Forum, Fiddlehead,Quarry, Tamarack Review,Critical Quarterly, Kayak,Miss Chatelaine, and Denver Quarterly.

OTHER

(Editor and contributor) Roman Candles: An Anthology of Seventeen Italo-Canadian Poets, Hounslow Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1978.

Founder and poetry editor, Poetry Toronto Newsletter, 1976-77; associate editor, Books in Canada, 1976-79; Waves, coeditor, 1976-79, poetry editor, 1980-82; contributing editor,Argomenti Canadensi and Italia-America; past editor, Poetry View,Descant, and Grad Poet.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Poets, 7th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 2001.

Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 60: Canadian Writers since 1960, Second Series, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1987.

PERIODICALS

Canadian Literature, fall, 1985, Antonio D'Alfonso, "Per Pier Giorgio Di Cicco," p. 41.

Dalhousie Review, autumn, 1978, Douglas Barbour, "Canadian Poetry Chronicle: VI," pp. 555-578; winter, 1979-80, Douglas Barbour, "Canadian Poetry Chronicle: VII," pp. 154-175.

Poetry Canada Review, autumn, 1986, Robert Billings, "Virgin Science: The Hunt for Holistic Paradigms; An Interview with Pier Giorgio Di Cicco," pp. 3-4, 8-9.

Queen's Quarterly, autumn, 1988, review of VirginScience: Hunting Holistic Paradigms, p. 726;

Tamarack Review, summer, 1979, Greg Gatenby, "Poetry Chronicle," pp. 77-94.