PAOLA CORSO's books are set in her native Pittsburgh, where her Italian immigrant family members were steel workers, most recently The Laundress Catches Her Breath, winner of the Tillie Olsen Prize in Creative Writing, Once I Was Told the Air Was Not for Breathing, a Triangle Fire Memorial Association Awardee, and Catina's Haircut: A Novel in Stories. She is cofounder and resident artist of Steppin Stanzas, a grant-awarded poetry and art project celebrating city steps. She splits her time between New York's grid and Pittsburgh's grade.
"Under Corso's nimble juggling of words and images, Pittsburgh's
staircases become a series of paths leading elsewhere-from China to
Norway, from Italy back to the Three Rivers again. Together these
narratives construct a fascinating ecology of urban spaces,
emphasizing the delicate lives and quotidian strength of those who
climb up and down: workers, immigrants, children, lovers. In each
direction, these poetic flights offer an all-encompassing
view."-LAURA E. RUBERTO, author of Gramsci, Migration, and the
Representation of Women's Work in Italy and the U.S. and co-editor
of New Italian Migrations to the United States, Vol. 1 and 2
"I have expressed Pittsburgh's city steps using maps and
photographs. Here Paola Corso has done so with words and style,
imagery and feelings. She offers a delightful way to experience the
steps, not only in Pittsburgh but around the world."-BOB REGAN,
author of Pittsburgh Steps and Bridges of Pittsburgh
"Pittsburghers will love Paola Corso's mix of poetry and poetic
imagery, from histories of the city's staircases to stories that
unfolded along them over time. It's good to see the stairways being
celebrated, preserved, and loved-in print and in real life."-BRIAN
A. BUTKO, author of Greetings from the Lincoln Highway and editor
of Western Pennsylvania History magazine
"In poems contemplative, lyric, hybrid, and explosive, Corso stays
true to her working-class roots. Though the altitude is often
dizzying, the elevation is well worth it-and the best of poems,
like these, always give us a touch of vertigo. This is a remarkably
imaginative book, replete with stunning archival photographs and
equally stunning photographs by Corso herself. A marvel!"-JOSEPH
BATHANTI, author of The Life of the World to Come and East
Liberty
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