Paola Corso

Paola Corso is the author of fiction and poetry books set in her native Pittsburgh where her Italian immigrant family found work in the steel mills. Writing honors include a Sherwood Anderson Fiction Award, New York Foundation for the Arts poetry fellowship, and inclusion on Pennsylvania Center for the Book's Literary and Cultural Map. She recreates her family's immigrant journey in CATINA'S HAIRCUT: A NOVEL IN STORIES, on Family Tree Magazine's "Recommended Genealogy Reading List." Corso’s other books include GIOVANNA'S 86 CIRCLES AND OTHER STORIES, a John Gardner Fiction Book Award Finalist, THE LAUNDRESS CATCHES HER BREATH, winner of the Tillie Olsen Award in Creative Writing, and ONCE I WAS TOLD THE AIR WAS NOT FOR BREATHING. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Women's Review of Books, Christian Science Monitor, The Progressive, U.S. Catholic, and more. She is a graduate of Boston College, where she received a bachelor's degree in Sociology, and the City University of New York, where she received a master's degree in English and Creative Writing. She splits her time between New York City and Pittsburgh.