Dodici Azpadu (born ) is one of the few American novelists writing from a distinctly

Sicilian-American Sicilian Americans (Sicilian language, Sicilian: ''Sìculu-miricani; Italian language, Italian: Siculoamericani'') are Americans of Italian people, Italian Sicilians, Sicilian birth or ancestry. They are a large ethnic group in the United States. ...

and lesbian perspective. She has also published several volumes of poetry.

Biography

Azpadu was born in the Red Hook neighborhood of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, in the 1940s. Her family emigrated from the

Kalsa Kalsa or Mandamento Tribunali is a historical quarter of the Italian city of Palermo in Sicily. It is sometimes referred to as la Kalsa or the Kalsa. Names The common name of the quarter, ''Kalsa'', derives from the district's historic Arabic ...

, an "Arab ghetto" in Palermo. She earned a bachelor's degree from St. Joseph's College in New York, a Master of Fine Arts degree at the Iowa Writer's Workshop, where she studied with

José Donoso José Manuel Donoso Yáñez (5 October 1924 – 7 December 1996), known as José Donoso, was a Chilean writer, journalist and professor. He lived most of his life in Chile, although he spent many years in self-imposed exile in Mexico, the United ...

, and a Ph.D. in English Language and Literature at Pacific Western University. She has taught at

Gannon College Gannon University is a private Catholic university in Erie, Pennsylvania. Gannon University has approximately 4,500 students and 46,000 alumni. Its intercollegiate athletics include 18 athletic programs for men and women competing at the NCAA D ...

, The University of New Mexico's Honors College, and

Central New Mexico Community College Central New Mexico Community College (CNM), formerly Technical Vocational Institute (TVI), is a public community college based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1964, CNM offers associate degrees, professional certificates, and training opt ...

. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she teaches creative writing. Her poetry, short stories, and other writings have appeared in many literary journals, including ''

Off Our Backs ''Off Our Backs'' (stylized in all lowercase; ''oob'') was an American radical feminist periodical that ran from 1970 to 2008. It began publishing on February 27, 1970, with a twelve-page tabloid first issue. From 2002 the editors adapted it i ...

'', ''

The Found Poetry Review ''The Found Poetry Review'' was a biannual American literary magazine dedicated exclusively to publishing erasure (artform), cut-up and other forms of found poetry. The journal published seven volumes of found poetry from its inception in 2011, i ...

'', and ''

Sinister Wisdom ''Sinister Wisdom'' is an American lesbian literary, theory, and art journal published quarterly in Berkeley, California. Started in 1976 by Catherine Nicholson and Harriet Ellenberger (Desmoines) in Charlotte, North Carolina, it is the longest ...

''; and in anthologies, such as ''Hey Paesan! Writing by Lesbians and Gay Men of Italian Descent'' (1999), ''Centos: A Collection of Collage Poems'' (2011), and Mary Jo Bona's ''The Voices We Carry: Recent Italian American Women's Fiction'' (2007). She received a teaching fellowship from the A Room of Her Own Foundation (AROHO) in 2013. Her third novel, ''Living Room'', was named one of the best LGBT books of 2011 by publisher Carol Seajay of the Feminist Press. Azpadu's unique contribution to Italian-American literature has been noted by leading scholars in the field. Romano, Rose. "Dodici Azpadu: Using Omertà to Break Omertà". Paper given at the 25th Annual Conference, American Italian Historical Association, November 1992.

Works

* ''Saturday Night in the Prime of Life'' (1983) * ''Goat Song'' (1984) * ''Rumi's Falcon'' (2005) * ''Living Room'' (2010) * ''Saturday Night: A Novella'' (2011) * ''Wearing the Phantom Out'' (2013) * ''Traces of a Woman'' (2015)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Azpadu, Dodici Living people People from Red Hook, Brooklyn 20th-century American writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American writers 21st-century American women writers American writers of Italian descent St. Joseph's College (New York) alumni Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni California Miramar University alumni Novelists from New York (state) Year of birth uncertain Year of birth missing (living people)