Maria Lisella is the sixth Queens Poet Laureate and the first Italian American to be named so. Her Pushcart Prize-nominated work appears in Thieves in the Family (NYQ Books), Amore on Hope Street (Finishing Line Press) and Two Naked Feet (Poets Wear Prada). Her work has appeared in New Verse News, The New York Quarterly, Ovunque Siamo, Paterson Literary Review, Skidrow Penthouse, and Shrew.

Work has also been published in recent anthologies such as The Traveler’s Vade Mecum (Red Hen Press, 2017) while her essay, Shades, Colors and Internal Dialogues appears in What Does It Mean to Be White in America? (2LeafPress) and her travel piece, Lemmings appears in the five-volume collection She Can Find Her Way (Upper Hand Press, 2017). She co-curates the 27-year old Italian American Writers Association literary series. By day, she is a NY Expert for USA TODAY, Europe Editor for Travel Market Report and contributes to the bilingual, La Voce di New York.