01/30 • Book Launch and Reading

Join us at Casa Belvedere for an engaging evening with author Maria Giura as she presents, and reads from, her newest book of memoir poems, If We Still Lived Where I Was Born. Beginning in the apartment above her parents’ Brooklyn pastry shoppe, Savarese, where she imagines them “still fighting, still making us, still together,” Giura unlocks the meaning she’s made of childhood and heritage, spirituality and lost love and draws the reader in to retrieve their own. Moving between Brooklyn and Italy, between family and “stranger,” If We Still Lived Where I Was Born brims with pathos and celebration, from her immigrant father “waiting on the corner, bread in his hand” to her sister “pulling music” from her family, “helping [them] make their own song.” Both a journey to a literal birth place and to many figurative places of self-discovery, this collection explores what lasts when all else passes away.

Giura will share her inspiration for the book and take part in a lively discussion with attendees.

Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with the author, gain insight into her creative process, and celebrate the power of storytelling in a beautiful cultural setting. Books will be available for purchase and signing.