Peter Covino

Assistant Professor of Literature with Creative Writing

Ph.D.University of Utah
MA City College New York
MS Columbia University School of Social Work
BA Amherst College

Office: 308B Independence Hall
Phone: 401-874-9499
E-Mail: pacovino@aol.com
Office Hours: Tue 1:30 - 3:30 pm and by appt.

As a former professional social worker who has worked in the fields of foster care, AIDS services, and youth and family services, and as an Italian immigrant, Covino’s creative writing and research interests continue to be strongly influenced by the interrelationship of ethnic culture, work in translation, and psychosocial identity. Currently, he is completing a translation project of Italian poets for an anthology on Contemporary European Poets, Graywolf Press 2007; and an essay on Italian American poetry for a Modern Languages Association textbook, Teaching Italian American Literature, Film, and Popular Culture. Covino is also one of the founding editors of the literary press, Barrow Street Inc, and Barrow Street Books (established 1998) where he helps supervise fundraising, development, and editorial efforts.

Courses planned for the 2006-07 academic year include offerings at a variety of levels in poetry writing and publishing, and a special topics seminar in Italian American literature and culture. He has also taught courses in Medieval and Renaissance literature, Avant-garde poetry, and research essay writing and composition in such institutions as Pratt Institute, Rutgers University, and the University of Utah, where twice he was awarded a Steffensen Cannon research fellowship from the Dean of Graduate Programs

Covino is the author of the poetry collection, Cut Off the Ears of Winter (2005), published by Western Michigan University/New Issues Press and a finalist for the Publishing Triangle Thom Gunn Award. The collection received favorable reviews in such publications as American Poet ( Academy of American Poets), The Journal, Quarterly West, Philadelphia Poets, Via: Voices in Italian Americana, and elsewhere; a second printing of the book is scheduled for fall 2006. His chapbook, Straight Boyfriend (2001), won the Frank O'Hara Poetry Prize; and poems, translations, and reviews have been published widely both in America and Italy in such places as American Book Review, Cimarron Review, Colorado Review, Columbia, Interim, The Journal, Leggendaria, New Orleans Review, The Paris Review, Talisman, tutteStorie, Verse, and The Penguin Anthology of Italian-American Writing, among others. Covino’s newer work reflects a growing concern with historical influences, contemporary art, and visual and poetic experimentation.