Author, Photographer, Literary Activist
PAOLA CORSO
Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
—Martin Luther King, Jr.
MY BIO
Paola Corso is the author of seven poetry and fiction books set in her native Pittsburgh where her Southern Italian immigrant family worked in the steel mills. Her books include newly released VERTICAL BRIDGES: POEMS AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF CITY STEPS, THE LAUNDRESS CATCHES HER BREATH, winner of the Tillie Olsen Award in Creative Writing, ONCE I WAS TOLD THE AIR WAS NOT FOR BREATHING, winner of the Triangle Fire Memorial Association Award, and CATINA'S HAIRCUT: A NOVEL IN STORIES, a Sons of Italy National Book Club Selection.
Her work has appeared in venues such as NEW YORK TIMES, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, Writer's Digest, Women’s Review of Books, U.S. Catholic, The Progressive, and numerous anthologies.
Honors include a NEW YORK FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS POETRY FELLOWSHIP, a SHERWOOD ANDERSON FICTION PRIZE, inclusion on the PENNSYLVANIA CENTER FOR THE BOOK'S CULTURAL MAP, and National Endowment for the Arts WritersCorps Artist Residency.
A literary activist, Paola Corso is co-founder/resident artist of STEPPIN STANZAS, a grant-awarded poetry and art project celebrating city steps, and co-founder/poet activist of THE FERLINGHETTI GIRLS. Corso exhibits her photographs as a member of PARK SLOPE WINDSOR TERRACE ARTISTS.
She divides her time between New York City’s grid and Pittsburgh’s grade.
My Books
VERTICAL BRIDGES: POEMS AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF CITY STEPS
Newly Released
“Corso’s unforgettable steps are the slow climb to Heaven. This is a remarkably imaginative book replete with stunning photographs by Corso herself.”
—JOSEPH BATHANTI
A Tillie Olsen Award Winner
"Corso draws us into the grimy world of factory and clothesline, diner and lung disease with extraordinary skill. Her collection is in fact breathtaking."
—SANDRA M. GILBERT
ONCE I WAS TOLD THE AIR WAS NOT FOR BREATHING
A Triangle Fire Memorial Association Awardee
"These essential and heart-breaking poems are pure oxygen. Breathe deeply and learn from this wise poet."
—MAGGIE ANDERSON
CATINA'S HAIRCUT:
A NOVEL IN STORIES
A Sons of Italy
National Book Club Selection
"Corso follows an Italian family through four generations from the Calabrian town of San Procopio to Pittsburgh in this fable-like follow-up to Giovanna's 86 Circles.... The stories, individually, find moments of inspired, ethereal revelation."
—PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY
GIOVANNA'S 86 CIRCLES AND OTHER STORIES
A John Garnder Book Award Finalist
"...memorable and entrancing...powerful in the moment thanks to the imagery's dream-like density."
—PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY
DEATH BY RENAISSANCE
with photos by George Thomas Mendel
Debut Book of Poetry
"Few books address the anxiety of moving between classes and the assimilation of second-generation immigrants with such urgency and poetic capability as Paola Corso's Death by Renaissance."
—THE INDIANA REVIEW
MY PHOTOGRAPHS
“Pittsburgh is a confluence of three rivers, but then came a day I looked up from the valley to the hills and saw what’s between: public stairways—more than any other city in the country. City steps and steps in the city. Steps to admire for their architectural beauty. Steps my grandfather, a stone mason from Sicily, built. Steps my Calabrian father climbed to and from the steel mill. The more I saw, the more I realized what I had overlooked since childhood. Steps are vertical bridges, and I want to cross them in my poetry and photography. As connections in the landscape. Connections we make with each other. That middle ground where we meet.”
From Paola Corso's book, VERTICAL BRIDGES: POEMS AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF CITY STEPS
Paola Corso's photographs, bookmarks, and magnets of city steps are available for purchase. Visit her GALLERY and ARTIST STATEMENT.
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Steppin Stanzas is a grant-awarded poetry and arts project celebrating Pittsburgh public steps and the city’s heritage, diversity, and distinctive geography. Along with its three rivers, Pittsburgh’s hills and nearly 750 public stairways are its most defining characteristics. Steppin Stanzas events take place on city steps to offer a new way for residents to experience the landscape of their neighborhood and bring art to a venue that few other cities can offer.
CO-FOUNDERS AND RESIDENT ARTISTS Paola Corso, a poet, photographer, and literary activist, and Andrew Edwards, a multi-lingual poet, launched Steppin Stanzas in 2016 by creating original poems inspired by city steps and performing them with GUEST ARTISTS Sahra DeRoy, a belly dance artist, and guitarist Aaron LeFebvre along the South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association’s Annual PITTSBURGH STEPTREK route. They were awarded a SPROUT FUND SEED GRANT to launch the project.
In subsequent years, Corso and Edwards performed with percussionist Koku Kuwanu at the Polish Hill Arts Festival in Pittsburgh, organized a STEP QUOTE CONTEST, as well as produced the video, “ON THE WAY UP: CITY STEPS, CITY IMMIGRANTS, a mix of poetry, music, dance, and art that pays tribute to early immigrants who built city stairways and those who now care for them as well as new immigrants to Pittsburgh. Corso and Edwards are joined by Michael DiLauro, an Emmy-winning director and producer of documentaries; belly dance artist Sahra DeRoy; Koku Kuwonu, a drummer from the African country of Togo; Japanese-American Keiko Maeda; Portugese-American Maria Laranginho, and poet and English as a Second Language instructor Christine Telfer.
Corso and Edwards were awarded a GREATER PITTSBURGH ARTS COUNCIL grant to exhibit original PHOTOGRAPHS of city steps and recite their poetry at public libraries. Corso was a featured artist at THE PITTSBURGH CITY STEPS SYMPOSIUM and with photographer Lee Ann Draud published an essay on city steps in WESTERN PENNSYLAVIA HISTORY. Her BOOKMARKS AND PHOTO MAGNETS are available at bookstores and gift shops.
The Steppin Stanzas Project is included in a Literary Hub press article as one reason "Pittsburgh is Littsburgh."
PRESS and news
LATEST RELEASE!
"...a fascinating ecology of urban spaces, emphasizing the delicate lives and quotidian strength of those who climb up and down stairways: workers, immigrants, children, lovers.
In each direction, these poetic flights offer
an all-encompassing view.”
LAURA E. RUBERTO Berkeley City College