Nina Carey Tassi

Nina Carey Tassi lives and writes in New York City, where she often gives readings of her poetry. Born in Chicago and raised in South Bend, Indiana, she has traveled widely, including two years spent in Italy and trips to China and Antarctica, transformative experiences that are reflected in her poems. She received graduate degrees in English from Columbia University and Fordham University in New York City, then launched her career in university administration and teaching English literature, journalism and creative writing in Maryland and New York. As a prizewinning journalist, she wrote hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles, as well as her first book, URGENCY ADDICTION, which was translated into Chinese. Before turning her full attention to writing poetry, she served as a senior editor at the United Nations for the agency UNWomen, working on projects to improve the status of women around the world. She finds writing poetry the most challenging and exciting work she has ever done, and loves to communicate by reading her poems aloud and then engaging in lively discussions with the audience. She describes her new book of poems, SPIRIT ASCENDING, as "journeys of the spirit" in which she encounters characters, some real, others imagined, who seek deeper meaning in life. She is working on a new collection, LIGHT AND GLORY, which expands her spiritual quest to the larger universe.