Two books, one academic couple

Mary Gilliland is the author of two award-winning poetry collections: “The Ruined Walled Castle Garden” (2020) and “The Devil’s Fools” (2022). “The Devil’s Fools” recently won the Codhill Press Pauline Uchmanowicz Award. 

This is Gilliland’s second poetry award in three years; the first award for “The Ruined Walled Castle Garden” was from Brighthill Press’ anonymous chapbook competition. 

“My award-winning collection The Ruined Walled Castle Garden began during a writing residency at Hawthornden Castle, south of Edinburgh,” Gilliland said. “I have always loved reading and writing and these residencies have been great because we are surrounded by other artists and writers pulling inspiration from each other.” 

Gilliland has been a part of the Ithaca community as a writer, professor, and activist since 1978.

Other honors include a Stanley Kunitz Fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, a featured reading at the Al Jazeera International film Festival, and a Council on the Arts Faculty Grant from Cornell University, where she designed and taught interdisciplinary writing courses. 

“I loved teaching, I still do, but I was writing on this interrupted schedule for 30 years. While In Provincetown, I had an idea to have my students do a lot of classroom instruction, to have classes more student centered, sort of a student based course,” Gilliland said. “I was still teaching, but I really focused on what they were interested in within the course themes, usually of social and environmental justice. They were encouraged to lead discussions and I had them vote on which books in the syllabus they wanted to focus on because you can’t always get to everything.”

Social and environmental justice have been themes present in all areas of Gilliland’s life, not just her classroom. After completing their undergraduate years at Cornell, Gilliland and then her husband-to-be Peter Fortunato apprenticed with Gary Snyder, studying carpentry, ecology, and Zen texts while living off-grid on San Juan Ridge. The two worked in construction as well.

Her poems are widely published in print and online literary journals and most recently anthologized in “Rumors Secrets & Lies: Poems about Pregnancy, Abortion, & Choice;” “Wild Gods: The Ecstatic in Contemporary Poetry and Prose;” and “Nuclear Impact: Broken Atoms In Our Hands.”

Their skills in construction paid off when moving back to Ithaca since Fortunato and Gilliland bought their current home while it was falling apart. The two worked to make the pieces of a house into a home.

Fortunato also published a new book recently titled, “Desert Wind: My Life in Qatar.” The book is a memoir of Fortunato’s experience living in Qatar while teaching at the then newly formed Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar’s capital, Doha from 2005 to 2009.

In addition to his time in Qatar, Fortunato has also taught writing courses at both Cornell University and Ithaca College. 

“It was quite a stretch to go from here, living in the Six Mile Creek area, to go to the desert for four years,” Fortunato said. “But it was an adventure I was ready to take. The timing was right for me. I liked the desert and my students quite a lot, but eventually I realized that working in a medical college, there were different priorities than what I had, especially for education and my interests.” 

The Weill school was one of the first American medical schools in the Middle East and Fortunato said that for Cornell to run and create that school, it would not have been possible without the full support of Qatar’s government. 

Gilliland taught at the Weill school as well, for one semester, but decided it was not for her. She came back to Cornell’s main campus to continue teaching writing courses. 

“You just know when you’ve come to the end of something, you know? I had taught at universities and colleges for a long time and it was time to shift,” Fortunato said. “I continued with my counseling and hypnotherapy practice for some time and continued to practice Reiki and energy healing. I really enjoy focusing on people’s spirituality and energies.” 

Gilliland and Fortunato are both continuing to write and are active with the Foundation of Light’s Ithaca Chapter. To purchase either of their new books or previous publications, visit the following websites: https://peterfortunato.net/ or https://marygilliland.com/