Nina Carey Tassi lives and writes in New York City. She comes to poetry as her main profession after a varied career in higher education and journalism.

            Born in Chicago and raised in South Bend, Indiana, she moved to New York to pursue graduate studies after two years of travel and research in Italy. Tassi earned  her M.A. in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and her Ph.D. in English at Fordham University.

            Settling in Baltimore, she served as a dean at Loyola University and later at Notre Dame University of Maryland, then as associate professor of English and Creative Writing at Morgan State University, where she designed and directed creative writing and journalism programs.

            In Maryland, Tassi also became a prize-winning journalist, writing hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles.  Her first book, Urgency Addiction (1991), traces the history of America’s obsession with speed, and was translated into Chinese (1993).

            In recent years Tassi returned to New York, first as associate academic vice president and director of international relations at Fordham University, then at the United Nations as a senior editor for the agency UNWomen.

            Besides Light & Glory (2018), she has published three previous poetry collections: Spirit Ascending (2016), Antarctic Visions (2011), inspired by her expedition to Antarctica, with photos by Pat Roach, and The Jeremiah Tree (2011), focused on spiritual journeys, with paintings by artist Jeanine Malaney.

            Tassi often presents her poetry at readings in New York City and around the country.