Department of Languages &
Literatures
A graduate of Columbia University, Dr. Marie-Lise Gazarian is
Professor of Spanish and Latin American Literature, Director of the
Graduate Program in Spanish at St. John's University, Vice
President for the Northeast of Sigma Delta Pi, the National
Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, and Moderator of
Epsilon Kappa, St. John's Chapter of
Sigma Delta Pi. In 2001 she was awarded the Order of Don
Quijote by Sigma Delta Pi. She is co-editor with Mónica
Christopher-Sánchez of Entre Rascacielos, the literary
journal she founded in the fall of 2001 and which is
published by St. John's University. The journal, which
stands as a stepping board for young writers, is designed by
Katerina Damskiy, an alumna of St. John’s. Dr. Gazarian has been
instrumental in establishing the Gabriela Mistral Scholarship /Beca
Gabriela Mistral at St. John's University, as part of the Graduate
Program in Spanish. She was appointed Representative of the
Fundación Premio Nobel Gabriela Mistral in New York and Cultural
Ambassador of Ecuador in the United States.
Dr. Gazarian has had a long-standing experience in the promotion of
Hispanic culture in the United States, for which she received the
Al Mérito Cultural award from the Government of Spain, in 1981, and
a Citation of Honor from the Honorable Claire Shulman, President of
the Borough of Queens, in 1991 and 2000. She was awarded a
Certificate of Special Recognition from the United States Congress
in 1997 and a Certificate of Congressional Recognition from the
Government of Ecuador in 2000. She was the recipient of the
prestigious St. Vincent de Paul Teacher-Scholar Award for the year
2002 for her “continued excellence in teaching and scholarship.” In
April 2003, she was awarded the Order of Alfonso X el Sabio by the
King of Spain, one of the highest recognitions granted by the
Spanish Government. In April 2004, she received from the Government
of Chile the Order of Merit “Gabriela Mistral, ” named after the
Chilean poet, a decoration granted to literary figures, artists and
scholars.
She has been a member of the Administrative Committee of the Poet
Laureate of the Borough of Queens since 1996, when the
position of Poet Laureate was first created. She is a member
of the PEN American Center, an association of writers working to
advance literature, defend free expression and foster international
literary fellowship. In particular, she is involved in the
Committee promoting writing by prisoners. Every year, the PEN
Prison Writing Program recognizes the work of writers imprisoned
throughout the country. Exiled from our schools and society,
inmates submit manuscripts in every form to one of the only forums
of public expression for incarcerated writers.
Dr. Gazarian is the author of countless articles and over 14 books:
Gabriela Mistral, la maestra de Elqui, 1973, 1992;
Gabriela Mistral, the Teacher from the Valley of Elqui,
1974; Interviews with Latin American Writers, 1989, 1992;
Interviews with Spanish Writers, 1991, 1992; Fernando
Rielo: un diálogo a tres voces, 1995, 2000, with a translation
into English in 2001; Ana María Matute: La voz del
silencio, 1997; Henri Troyat, un artisan de la plume,
2003; Retratos en palabras. Entrevistas con
25 escritores del mundo hispánico, 2003; Carmen Conde
de viva voz, in collaboration with Zenaida Gutiérrez-Vega,
1992; and she is the editor of Entre rascacielos: Nueva York en
nueve poetas, 1999 and Entre rascacielos / Amidst
Skyscrapers, a bilingual anthology of Hispanic poets residing
in the Greater New York area, 2000. She is also the founder and
co-editor of Entre Rascacielos, a journal of creative
writing published by St. John’s University.
Dr. Gazarian is a specialist in the works of Gabriela Mistral,
Camilo José Cela, Carmen Conde , Ana María Matute, and Elena
Poniatowska. An expert in the art of the interview, she has
interviewed some of the most famous writers from both Spain and
Latin America on CBS, ABC and Channel 47. She has also
published interviews in books and literary journals.
She teaches the following courses: Spanish 109 (Spanish Stylistic:
Workshop in Creative Writing); Spanish 118 (Contemporary Spanish
America); Spanish 237 (Spanish-American Modernism); Spanish 238
(Spanish Women Writers from Spain); Spanish 239 (Women Writers of
Spanish America); Spanish 248 (Indian Themes in Spanish-American
Literature); Spanish 250 (The Spanish-American Novel from the 1950s
Onward); Spanish 305 (Seminar on Hispanic Literature);
Spanish 317 (Gabriela Mistral, the Poet and the Prose Writer); and
Spanish 323 (Nobel Prize Writers from the Hispanic World).