Maria Laurino is the author of Old World Daughter, New World Mother: An Education in Love and Freedom (W.W. Norton, 2009) and Were You Always an Italian?, a national best-selling memoir about ethnic identity. A former chief speechwriter to NYC Mayor David Dinkins and a staff writer for the Village Voice, Laurino’s work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, The Nation, Salon.com, and numerous publications. She also co-wrote, with Michael Imperioli, an episode in Season Four of The Sopranos. Her essays have been widely anthologized, including in the Norton Reader.