I Call Myself Island

Danita Geltner is the author of Being a City Girl I Screamed (2017), I Call Myself Island (2018), Wordviews (2019) and Sculpting A Life (2022). Her poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and published in U. S. 1 Worksheets, The Edison Literary Review, Podium, The Literary Journal of the 92nd Street Y and Pens On Fire. Geltner has presented poems at Manhattan's Kiva Cafe, Brooklyn's Arcadia Studio and Princeton University. On November 14, 2014, six of her poems were put to music by composer David Sisco and sung by soprano Mari Mascari at Carnegie Hall. Danita Geltner was born in Atlanta, Georgia and grew up in a rural area outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She received a B. F. A. from the University of Pittsburgh, a Certificate Francaise from The Sorbonne, Paris, France and an M.F.A. from the Maryland Institute, College of Art. Geltner has studied poetry with Jeanne Marie Beaumont, David Yezzi and Glen Maxwell at the 92 Street Y; Erica Wright at New York University; Marie Howe and Marie Ponsot at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts; and Afaa Michael Weaver at the renown Frost Place Poetry Workshop in New Hampshire. In addition to poetry, Geltner taught Drawing, Color and Design at Rutgers University. Geltner's artwork, large-scale constructions, sculptures and two-dimensional were exhibited at P.P.O.W., ArtMart, and Grace Borgenicht Gallery in New York City. Geltner studied acting at HB Studios with John Monteith and with Anna Deavere Smith/ADS workshop in San Francisco. Geltner studied voice with David Sisco of New York City and Mediation with the New York Peace Institute. Since 1977 Geltner has lived on the Island of Manhattan. danitageltner.com geltnerdanita@gmail.com