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Pier Giorgio Di Cicco was an Italian Canada author, editor, and priest. He attended the University of Toronto, graduating with the B.A. in 1973 and a B.Ed. in 1976. A trip to Italy in the 1970s inspired him to become a writer. He published his first book of poetry, We are the Light Turning, in 1975. In Toronto, Di Cicco worked as an editor with Books in Canada and later with Waves, Descant and Poetry Toronto. He edited Roman Candles (1978), an anthology of Italian Canadian poets. He also helped establish the Association of Italian-Canadian Writers in Vancouver. This was motivated by the growing number of young writers exploring the experiences of Italian immigrants in Canada, which soon flourished into a literary movement with over 100 writers publishing in English, in French and in Italian. He published a series of books in the late 1970s through to 1986, when after the publication of his 14th book he committed himself to a religious life at a monastery north of Toronto. Much of his early work addressed the Italian diaspora experience in North America, romantic love, and arguments against the vapidity mainstream culture. While training for the priesthood, Di Cicco stopped publishing for 15 years. He was ordained in 1993, after which he worked as a pastor in a series of Toronto parishes before moving to a smaller country church. He began writing again in 2000, publishing several more books of poetry. These later poems tended to explore the joys and challenges of spiritual life. In 2004, he was made Poet Laureate of Toronto (his term lasting until 2007) and was a visiting professor of Italian Studies at the University of Toronto. He died in 2019 from a heart attack.