A multi-faceted man

Humbled and honored, Oceanside Summer Gazebo Readings founder Tony Iovino will receive the Long Island Writers’ Guild Community Service Award this Sunday, Dec. 5, at Manor East in Massapequa.

The service award that will be presented to Iovino will pay tribute to the exceptional work he has done showcasing the Long Island Writing community, particularly in regards to his work organizing the Summer Gazebo Readings.

Iovino, an attorney, hosts the summer readings at the Schoolhouse Green on Foxhurst Road each Monday evening in the summer. During each meeting, four published authors read aloud to an average group of 100 people, with each author reading for approximately 10 minutes. The Summer Gazebo Readings, which just completed its fifth year, attracts both teens and adults to its meetings, according to Iovino.

“A number of poet laureates have attended and supported us over the years,” Iovino said about the program. “We also have many writers from the major publishing houses who come and participate.”

With help from Iovino’s wife Angela – who is president of the Oceanside Public Library Board of Directors – the money Iovino raises from the Summer Gazebo Readings goes directly toward the Kiwanis Club of Oceanside. The Kiwanis Club is a global organization whose goal is to help children and the underprivileged in the community, and the Summer Gazebo Readings is considered a Kiwanis event.

In addition to the community service award that he will soon receive, Iovino has won several other notable awards in the past commending his community work, having been named the Citizen of the Year from the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce in 2008 and Kiwanian of the Year from the Oceanside Kiwanis Club in 2007.

A professional writer himself, Iovino just recently finished a novel, “Notary Public Enemy,” which will be published by Diversion Press. “It was an undertaking, but I considered writing it to be a lot of fun,” Iovino said. In the past, Iovino has written between 20 to 25 poems and essays, which have been featured in print and in online literary magazines including “Clearfield Review” and “SubtleTea.”

While Iovino admits that he didn’t take up professional writing until after college, he says he has a definite passion for it. Some of his favorite novels are out of the murder/mystery and legal genres, and he particularly enjoys the works of author John Grisham.

Iovino received his B.A. in History and Economics from the University of Richmond and his J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law.

His law firm – Bondi and Iovino – is located in Garden City.