[1] She teaches at Manhattanville College,[3] where she is on the Master's of Fine Arts faculty in creative writing.
Herman has a Bachelor of Arts in English from SUNY Empire State College and a Master of Arts in American Studies from City College of New York, where she studied with Francine du Plessix Gray.
Her mother's family (Becce), is from Tolve, which it is said Hannibal burned to the ground on his sweep through Italy.
Herman's maternal grandparents were farmers and cheesemakers[10] The men in her paternal family were blacksmiths in Avigliano and became ironworkers in the U.S.
This history is reflected in Herman's writing, where the subject of being a southern Italian woman raised in a Post-World War II New England industrial town, is addressed.