Kathleen Rooney Reading!

 

The RU reading series is proud to present our next reader, Kathleen Rooney, who is celebrating her new novel in poems, ROBINSON ALONE. Not to be missed: the book reads like a sensory exploration of a past in which every detail is consequential, like a wild party which hasn’t let up for one hundred years. The book is an experience in perspective and imagination. Come, hear, enjoy!

 

 

The reading will be held Monday, November 12, at the Gage Gallery. Doors open at 4:30, with the reading from 5-6. Free and open to the public, tell your friends!

 

Kathleen Rooney’s New Book: Robinson Alone

Writer-in-Residence for Roosevelt’s MFA program, poet, and essayist, Kathleen Rooney is proud to announce the release of her latest novel in poems, Robinson Alone, out now from Gold Wake Press! The project is based on the life and work of Weldon Kees, and has been ten years in the making. Join me in congratulating Kathleen Rooney!

 

About the book:

 

The Nebraska-born poet, painter, critic, and musician Weldon Kees traced a brief, bright path through midcentury America before vanishing in 1955, an apparent suicide. Among the poems he left behind are a particularly unsettling four that feature the mysterious Robinson: both a prototypical member of the smart set—masking his desperation with urbane savoir-faire—and an alter ego for the troubled Kees himself.

 

In Robinson Alone, Kathleen Rooney performs a bold act of literary mediumship, conjuring Kees through his borrowed character to sketch his restless journey across locales and milieus—New York, San Francisco, the highways between—and to evoke his ambitions, his frustrations, and his skewed humor. The product of a decade-long engagement with Kees and his work, this novel in poems is not only a portrait of an under-appreciated genius and his era, but also a beam flashed into haunted boiler-rooms that still fire the American spirit, rooms where energy and optimism are burnt down to ash.

Watch the trailer, and get your copy of the book!

 

Kathleen will be giving several readings throughout the Chicagoland area. The launch reading (with Hannah Gamble) will be held at Women&Children First on Friday, November 2 at 7:30pm, and/or at Frugal Muse (my favorite bookstore in the suburbs) on Friday, November 9 at 7pm. For a complete list of readings, click here.

 

Congrats to Kathleen on her success!

Roosevelt Reading Series Fall Line-Up

Want to know what’s in this fall? It isn’t sweater-vests or crocs, knit scarves or color-blocking. The newest fashion this season is the Roosevelt Reading Series, which is proud to announce its full line-up of visiting authors, bringing you the best of the best from every corner of the literary world! So in right now: Amelia Gray, Billy Lombardo, China Miéville, and Kathleen Rooney!

Amelia Gray: Monday, October 8, 5-6pm (doors open at 4:30), Gage Gallery

Not afraid of lions, our first visiting author, Amelia Gray, has penned three books, AM/PM, Museum of the Weird, and Threats. She has been awarded the Ronald Sukenick/American Book Review Innovative Fiction Prize. Join us on October 8^th in welcoming Amelia!

Billy Lombardo: Monday, October 22, 5-6pm (doors open at 4:30), Gage Gallery

Chicago native and Roosevelt writer-in-residence, Billy Lombardo is the author of five books, including The Man with Two Arms, and The Logic of a Rose: Chicago Stories, which was a Chicago Tribune Best Fiction of 2005 selection. Billy is the co-founder and artistic director of Polyphony H.S., a student-run national literary magazine for high school writers and editors. 

China Miéville: Monday, November 5, 5-6pm (doors open at 4:30), Angell Reading Room (10^th floor, Roosevelt Library)

Hailing from London, China Miéville is a visiting author to Roosevelt this year, giving a reading and a master’s class. He is an award-winning fiction author, comic writer and academic. Self-described as an author of ‘weird fiction,’ or the movement known as the New Weird, his writing is both intriguing and wildly entertaining.

China is a three-time winner of the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award and has also won the British Fantasy Award twice. The City & The City, an existential thriller, was published to dazzling critical acclaim and drew comparison with the works of Kafka and Orwell and Philip K. Dick. His previous novel, Embassytown was a first and widely praised foray into science fiction (published in 2011).

Kathleen Rooney: Monday, November 12, 5-6pm (doors open at 4:30), Gage Gallery

Kathleen Rooney is a poet, essayist, professor, visiting writer to Roosevelt University and founding editor of Rose Metal Press. Her writing is exciting and fresh (and sometimes on-demand). Her latest solo poetry collection, Robinson Alone, is forthcoming from Gold Wake Press.

Join us in welcoming these great talents!

 

If you thought you could relax after AWP, THINK AGAIN

Whew.  Well, that was fun.  Let’s take a moment to pause and do some deep breathing post-AWP.   Go water your plants.  Go  through your voicemail messages.   Make some soup for your neighbor who just broke her leg.   All in the service of preparing for tomorrow, March 6^th, at 4:30 PM when Roosevelt University will be host to one of the most riveting, heart-pounding battles of all time.  I speak, of course of the Scott Blackwood/Kathleen Rooney LITERARY DEATHMATCH.

Who will emerge the victor?   Will it be Scott “Don’t call me Whiting”  Blackwood, head honcho of the Roosevelt MFA program, and award winning novelist and short story writer?

Will it be Kathleen “Also, best not to call me Whiting” Rooney, Roosevelt MFA Visiting Professor, Rose Metal Press co-founder, poet AND creative non-fiction master? 

 This once in a lifetime reading…er…LITERARY DEATHMATCH  happens tomorrow, March 6^th at 4:30 PM in Auditorium Building Room 406.  Be There!

Rooney and Sneed Reading this Monday!

KATHLEEN ROONEY

&

CHRISTINE SNEED

READING AT THE GAGE GALLERY!

This coming Monday, November 28th, Roosevelt's MFA Fall Reading Series proudly welcomes Writer-in-Residence, Kathleen Rooney, and this year's Fiction III/IV Professor, Christine Sneed, for a fabulous Joint Reading! Come at 4:30 for the 3 C's: coffee, cookies, and conversation! At 5:00, the reading begins! After their respective readings, you can even ask them questions! 

Like: Hey, Kathleen Rooney, I heard that you are a founder of Rose Metal Press! How come you are so awesome? 

Or: Hey, Christine Sneed, I already know that your short story collection, Portraits of a Few of the People I've Made Cried, has won numerous awards. Everyone knows that! But I also heard that your novel, Little Known Facts, was recently acquired by Bloomsbury Press! How come you are so awesome? 

Or you can get more in depth and ask questions about Kathleen's books of Poetry and Non-fiction, including, but not limited to: Oneiromance, For You, For You I Am Trilling These Songs, Reading with Opera, and Live Nude Girl, which will be sold at the reading, and which she will gladly sign!  

Christine's collection, and winner of the Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction, Portraits of a Few of the People I've Made Cry, will be sold and signed too! 

If you need to learn more about the event, check out the Facebook event page here! Burn that extra Thanksgiving weight by coming to the reading this Monday! Readings burn calories! They feed minds and hearts! 

Roosevelt Representing at Chicago Book Expo 2011

Chicago "Book Expo" 2011

This November 19-20 (Saturday 10am-6pm and Sunday 12pm-6pm), Roosevelt University's Oyez Review, will be one of the many literary magazines and presses at the 2011 Chicago Book Expo!

Oyez "Literary Magazine Machine" Review

What is the Chicago Book Expo? you may ask.

Thanks for asking!

Brought to you by the Chicago Writer's House, the Chicago Book Expo brings together over forty participating presses and literary magazines under a pop-up-bookstore (inside a former Borders Books-the irony!)! They will have books for sale! Chapbooks! Pamphlets to hand out! Bookmarks!

Kathleen "Workshop Hosting Machine" Rooney

And you can meet some of your favorite authors! Including, but not limited to, Roosevelt Writer-in-Residence, and founder of Rose Metal Press, Kathleen Rooney, who will be heading a workshop, A Flash in the Pan: Getting Started on Short Short Stories, Sunday at 1:00 (click on this link to see all the workshops and panels, scroll below the nonprofit fair!)!

On Saturday, there will also be a nonprofit and service organization fair! See here for the listing of organizations! The Chicago Book Expo 2011 will be in Uptown, at Uptown Broadway Building, 4701 N. Broadway! Google it!

Save The Date!

The Heart is for the love of Roosevelt's MFA Program and for Writing!

We know, we know, it's hard to believe that the semester is almost over, but it is, and in a little more then a month, it'll be time for the End of the Semester Reading! What! So read and save the date very carefully:

December 10th, Saturday, at 7:00pm at the Book Cellar. 

Expect an email in the coming weeks requesting readers! But until then, save that date so you can make it and enjoy your classmate's poems and stories!

Kathleen "The Rooney" Rooney!

 

Christine "The Rooney" Sneed! Just go with it!

And on that note - remember that poetry and non-fiction professor Kathleen Rooney and fiction professor Cristine Sneed are having their joint reading on Monday, November 28th (Doors open at 4:30, reading starts at 5:00)! And that very Thursday, there's the second Grad Reading, December 1st (Doors open at 5:00, reading starts at 5:30)! All at the wonderful Gage Gallery! Fill that calender up with hearts! Or something of equal value that will help you remember!

Welcome Back!

The 2011-2012 school year begins today for all of our wonderful MFAers! There are some exciting new additions to Roosevelt this year, so get excited for the coming Fall and Spring!

Kyle Beachy: Tenure Tracked Skateboarding Machine

Last year's Writer-in-Residence, Kyle Beachy has returned, fully secured in a tenure tracked position! He will be teaching Fiction I this Fall! If you haven't been in one of Kyle's classes yet, you are in for a treat! Besides many published short stories and essays, you can find his acclaimed novel, The Slide, at your bookstore today! And tomorrow too! 

Kathleen Rooney: Non-Fiction Poet Writer-in-Residence Machine

Speaking of Writer-in-Residence, Roosevelt welcomes Kathleen Rooney to that very position! Kathleen participates in many Chicago literary events, has her own press, and has books in both poetry and non-fiction! She will be teaching a non-fiction class this fall and a poetry class in the spring!

Christine Sneed: Fiction Writing Grace Paley Prize Winning Machine

Teaching Fiction III/IV this year is award-winning writer Christine Sneed! Her novel, Portraits of a Few People I've Made Cry was awarded the Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction at AWP in 2009! She also teaches at Depaul! And has a wonderful blog here!

Dominic Smith: Visiting Writer Gage Gallery Reading Machine

Mark your calenders! This September 19th, novelist Dominic Smith, will be our visiting writer at the Gage Gallery! You can read all about him on his website and welcome him as he reads some of his work and visits class! More details forthcoming!

More news and events to come! Keep up with this blog for updates! And send in your good news and publications! Get excited!

2011-12 Writer-in-Residence: Kathleen Rooney

Roosevelt is proud to welcome poet and non-fiction writer, Kathleen Rooney, as the Writer-in-Residence for the 2011-12 school year! Kathleen will be teaching a Creative Non-fiction workshop in the fall and a Poetry workshop in the spring.  

Kathleen Rooney has written the poetry books Oneiromance, and, with Elisa Gilbert, That Tiny Voluptuosness, as well as the non-fiction books, For You, For You I Am Trilling These Songs and Live Nude Girl. Her limited edition chapbook, After Robinson Has Gone, was recently released by Graying Ghost Press. She is an active participant at the Chicago Poetry Brothel, and countless literary events and readings in (and outside of) Chicago, and is even a founding editor at Rose Metal Press. Goodness! If that wasn't enough, she's teaching English and Creative Writing at DePaul University too!  

The prolific Kathleen Rooney will be a welcome addition to the Roosevelt MFA program and its excited students!