Kathleen Rooney » News

Are you an English student? Do you want to have a “career”?

Kathleen — Mon, 14 May 2012 23:58:00 +0000

If so, you should come by the Career Panel for English Students at DePaul University tomorrow night, Tuesday, May 15 from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. Poet Chris Green, prose writer Gioia Diliberto and I will be discussing our respective career paths and fielding questions from the audience in Arts & Letters Hall Room 211 on the Lincoln Park campus. Hope to see you there!

Whose lake? The Devil’s lake.

Kathleen — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:03:23 +0000

Which is to say that the Spring 2012 issue of the literary magazine Devil’s Lake has a joke by Elisa and me in it, along with lots of other great stuff.

Do you pronounce it “Wit” or “White”?

Kathleen — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:19:33 +0000

Nobody knows for sure, but any way you say it, the Wit Rabbit Reading Series is not to be missed. It’s at this bar Quenchers that purveys Tater Tot Pizza…

…and Volcano Tots among other delights…

…and last night, it also had Ashley David…

…Catherine Theis…

…Lily Brown…

…and me…

Thanks to the Wit Rabiteers for inviting us, and to everyone who came out in the downpour to hear our poems.

“An interstitial space…”

Kathleen — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:52:44 +0000

“…that fosters a growing community of writers and listeners in an increasingly isolationist, fragmented age” is what the lovely inter-genre Wit Rabbit Series seeks to create, and they seek to create it the first Tuesday of each month, from 7-9 pm, at Quenchers Saloon at 2401 N. Western Avenue here in Chicago. On Tuesday, May 1st, you can come hear Lily Brown, Ashley David, Catherine Theis, and me read–don’t forget to bring your waistcoat:

Poets/Artists…

Kathleen — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 14:55:05 +0000

…just released their Chicago Issue, and I–and a lot of other Chicago poets/artists–have work in it. You can check out the online edition here for free, or order the print one here. It looks like this:

Thanks to Didi Menendez and Bill Allegrezza for the editorial prowess.

Eight poems an hour for three hours…

Kathleen — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 03:19:57 +0000

…is the rate of poeming that Dave Landsberger, Eric Plattner, and I were able to keep up during this afternoon’s Poems While You Wait at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library in honor of National Poetry Month. As you can see (sort of) from the sign…

…we were strewn among the stacks this time, so that people got to stumble upon us…

semi-unexpectedly:

Here are two of our three typewriters riding the Northwest line to Arlington Heights. It was their first ever time on Metra, but they were pretty cool about it:

Thanks to the library for inviting us, and thanks to everyone who requested a poem. Stay tuned to the PWYW Tumblr for the results.

Round-up!

Kathleen — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 15:52:18 +0000

Now that National Poetry Month is halfway over, I thought I’d say: the posts I’ve made for Harriet, the Poetry Foundation blog, for April so far can be found here (on “Let People Poems”), here (on how “Type Unread is Dead”), here (on Chuck Jones’ rules for Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoons), and here (on Bill Knott’s perusal of the latest issue of Ploughshares). Thanks to EG for the tip on that last one. Stay tuned all month to everyone’s posts here.

April is the bloggiest month.

Kathleen — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:16:18 +0000

In honor of National Poetry Month, I–and many, many other poets–will be writing for Harriet, the blog of the Poetry Foundation. You can check out my first post, “Steel Cage Poem Death Match,” here. Be sure to visit often.

The first rule of Write Club…

Kathleen — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 14:38:07 +0000

…is to tell 5-7 friends about Write Club, so here goes: Ian Belknap invented Write Club, literature as bloodsport, here in Chicago. Eric Ruelle, pictured below brought the concept to DePaul:

That concept, as it operates in the University setting, is as follows: 4 bouts of 2 opposing writers/2 opposing ideas, 5 minutes apiece (Except for the Partner’s Round, which is 7 minutes), no holds barred and the audience picks a winner. Last night, I competed against my fellow creative writing professor, the amazing poet and performer Mark Turcotte. He read about BRANCHES and I read about ROOTS:

I “won,” but all the performers were so outstanding, I’d sort of go so far as to argue that everybody came away victorious. The other participants included Alex Gavlick reading a piece about GIVE (even though his scheduled opponent, reading about TAKE, had to cancel); Isabelle Johnson reading about REVENGE versus Dylan Farr reading about MERCY, and then in the partners round Charlie Sussman and Harry Breitner reading about COMEDY versus Sarah Magnuson and host Eric Ruelle reading about TRAGEDY. The audience and the blue ribbon panelists who voted on their behalf…

…were fantastic, too. Thanks to Eric Ruelle for inviting me to participate, for Mark for being such a worthy opponent, and Eric Plattner for the photos.

The Discovery, Settlement And present State of Kentucke…

Kathleen — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 12:40:10 +0000

…is the book that first made Daniel Boone famous back in 1784. If you visit Kentucky these days, as Abby and I did last weekend, on behalf of Rose Metal Press, to attend the second annual independent publishing conference at Berea College, you will find that there are still many business establishments named after him:

You will also find a roller rink that first became famous in 1960…

…and when you are looking for something to do in a dry county after you’ve helped judge the poetry slam, you will discover that the rink is still operational:

When you are on break from the day of seminars at the conference, you will find a local food festival, featuring adorable bunnies:

And if you visit The Rose Metal Press blog, you’ll find a more thorough recounting of the conference itself. Thanks to the staff of the Learning Center of Berea College for inviting us to be a part of a wonderful program!