Today was the the very last day of the Winter Quarter at DePaul, and the final day of Advanced Poetry workshop students presenting their handmade limited edition chapbooks of their own original poetry. As has been the case throughout, the finished chapbooks were wonderful, both in terms of their design and their content. Here is Thoughts You Never Knew Existed by Dana Mrowiec, designed to look like a confidential letter one would probably never actually work up the nerve to send…

…and here is Common Commentary on My Community by Ibrahim Khan, an “account of growing up in America as a Muslim”… 

…and here is Blue Cholera by Amy Ramelli, which “contrasts low-culture with high-culture, mirroring the author’s experience being raised on the city’s south side and later moving up north as a young writer”…

…and its interior…

…and last but  not least, here is Scoundrel by China Thomas……who made the excellent decision of having the extremely pretty layout and design of the book contrast sharply with its darker and more edgy/embarrassing content:

Thanks to all the students for writing with a high degree of personal investment, and for creating such an array of beautiful books-as-objects.