Thursday, July 18, 7 p.m.
Rozz-Tox, 2108 Third Avenue, Rock Island IL
Local and national writing talents will combine their literary gifts for one special night at Rock Island's Rozz-Tox on July 18, with the evening's SPECTRA readings – co-presented by the Midwest Writing Center – treating attendees to spoken-word performances by emerging area authors as well as critically acclaimed poets Adam Fell, MC Hyland, Christine Kanownik, and Becca Klaver.
At 7 p.m. several of the MWC's 2019 Young Emerging Writers will read selections from the forthcoming literary journal The Atlas 14, scheduled for release on August 15. Then, at 8 p.m., Rozz-Tox will welcome its quartet of visiting poets who will all read from their recent works. Adam Fell is the author of two books of poetry: Dear Corporation (recently republished by Forklift Books) and I Am Not a Pioneer. He is an Assistant Professor of English at Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin, where he is also co-curator of the Monsters of Poetry Reading Series and has just completed work on his first novel, Daughter of the Hatchet. Fellow author MC Hyland holds MFAs in Poetry and Book Arts from the University of Alabama and a PhD in English Literature from New York University. From her research, she produces scholarly and poetic texts, artists’ books, and public-art projects, and Hyland is also the founding editor of DoubleCross Press and the author of 2010's Neveragainland, 2019's The End, and a dozen poetry chapbooks.
Christine Kanownik is the author of 2019's Head and 2016's King of Pain, and her poetry can be found in such publications as FENCE, Diagram, Cosmonaut Avenue, and jubilat. A resident of Chicago, Kanownik also had a poetry chapbook – We Are Now Beginning to Act Wildly – in 2012. And Iowa City's Becca Klaver is the author of two books of poetry – 2016's Empire Wasted and 2010's LA Liminal – as well as several chapbooks. Black Lawrence Press will publish her third full-length collection Ready for the World in 2020, and her poems that explore place, gender, American culture, and virtual and physical realities have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Fence, jubilat, and Gramma Weekly.
Admission to the July 18 SPECTRA readings is free, and more information on the event is available by contacting Rozz-Tox at (309)200-0978 or RozzTox.com, or the Midwest Writing Center at (309)732-7330 or MWCQC.org.
