Wisconsin poet, Margaret Rozga will read a selection of her work. The event will also include readings of favorite works by selected community leaders. This is always a fun evening! Then there will be open mic following!
Life-long Wisconsin resident Margaret Rozga, Wisconsin Poet Laureate for 2019–2020, lives in Milwaukee. She earned her BA at Alverno College and an MA and PhD in English at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. An emeritus professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Waukesha, she continues to teach a poetry workshop for Continuing Education at what is now the UWM–Waukesha campus.
Rozga’s poems draw on her experiences and interests as an educator, avid reader and researcher, parent, and advocate for social and racial justice. Her first book, 200 Nights and One Day (Benu Press 2009), was awarded a bronze medal in poetry in the 2009 Independent Publishers Book Awards and named an outstanding achievement in poetry for 2009 by the Wisconsin Library Association.
Rozga has published three additional collections of poems:
– Though I Haven’t Been to Baghdad (Benu Press 2012), named an outstanding achievement in poetry for 2012 by the Wisconsin Library Association;
– Justice Freedom Herbs (Word Tech Press 2015);
– Pestiferous Questions: A Life in Poems (Lit Fest Press 2017).
Research for Pestiferous Questions was supported by a creative writer’s fellowship at the American Antiquarian Society.
Rozga has also been a resident at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology and at the Ragdale Foundation. Her work was nominated for inclusion in the 2005 Best New Poets anthology and for a Pushcart Prize.
Rozga served as an editor for three poetry chapbook anthology projects, most recently Where I Want to Live: Poems for Fair and Affordable Housing (Little Bird Press 2018), a project of the 50th anniversary commemoration of Milwaukee’s fair housing marches. Her poetry craft essays have appeared in the Whale Road Review, the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets Museletter and other venues. Her poems have been included in eight collaborative exhibits with visual artists and other poets.
Rozga reviews poetry books and has served as a judge for poetry and writing contests for in Wisconsin and nationally. She serves on the program committee for the Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books. She especially enjoys offering poetry workshops for middle and high school students.
Part of THELMA’s Lake Reading Series. A free event focusing on visual arts, music, film and theatre. Cash bar. Bar opens at 6 pm.
Free admission.
This reading is supported by Marian University.
