Word Arts: Readings from the Oak Park Writers’ Group

 7 p.m., Friday, May 15th

 Eastgate Cafe, 102 Harrison

Presented in cooperation with the Oak Park Arts District’s annual ”What’s Blooming on Harrison” weekend.  Featuring the work of the following local writers:

• Becca Martin, “Summer Haze” (young adult fiction) - Becca Martin has worked in the corporate communications field for nearly ten years and enjoys balancing her business writing by day with her creative writing by night.
• Herb Thompson, “A Morning at Miss Sadie’s, or Death in Appalachia” (10-minute play) - Herb Thompson enjoys writing in various genres. He has written for newspapers, businesses and other publications and participates in “old time” radio and community theater.
• Maureen Connolly, “Sláinte” (short story) - Maureen Connolly has published in Tomorrow, Ariel, after hours, River Oak Review, others. Readings include Printers Row, Guild Complex, Around the Coyote. Awards: Illinois Arts Council, Ragdale.
• Lori Yoder, “Blue Ribbon Hurricane” (picture book for children) - Lori Yoder has worked as a social worker and educator in Chicago for over 20 years. She writes realistic, multi-cultural fiction for kids and teens.
• Dan Giloth, excerpt from “Nourishment” (short fiction) - Dan Giloth is a labor organizer and consultant living in Berwyn. He currently works with a Humboldt Park center that fights day labor agency abuses.
• Michelle Keefe, excerpt from “The Handbook” (short fiction) - Michelle Keefe graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English Lit. She resides in Wicker Park and writes short fiction.
• Felicia Wolf, “My Dad’s Dying” (memoir) - Felicia Wolf, a Roman Catholic nun and religious educator for 40 years, sees her writing as an acknowledgment of the theology in everyday life.
• Karolis Zukauskas, excerpt from Finding the Moon in Sugar (novel) - Karolis Zukauskas earned his MFA at Columbia University and currently teaches English and Humanities at Morton College.
• Hope Hommersand, “Rehearsing the Cherry Orchard” (10-minute play) - Hope Hommersand has had experience as an actress, producer, teacher and writer. She is collaborating with Joe Bell and Nate Herman on a new musical, FORTUNE!
• Mary Ann Eiler, selections from Love’s Fierce Beauty and Irreverence: Reflections on the Death of My Mother (poetry) - Mary Ann Eiler’s publications include her doctoral thesis in linguistics, poetry, numerous articles and reviews, and her award-winning book on specialty medicine.
• Danny Meyer, “Patrick and Michael” (short story) - Danny Meyer is a computer programmer who still writes checks, hates parking rules and will vote against anyone who robo-calls.
• Jim Chmura, “Finger of Death” (short story) - Jim Chmura, a former “stringer” for the Wednesday Journal, has been published in Storyteller magazine and won second place for fiction in West Suburban Living’s writing contest.

For information: call Keith Anwar 708.763.9483

See a full schedule of What’s Blooming on Harrison events.