Polish-American Writers Reading in Chicago at the Polish Museum of America, Feb. 12

On February 12, 2009, during the Associated Writing Programs Conference, the Polish Museum of America is proud to sponsor five Polish American Writers in a reading of their works. The event will take place in the Great Hall of The Polish Museum of America, 984 N. Milwaukee Ave. at 6:00 PM. There is free parking to the west of the building. The Museum can also be reached by the 56 Milwaukee Ave. bus (Augusta stop) or the blue line (three long blocks from either the Division or Chicago Avenue stops. The reading is open to the public. A small donation is requested.

Each of the authors will discuss how they have been shaped by the culture of the Mid-West and the culture of Poland. Linda Nemec Foster writes about the search for Polish roots and her travels to Poland to discover what parts of her identity were formed there. Anthony Bukoski writes about the disappearing communities of Poles in northern Wisconsin, and their interaction with successive waves of post WWII and post Soviet Poles. John Minczeski’s most recent book tries to put the essentials of Polish identity within the context of Western culture. Leslie Pietrzyk (Iowa) writes about the tension between older immigrants and their children and grandchildren growing up in rural Iowa. John Guzlowski, a Polish immigrant writes about what brought his family to America and how his Polish parents struggled to maintain their Polish identity within a melting-pot culture.

They will also be reading at the AWP conference on Feb. 13, at 430 in the Lake Ontario Room, 8th floor, Hilton Hotel Chicago.

Biographical Sketches of the Writers:

Anthony Bukoski has published five story collections, four with Southern Methodist University Press, including North of the Port and Time Between Trains. Holy Cow! Press recently reissued his first book, Twelve Below Zero, in a new and expanded edition. A Christopher Isherwood Foundation fellowship winner, Bukoski teaches English at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.

Linda Nemec Foster is the author of eight collections of poetry including Amber Necklace from Gdansk (LSU Press), Listen to the Landscape (Eerdmans Publishing), Ten Songs from Bulgaria (Cervena Barva Press). She has received honors from the Academy of American Poets, the National Writer's Voice, and the Polish American Historical Association. She is the founder of the Contemporary Writers Series at Aquinas College and currently is a member of the Series' programming committee.

John Guzlowski writes poems about his family's experiences in the Nazi concentration camps. His most recent books are Lightning and Ashes and the Pulitzer-nominated Third Winter of War: Buchenwald. He received the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Award for poetry in 2001.

John Minczeski's books of poetry include Letter to Serafin (Akron University Press), November (Finishing Line Press), Circle Routes (Akron University Press), Gravity (Texas Tech). He's the winner of the Akron Poetry Prize, a Bush Fellowship, and an NEA fellowship among other prizes. He freelances as a poet in the schools and does occasional adjunct work.

Leslie Pietrzyk is the author of two novels: Pears on a Willow Tree (Avon Books) and A Year and a Day (William Morrow). She teaches as Johns Hopkins and has received fellowships from the Bread Loaf and the Sewanee Writers’ Conferences.