News & Events
December
HOUSE OF MCQUEEN has been named one of the 10 Best Poetry Books of 2018 by Chicago Review of Books.
José Araguz made a beautiful microreview of HOUSE OF MCQUEEN and included a microinterview with me, in the Friday Influence Microreview & Interview.
Saturday, December 8, 7-10pm
2018 Chicago Review of Books Awards Ceremony (Chirbys) – Free; registration encouraged
Volumes Bookcafe | 1474 North Milwaukee Avenue
November
Sundress Publications named HOUSE OF MCQUEEN “Best Dressed” for the week of November 5, 2018! Donna Vorreyer will curate a new poem each day. LINK
November 26, 1-4pm
Workshop: “Strange Animals” in Berkeley, CA
We’ll discuss & write prose poems at the studio of Ellen Hauptli
Thursday, November 8, 7:00 pm
Book Culture – with Lee Briccietti and Nathan McClain
536 W 112th St, New York City
Friday, November 9, 7:00 pm
Pete’s Big Salmon at Pete’s Candy / Indolent Books Reading Series – with Gerry LaFemina
and Julie Bruck
709 Lorimer Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Saturday, November 10, 7:00 pm
Big Blue Marble Bookstore- with Grady Chambers
551 Carpenter Lane, Mt. Airy Village, Philadelphia
Saturday, November 17, 7:00 pm
Open Books: A Poetry Emporium – with Susan Rich, Lisa Wells
2414 N. 45th St., Seattle
Sunday, November 18, 4:00 pm
Why There Are Words PDX– with Michael Copperman, M. Allen Cunningham, Kate Carroll De Gutes, Ramiza Koya, and Anca Szilágyi
Leach Botanical Garden | 6704 SE 122nd Ave., Portland, OR
October
HOUSE OF MCQUEEN has been shortlisted for the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Award for Poetry! Read more here.
October 6, 1:00 pm
“Containing Obsession: Experimental Forms, Invasion, and What Consumes Us”
with Krys Belc, Natasha Mijares, Rebecca Nicole Nakaba, Sara Ryan
&Now Conference | University of Notre Dame
Friday, October 19, 7:00 pm
Malvern Books – with Katy Chrisler and Simone Muench
613 West 29th Street, Austin, TX
September
Grace Cavalieri named HOUSE OF MCQUEEN one of the best fall books of 2018 – Read the full review here
Sunday, September 2, 2:30-3:15
Decatur Book Festival – Reading with Jennifer Lux, Monica Ferrell, and Moderator Katie Chaple
Decatur City Hall | Decatur, GA
Monday, September 18, Poetry Talk at 2:30 p.m. and Poetry Reading at 7 p.m.
Visiting Poet: Tabula Poetica Reading Series
Center for American War Letters (Leatherby Libraries)
Chapman University | Orange, CA
Wednesday, September 19, 7:30 pm
Lyrics & Dirges “Breaking the Fast” – with Sarah Grace Gladstone and Norma Smith
Pegasus Books Downtown | 2349 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA
Thursday, September 20, 8:00 pm
John Natsoulas Gallery | 521 1st St, Davis, CA
Friday, September 21, 7:30pm
Green Apple Books on the Park – with Daniel Handler and Kevin Simmonds
1231 9th Avenue, S, San Francisco, CA
Saturday, September 22, 7:00 pm
Café Society – followed by a conversation with Jack Shoemaker, publisher of Counterpoint Press
109 Park Place, Point Richmond, CA
Monday, September 24, 1:30 pm
Private Reading – by invitation only
Paso Robles, CA
Thursday, September 27, 7:30 – 8:30 pm
Poetry is Normal Presents
Normal Public Library | 206 W. College Ave. , Normal, IL
Friday, September 28, 6:45-7:30 pm
RHINO Reads! – with Aaron Coleman
Bookends and Beginnings
1712 Sherman Ave | Evanston, IL 60201
August
Just came across this video by Libby Green, about HOUSE OF MCQUEEN and the title poem – it’s quite well done. “Translating Fashion into Poetry”
The Canadian poet in Rob McLennan interviewed me for his “12 or 20 questions series”!
Thursday, August 9, 7:00 pm
333 Caledonia Street, Sausalito, CA
Friday, August 17, 8:00 pm
Poetry Night at the Outdoor Cafe
3257 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue, Chicago
Sunday, August 19, 7:00 pm
1951 W Dickens Avenue, Chicago
Sunday, August 26, 2:00 pm
Woman Made Art Gallery – with Catherine Bowman, Angela Jackson, Cynthia Dewi Oka, Cin Salach
2150 S Canalport Ave, 4A-3, Chicago
July
The Chicago Review of Books included HOUSE OF MCQUEEN as one of the “Best Books of 2018 So Far”.
Monday, July 16th, at 7:00-9:00 pm
Cafe Muse Literary Salon – with Grace Cavalieri
Friendship Heights Village Center
4433 S Park Ave, Chevy Chase, MD
June
Library Journal named HOUSE OF MCQUEEN a Top Spring Poetry Selection!
HOUSE OF MCQUEEN is reviewed by Virginia Bell in The Nervous Breakdown: “Freedom is a Bitch: A Review of Valerie Wallace’s House of McQueen“
Sunday, June 1, 8:00 pm
Reading and conversation with Ralph Hamilton
Lagoons Reading Seriesat the Uptown Arts Center
941 W Lawrence, Chicago
Tuesday, June 12, 9:30 am
The Sky-Line Club with Healy Elementary School students
Sponsored by the Aparecio Foundation
Monday, June 18, 7:00 pm
Waiting for the Bus
2620 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago
May
May 3
House of McQueen poems “Bespoke” and “McQueen Self-Portrait as Bestiary” have been reprinted in Arcturus!
Saturday, May 5, 5:30 pm
Francie & Finch Bookshop – with Adrienne Christian
130 S. 13th Street, Lincoln, NE
Sunday, May 6, 2:00 pm
The Bookworm – with Liz Kay
Loveland Centre, 2501 South 90th Street, Omaha, NE
Thursday, May 10, 7pm
1729 Plymouth Road, Ann Arbor, MI
Tuesday, May 15, 7:00 pm
Poetry Foundation – with Duriel Harris, Teresa Dzieglewicz, Sanam Shamiri
61 West Superior Street, Chicago, IL
Wednesday, May 16, 8:30 pm
Reading of Hillary Gravendyk’s posthumous collection, The Soluable Hour (Omnidawn, 2017)
City Lit Books – with Cindy Arrieu-King, S. Brook Corman, Ruben Quesada, Michael Robins, Jennifer Scappettone
2523 N Kedzie Blvd, Chicago
Saturday, May 19, 8pm
Highland Park Poetry | Coffee Speaks
610 Central Avenue, Suite 155, Highland Park, IL
Wednesday, May 23, 6:00 pm
LIBRARY London – with Andrea Witzke-Slot
112 St. Martin’s Lane, London, WC2N 4BD, United Kingdom
The Chicago Tribune reviewed HOUSE OF MCQUEEN online May 25 and in the Sunday, May 27 paper! Kathleen Rooney, “Chicago poet reinterprets life and legacy of Alexander McQueen”
April
Interview in Chicago Review of Books “Valerie Wallace Explores the Life and Work of Alexander McQueen” April 2, 2018 – LINK
Monday, April 2 – 6pm
Penn Book Center – with Shevaun Brannigan
130 S. 34th Street, Philadelphia
Thursday, April 5 – 6:30 pm
The Book Stall at Chestnut Court – with Rachel Slotnick
811 Elm St, Winnetka, IL
Friday, April 6
Argo High School Poetry Day – with Maya Gutierrez and Jacob Saenz
Tuesday, April 10 – 6 -7:30 pm
Conversation with Stephanie Brooks and Reading
Seminary Co-op Bookstore | 5751 S. Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago
RSVP HERE (Please note your RSVP is requested, not required)
followed by a party at the home of Vicky Anderson – all are welcome!
4935 1/2 (rear coach house) S. Greenwood Avenue
Friday, April 13
Judge Memorial Catholic High School (’86) – with Chris Green (’83)
Saturday, April 14 – 4pm
The King’s English Bookshop – with Chris Green and Elise Paschen
1511 South 1500 East, Salt Lake City, UT
Sunday, April 15 – 5:30 pm
Son De Domingo at Teatro Paraguas – with Tyler Mills and Aaron Rudolph
3205 Calle Marie, Santa Fe
Saturday & Sunday April 21-22
New Orleans Poetry Festival – Small Press Reading 1 at 3:05pm
Wednesday, April 25
Morton West High School
Berwyn, IL
March
The Chicago Review of Books has named HOUSE OF MCQUEEN one of the Best Books of March 2018! https://lnkd.in/eTXeV7v
Thursday, March 8th, 1:30-2:45pm
AWP R215. Curated Obsession: The Persona Poetry Project
Room 7, 8, & 9, Tampa Convention Center, First Floor
R215. (Valerie Wallace, Catherine Bowman, W. Todd Kaneko, Frank X Walker, Allison Hedge Coke) Research, sustained focus, and particularities of craft will be talking points for a conversation with five poets at different stages of their careers, who have each created an entire poetry project based on voice(s)/persona different than their own. Discussion topics will include but not be limited to, form, following inklings, research methods, and finding the arc after the spark. Each panelist will read examples from their persona collections.
Friday, March 9th
1:30-2:45pm AWP Four Way Books 25th Anniversary Reading
Room 15, Tampa Convention Center, First Floor
F224. (Kevin (Mc) McIlvoy, Aaron Coleman, Kamilah Aisha Moon, Kevin Prufer, Valerie Wallace) Celebrating our 25th anniversary in 2018, Four Way Books presents five writers from around the country reading from recent work. Since its founding, Four Way Books has been revered for its commitment to showcasing a wide range of poetry and short fiction by debut and established writers. From the elegant lyric to the disruptive narrative, in gritty portrayals of the interior to near-apocalyptic visions, this celebratory reading offers new writing across genres and aesthetic divides.
3:00–3:30 AWP Book signing for HOUSE OF MCQUEEN at the Four Way Books Event Space: 1634, 1632
with Kamilah Aisha Moon
8pm AWP Off-Site Reading: Authors from Four Way Books, Persea Books, and Bull City Press
The Attic | 500 E. Kennedy Blvd., Suite 400, Tampa, FL 33602
Sunday, March 18, 2pm – 4pm
Writing the Other: Poetry Workshop
Writer’s Atelier | 336 Grove Ave. Suite B, Winter Park, FL
This is a FREE workshop, but please send your RSVP to racquel@racquelhenry.com
Monday, March 19 – 4 pm
Danforth Chapel, 715 E Park St
Florida Southern College, Lakeland, FL
CANCELED DUE TO SNOW: Wednesday, March 21 – 7pm
Book Culture on Columbus – Four Way Books Spring 2018 Authors
with Carol Moldaw (Beauty Refracted), Ben Purkert (For the Love of Endings), and friend of the press Michael Collins
Thursday, March 22 – 7pm
Berl’s Brooklyn Poetry Shop – with Carol Moldaw and Laura Swearingen-Steadwell
141 Front Street, Brooklyn, NY
Saturday, March 24 – 7 pm
House party for House of McQueen!
At the home of Kelly Morgan, with C. Russell Price
1225 Judson Avenue, Evanston, IL
Sunday, March 25 – 11am
Brunch and reading at the home of Dolores Cross
5532 So. Shore Drive Apt. 21D/E, Chicago
RSVP to valeriemw@gmail.com
Tuesday, March 27 – 5:30p
Private event at Gage
Chicago, IL
February
HOUSE OF MCQUEEN has received a starred review in Publishers Weekly! LINK
January
HOUSE OF MCQUEEN is now available for pre-order! Here it is on Indiebound where you can order it from them, or your local bookstore.
The poems “ars poetica :: hibernaculum” and “Aubade with Almonds & Oranges” have been published in Issue 17 of Radar, with accompanying art work by Resa Blatman. You can also hear me read them!
I’ve been selected as a Preliminary Judge for the Tupelo Press 2018 Berkshire Prize for a First or Second Book, which will be open to submissions January 1st through April 30th. To submit, visit here.