“Read books, shut out false statements raising pointless questions of our reflexes. We must mourn the senseless killing! Imperfect is the blade life sprung from, & a house without rules labors against the horoscope’s wheel.”


~From ‘Horoscopes of Sentient Creatures‘
in the collaborative poetry collection Everything I Touch Is—& Isn’t—You


Author photo: Sandra Wong Geroux

Poetry.
Prose.
Music.
Life.

IGNATIUS VALENTINE ALOYSIUS
earned his MFA in Creative Writing from Northwestern University where he teaches. He is the author of the novel Fishhead. Republic of Want (Tortoise Books) and Salt Pruning (Hummingbird Poetry Press), a collaborative collection. Two additional collections are due in mid 2026. Ignatius is co-editor of The Overturning Anthology (Erratics Press) and the host and curator of the popular reading series Sunday Salon Chicago. His prose and poetry appear in several venues, including Allium: A Journal of Poetry & Prose, Porter Gulch Review, & Red Wheelbarrow, among others. He serves as Chair of the Curatorial Council at Ragdale Foundation, an artists residency in Lake Forest, IL where he is also a Board of Trustees member. He lives in Evanston, Illinois and is writing and releasing songs for the times as an independent artist called HAPTICWOUND, streamed on popular platforms worldwide.

Visit:
hapticwound.bandcamp.com
sundaysalon-chicago.com https://linktr.ee/ignatius.valentine.aloysius 

Cover of 2nd collaborative poetry collection, Everything I Touch Is—& Isn't—You.
A 2nd collaborative collection forthcoming from Roadside Press on the day of the Flower Moon, May 01, 2026. Follow the pre-order link here.

Cover of the forthcoming poetry collection, Bone Dust Mother.
A collection of poems on grief, identity, the immigrant experience, and family dynamics due from Glass Lyre Press mid-Summer, 2026.

Cover of my first collaborative poetry collection, Salt Pruning.
Collection from Hummingbird Poetry Press, CA (2024). Order your copy here.

Cover of The Overturning Anthology. Ignatius is a co-Editor.
Prose and poetry from Hypertext Magazine/Erratics Press, IL (2025). The Overturning Anthology is a direct literary response from writers to the intersectional crisis presented by SCOTUS’s Roe vs Wade ruling. Order your copy here.

Cover of the novel, Fishhead. Republic of Want
A coming-of-age experimental novel about love, hunger, and identity in a patriarchal world. Narrated by Destiny. Available here: www.tortoisebooks.com

Poetry.
Prose.
Music.
Life.

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Submitted, yay!

Thanks for reaching out. I’ll get back to you soon. ~Ignatius

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Poetry.
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Poetry.
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Curator & Director of the first South Asian American Literary Festival, 2026, to happen at South Asia Institute on Saturday, August 22nd.
This is a FREE event, but registration is required (click here).
I will be in conversation with keynote speaker Fatimah Asghar—a poet, Emmy nominated filmmaker of Brown Girls, an educator, & performer. We’ll be discussing her forthcoming book, Daughter of the Mountains, out on July 07 this year.

JOIN US!

Poetry.
Prose.
Music.
Life.


On Newcity magazine’s LIT50 list of “Who really books in Chicago, 2025.”
Now in its 22nd year, Sunday Salon Chicago hosts traditionally published authors from near and far, in-person at Roscoe Books & on Zoom. Grateful to act as this reading series’ current host and curator.

Roscoe Books logo.
Roscoe Books storefront. Pic taken by the bookstore.

A view of the length of Roscoe Books taken from the front door.

Ignatius doing a head turn and smiling.

Pic of a full house at Roscoe Books, with audience socializing.

Ignatius posing for a picture at Roscoe Books.

Ignatius hosting Sunday Salon Chicago, and holding up an author's book.

March reading event pics at Roscoe Books.

Poetry.
Prose.
Music.
Life.

@hapticwound

Birdsong & Water Hyperfollow link on Distrokid for the single.

Ignatius taking a selfie after the head-wrap is done.

Black and white pic of Ignatius looking down and smiling

Ignatius playing the gourd banjo.