Ignatius Valentine Aloysius is on Newcity Magazine's LIT50 list of "Who Really Books in Chicago, 2025." He earned his MFA in Creative Writing from Northwestern University, where he currently teaches. Twice Pushcart nominated, Ignatius is the author of the literary novel Fishhead. Republic of Want (Tortoise Books), and the collaborative poetry collection, Salt Pruning (Hummingbird Poetry Press), co-authored with David Allen Sullivan, recent poet laureate of Santa Cruz, CA. A second collaborative collection Everything I Touch Is—& Isn't—You is due on Roadside Press in Spring 2026, and a third poetry collection, Bone Dust Mother is forthcoming on Glass Lyre Press in Summer 2026. He is a co-editor of The Overturning Anthology (Erratics Press/Hypertext Magazine, 2025), and his prose and poetry appear in several venues, including Allium: A Journal of Poetry & Prose, Porter Gulch Review, & Another Chicago Magazine, among others. Ignatius hosts and curates the popular reading series Sunday Salon Chicago (sundaysalon-chicago.com) and serves as co-chair of the Curatorial Council at Ragdale Foundation, an artists residency in Lake Forest, IL where he is also a Board of Trustees member. A 2025 podcast host for South Asia Institute, Chicago, he lives in Evanston and is currently shopping a speculative lyrical novel and also recording songs for an indie album for HAPTICWOUND, his songwriting studio project.
Musically, Ignatius has previous experience as a live stage monitor engineer at The Metro nightclub (Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair fame), and he has been making music, performing, and touring when life doesn't get in the way. Some of his previous songwriting material can be found here:
woond.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/iggy-valentine
Website:
https://linktr.ee/ignatius.valentine.aloysius
ASCAP Rock Right Music
Social media: ignatius.valentine.aloysius (IG, FB, Threads, Twitter, Bluesky)