Reading with Local Authors
The Oak Park Art League is pleased to create space for authors, writers, poets to share their work at literary readings and open mic events throughout the year.
Our next reading is Sunday March 23, 1-3pm featuring four local authors reading selections from their books, followed by an open mic opportunity for anyone in attendance.
Please RSVP here
Our guest writers are Margot McMahon, Sandra Wilcoxon, April Nauman, Maureen Connolly
Margot McMahon
If Trees Could Talk
A lifelong environmentalist, internationally-awarded Margot McMahon sculpts, writes, and paints human, plant, and animal forms to express her hope that decisions be made to support life on earth. With degrees in Environmental Journalism and Art from Hamline University and an MFA from Yale University, Margot continuously serves on art and literary committees and boards, including Oak Park Art League, Ragdale Foundation, Yale Blue Green, Yale Chicago, and OCWW.
Sandra Wilcoxon
Summertime: Memoir of a Missionary Wife
Sandra Wilcoxon is an artist, poet and author. Her new book “Summertime: Memoir of a Missionary Wife” is her mother’s story depicting the family's years as Methodist missionaries in Argentina during the 1960s. Following a long career as a nonprofit executive and consultant, Sandra is now retired and lives in Aurora with her husband and their pets.
April Nauman
DOWN THE STEEP
A.D. Nauman is an author and educator in Chicago. Her second novel, Down the Steep (Regal House), was recently chosen as a 2024 Great Group Reads book by the Women’s National Book Association. The novel has also won the 2024 FAW Literary Prize and was a semifinalist for both the Midland Authors Award and the Steinbeck Award. Nauman’s short fiction, appearing in many literary journals, has been recognized in Best American Short Stories and the Pushcart Prize anthology, produced by Stories on Stage, broadcast on NPR, and granted an Illinois Arts Council Literary Award. Her first novel, Scorch, was re-released in an ebook StoryBundle in 2019. Currently living in Oak Park, Nauman grew up mostly in Tidewater, Virginia.
Maureen Connolly
A Million Miles From Yesterday
Maureen Connolly’s novel is A Million Miles From Yesterday. Her writing appears in The New Guard, Write City, and The Country Doctor Revisited, among others. Poetry book Wing. Readings include Printers Row, Space, Irish American Heritage Center, Guild Complex. Awards: Illinois Arts Council, Chicago Writers Association, Machigonne Fiction Prize. Grant from StoryStudioChicago. Story in The New Guard nominated for a Pushcart.
