PRESS
RELEASE
INDEX:
This Year
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000

Book signing set for UIS faculty member’s new poetry collection

September 7, 2005

SPRINGFIELD – A book signing and reception for Marcellus Leonard, associate professor of English at the University of Illinois at Springfield and author of Shake the Thunder Down, will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, September 22, in MacDonald Lounge, located on the lower level of Brookens Library on the UIS campus. The event is open to the public. 

Shake the Thunder Down is a collection of poetry recently released by Daybreak Press, the poetry imprint of Pitch-Black, LLC. The work spans Leonard’s 30 years as a poet, performer, and scholar and gathers together both well-known and never-before-published selections from his work.

On Saturday, September 10, Leonard and UIS alumnus Brian Jackson will read from their works at Art Outside, an alternative art fair, from 3 to 3:30 p.m. in the Crown Room at Schlafly Bottleworks, 2100 Locust Street, St. Louis.  On Friday, October 21, Leonard will participate in the Illinois State Library’s October is Diversity Month, in the Poetic Presences, Culture and Expressions segment. In December Leonard will be a featured poet in the “Readings @ The Schlafly Tap Room” series.

Leonard is the author of two additional volumes of poetry -- Nubian Cousins: Adventures in Verse and Cardboard Ears: The Early Poems. He has taught creative writing at UIS for 15 years.

For additional information, contact Leonard at 217/206-7452.