about Albert

Albert DeGenova

is an award-winning poet, publisher, teacher, and blues saxophonist.  From 1978-1980 he was an editor of the Oyez Review (published by Roosevelt University); in June of 2000 he launched the literary/arts journal After Hours, for which he continues as publisher and editor. DeGenova was half of the performance poetry duo AvantRetro (with Charlie Rossiter) which appeared throughout the greater Chicago/Midwest area.

He is the author of four full-length poetry collections: most recently Black Pearl, poems of love, sex and regret (Purple Flag Press, 2016);  The Blueing Hours (Virtual Artists Collective, 2008); and Back Beat (a collection of poetry combined with memoir tracing the influences of the Beat movement on two contemporary poets), was co-authored with poet Charles Rossiter and published by Cross+Roads Press in 2001 (a second edition was released in June 2006 by Fractal Edge Press).  Of Back Beat, Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote, “Back Beat beats everything for being beater than the Beats.”  Postcards to Jack (Naked Mannekin Press) was released in 2010 and a second edition was published by RedBee Editions in 2018.

DeGenova has also published two poetry chapbooks.  His first chapbook, A Tender Spot, was published in 1992. The second, , A Good Hammer, was published by Timberline Press in 2014; all copies of this limited edition, hand-bound letterpress book are signed and numbered.

Actively reading throughout the Chicago area and beyond, he hosts reading events for After Hours and co-hosts (with Nina Corwin) the long-standing second-Monday-of-the-month Traveling Mollys Reading Series and Open Mic in Oak Park, Illinois — one of the most respected open mics in Chicago.

He received his MFA from Spalding University in Louisville and leads several writing workshops throughout the year at WriteOn Door County (WI) and an annual writing week at The Clearing Folk School in Ellison Bay, WI.  DeGenova has also worked as a journalist and has served as a contributing editor to Down Beat magazine.  DeGenova splits his time between Sturgeon Bay, WI, and the metro Chicago area.  He is a native Chicagoan.