Martin Seay
@martinseay.bsky.social
Author of The Mirror Thief (Melville House 2016). Suspicious of brevity.
I started drawing back in 2024 & today for the first time, thanks to @ronslate.bsky.social, some of my images are published at On the Seawall along with some poem-essay letters to my goofy friends, the saints! www.ronslate.com/a-letter-to-...
“A Letter to Saint Braulio of Saragossa (585-651 AD, feast day March 26),” “A Letter to Saint Augusta of Treviso (≈ between 401-500 AD, feast day March 27)” & “A Letter to Saint Akelda of Middleham (d...
ronslate.com
"The crowd laughs when Bates gets the car to sink; he’s bad, but his cardigan’s quirky-chic." Thanks to Ken Gordon & The Sonneteer for the chance to write "Night in October" as part of his project of asking poets to respond to Weldon Kees's "Night in July"! thesonneteer.substack.com/p/night-in-o...
Night in October
A Poem by Kathleeen Rooney
thesonneteer.substack.com
Drawing is my passion. And this is the 365th drawing in the one drawing a day prompt book that I just completed!
It's been a brilliant year for books by Chicago authors, & I am honored to be in stellar company on the Fiction Shortlist for the @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social CHIRBy Awards!
Oh hey! @neglectedbooks.com asked me to write the introduction to the reissue of Herbert Clyde Lewis's SEASON'S GREETINGS, forthcoming in November and I said yes. My ARC arrived in the mail yesterday and it looks great!
Love to sip water from the ant moat of the hummingbird feeder.
"...both a quick dip & a deep dive, a focused & efficient novel that tidily alchemizes just under 200 pages of flashbacks & reflections into a final message of interconnectedness." Thanks @cljensen.bsky.social for this review of MAN OVERBOARD! @anotherchicagomag.bsky.social! tinyurl.com/28rr3xcs
Shallow Man, Deep Water: Kathleen Rooney’s “Man Overboard!”
“It’s a lot more entertaining to hear a dolphin tell a manchild to ‘grow the fuck up’ than to hear the same advice coming from a psychiatrist.” (review by Chloe Lutts Jensen)
anotherchicagomagazine.net
"Postmodernism" a typewriter poem by yours truly from Glenwood Ave Arts Fest! poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/8281911...
poemswhileyouwait
"Postmodernism" by Kathleen Rooney -- Glenwood Ave Arts Fest, 8.16.26
poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com
Oh hey, MAN OVERBOARD! is on the TV! Thanks to Daniel at Boswell Books in Milwaukee for going on @tmj4.com & including Kick among his "great reads, small time commitments"! www.tmj4.com/shows/whats-...
Great Reads, Small Time Commitment
Short on time but love to read? Boswell Book Company highlights three engaging, discussion-worthy novels that pack a big impact into fewer pages.O FILL IN ABSTRACT***
tmj4.com
Come to the Hideout on Friday, September 25th to catch Mark Bazer's fantastic Interview Show! With Andrew Sa, Erling Wu-Bower, Daniel Biss, & yours truly!
Tomorrow! Sunday, August 30 at Three Avenues Bookshop from 1:00 to 6:00 pm! Come to the End of Summer Bash to see yours truly, @bethrooney.bsky.social, & many more authors! Plus, free candy and free ice cream! You know you want to.
Oh shoot I just turned in my @marchxness.bsky.social essay about Gayla Peevey's delightful 1953 novelty "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas!" See you in December, my dudes.
"The recipe of a perfect summer read: a thrilling plotline, funny internal monologue, and quick-witted sea creatures. Kathleen Rooney’s Man Overboard! has it all." Huge thanks to Fodor's Travel for this fantastic review and interview! www.fodors.com/news/books/d...
Do Not Take This Book With You on a Cruise
Fodor's provides expert travel content worth exploring so you can dream up your next trip. The world is a weird and wonderful place—we want to show you around.
fodors.com
A Face in the Darkness; or, Baby Flying Squirrel Alert
We also would like to note that we'd welcome extracurricular pitches if you want to write about a song not in the tourney playlist. Maybe we should anonymously (or not) publish some essays about how much you hate a particular Christmas song or version?
Come be funny with me! At Bookends & Beginnings in Evanston on Wednesday, August 19th at 6:00 pm! bookendsandbeginnings.com/bookends-uni...
Bookends University
Bookends Univeristy is an author event programming initia
bookendsandbeginnings.com
We are still waiting on a handful of folks to make their song choices (and in a few cases, confirm they want to write) for March Xmas, but here is the tournament playlist so far: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
March Xmas 2026 - YouTube
youtube.com
We're still waiting on a half-dozen folks to get back to us to confirm that they wanna write for the tourney this year so if folks don't get back with us, we'll happily draw some more #s. More info coming in this space. But ready your extracurriculars if not!
"Summers at the Pool" a typewriter poem by yours truly from the National Public Housing Museum: poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/8230271...
poemswhileyouwait
"Summers at the Pool" by Kathleen Rooney -- National Public Housing Museum, 6.28.26
poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com
FYI THE LOTTERY FOR MARCH XMAS (DEC 2026) BEGINS 8/1/26. Last call to enter: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
From one of our favorite Chicago writers comes a funny and moving novel in which a former college swimmer falls off a cruise ship and must keep treading water as memories and regrets wash over him! We’ve got SIGNED COPIES of MAN OVERBOARD! Thanks for visiting @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social 😘
Want to celebrate Latinx culture, artistic collaboration, & community in support of the artists, writers, & performers of the Lit+Luz Festival as well as MAKE Lit's work building creative bridges between Chicago & Mexico? Come to the Empty Bottle on August 8th! www.litluz.org/luzattheedge
Luz at the Edge — Lit & Luz
litluz.org
"...Big Existential Questions and silly jokes..." Thanks to @awolfson.bsky.social for the chance to talk about both in Man Overboard! in this interview at the @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social! chireviewofbooks.com/2026/07/07/k...
On Survival: A Conversation with Kathleen Rooney - Chicago Review of Books
The kinds of conversations I love having most are the ones that weave freely between Big Existential Questions and silly jokes, so it’s no surprise I love the same thing in fiction. Man Overboard!, Ka...
chireviewofbooks.com
Tonight! Monday, July 13 at 7:00 pm! I'll be at Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville, Illinois in conversation with Caro Macon Fleischer about Man Overboard! and signing copies with my seahorse pen and seahorse stamp! See you there!
