Ignatius Valentine Aloysius
About Ignatius
Ignatius Valentine Aloysius is named in Newcity Magazine's LIT50 list for "Who Really Books in Chicago, 2025." A naturalized U.S. citizen from Mumbai, India, he earned his MFA in Creative Writing from Northwestern University, where he teaches. Ignatius is the author of the literary novel Fishhead. Republic of Want (Tortoise Books), and two collaborative poetry collections, Salt Pruning (Hummingbird Poetry Press) and Everything I touch Is—& Isn’t—You (Roadside Press), both co-authored with David Allen Sullivan, recent poet laureate of Santa Cruz, CA; a third poetry collection, Bone Dust Mother was published on Glass Lyre Press in late August, 2026. Ignatius is a co-editor of The Overturning Anthology (Erratics Press), and his prose and poetry appear in several venues, including Allium: A Journal of Poetry & Prose, Porter Gulch Review, Red Wheelbarrow, among others. He hosts and curates the popular reading series Sunday Salon Chicago ( sundaysalon-chicago.com ) and was the curator and director of the inaugural 2026 South Asian American Literary Festival in Chicago. Ignatius 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. He lives in Evanston and is streaming songs worldwide under the name Hapticwound on Fab Hippo Records LLC, a label he started to support his social justice music.
(photo credit: Cynthia A. Kerby)