About Us
About Us
Through our diverse offerings, the Rose O’Neill Literary House asks the students of Washington College to see themselves as part of a global community of writers: serious, professional, inquisitive, and committed to the craft of writing.
Please note: Our physical space is closed to non-WC visitors, and our events are virtual for 2021-22.
For now, you can take our Google Map Tour to peek inside the house!
Our usual hours (during the academic year) are:
Monday: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Thursday: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Friday: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Our Mission
The Literary House brings together students, faculty, alumni, and local community members from across disciplines. It is a cultural center which hosts programs, classes, and student-run clubs and activities. We are dedicated to promoting the articulated word. Our annual events provide access to a wide variety of texts, including fiction, poetry, journalism, creative nonfiction, scholarly prose, songwriting, playwriting, and hybrid forms. Our letterpress studio and Literary House Press introduce participants to both new and old technologies.
Further reading: An Introduction for New Faculty
Our History
Our history is anything but boring! The famous poster collection that adorns our walls reads like the best of literary graffiti: Toni Morrison, Neil Gaiman, Allen Ginsberg, Gwendolyn Brooks, Carolyn Forché, Grace Paley, and Claudia Rankine were here. Writers who have visited the Lit House have won Pulitzers, National Book Awards, and Nobel Prizes in Literature.
The Lit House was founded in 1970.“Richmond House,” as it was then known, remained
in its original structure until 1982. Three years later, the Bell House across campus
was acquired thanks to the generosity of Mrs. Betty Brown Casey ’47 and her husband
Eugene B. Casey. The House was renamed in honor of Eugene Casey’s mother, Rose O’Neill
Casey.
James Allen Hall: 2016-present
Jehanne Dubrow: 2011-2016
Mark Nowak: 2009-2011
Joshua Wolf Shenk: 2006-2009
Benjamin Anastas, Interim Director: 2005-2006
Robert Mooney: 1997-2005
Robert Day: 1970-1997
Our Staff
James Allen Hall
Director, Rose O’Neill Literary House
Associate Professor of English & Creative Writing
Ph.D., Creative Writing and Literature – University of Houston, 2006.
M.F.A., Poetry – Bennington College, 2000.
B.A., English Literature – Stetson University, 1997.
James Allen Hall is the author of two collections of poetry: Now You’re the Enemy (University of Arkansas, 2008) and Romantic Comedy (Four Way Books, 2023). He is also the author of I Liked You Better Before I Knew You So Well, a book of personal essays.
Dr. Hall’s books have received awards from the Lambda Literary Foundation, the Texas
Institute of Letters, and the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He has been awarded
fellowships in poetry from both the National Endowment of the Arts and the New York
Foundation for the Arts. Recent poems and nonfiction have appeared in New England Review, Ploughshares, Georgia Review, American Poetry Review, Copper Nickel,
Redivider, Arts and Letters, The Journal, and Best American Poetry 2012. He is an Associate Professor of English at Washington College and Director of the
Rose O’Neill Literary House. A list of readings and events can be found at www.jamesallenhall.com.
Meet James Allen Hall
Roy Kesey
Associate Director, Rose O'Neill Literary House
Lecturer in English and Creative Writing
Roy Kesey’s latest books are the short story collection Any Deadly Thing (Dzanc Books), the novel Pacazo (Dzanc Books/Jonathan Cape), and his translations of Pola Oloixarac’s novels Savage Theories and Dark Constellations (Soho Press). He is the winner of an NEA grant for fiction and a PEN/Heim grant for translation. His short stories, essays, translations and poems have appeared in over a hundred magazines and anthologies, including Best American Short Stories and New Sudden Fiction.
Roy currently serves as Associate Director of the Rose O'Neill Literary House, Associate Editor of Cherry Tree, Director of the Cherry Tree Young Writers' Conference, and Lecturer in English and Creative Writing.
Franci Revel
Administrative Assistant, Rose O'Neill Literary House
Frances (Franci) Revel is originally from Southern Delaware. Her poems and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in American Poets, Tammy, The Iowa Review, Dilettante Army, Bennington Review, and more. She holds an MFA from Cornell University and was awarded the Most Promising Young Poet Award from the Academy of American Poets in 2017.
Jennifer L. Kaczmarczyk
Rose O'Neill Literary House Assistant
Jennifer L. Kaczmarczyk became Washington College's first Dining Services intern from Kent County High School in 1988. Over the next 14 years, she worked her way up through
many positions from associate catering manager to housekeeping to assisting President
Toll. Since 2016, she has served as Faculty Administrative Assistant to multiple buildings
on campus. Jennifer has also worked as a co-manager at Super Fresh/Fresh & Green’s
and as a personal assistant for elderly clients.
Jennifer enjoys spending time with her husband Roland and their growing family. Their
oldest son, Brandon, graduated from Wor-Wic Community College, Eastern Shore Criminal
Justice Academy in 2019 and is currently a Deputy with the Queen Anne’s County Sheriff
Department, volunteer firefighter, EMT, and father of two boys. Joseph, their younger
son, is a 2021 graduate Florida Institute of Technology's Civin Engineering program
and plans to join the US Air Force in 2022.
T. Michael Kaylor
Master Printer
Michael Kaylor teaches Letterpress Printing and Book Arts at Washington College. He opened the Literary House Press in 1986 and is now in his 33rd year at Washington College.
Contact Us
For more information about the Lit House and its programs, please email [email protected].
Connect
Join our Rose O’Neill Literary House Facebook Group and follow us on Twitter @WCLiteraryHouse to interact about upcoming events and opportunities at The Rose O’Neill Literary House.
The Literary House Press and Cherry Tree: A National Literary Journal @ Washington College have their own separate Facebook pages. You can also follow Cherry Tree on Twitter at WCCherryTree. Visit our Literary House Press online store and check out our Tumblr and Instagram.
VISIT
The Rose O’Neill Literary House is located at 407 Washington Avenue, Chestertown, Maryland 21620.
Parking is available behind the House or across Washington Avenue, on the main campus.
Our mailing address is:
The Rose O’Neill Literary House
Washington College
300 Washington Avenue
Chestertown, Maryland 21620
Contribute
If you’re interested in supporting the work we do here at The Rose O’Neill Literary House, please contact Lit House Director James Allen Hall.
Current funding priorities include our internship program, “Write America,” which has connected students with literary organizations such as Pen Parentis, Copper Canyon Press, local and national newspapers, NPR, and Book TV, as well as with professional authors for whom they serve as research assistants. Another opportunity for giving is our reading series, which the Washington Post has called “the Carnegie Hall of readings.” What makes us special is that our authors meet with students to discuss their writing. Imagine having met with Toni Morrison or recent Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown about your poems and stories! We also publish a national literary journal, Cherry Tree, which features the best literary work by established and emerging authors, and which provides student learning opportunities in editing, marketing, design, and publishing. And each year we run the Cherry Tree Young Writers’ Conference, which showcases Washington College’s vibrant literary community for high-school age writers. Help us inspire the next generation of poets, journalists, playwrights, and storytellers!
Recent Lit House Tweets
WCLiteraryHouse: RT @manyplums: My 2020 is off to a stellar start, Friends, as I entered the new year with this @WCLiteraryHouse broadside of Ellen… https://t.co/JXvCrqg1eu
Posted on January 2, 2020 at 1:09 am- WCLiteraryHouse: RT @lindsaylusby: After a week of all-nighters, proofs for @WCcherrytree’s 6th issue are out to our (49!!) amazing contributors! I lo… https://t.co/UqdO3F7vb9
Posted on December 21, 2019 at 4:16 am
- WCLiteraryHouse: *wistfully, staring off into the middle distance* “God, I’d love to read a book…” #OverheardattheLitHouse
Posted on December 17, 2019 at 10:00 pm
- WCLiteraryHouse: RT @seanrossmeehan: “Continue your annotations.” Good advice from Walt at the end of a long semester.
Finished, until the next revision… https://t.co/q2UazshjBj
Posted on December 7, 2019 at 8:19 pm