Margaret Rozga‘s book, 200 Nights and One Day, won a bronze medal for poetry in the 2009 Independent Publishers Book Awards. 200 Nights and One Day tells the story of Milwaukee’s open housing marches in a series of dramatic poems. Milwaukee played a key national role in the civil rights movement, and this book finally provides a way to recognize the courage and vision of those who participated. Poet Martha Vertreace-Doody, who provided a blurb for the book, praises the poems for their literary merit and for ability to draw in and inspire young people today. Rozga’s new collection, Though I Haven’t Been to Baghdad is new from Benu Press.
Rozga has also published poems and essays in such journals as the Humanist, Nimrod, Wisconsin Magazine of History, and Out of Line and has had poems included in six collaborative exhibits with visual artists. Her play, March On Milwaukee: A Memoir of the Open Housing Protests, premiered in April 2007 and has since enjoyed three additional productions. She recently retired from teaching at the University of Wisconsin Waukesha.
