Latin School of Chicago

Billy Lombardo Upper School Creative Writing Teacher As an author , Latin English teacher Billy Lombardo, acknowledges that he was a late bloomer. He didn't do well in high school, didn't read much or keep a journal. He began his career at Latin as the community service coordinator, not in the English Department. And, as a young person growing up in Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood, Lombardo never imagined he would become a prolific and critically acclaimed author. Lombardo's first book of short stories, The Logic of a Rose, Chicago Stories, published in 2005, was called "lyrical" and "lovely" by the Chicago Tribune. His novel How to Hold a Woman, which came out this summer, was "I think one of the most important things I can teach them is to look beyond themselves and learn to understand people." similarly well received. And his newest work, The Man with Two Arms, set to hit book shelves in February 2010, has generated the interest of a number of foreign publishers. He also has published a book of poetry and a novella. Yet, even during those early years, when becoming a writer wasn't on his radar, Lombardo says he was actually doing a kind of pre-writing. "I was paying attention to people. To how they felt," something he believes is central to his work today. He has a few distinct memories of writing, including writing a poem for a girl as a 12-year-old. "Even in my first clumsy attempts, I realized that I had some natural interest in the rhythm lyricism of language," explains Lombardo. By the 1980s, Lombardo had started writing poetry and short stories. He became active in the legendary slam poetry scene at the Green Mill cocktail lounge. He was impressed by the talent he saw there and the ability of certain poets to move their audience to tears. "I thought, 'I could do this. I have stories to tell,'" he remembers. Eventually he read the autobiographical poem "The Last Tree on Paper Route 32," which successfully hushed his audience. "That was a thrill. Having that experience once, made me want to do it again." Lombardo's recognition that he had stories to tell was further inspired when he met respected Chicago author Stuart Dybek a decade later. He and Dybek shared experiences of growing up in Bridgeport, prompting Lombardo to revisit his old neighborhood. The memories his visits stirred led to The Logic of a Rose. Still, even with the publication of his first book, Lombardo feels that he had not yet learned the craft of writing. In the years since Logic of a Rose, he has played catch-up by earning a master's degree in creative writing, working extensively with professional editors and reading intensively. Teaching, he says, also has helped him refine his skills. "Working with students – discussing, workshopping – are valuable exercises for me as a writer," says Lombardo. "Their insights into literature are often staggering. But I think one of the most important things I can teach them is to look beyond themselves and learn to understand people." While Logic of the Rose was based largely on Lombardo's childhood, his more recent books have taken him in completely different directions. How to Hold a Woman tells the story of a family tragedy and its impact on a marriage. A Man with Two Arms is a baseball novel about a switch pitcher. Yet, with each project, Lombardo finds that he has the same definition for success. "The great joy is when I finally nail something – when I put the perfect words to the thing within." That is a goal Lombardo achieves time and again. • Latin School of Chicago 21

• Cover