23rd Annual
Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Awards
Winner is …
Nicole Bond!
Congratulations to Nicole and all of our Semi-Finalists.
Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Awards were held on
Tuesday September 27th, 2016 7:30 – 9:30 PM
Chopin Theatre, 1543 West Division, Chicago, IL 60642
Finalists for the 23rd Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Awards announced!
In Alphabetical order by last name they are:
Bianca Lisa Araujo — The Limes in my Grandfather’s Garden
Catalina Bode — I am the daughter of an illegal immigrant
Nicole Bond — Crossing the Desert
Asia Calcagno — A God Poem
Chirskira Caillouet — Cinderella’s Party
Tyler Clark — St. Christopher
Josh Corson — The poet in Plain Clothes Peter
Chelsea Dixon — Six Bloody Towels
Mandy Grathwohl — crying when you masturbate
Hevannli Harris — Burn
E’mon Lauren — A-W-S-A-N
Adam Levine — from the love I thought had to look like love (after A. Van Jordan)
Phillip-John Puzzo — Loitering in Brisbane
V.S. Ramstack — when i remember trees
Chris Rife — THANK YOU FOR BEING AN EXCELLENT VICTIM
Molly Sackler — The Fatherless
Irene Savine — On Mother’s Day
David Sula — The Mobius Strip
Stasa Wade — For-A-Black-Girl
Marlena Wadley — Uprooted Daisies
Congratulations to our 20 Finalists –Come see them perform and compete on the 27th!
About the Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Awards
Always a crowd pleaser, GBOMA is the original Chicago Poetry Slam. In its 23rd year, we are looking forward to another great evening of innovative words, new voices, and great poetry! Join us at Chopin Theatre on Tuesday September 27th, 7:30 – 9:30 PM with Emcee Toni Asante Lightfoot and Special Guest Nora Brooks Blakely as 20 Chicagoland Poets go head to head for bragging rights and a chance to win $500!
Past GBOMA winners include Sename Amagashie, Lucy Anderton, Tara Betts, C.C. Carter, Stephanie Gentry-Fernandez, Marian Hayes, Tricia Hersey, Tyehimba Jess, Langston Kerman, Toni Asante Lightfoot, Nate Marshall, Sage Morgan-Hubbard, Stephanie Rose Perez, Tristan Silverman, Dan “Sully” Sullivan, Mark Turcotte, Deepak Unnikrishnan, and Javon Smith. all following in the tradition of the Great poet Gwendolyn Brooks.
Pulitzer Prize winning Chicago poet Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) founded the Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Award twenty-two years ago. Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas and lived in Chicago for the rest of her life. She was the author of more than twenty volumes of poetry and numerous other books. Her many awards and honors include Poet Laureate of Illinois, Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, American Academy of Arts and Letters award, a Pulitzer Prize, the Frost Medal, a National Endowment for the Arts award, and fellowships from The Academy of American Poets and the Guggenheim Foundation.