Guild Literary Complex


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.