Guild Literary Complex

Applied Words

The Applied Words program explores contemporary issues through a multidisciplinary lens. Poetry readings are paired with performances from other creative mediums, such as dance, theatre, and visual art.

By experiencing how different methods of artistic exploration intersect, attendees come away with a refreshed vocabulary for talking about old problems and a renewed sense of understanding and overcoming.

Past Applied Words Events:

April 7, 6:00 – 8:00pm CDT, Virtual Event


This reading was a part of the Guild Literary Complex’s Applied Words series of multidisciplinary events and conversations on contemporary social issues.

The work of these writers is informed by backgrounds, experiences, and research that reach across national borders. The memories and histories of persecution, migration, exile, and assimilation threaded through these authors’ poetry and prose are a welcome reminder that American writing is always already global.

Featuring: Dipika Mukherjee, Ines Bellina , Michael Zapata, Sahar Mustafah, Frances de Pontes Peebles, Fabiola Werlang

March 25, 2021:

The second Exhibit B of 2021 featured incredible performances from artists Jose Hernandez Diaz, Emily Martin, Ian Wojcikiewicz, and Shailen Mishra.

Past event details

February 22, 2021: The Guild Literary Complex brought together some of the BIPOC writers from our 30 Writers to Watch to read a couple of pieces, chat about their work, and discuss how they’re charting their paths in an industry more embracing of their stories.

Featuring: Justin Howard Rosier, Nate Marshall, Ciara Miller, Nikki Patin, and Mojdeh Stoakley.

Past event details: 30W2W Black History Month Reading

Still Here - past Applied Words Event

Creative Freedom: Writing In and Out of Prison – 2019

Segregation and Education in Chicago – 2017

27 October 2023
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Haymarket House, 800 W. Buena Ave.
Chicago, Illinois

Author, Kathy Osberger will read from her new book I Surrender: A Memoir of Chile's Dictatorship, 1975, which chronicles her experiences in Chile two years into the violent authoritarian reign of General Pinochet. […]

13 October 2023
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St.
Chicago, Illinois 60614

In collaboration with the Chicago History Museum, The Guild Complex celebrates 30 years of AlwaysRunning—the debut novel by author, poet, and founder/publisher of Tia Chucha Press, Luis J Rodriguez. There […]

08 May 2023
7:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Pegasus at Chicago Dramatists, 765 N. Aberdeen (May and Aberdeen)
Chicago, Illinois 60642

This program explores the poetics inspired by From the Mississippi Delta. Saunte Harden-Tate, Nikki Patin, Mojdeh Stoakley and members of the Guild Complex will perform works written by Nina Simone, […]

Free
08 April 2023
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Lifeline Theatre, 6912 N. Glenwood Ave.
Chicago, Illinois 60626 United States

This event is one of several community events, performances and conversations supporting Lifeline Theatre and Pegasus Theatre Chicago’s production FROM THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA. For more details about the production and […]

07 May 2015
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Schubas Tavern, 3159 N Southport
Chicago, IL 60657 United States

In a city—let alone a world—of vast geographies, identities, experience and more, how do we understand our place? Using personal stories, our guest authors will navigate the territory of belonging […]

$5
25 March 2015
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
International Museum of Surgical Science, 1524 N Lake Shore Dr
Chicago, IL 60610 United States

For this Applied Words event, we ask our featured artists to give us a dose of health-connected stories of the body and/or mind. Tonight's line-up includes two "Writers to Watch," […]

25 April 2014
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Facets Multi-Media, 1517 W Fullerton Ave Select a Country:

Friday, April 25, 7:00 p.m. Facets Multimedia 1517 W. Fullerton Ave. (Note: The same program takes place at 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 26.)   Al-Sheikh, Maarouf Voices of Protest, […]

23 April 2014
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Chicago Temple Building– Pierce Hall, 77 W Washington Street
Chicago, 60602 United States

Wednesday, April 23 6:00 p.m. Chicago Temple Building, Pierce Hall Helge Lunde 77 W Washington Street FREE Safe, But Not Silent: How ICORN helps persecuted writers A public talk by […]

Free
26 March 2014
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Schubas Tavern,

Schubas Tavern 3159 N. Southport Ave. From left to right: Paul Gorski, Joe Austin II, PhD, Stephanie Levi (Curator), Anne Yoder, Vojislav Pejović. FROM THE CURATOR, STEPHANIE LEVI, PhD: I […]

Free
11 March 2014
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Schubas Tavern, 3159 N Southport
Chicago, IL 60657 United States

pictured left to right: Precious, Jill Howe, Tamale (curator/host), Greg Ledger, Lily Be "It Gets Better" is curated and hosted by the fabulous Tamale and features great comic voices responding […]

Free
29 January 2014
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
FreeGeek Chicago, 3411 W Diversey Ave
Chicago,

In the 21st century, we live inside technology like never before. For Applied Words “Notes from the Mainframe,” the Guild Literary Complex invites writers employed in technology to read their […]

Free
19 October 2013
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
The Original Sears Tower, 930 S. Homan Ave.

If urban design is the language of the city, where is the story – and who tells it? In "Re-Built: Writers on Architecture and the Urban Plan" the Guild Literary […]

09 March 2013
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Fulton Street Collective, 2000 W Fulton S Select a Country:

THE GUILD LITERARY COMPLEX and  CHICAGO DANZTHEATRE ENSEMBLE PRESENT: “A NIGHT OF LOVE” “There is a community of the spirit. Join it, and feel the delight of walking in the noisy […]

$15 – $20
08 June 2012
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Experimental Station, 6100 S. Blackstone (south on Dorchester, east on 61st - free street and university lot parking)
Chicago, IL United States

                          Join us for an evening of poetry, music and discussion of the legendary poet/musician/activist. Presented by the […]

Free
28 March 2012
6:30 PM
Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, 800 South Halsted Street
Chicago, IL United States

The Guild Literary Complex of Chicago continues its 2012 season with its returning series, Applied Words, which explores creative writing’s intersection with an artistic discipline (e.g. music or visual art) […]