Newcity Lit has named our upcoming event, Power Lines Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Celebration, the top literary event in Chicago for May 2025! Presented in partnership with the Poetry Foundation and the Poetry Center, this special evening marks 25 years since the release of Power Lines, the groundbreaking 1999 anthology that captured a decade of vibrant poetry…
CHICAGO, February 5, 2025—The Poetry Foundation announces its roster of free public events for the spring 2025 season under the theme “Power Lines,” inspired by the landmark anthology of the same name released by the Guild Literary Complex 25 years ago. The electrifying event season highlights new work by Chicago and Midwest presses, partner organizations, and…
Join us at Printers Row Lit Fest from September 9-10! The Guild Complex is excited to host and participate in a suite of events, including: Exhibit B @ Printers Row Saturday, 9/9 | 4:00 PM | 731 S. Plymouth Ct. Going the Distance: A Printers Row Reading with Ana Castillo and Reginald Gibbons Sunday, 9/10…
Dear Friends of the Guild, The 2017 Author’s Challenge Grant is here! For us, our camaraderie with authors here in Chicago is one of the brightest and most powerful reasons for our ongoing work, and we are so grateful to be able to continue sharing new voices with each and every one of you. As…
Each Other’s Harvest, Annual Summit on Homelessness A 2017 Guild Literary Complex Applied Words Program Wilson Abbey 935 West Wilson Avenue, Uptown, Chicago, IL 60640 This event is free and open to the public. ~ Thursday, November 16, 2017 6:00 PM Doors & Mingle with visual arts show, 6:30 PM Performances 8:00 PM Dinner &…
THE GUILD PRESENTS A CONVERSATION ON TRANSNATIONAL POETICS Sunday November 5th 2017, 6:00 PM- 7:30 PM Chopin Theatre, 1543 W Division St, Chicago, IL 60642 STUART COOKE | NATANIA ROSENFELD | TONI NEALIE Please join the Guild LIterary Complex in a conversation with authors and poets Stuart Cooke, Natania Rosenfeld, and Toni Nealie as we journey…
Arts in the Dark with the Guild and Partners — we are looking for marchers! Here is an opportunity to celebrate the literary arts! The Guild Literary Complex is looking for people to walk in Chicago’s Arts in the Dark Parade, Saturday October 21st from 6 PM to 8 PM on Columbus (between Balbo and Monroe). Join us as we become…
We’re baaaaaack. Your friendly Wicker Park Lit partners are back at the Farmers’ Market. Sunday, September 17th | 9:00–13:00 Wicker Park – Chicago Park District 1425 N. Damen Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60622 Same as last year – Bring a book – Take a book (or 2) This is Wicker Park Lit Fest Weekend – so…
Sunday Sept 17th, 6:30 PM- 8:00 PM Volumes Bookscafe | 1474 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, Illinois 60622 Join The Guild Literary Complex and Partner Volumes Bookcafe during Wicker Park Lit Fest weekend for a reading/conversation about Community of Place with the amazing Audrey Petty and Vida Cross. Vida Cross is a blues poet. Her work…
Falling for Gwendolyn Brooks! With Brooks Permissions Sunday, September 17th, 2017 4:30-6:30 PM The celebration of the Gwendolyn Brooks centennial continues with a special look at the fall section of SEASONS: A Gwendolyn Brooks Experience. SEASONS is a unique look at the life and work of Ms. Brooks in this new book filled with thematic…
‘The Collection is dedicated to the indomitable spirit of the people of the West Side of Chicago” – Guildworks: Writings by the West Side Writers Guild, 1996 Join The Guild, OMB 100 and Jane Addams Hull-House Museum as we reunite–for the first time in two decades–the founding members of the West Side Writers Guild (WSWG), an organization…
BrooksDay@Nite was a spectacular event held on June 7th celebrating the centennial Birthday of Gwendolyn Brooks on her actually 100th birthday, with one hundred one-minute performances, reception, and more. Presenters for BrooksDay@Nite included: Tyehimba Jess, Angela Jackson, Haki Madhubuti, Nate Marshall, Kevin Coval, Marcus Dunlevy, Runako Jahi, Cheryl Lynn Bruce, Patricia Smith ,Tara Betts, C. Russell Price,…
Join us for a very special Palabra Pura with Dr. Grisel Y. Acosta and Vincent Toro–two amazing Latinx poets in from NYC!–as we talk about memory, language and the way mythology moves through the modern experience. __________ Where: Pint Chicago 1547 North Milwaukee Avenue, Wicker Park, 60622 Thursday June 22 | 7:30 – 9:30 PM…
Let the 50th Celebrations Begin: Guild Books Remembered, Lit Forward We are kicking off the 50th anniversary celebrations of Guild Books’s beginning. When, you ask? Sunday, May 21, 2017! 2 to 4 pm! Come, celebrate the vitality of independent literature and appraise how literature continues to contribute to social transformation at a time so different from…
You Haven’t Heard This One Before … Dear friends of the Guild Literary Complex, A Poet, A Novelist and an Essayist Walk Into a Bar… No, really, you haven’t heard this one before! Why? Because it’s the theme for the Guild Literary Complex’s annual benefit, “A Poet, A Novelist and an Essayist Walk Into a…
Join Guild Literary Complex, 826DC, University of Arkansas Press, The editors of the Golden Shovel Anthology: Peter Kahn, Ravi Shankar, Patricia Smith, Curbside Splendor Publishing, & Brooks Permissions To celebrate the launch of THREE brand new anthologies Honoring the work and legacy of the legendary Gwendolyn Brooks. Featuring performances by Terrance Hayes, Dottie Lasky, Kwame…
On December 8th, 2016, 6:00-9:00 PM we hope you will join us for a Thank you to You Party~ Uptown Lounge is helping the Guild throw a party to celebrate all things Guild, all things literary, all things Chicago, friendships, and most importantly you! The Guild Literary Complex wants to end the year with all…
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…
Join us the weekend of Wicker Park & West Town Lit Fest for a special reading from the newest book from the amazing Quraysh Ali Lansana! He will be reading from a never before seen book! A Gift from Greensboro (Ages 5 & up) is at once an elegy, a celebration of the magic of…
Join the Guild Literary Complex, The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, and the Poetry Foundation as we celebrate the great writers of Chicago. This year we are celebrating one of our very own: Rosellen Brown. Mark your calendars to come and celebrate Rosellen’s amazing body of work, not to mention a life dedicated to the…
The Guild Literary Complex is back for our Fall 2016 season! Launching us off is the Wicker Park and West Town Lit Fest, September 15-18th with Guild Events partnered with Volumes Book Cafe, 826 Chicago, Young Chicago Authors, Book Club, Chicago PRC, Quimby’s Bookstore, Myopic Books, and Impossible Industries. Join us Saturday September 17th at Volumes…
Call for 2016 Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic awards submissions DEADLINE EXTENDED TO SEPTEMBER 15th! Guild Literary Complex announces its open call for poetry submissions for the 23rd Annual Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Award. Deadline to submit is has been extended to September 15th, 2016! Twenty (20) selected semi-finalists will compete for a $500 prize in front of a voting…
The GUILD LITERARY COMPLEX is set to party with you on June 22nd 6:00 – 9:00 PM at Filament theatre. Get your Tickets TODAY! Come celebrate nearly 30 years of the Guild’s legacy in Chicago as we look to our next 30. Performances, music, fun, food and drink will round out a night with some…
Celebrate the great poet Rane Arroyo with the Guild Literary Complex! Wednesday April 20th, 2016 from 7:30 – 9:30 pm at the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center is located at 4048 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago, IL 60639 The Guild Literary Complex, Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, After Hours Press, and the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural…