Happy birthday, Quraysh!

And, happy book release to Quraysh Ali Lansana and Christopher Stewart, whose newest book, The Walmart Republic, will be launched this fall.

To celebrate in style (as the Guild always does), we will be hosting a birthday and book launch on Saturday, September 13, 2014 at the University of Chicago’s Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts Performance Penthouse (9th floor) from 7:00–10:00 p.m.

The evening will feature Angela Jackson and Elise Paschen, as well as performances by avery r. young, In The Spirit, and Team REBIRTH; and readings from The Walmart Republic by Ali Lansana and Stewart—all hosted by Mario Smith. Books will be for sale by Women and Children First.

Vocalo DJ Ayana Contreras will facilitate dancing and good times, with (all kinds of spectacular) beverages donated by Tastings.com. Attendees can also anticipate snacks and cake.

This event is co-presented with the Logan Center for the Arts and Mongrel Empire Press; and is sponsored in part by the Chicago Center for Working Class Studies.

Books can be purchased at the event thanks to our friends at Women & Children First.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Quraysh Ali Lansana is author of eight poetry books, three textbooks, a children’s book, editor of eight anthologies, and coauthor of a book of pedagogy. He is a faculty member of the Creative Writing Program of the School of the Art Institute and the Red Earth MFA Creative Writing Program at Oklahoma City University. He is also a former faculty member of the Drama Division of The Juilliard School. Lansana served as Director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing at Chicago State University from 2002-2011, where he was also Associate Professor of English/Creative Writing. Our Difficult Sunlight: A Guide to Poetry, Literacy & Social Justice in Classroom & Community (with Georgia A. Popoff) was published in March 2011 by Teachers & Writers Collaborative and was a 2012 NAACP Image Award nominee. His most recent books include The Walmart Republic w/ Christopher Stewart (Mongrel Empire Press, September 2014) and reluctant minivan (Living Arts Press, May 2014).

 

Christopher Stewart’s poetry has appeared in numerous poetry journals and the anthology, Power Lines: A Decade of Poetry from Chicago’s Guild Complex. His collaborations with music artists include his work with the group Circadian Rhythm, which was featured on the audio anthology, A Snake in the Heart: Poems and Music by Chicago Spoken Word Performers. He is an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University.

 

 

 

 

 

ABOUT THE SPECIAL GUESTS

Ayana Contreras is passionate about sound and color. She currently hosts and produces a show called “Reclaimed Soul” on Vocalo 91.1 fm (a sister station of WBEZ). Ayana additionally produces “The Barber Shop Show”, a community affairs show that broadcasts live from a Barber Shop in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood. She’s also a DJ and music historian.

 

 

 

 

 

Angela Jackson earned a BA at Northwestern University, where she received the Academy of American Poets Prize, and an MA in Latin American and Caribbean studies at the University of Chicago. In Chicago, she became a prominent member of the Organization of Black American Culture. Jackson’s honors include a Pushcart Prize, TriQuarterly’s Daniel Curley Award, the Poetry Society of America’s Shelley Memorial Award, and grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council. Jackson lives in Chicago.

 

 

 

Elise Paschen is the author of Bestiary (Red Hen Press, 2009); Infidelities (Story Line Press), winner of the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize, and Houses: Coasts (Oxford: Sycamore Press). She is editor of The New York Times best-selling anthology Poetry Speaks to Children and Poetry Speaks Who I Am (Sourcebooks) as well as co-editor of Poetry Speaks, among others. The Executive Director of the Poetry Society of America from 1988 until 2001, she is the co-founder of Poetry in Motion, a nation-wide program which places poetry posters in subways and buses. Paschen was the featured Illinois poet at the National Book Festival sponsored by the Library of Congress in September 2006. She currently serves as Poet Laureate of Three Oaks, Michigan. A former Frances Allen Fellow of the Newberry Library, Dr. Paschen teaches in the MFA Writing Program at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

 

 

 

Mario Smith (emcee)is a Chicago poet, educator, activist and radio chat show host. Mario has performed his poetry in the Chicagoland area and the US for over twenty years, including Steppenwolf Theater, MCA Chicago, Old Town School of Folk Music, the Chicago Cultural Center, and many more. He has written essays for Chicago’s public radio affiliate WBEZ, appeared on Voice of America, and provided Election Night 2008 analysis for BBC Devon. He currently hosts News From the Service Entrance on WHPK 88.5FM.

 

 

 

 

avery r. young is a writer, performer and teaching artist. He is a Cave Canem Fellow and his works have been published in AIMPrint, Callaloo, Spaces Between Us and many other anthologies and periodicals. He is also featured on Urban Audiology: The Art of Audio Truism and other compilations.

 

 

 

 

Chicago-based storytelling Performance Duo In the Spirit combine the talents of storyteller, Emily Lansana and vocalist, Zahra Baker to weave story & song into soulful engaging performance. Emily and Zahra share the belief that creative expression can be a positive force of change.

 

 

 

 

 

Team REBIRTH a poetry ensemble of high-school-age Chicago teens, were featured in the 2014 ‘Louder Than A Bomb’, Individual and Team Competition.

 

OUR SPONSORS AND CO-PRESENTERS

 

 

 

The Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts advances arts practice, inquiry, and presentation at the University of Chicago, and fosters meaningful collaboration and cultural engagement at the university, on the south side, and in the city of Chicago.

 

 

 

 

Mongrel Empire Press was established in 2007 with a mission to publish well-written, thoughtfully-considered works across generic and disciplinary boundaries.

Mongrel Empire Press chose its moniker because it celebrates the place—Oklahoma—where the press resides. Oklahoma and Oklahomans are glorious admixtures: the land, the flora and fauna (as evidenced by the Crosstimbers), and the people are advantageously heterogenous. Our mongrel nation is not perfect, but they believe that its myriad possibilities point the way to a sustainable and humane future. They will honor their commitment to Oklahoma by actively searching out great writing by Oklahomans.

 

 

 

The mission of the Chicago Center for Working-Class Studies (CCWCS) is to bring together individuals from multiple institutions to promote economic justice and to address class relationships.  CCWCS’ participants are guided by their commitment to “make class visible” and to strengthen the political, economic and moral power of working women and men. The Center is administered by the School of Labor and Employment Relations of the University of Illinois, and its steering committee includes faculty from seven Chicago-area universities.

 

 

A popular and free website from the Beverage Tasting Institute. The Beverage Testing Institute was founded in 1981 with the objective of producing fair and impartial wine reviews for consumers. Today, this philosophy still holds true. Over the years, their buying guides have appeared in the Wine Enthusiast, Restaurant Hospitality, The New Yorker Magazine, Wine & Spirits, International Wine Review, Epicurious.com, All About Beer, and many others.