Born Woke: 30 years of Guild Literary Complex – Programming Ahead of the Times

Join us for a talk featuring the Guild Literary Complex’s rich archive, exhibiting its groundbreaking impact on literary programming across Chicago communities. The discussion will feature Guild collaborators and curators Kurt Heintz, Marci Merola, and Lew Rosenbaum.

Kurt Heintz co-founded the Guild’s Poetry Video Festival, and founded the e-poets network (e-poets.net) which includes the Book of Voices. The Book of Voices (voices.e-poets.net) holds recordings of literally hundreds of poets and, in a decade long partnership with Woman Made Gallery, has built one of the largest audible collections of female writers in the Midwest.

Marci Merola is a local writer and poet who served as a board member, volunteer and groupie of the Guild Complex for many years. She was director of the Advocacy Office at the American Library Association for the past 10 years.

Lew Rosenbaum is a founder of the Guild Literary Complex, and edits and publishes the Chicago Labor & Arts Notes e-mail newsletter. He has been employed as a garment worker, printer, social worker, and history teacher, but for most of his life he has been a bookseller, first at the path-breaking Midnight Special Books in Santa Monica, CA, then at the legendary Guild Books in Chicago. He writes on education and independent politics for The People’s Tribune newspaper.

The Newberry Colloquium is a weekly opportunity for the Newberry community to come together and learn about research or projects being conducted by our staff, fellows, scholars-in-residence, and other invited speakers. Colloquium events are open to the Newberry community and the general public. Colloquia topics usually relate to the Newberry’s collection, and presentations are intended for a non-specialist audience.

Unless otherwise noted, the colloquium convenes on Wednesday afternoons in Towner Fellows’ Lounge on the 2^nd floor of the Newberry. Refreshments are served at 3:30 pm, with the talk beginning at 4 pm. A brief discussion follows each presentation. No reservations are required in order to attend.