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  • Applied Words: “A Night of Love”

    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 street and being the noise...” -Rumi The Guild Literary Complex and Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble are pleased to present “A Night of Love”, an evening of performance, poetry, and...

    $15 – $20

  • Applied Words: Re-Built: Writers on Architecture and the Urban Plan

    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 Complex presents Chicago authors examining human-scale relationships with the built environment, the history of Homan Square, and what comes next. This reading is part of...

  • Applied Words: Notes from the Mainframe

    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 work and discuss the poetics of art and science. “Notes from the Mainframe” will include readings by Catherine Halley (Director of Digital Programs, Poetry Foundation),...

    Free

  • Applied Words: It Gets Better

    Schubas Tavern 3159 N Southport, Chicago, IL, 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 to the themes of history, mythology, gender, and high school. This reading is co-sponsored by About Face Theatre and is presented in connection to their...

    Free

  • Applied Words: Unseen Worlds

    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 am delighted to be curating this month’s Applied Words series. The theme of Unseen Worlds stemmed from my experience as a microscopist originally. When I...

    Free

  • Safe, But Not Silent: How ICORN helps persecuted writers

    Chicago Temple Building– Pierce Hall 77 W Washington Street, Chicago, 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 Helge Lunde, Executive Director of the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) Held in conjunction with the Guild's Voices of Protest event. RSVP for tickets...

    Free

  • Applied Words: Voices of Protest

    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, April 25 & 26, draws attention to the plight of exiled authors and celebrates a global literature. The Guild will host Manal Al-Sheikh (Iraq) and Mazen...

  • Applied Words: A Dose of Mind and Body

    International Museum of Surgical Science 1524 N Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, IL, 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," Rey Andújar and Megan Stielstra, along with special guests Andrew Huff and Samantha Irby. And to make the program more body related, we have partnered...

  • Applied Words: On Belonging

    Schubas Tavern 3159 N Southport, Chicago, IL, 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 in a special Applied Words program that highlights two of the Guild's 25 Writers to Watch, Rebecca Kling and Sahar Mustafah, and includes José Ángel...

    $5

  • “From the Mississippi Delta” Sneak Peek, with Lifeline and Pegasus Theatres

    Lifeline Theatre 6912 N. Glenwood Ave., Chicago, Illinois, 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 surrounding events, see the Pegasus Theatre’s website, their Facebook page, and Eventbrite. Part of Lifeline’s season programming, join the actors, director and a member of...

  • Black Feminist Poetics: From the Dirt to the Delta

    Pegasus at Chicago Dramatists 765 N. Aberdeen (May and Aberdeen), Chicago, Illinois

    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, Beah Richards, Gwendolyn Brooks and other Black feminist poets and then perform their own pieces written as response, resulting in a poetic conversation about and...

    Free

  • TAKING ROOT: Poetry Event with the South Asia Institute

    Featured
    South Asia Institute 1925 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois

    In honor of AAPI Month, the South Asia Institute and the Guild Literary Complex bring you TAKING ROOT. This arts event features an exhibition tour, poetry, music, book signing, and more... Poetry reading moderated by Faisal Mohyuddin, with poets George Abraham, Czaerra Galicinao Ucol, Samina Hadi-Tabassum, and Saba Keramati. Music by Maninder Singh. Documentation from...

    $5 – $10

  • 30th Anniversary of Always Running with Luis Rodriguez

    Chicago History Museum 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, Illinois

    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 will be some special performances followed by a special reading with Luis Rodriguez along with an interview and discussion with Hector Chavez, PhD, Loyola University...

  • Chile—50 Years of Protest and Change: A Reading and Discussion with Kathleen Osberger

    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. A discussion, with the author, on the political situation in Chile today will immediately follow featuring Mario Venegas (human rights activist and torture survivor from...

  • Nikki Patin Book Release

    The Honeycomb Network 2659 W Division St., Chicago, Illinois

    Join us for the book release event for Nikki Patin's new memoir, Working on Me. The event will include a reading and discussion with Denise Ruiz, owner and founder of The Honeycomb Network; a book signing; DJ set with Duane Powell; and light refreshments. $10 general admission, $20 for admission + copy of the book...

    $10 – $20

  • National Poetry Month Event @ Blanc Gallery

    Blanc Gallery 4445 South King Drive, Chicago, Illinois

    For National Poetry Month, the Guild Complex offers a special program featuring the newly minted Indiana State poet Laureate Curtis Crisler, alongside the current Illinois Poet Laureate and the most prolific Miss Angela Jackson.   The program will also feature special performances from the Write It Down! Collective. BIOS: Curtis L. Crisler was born and raised...

    Free

  • WORKSHOP | Walking the Middle Path: Using Hoodoo to Tell Your Story

    Green Line Performing Arts Center 329 E. Garfield Boulevard, Chicago, IL, United States

    If your goal is to get over that writer's block and finally tell your story--hoodoo can help! Participants will walk away with a basic understanding of how to read tarot, how to pull information from oracles, astrology, and herbs in relation to their creative writing project, and how to respectfully engage hoodoo practices when running...

  • Spirits, Spirituality, & Craft | Reading & Panel

    Green Line Performing Arts Center 329 E. Garfield Boulevard, Chicago, IL, United States

    As writers, celebrating culture through our work is as easy as sitting across the table from grandma. That ancestral influence is undeniable, but for some it is more intentional. It can be the circulatory process that streams through the work that is produced. Whether baptized in holy water or animal sacrifice - Christianity, Voodun, Santeria...

  • Elsewhere: An Elegy Book Release Event with Faisal Mohyuddin

    Haymarket House 800 W. Buena Ave., Chicago, Illinois

    Join us for poetry and stories of the collective breath held by a grieving world and to celebrate Elsewhere: An Elegy with author Faisal Mohyuddin.  "Faisal Mohyuddin’s Elsewhere: An Elegy is a memory palace of rooms filled with riversongs and baited fishhooks, where longing transforms into birds. This is a moving collection which touches on faith, grief, and fatherhood. It is...

    Free

  • What Came After: An Evening of Poetry with Christopher Stewart and John McCarthy

    Haymarket House 800 W. Buena Ave., Chicago, Illinois

    Christopher Stewart's latest book, What Came After is a poetic walk through grief, memory, and mental illness from a child perspective to adult understanding. It peers at life through the stain of poverty in the Midwest. In discussion with the author is John McCarthy, whose 2019 book, Scared Violent like Horses, offers a complementary perspective on childhood masculinity...

  • A Celebration of AAPI Writers

    Haymarket House 800 W. Buena Ave., Chicago, Illinois

    Join the Guild Complex, RHINO Poetry, Kundiman, and Luya Poetry for a celebration of Asian American Pacific Islander month with an evening of poetry readings from AAPI poets.  ***We ask that all in-person attendees wear masks in the event space during the program for the health and well-being of the speaker and other guests. We will have a reception afterwards with...

  • Who Loves the Sun | Chicago Book Launch and Celebration

    Haymarket House 800 W. Buena Ave., Chicago, Illinois

    Join author Fulla Abdul-Jabbar in conversation with Mika Yamamoto for a celebration of her new book, Who Loves the Sun, with performances from Samara Huggins and Sonnenzimmer.  Who Loves the Sun begins as a study of the scientific poster, in an attempt to understand the object and the people who make them. Eventually focus strays from this subject to explore how the...

  • Girl Work: Book Launch w/ Zefyr Lisowski

    Pilsen

    Join us for the book launch of Girl Work (Noemi, 2024) with author Zefyr Lisowski, featuring performances from Kemi Alabi, Donna "Dante" Marie Gary, and Robin Reid Drake, hosted by Alanis Zoë Castillo Caref.

    Free

  • A Map of My Want | Book Launch and Celebration with Faylita Hicks

    Haymarket House 800 W. Buena Ave., Chicago, Illinois

    A Map of My Want follows a nonbinary femme on their long walk home from a rural county jail as they contemplate how threesomes, quantum mechanics, beaches and nature hikes led them to an epic journey of sexual liberation.An offspring of Audre Lorde’s seminal essay “Uses of the Erotic,” Hicks’s A Map of My Want follows a nonbinary...

    Free – $25

  • Self-Care as Resistance: Ekphrastic Poetry Reading @ Epiphany Center for the Arts

    Caring for ourselves helps us to be more present in the world. Becoming aware of those areas where we might need additional support and asking for help can be scary but, in the end, it is what makes us stronger. The Guild Complex presents five writers who words help tell their stories of finding strength while battling...

  • Chicago House Music: Culture + Community

    Co-Prosperity 3219 S Morgan St., Chicago, Illinois

    Reading and panel discussion with book author, Marguerite L. Harrold along with Khari B, Discopoet, Founder of The Debauchery Ball and veteran House music DJ Michael Ikechukwu Ezebuku. Including a special highlights viewing from the PBS documentary, House Music: A Cultural Revolution with Barbara Allen, Director and Producer Marguerite L. Harrold is a Poet, Writer,...

  • Exhibit B: The Poets Platform

    Co-Prosperity 3219 S Morgan St., Chicago, Illinois

    Exhibit B will be joined by artists using the Democratic Party platform as a prompt. We are proud to be part of DEMOCRAZY FEST going on from Aug 8-18th at Co-Prosperity with Lumpen Magazines! Ideally, community feedback would directly impact policy. In this moment where many folks feel either entirely removed from the political process...

  • Ananda Lima & Daniel Borzutzky In Conversation

    Pilsen Community Books 1102 W 18th St., Chicago, Illinois, United States

    A special conversation and reading with award-winning authors Ananda Lima and Daniel Borzutzky about their latest releases, moderated by poet Alex Wells Shapiro.

  • Cocktails & Conversation

    Epiphany Center for the Arts 201 South Ashland Ave., Chicago, IL, United States

    « All Events Cocktails & Conversation 05/30/2025 @ 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM CDT Epiphany Center for the Arts Eric Charles May Recently retired, Eric Charles May is an associate professor in the Creative Writing program at Columbia College Chicago and the author of the novel Bedrock Faith, the 2021 One Book, One Chicago selection...

    $20 – $25