BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Guild Literary Complex - ECPv6.15.20//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://guildcomplex.org X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Guild Literary Complex REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Chicago BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20110313T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20111106T070000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20120311T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20121104T070000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20130310T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20131103T070000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20140309T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20141102T070000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20150308T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20151101T070000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20160313T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20161106T070000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20170312T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20171105T070000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20180311T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20181104T070000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20190310T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20191103T070000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20200308T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20201101T070000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20210314T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20211107T070000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20220313T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20221106T070000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20230312T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20231105T070000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20240310T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20241103T070000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20250309T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20251102T070000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20260308T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20261101T070000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20250530T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20250530T200000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20250417T005938Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250506T214157Z UID:12212-1748628000-1748635200@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Cocktails & Conversation DESCRIPTION:« All Events\n \n \n Cocktails & Conversation \n 05/30/2025\n @ \n6:00 PM\n – \n8:00 PM\nCDT\n Epiphany Center for the Arts \n \n Eric Charles May\n \nRecently 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 by the Chicago Public Library\, and a 2014 Notable African American Title by Publisher’s Weekly. A Chicago native and a former reporter for The Washington Post\, May is a past recipient of the Chicago Public Library Foundation’s 21st Century Award\, the past board president of the Guild Literary Complex\, a member of 2nd Story\, a curatorial board member of the Ragdale Foundation\, and a selection committee member for the Harold Washington Literary Award. His fiction has also appeared in the magazines Fish Stories\, F\, Hypertext\, Solstice\, and We Speak Chicagoese. In addition to his Post reporting\, his nonfiction has appeared in Sport Literate\, The Chicago Tribune\, and the personal essay anthology Briefly Knocked Unconscious by a Low-Flying Duck. \n \nNancy Johnson\n \nA native of Chicago’s South Side\, Nancy Johnson worked for more than a decade as an Emmy-nominated\, award-winning television journalist at CBS and ABC affiliates in markets nationwide. \n \nHer debut novel\, The Kindest Lie\, has been reviewed by The New York Times\, The Washington Post\, and Los Angeles Times\, and is featured on Entertainment Weekly’s Must List. It was a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection and has been named one of the most anticipated books of 2021 by Newsweek\, O\, the Oprah Magazine\, Shondaland\, NBC News\, Marie Claire\, ELLE\, The Chicago Tribune\, The New York Post\, Good Housekeeping\, Parade\, Refinery29\, and more. Booksellers nationwide selected her novel as an Indie Next pick and librarians chose it for LibraryReads. Nancy’s work has been published in Real Simple and O\, The Oprah Magazine\, and has received support from the Hurston/Wright Foundation\, Tin House\, and Kimbilio Fiction. \n \nHer latest book\, People of Means\, a propulsive novel about a mother and daughter each seeking justice and following their dreams during moments of social reckoning—1960s Nashville and 1992 Chicago. \n \nA graduate of Northwestern University and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill\, Nancy lives in downtown Chicago and leads corporate and internal communications for a large health care nonprofit. The Kindest Lie is her first novel. \n About Golden Hour at Epiphany:\n \nStop by Epiphany for live music series concerts\, and be sure to hit Golden Hour before-hand for drinks and lite-bites! Doors open at 5pm Thursday – Saturday for Golden Hour with 1/2 priced bottles of wine and other specials! \n \nCome early to EXPLORE and DISCOVER your own EPIPHANY… our art galleries are open and there is free entertainment before the show! \n \nFull Concert Calendar Here \n \nGolden Hour Menu + Music Schedule \n \nPlease note that outside food or beverages are not permitted in the venue. \n\n \n Add to calendar \n \n \n\n \n \n Google Calendar\n\n \n iCalendar\n\n \n ** Must be 21+ with a Valid ID\, credit card only to purchase tickets @ the door ** \n \nDoors: 5:00PM to Venue | 5:30PM to Chase House \n \nShowtime: 6:00PM \n\n \n \n \nAuthors\, Eric Charles May (Bedrock Faith) and author\, Nancy Johnson (People of Means) are in discussion about craft\, their perspectives as two writers of color\, career longevity and more specifically the role that Chicago plays as a peripheral “character” in their books. Join us for cocktails and a lively conversation with these two amazing authors in the lovely Chase Garden Gallery. \n \nBoth books will be available for sale with signings by the authors. \n \n$20 – $25 \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n Epiphany Center for the Arts\n \n Address:\n201 South Ashland Ave.\n \n Chicago\,\n IL\n 60647\n United States\n\n\n + Google Map \n \n Phone:\n \n (312) 421-4600 \n \n \n Website:\n View Venue Website \n\n\n\n Categories: \n Applied Words \n \n \n \n\n Power Lines 25th Anniversary Celebration URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/cocktails-conversation/ LOCATION:Epiphany Center for the Arts\, 201 South Ashland Ave.\, Chicago\, IL\, 60647\, United States CATEGORIES:Applied Words ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cocktails-and-Conversation-resized-1.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20240905T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20240905T230000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20240807T215525Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240807T215721Z UID:11631-1725562800-1725577200@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Ananda Lima & Daniel Borzutzky In Conversation DESCRIPTION:A special conversation and reading with award-winning authors Ananda Lima and Daniel Borzutzky about their latest releases\, moderated by poet Alex Wells Shapiro. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAnanda Lima is a poet\, fiction writer\, and translator\, the author of Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil (Tor Books\, 2024) and Mother/land (Black Lawrence Press\, 2021)\, winner of the Hudson Prize.  Her work has appeared in four chapbooks\, including Amblyopia (Bull City Press)\, as well as publications such as The American Poetry Review\, Poets.org\, Kenyon Review\, Gulf Coast\, Witness\,  and elsewhere.   She has been awarded the inaugural WIP Fellowship by Latinx-in-Publishing\, sponsored by Macmillan Publishers and has served as a mentor at the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Immigrant Artist Program. Lima currently serves as a Contributing Editor at Poets & Writers and Program Curator at StoryStudio\, Chicago. She has an MA in Linguistics from UCLA and an MFA in Creative Writing in Fiction from Rutgers University\, Newark. Craft\, her fiction debut\, has received starred reviews from Kirkus Review\, Publishers Weekly and Library Journal\, and The New York Times describes it as “a remarkable debut that announces the arrival of a towering talent.” Originally from Brazil\, she lives in Chicago. \n\n\n\nDaniel Borzutzky is a poet and translator. His most recent book is Written After a Massacre in the Year 2018. His 2016 collection\, The Performance of Becoming Human received the National Book Award. Lake Michigan (2018) was a finalist for the Griffin International Poetry Prize. His most recent translation is Paula Ilabaca Nuñez’s The Loose Pearl (2022)\, winner of the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. His translation of Galo Ghigliotto’s Valdivia received ALTA’s 2017 National Translation Award\, and he has also translated collections by Raúl Zurita\, and Jaime Luis Huenún. He teaches English and Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. A forthcoming collection\, The Murmuring Grief of the Americas (Coffee House Press)\, will be published in 2024. URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/ananda-lima-daniel-borzutzky-in-conversation/ LOCATION:Pilsen Community Books\, 1102 W 18th St.\, Chicago\, Illinois\, 60608\, United States CATEGORIES:Applied Words,Exhibit B ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Ananda-Borz-Conversation-7.29.24.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20240817T183000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20240817T203000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20240724T235855Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240731T214802Z UID:11604-1723919400-1723926600@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Exhibit B: The Poets Platform DESCRIPTION: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! \n\n\n\nIdeally\, community feedback would directly impact policy. In this moment where many folks feel either entirely removed from the political process or overwhelmed by it\, 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! More about DEMOCRAZY FEST: The Democratic National Convention is coming back to Chicago this August 19-22\, and the Left is coming back to protest\, too! Public Media Institute is coordinating a collaborative welcome to artists and activists coming into town. We’re Lump’n it all together under the theme of “Democrazy.” We are living in the legacy of the 1968 DNC protests when activists and artists came together in our city to fight war with love but were met with police violence and state repression. Lumpen 142: Democrazy will revisit these histories while prioritizing the urgent contemporary movements that will bring people back to our streets this year. URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/exhibit-b-the-poets-platform/ LOCATION:Co-Prosperity\, 3219 S Morgan St.\, Chicago\, Illinois\, 60608 CATEGORIES:Applied Words,Exhibit B ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/e5f3d3_86c5a369e0ff41d9ac5bd02ff78b504amv2.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20240815T183000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20240815T203000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20240729T205012Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240729T205045Z UID:11623-1723746600-1723753800@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Chicago House Music: Culture + Community DESCRIPTION: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. \n\n\n\nIncluding a special highlights viewing from the PBS documentary\, House Music: A Cultural Revolution with Barbara Allen\, Director and Producer \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMarguerite L. Harrold is a Poet\, Writer\, Educator\, Community Activist and Ecologist\, originally from Chicago. She is the author of Chicago House Music\, Culture and Community. She earned an MFA in Poetry from Columbia College Chicago. She is an Associate Editor for Prairie Schooner\, the Educational Promotions Manager for African Poetry Book Fund at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln\, where she is pursuing her PhD in Creative Writing. Marguerite was nominated for the 2020 Pushcart Prize (Matador Review).  She was also nominated for a 2020 Illinois Arts Council grant (Chicago Review) and was a 2020 finalist for an Allied Arts Council grant. She is a member of the Community of Writers and attended the Bread Loaf Orion Environmental Writers Conference and was a 2021/2022 Hugo House Fellow. Her work has been published in Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora\, Chicago Review\, RHINO\, Anti-Heroin Chic and other journals. URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/chicago-house-music-culture-community/ LOCATION:Co-Prosperity\, 3219 S Morgan St.\, Chicago\, Illinois\, 60608 CATEGORIES:Applied Words ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Meghan_Copy-of-House-Music-Book-Instagram-Post-1.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20240810T153000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20240810T170000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20240729T203712Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240729T203911Z UID:11611-1723303800-1723309200@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Self-Care as Resistance: Ekphrastic Poetry Reading @ Epiphany Center for the Arts DESCRIPTION: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 body positivity\, mental illness\, depression and grief. \n\n\n\nFeaturing: Kwabena Foli\, April Gibson\, Sam Herschel\, Faylita Hicks\, and Jennifer Karmin \n\n\n\nLocation: The Guild Room at Epiphany Center for the Arts \n\n\n\nThis special program takes place at the Epiphany Center for the Arts in the midst of a powerful art exhibition\, RESET\, and will include a special artist talk with the artist\, Dwight White. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAbout the Artists:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKWABENA FOLI is a multidisciplinary artist born in Belgium but predominately raised in the South Side of Chicago. He is the author of ON GOD (Candor Arts)\, and learning rhythm (Flowered Concrete). Other publications include The Los Angles Review\, Meridian\, Crab Orchard Review\, Salt Hill Journal and elsewhere. He is also a Chicago poetry slam champion\, national poetry slam finalist\, and selected by the Guild Literary Complex as 30 individuals whose careers represent the future of the literary arts in Chicago and beyond. His visual work has over 200 million shares\, and residences include Ragdale\, Banff Centre of Arts\, Chicago HATCH\, Elastic Arts\, and Poetry Center of Chicago. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL GIBSON is a poet\, writer\, and professor from the South Side of Chicago. Her work has appeared in The Kenyon Review\, Michigan Quarterly Review\, Rhino Poetry\, Prairie Schooner\, and elsewhere. She is a recipient of The Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award among other honors. She teaches in the Department of English\, Literature\, and Speech at Malcolm X College. Her poetry collection The Span of a Small Forever was published by Amistad/HarperCollins in 2024.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFAYLITA HICKS is a queer Afro-Latinx multidisciplinary artist\, writer\, hoodoo practitioner\, and cultural strategist advocating for people directly impacted by the carceral system. An Art for Justice Fund grantee\, voting member of the Recording Academy\, and winner of the 2020 Sappho Poetry Award from Palette Poetry\, they are the author of A Map of My Want (Haymarket Books\, 2024) and HoodWitch (Acre Books\, 2019)\, a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Poetry. Currently based in Chicago\, they are working on their forthcoming memoir about their pretrial incarceration\, A Body of Wild Light (Haymarket Books\, 2026)\, their next contemporary jazz-infused spoken word album\, and a digitally immersive performance piece tentatively entitled The Echoes. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJENNIFER KARMIN has published\, performed\, exhibited\, taught\, and experimented with language across the U.S.\, Cuba\, Japan\, Kenya\, and Europe.  As a founding curator of the Red Rover Series\, she has often led ensembles of poets improvising together at festivals\, artist-run spaces\, and on city streets.  Widely published in anthologies and journals\, her books include the text-sound epic Aaaaaaaaaaalice and The Sexual Organs of the IRS a collaboration with Bernadette Mayer.  Since 2000 she has worked with immigrants and refugees at Truman College\, using creative writing to support literacy. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSAM HERSCHEL WEIN is a lollygagging plum of a poet who specializes in perpetual frolicking. They have an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Tennessee and were the recipient of a 2022 Pushcart Prize. They have published three chapbooks\, most recently Butt Stuff Flower Bush with Porkbelly Press. He co-founded and edits Underblong. Recent poems can be found in the American Poetry Review\, The Cincinnati Review\, and Shenandoah\, among others. They can be found in the cheese aisle of most stores\, in the middle of a hug\, or editing poems at your local coffee shop. URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/self-care-as-resistance-ekphrastic-poetry-reading-epiphany-center-for-the-arts/ LOCATION:IL CATEGORIES:Applied Words ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/453085051_1037464291715322_1892448706931909953_n.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20240709T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20240709T210000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20240628T215551Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240628T220227Z UID:11565-1720551600-1720558800@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:A Map of My Want | Book Launch and Celebration with Faylita Hicks DESCRIPTION: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 femme as they explore the sensual intersection of the personal and the political\, a crossroads to which their sexual liberation brought them after their escape from a religious cult. Lyrically\, Hicks interprets the US Declaration of Independence’s infamous “life\, liberty\, and the pursuit of happiness” for themselves. Combining storytelling with Western astrology\, this poetry collection is an intimate erotic spell through which Hicks conjures joy as they develop an alternate theory on how to attain happiness—through ecstatic healing. A Map Of My Want is available from Haymarket here.  \n\n\n\nPraise:\n\n\n\n“A Map of My Want is an essential collection that burns with resilience\, eroticism\, and the pursuit of freedom on every page.”—Ruben Quesada\, author and editor of Latinx Poetics: Essays on the Art of Poetry“Faylita Hicks’s A Map of My Want is a poetic knowing of jail\, sleeping cots\, bills\, and of riding feral pleasures beyond to the self’s heat. Their poetry sings\, and invites the reader to sing along—ecstatically.” —Maud Lavin\, author of Push Comes to Shove“Each poem in A Map Of My Want is a special magic that inhabits the deepest parts of the psyche\, digs in\, and resists forgetting.”—Airea D. Matthews\, author of Bread and Circus“A Map of My Want vividly paints a theology of self-love\, one that transcends the shifting world around it and somehow anchors us\, firm-footed\, in the wanderlust of belonging.”—Deborah Mouton\, author of Black Chameleon“Reading A Map of My Want—so muscular\, impassioned\, and wide-awake—it’s not difficult to believe that bull’s-eye poetry is alchemy\, that healing the un-nursed self is healing the world.” —Cyrus Cassells\, author of Is There Room for Another Horse on Your Horse Ranch?“Too often we are fooled into thinking we are in control of our desires—Faylita Hicks is gracious in the correction of our folly\, in reminding us that the body always draws the map\, and we merely follow it.” —Taylor Byas\, author of I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times \n\n\n\n***This in person event will be live-streamed through Haymarket Books. Register through Ticket Tailor to receive a link to the video conference on the day of the event.  \n\n\n\nWe 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 light refreshments and books available for purchase.*** \n\n\n\nSpeakers: \n\n\n\nFaylita Hicks (she/they) is a queer Afro-Latinx writer\, spoken word artist\, and cultural strategist. Newly based in Chicago\, Illinois\, Hicks is the author of the critically-acclaimed debut poetry collection HoodWitch (Acre Books\, 2019)\, a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Poetry\, the 2019 Julie Suk Award\, and the 2019 Balcones Poetry Prize. \n\n\n\nAndrea Change is poet\, writer\, Executive Director and a long-time friend of the Guild Complex. She has been a part of the Chicago poetry community for over 20 years. Her work has been published in a number of poetry magazines\, journals and included in such poetry anthologies from Tia Chucha Press as Powerlines and Stray Bullets. Her poetry was also included in the 2001 Steppenwolf Theatre production\, Words on Fire.Adrian Matejka is the author of 7 books\, most recently the graphic novel Last On His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century which was selected as one of the 10 Best Books of 2023 by the New York Public Library. He is the editor of Poetry magazine. \n\n\n\nBilly Tuggle is a South Side Chicago native\, a renowned writer\, vocalist\, performance poet and event producer; a mentor\, an activist and HipHop culturalist; recorded\, published\, a poetry slam champion. He is the author of A Tree Falls in The Hood (Swimming With Elephants\, 2024). He will be joined by youth performer\, Carmendy Tuggle. \n\n\n\nRuben Quesada’s sophomore collection of poetry\, Brutal Companion\, winner of the Barrow Street Editors Prize\, will be available on October 15\, 2024. He edited the groundbreaking anthology Latinx Poetics: Essays on the Art of Poetry (2022)\, winner of the Gold Medal from the Independent Publisher Awards. He is the author of two chapbooks—Jane (2023) and Revelations (2018) and a collection of poetry\, Next Extinct Mammal (2011). His poetry and criticism appear in The New York Times Magazine\, Best American Poetry\, Ploughshares\, Harvard Review and elsewhere. He teaches for the low-residency MFA Programs in Creative Writing at Antioch University and Cedar Crest College. He lives in Chicago. \n\n\n\nMore speakers coming soon! \n\n\n\nThis celebration is co-sponsored by Haymarket Books and the Guild Literary Complex\, Illinois Humanities\, ICL Ltd. Co. and L&A Healing Studio. URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/a-map-of-my-want-book-launch-and-celebration-with-faylita-hicks/ LOCATION:Haymarket House\, 800 W. Buena Ave.\, Chicago\, Illinois CATEGORIES:Applied Words ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/hdhbz2i3mxt7byv6zxjj.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20240617T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20240617T200000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20240611T142100Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240611T142102Z UID:11508-1718650800-1718654400@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Girl Work: Book Launch w/ Zefyr Lisowski DESCRIPTION: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. URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/girl-work-book-launch-w-zefyr-lisowski/ LOCATION:Pilsen CATEGORIES:Applied Words ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Girl-Work-Event-Poster-6.5.241.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20240529T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20240529T203000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20240508T213357Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240508T213445Z UID:11327-1717009200-1717014600@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Who Loves the Sun | Chicago Book Launch and Celebration DESCRIPTION: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.  \n\n\n\nWho 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 emotional\, personal\, and expressive leak from all structures that attempt to contain the self\, be they molecular\, disciplinary\, or typographic. Composed of seven chapters\, each taking a different form—from email to lecture to personal essay to mourning diary— Who Loves The Sun ultimately embraces the failure of form. \n\n\n\nThis event is sponsored by Meekling Press\, the Guild Complex and Haymarket Books.  \n\n\n\n***We ask that all in-person attendees wear masks in the event space during the program for the health and well-being of the speakers and other guests. We will have a reception afterwards with light refreshments and books available for purchase.*** \n\n\n\nFulla Abdul-Jabbar is a writer and artist living in Brooklyn. She has performed\, screened\, and exhibited nationally and internationally at the Electronic Literature Organization\, Human Resources LA\, the Brussels Independent Film Festival\, and the Ann Arbor Film Festival. Her writing has appeared in DIAGRAM\, Bombay Gin\, Jellyfish Review\, Passages North\, Northwest Review\, Prairie Schooner\, and elsewhere. Her debut book\, Who Loves the Sun was released through Meekling Press. \n\n\n\nMika Yamamoto is a writer and teacher based in Oak Park\, IL. She has been published most recently in The Good River Review\, Thieving Magpie\, and Vagabond City. She teaches at both Oak Park River Forest High School and The School at the Art Institute of Chicago. \n\n\n\nSamara Huggins is a poet\, performer\, artist and alchemist who explores how text interacts and reacts with the body. She embeds language into hidden or undisclosed parts of handmade quilts\, tapestries\, and garments. Alongside women in her family\, she weaves\, knits\, embroiders\, dyes\, and stitches stories of ancestry\, ecology\, grief and healing. \n\n\n\nSonnenzimmer a collaboration between artists Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi\, approaches graphic arts with an interdisciplinary mindset\, aiming to create new understandings that transcend specific disciplines. Their work encompasses image-making\, sculpture\, writing\, publishing\, exhibitions\, design\, music\, improvisation\, and performance\, exploring the physical and mental effects of visualization. They often discuss the concept of Graphic Arts Future\, which refers to the fusion of all human-induced media beyond conventional reception and intention. Through their experimental practice\, they aim to evoke metaphysical curiosity and encourage formats that engage with this concept. They believe that by embracing the Graphic Impulse\, we can collectively reconsider our approach to mark-making and signage\, ultimately benefiting society as a whole.Sonnenzimmer.com URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/who-loves-the-sun-chicago-book-launch-and-celebration/ LOCATION:Haymarket House\, 800 W. Buena Ave.\, Chicago\, Illinois CATEGORIES:Applied Words ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-08-at-4.28.45-PM.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20240528T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20240528T203000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20240508T213851Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240508T213854Z UID:11331-1716922800-1716928200@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:A Celebration of AAPI Writers DESCRIPTION: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.  \n\n\n\n***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 light refreshments and books available for purchase from the authors.*** \n\n\n\nRHINO Poetry Readers \n\n\n\nIgnatius Valentine Aloysius earned his MFA in Creative Writing from Northwestern University\, where he teaches writing and experimentation. He is the author of the literary novel Fishhead. Republic of Want (Tortoise Books)\, and his prose and poetry have appeared in or are forthcoming in Allium\, a Journal of Poetry & Prose\, Cold Mountain Review\, Another Chicago Magazine\, Porter Gulch Review\, Trampset\, Thanatos Review\, Roi Fainéant Press\, and Portable Gray (U of Chicago Press)\, among others. A poetry collection he co-authored with David Allen Sullivan\, poet laureate of Santa Cruz\, CA\, is forthcoming on Hummingbird Poetry Press. Ignatius curates and hosts the popular reading series Sunday Salon Chicago\, and he is a Co-Chair of the Curatorial Board at Ragdale Foundation\, where he is also a member of its Board of Trustees. Ignatius is currently shopping a lyrical novel and also his second poetry collection. Visit https://linktr.ee/ignatius.valentine.aloysius \n\n\n\nNoh Anothai’s translations range from classical Siamese poets to contemporary Thai authors\, including several who have received or been nominated for the Southeast Asian Writers (SEAWrite) Award. His work has been featured in Asymptote\, World Literature Today\, and Two Lines\, and he has served as a judge for the Lucien Stryk Prize for Asian Literature in Translation. Anothai was a Helen Degen Cohen Summer Reading Fellow with RHINO Poetry\, and later also served as an Associate Editor. Currently\, he is a co-editor for the Best Literary Translations anthology\, whose first edition featured guest editor Jane Hirshfield. \n\n\n\nKundiman Readers \n\n\n\nJess Yuan is a poet\, educator\, and architect. She is the author of Slow Render (2024)\, winner of the Airlie Prize\, and Threshold Amnesia (2020)\, winner of the Yemassee Chapbook Contest. She is a Kundiman Fellow\, and her poems appear in Best New Poets\, Tupelo Quarterly Review\, jubilat\, Beloit Poetry Journal\, Pleiades\, and elsewhere. She is currently an MFA candidate in Poetry at the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins. \n\n\n\nMeg Kim is a poet from Southern Oregon currently living in Chicago. Her work has appeared in Ninth Letter\, Sundog Lit\, and Gulf Coast\, among others\, and her debut chapbook\, INVISIBLE CARTOGRAPHIES\, is forthcoming summer 2024 with New Delta Review. \n\n\n\nLUYA Poetry Readers \n\n\n\nChris Aldana (she/they) is the author of The Water We Swim In (Sampaguita Press\, 2023). They are a queer\, Filipinx artist\, educator\, and community organizer based in Chicago. She is the founder and creative director of Luya\, a poetry organization that centers the voices of people of color. \n\n\n\nCzaerra Galicinao Ucol (they/she) is a queer Filipino writer from Chicago. A 2020 graduate of the Asian/Pacific/American Studies Program at New York University\, their work has appeared in Marías at Sampaguitas\, beestung\, and Walang Hiya. They are a Best New Poets 2021 and Best of the Net 2021 nominee. They are also the Programs and Communications Director of Luya\, a local grassroots poetry organization centering people of color\, which was nominated for Best Poetry Organization in Chicago Reader’s Best of 2021 Awards. In their free time\, they like cooking new recipes\, practicing Filipino Martial Arts\, and listening to Lake Michigan’s waves crashing. Their debut chapbook\, PISCES URGES\, was released in Summer 2023. \n\n\n\nDipika Mukherjee is the author of the novels Shambala Junction and Ode to Broken Things\, and the story collection\, Rules of Desire. Her work is included in The Best Small Fictions 2019 and appears in World Literature Today\, Asia Literary Review\, Del Sol Review\, and Chicago Quarterly Review\, Newsweek\, Los Angeles Review of Books\, Hemispheres\, Orion\, Scroll\, The Edge and more. Her third poetry collection\, Dialect of Distant Harbors\, is forthcoming from CavanKerry Press in October 2022 and a collection of travel essays\, Writers Postcards\, has been accepted for publication by Penguin Random House (SEA) for 2023. She teaches at StoryStudio Chicago and the Graham School at University of Chicago. She holds a PhD in English (Sociolinguistics) from Texas A&M University. URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/a-celebration-of-aapi-writers/ LOCATION:Haymarket House\, 800 W. Buena Ave.\, Chicago\, Illinois CATEGORIES:Applied Words ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-08-at-4.36.36-PM.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20240514T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20240514T203000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20240508T214330Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240508T214332Z UID:11334-1715713200-1715718600@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:What Came After: An Evening of Poetry with Christopher Stewart and John McCarthy DESCRIPTION: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 and coping with loss. Each author’s poetry crafting a different image\, presenting a deeply moving but bitter contrast to the Rockwell image\, we think we know.These books complement one another so well. Each author will read from their perspective books and share in a discussion moderated in part by Guild Complex\, Executive Director\, Andrea Change. \n\n\n\n**We ask that all in-person attendees wear masks in the event space during the program for the health and well-being of the speakers and other guests. We will have a reception afterwards with light refreshments and books available for purchase.** \n\n\n\nChristopher Stewart is co-author (with Quraysh Ali Lansana) of The Walmart Republic (Mongrel Empire Press) and has been recently published in Bryant Literary Review\, Oakwood\, The Perch\, Connecticut River Review\, and others. His new book\, What Came After (The Calliope Group) is out now and the focus of this event. His work frequently addresses themes around mental illness and recovery. He was a 2022 finalist for Steve Kowit Poetry Prize and a 2023 finalist for the Iowa Review Award. \n\n\n\nJohn McCarthy is the author of Scared Violent Like Horses (Milkweed Editions\, 2019)\, which was selected by Victoria Chang as the winner of the Jake Adam York Prize. He is also the author of one previous poetry collection\, Ghost County (Midwestern Gothic Press\, 2016)\, which was named a Best Poetry Book of 2016 by The Chicago Review of Books. John’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in many journals\, including 32 Poems\, Alaska Quarterly Review\, Best New Poets\, Cincinnati Review\, Copper Nickel\, Gettysburg Review\, Ninth Letter\, North American Review\, Pleiades\, Quarterly West\, and TriQuarterly. He currently lives in Evanston\, Illinois and is the Managing Editor of RHINO Poetry. \n\n\n\nThis event is organized by the Guild Complex in collaboration with Haymarket Books.  URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/what-came-after-an-evening-of-poetry-with-christopher-stewart-and-john-mccarthy/ LOCATION:Haymarket House\, 800 W. Buena Ave.\, Chicago\, Illinois CATEGORIES:Applied Words ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-08-at-4.41.01-PM.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20240427T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20240427T190000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20240404T215715Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240405T224100Z UID:11240-1714233600-1714244400@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Elsewhere: An Elegy Book Release Event with Faisal Mohyuddin DESCRIPTION: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.  \n\n\n\n“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 challenging to know how to talk to our children about ‘their impossible wish for deathless tomorrows\,’ but reading Mohyuddin’s poetry encourages us to embrace this world of secrets for a moment and just listen.” — Greg Santos\, author of Ghost Face \n\n\n\nIn addition\, this event will also feature Osama Alomar\, CM Burroughs\, Matthew Kelsey\, and works by artist\,Linda Abdullah. \n\n\n\n**We ask that all in-person attendees wear masks in the event space during the program for the health and well-being of the speakers and other guests. We will have a reception afterwards with light refreshments and books available for purchase.** \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBIOS:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFaisal Mohyuddin is the author of Elsewhere: An Elegy (Next Page\, 2024)\, The Displaced Children of Displaced Children (Eyewear\, 2018)\, and The Riddle of Longing (Backbone\, 2017). The recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Literary Award and a Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award from the Illinois State Library\, he teaches English at Highland Park High School in suburban Chicago and creative writing at Northwestern University’s School of Professional Studies. He is also a visual artist and serves as a Master Practitioner with the global not-for-profit Narrative 4. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLinda Abdullah is an interdisciplinary artist\, designer\, poet\, and daughter of Historic Palestine. Linda majored in Visual Communications at the American University of Sharjah (UAE) and received an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art Media and Design from OCAD University in Canada. Her critical graphic design practice examines social\, cultural\, and political identity through the lens of diaspora\, displacement\, and intellectual exile. Linda exhibits her work regularly and recently had a visual poem about Gaza featured in the Chicago Reader; she currently resides in Chicago. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBorn in Damascus\, Syria\, Osama Alomar is one of the most well-respected Arabic poets writing today\, and a prominent practitioner of the Arabical-qisa al-qasira jiddan\, the “very short story.” He is the author of Fullblood Arabian in English\, and three collections of short stories and a volume of poetry in Arabic. Alomar’s first full-length collection of stories\, The Teeth of the Comb\, was published by New Directions in April 2017. His short stories have been published in The New Yorker (online)\, Noon\, Conjunctions\, The Coffin Factory\, Electric Literature\, and The Literary Review. Currently\, Alomar is working on a new novel about the Syrian War tentatively called The Womb\, as well as another project called The Book of Meditations . He was recently writer-in-residence at City of Asylum Pittsburgh\, and now lives in Chicago. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCM Burroughs is Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Columbia College Chicago and author of The Vital System and Master Suffering\, which was longlisted for the National Book Award\, Lambda Book Award\, and the LA Times Book Award. Burroughs’ poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies including Poetry\, Ploughshares\, Cave Canem’s Gathering Ground\, and Best American Experimental Writing. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOriginally from Glens Falls\, New York\, Matthew Kelsey is a poet and actor based in Chicago. His poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review\, Copper Nickel\, Colorado Review\, and elsewhere. He has received scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference\, a teaching fellowship from the Kenyon Review Young Writers Program\, and an Idyllwild Arts Writers Week Fellowship. \n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is sponsored by The Guild Complex and Haymarket Books. While all of our events are freely available\, we ask that those who are able make a solidarity donation in support of our important publishing and programming work. URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/elsewhere-an-elegy-book-release-event-with-faisal-mohyuddin/ LOCATION:Haymarket House\, 800 W. Buena Ave.\, Chicago\, Illinois CATEGORIES:Applied Words ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/s232360757319543595_p7_i8_w1650.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20240427T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20240427T141500 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20240331T235432Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240409T002301Z UID:11219-1714222800-1714227300@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Spirits\, Spirituality\, & Craft | Reading & Panel DESCRIPTION: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 or Sanctified\, these rituals imprint themselves in the work of the writer. The Spirits\, Spirituality & Craft reading and panel discussion will bring together three writers whose work demonstrates how ancestral influence and spiritual practice manifests itself in their writing craft. We will discuss the intention behind this effort. Is it a memory purge? Or a necessary part of their work? How do they bring in or welcome these influences into their writing space? \n\n\n\n— \n\n\n\nBios\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFAYLITA HICKS (she/they) is a queer Afro-Latinx writer\, spoken word artist\, and cultural strategist. A prolific creative and previously incarcerated artist\, Hicks’ is known for their dynamic storytelling methods and compelling narrative arcs. Using poetry\, prose\, music\, video\, and live performances—they explore the evolution of personal and national identity\, the cyclical nature of grief\, the spiritual applications of quantum physics\, decolonized eroticism/sensuality\, and manifesting personal liberation. Hicks is an Artivist: someone who integrates transformative justice theory into their creative practice\, using much of their work to advocate for the lives of marginalized people who make up our global majority. Their personal account of their time in pretrial incarceration in Hays County is featured in the ITVS Independent Lens 2019 documentary 45 Days in a Texas Jail\, and the Brave New Films 2021 documentary narrated by Mahershala Ali Racially Charged: America’s Misdemeanor Problem. Based in Chicago\, IL\, Hicks is the author of the critically-acclaimed debut poetry collection HoodWitch (Acre Books\, 2019). \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTINA JENKINS BELL is a fiction writer\, playwright\, freelance journalist\, literary activist\, and academic. Bell is a three-time recipient of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events grant\, an Illinois Arts Council grant and two fellowships from the Ragdale Foundation. She is a co-founder of FLOW (For the Love of Writing) and has collaborated with numerous writing organizations\, authors\, and bookstores to offer literary programming on Chicago’s south side. She has collaborated with Janice Tuck Lively and Sandra Jackson-Opoku to produce “A Conversation with Lorraine Hansberry and Gwendolyn Brooks\,” a fictitious account of the literary icons discussing race and women’s issues during a chance meeting in heaven. Her prose has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies\, including Hypertext Journal\, ZYZZYVA Literary Magazine\, and Us Against Alzheimer’s. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKELI STEWART is a writer and educator whose writing has appeared in Quiddity\, Meridians\, Warpland\, amongst other notable journals and publications. Keli was recently selected as a 2021-2022 School of the Art Institute Nichols Tower Artist-in-Residence\, where she will facilitate community storytelling and creative writing workshops. She has received artist fellowships from Hedgebrook\, where she was awarded the 2010 Adrienne Reiner Hochstadt Award\, and the Augusta Savage Gallery Arts International Residency Program. An alum of the Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation and Callaloo Summer Writing Workshops\, Keli’s writing was selected first place in the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award from the Illinois Center of the Book\, chosen by Illinois poet laureate Kevin Stein.  A graduate of Providence St. Mel Highschool\, she received her BA in Fiction Writing from Columbia College in 2002\, her MFA in Poetry from Chicago State University\, and pursued doctoral work in Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst where she studied with notable artists\, activists\, and scholars.  Keli served as a Leadership Lab Fellow with the Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation. She is also the founder of Front Porch Arts Center\, selected as part of the Alliance of Artists Communities Emerging Program Institute. Her poetry collection\, Small Altars was published with Bronzeville Books in 2021.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nANDREA CHANGE (she/her) is a hometown girl\, born and raised in Chicago. A graduate of Northwestern University with a Master’s degree from Roosevelt\, she has been an active member of Chicago’s literary community for than 20 years. Her work has been published in the past in various journals and poetry anthologies from Tia Chucha Press\, Powerlines and Stray Bullets. Her poetry was also included in the Steppenwolf Theatre production\, Words on Fire.  She is currently working on a book of memoir poetry and prose inspired by her experiences growing up on the city’s west side. Andrea is the executive director for the Guild Literary Complex and currently lives in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood with her two dogs Sasha and Missy. URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/spirits-spirituality-craft-reading-panel/ LOCATION:Green Line Performing Arts Center\, 329 E. Garfield Boulevard\, Chicago\, IL\, United States CATEGORIES:Applied Words ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/1.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20240427T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20240427T125000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20240331T235851Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240331T235852Z UID:11224-1714219200-1714222200@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:WORKSHOP | Walking the Middle Path: Using Hoodoo to Tell Your Story DESCRIPTION: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 into narrative blocks in their work. \n\n\n\nParticipants will need to bring their own notebook and writing utensil to this workshop. \n\n\n\n— \n\n\n\nBIO \n\n\n\nFAYLITA HICKS (she/they) is a queer Afro-Latinx writer\, spoken word artist\, and cultural strategist. A prolific creative and previously incarcerated artist\, Hicks’ is known for their dynamic storytelling methods and compelling narrative arcs. Using poetry\, prose\, music\, video\, and live performances—they explore the evolution of personal and national identity\, the cyclical nature of grief\, the spiritual applications of quantum physics\, decolonized eroticism/sensuality\, and manifesting personal liberation. Hicks is an Artivist: someone who integrates transformative justice theory into their creative practice\, using much of their work to advocate for the lives of marginalized people who make up our global majority. Their personal account of their time in pretrial incarceration in Hays County is featured in the ITVS Independent Lens 2019 documentary 45 Days in a Texas Jail\, and the Brave New Films 2021 documentary narrated by Mahershala Ali Racially Charged: America’s Misdemeanor Problem. \n\n\n\nBased in Chicago\, IL\, Hicks is the author of the critically-acclaimed debut poetry collection HoodWitch(Acre Books\, 2019)\, a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Poetry\, the 2019 Julie Suk Award\, and the 2019 Balcones Poetry Prize. They are currently working on their second collection\, A Map of My Want (Haymarket Books\, 2024) and a debut memoir about their carceral experience A Body of Wild Light(Haymarket Books\, 2025). Both books are supported in part by grants\, fellowships\, residencies\, and awards from the Art for Justice\, Black Mountain Institute\, Tin House\, and The Right of Return USA. The former Editor-in-Chief of Black Femme Collective and Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review\, Hicks is a voting member of the Recording Academy/GRAMMYs and its Songwriters and Composers Committee for the Texas Chapter. Hicks is also the recipient of fellowships and residencies from the Tony-Award winning Broadway Advocacy Coalition\, Civil Rights Corps\, Lambda Literary\, and Texas After Violence Project. Their poetry\, essays\, and digital art have been featured in American Poetry Review\, Ecotone\, Kenyon Review\, Longreads\, Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A-Day\, Poetry Magazine\, Slate\, Split This Rock\, Texas Observer\, The Slowdown Podcast\, and Yale Review\, amongst others.  \n\n\n\nBorn in Gardena\, California\, they were raised in Central Texas where they received their MFA in Creative Writing from Sierra Nevada College’s Low Residency Program and founded their creative services LLC\, Infinite. Creative. Lit. URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/workshop-walking-the-middle-path-using-hoodoo-to-tell-your-story/ LOCATION:Green Line Performing Arts Center\, 329 E. Garfield Boulevard\, Chicago\, IL\, United States CATEGORIES:Applied Words ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/WalkingtheMiddlePathUsingHoodootoTellYourStory1-1.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20240420T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20240420T160000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20240405T222637Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240405T223443Z UID:11263-1713621600-1713628800@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:National Poetry Month Event @ Blanc Gallery DESCRIPTION: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.   \n\n\n\nThe program will also feature special performances from the Write It Down! Collective. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBIOS:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCurtis L. Crisler was born and raised in Gary\, Indiana. Crisler\, an award-winning poet/author\, has a new book called Doing Drive-bys on How to Love in the Midwest. He has six poetry books\, two YA books\, and five poetry chapbooks. He’s been published in a variety of magazines\, journals\, and anthologies. He’s co-editor of poetry for the museum of americana. He created the Indiana Chitlin Circuit and the poetry form called the sonastic. He’s the Indiana Poet Laureate and Professor of English at Purdue University Fort Wayne (PFW). He can be contacted at www.poetcrisler.com. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAngela Jackson is a Chicago poet\, playwright\, and novelist. She has received numerous honors for both fiction and poetry\, including the 2022 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize\, the Pushcart Prize\, the Poetry Society of America’s Shelley Memorial Award\, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council. Her poetry collection All These Roads Be Luminous (1998) was nominated for the National Book Award\, and her debut novel\, Where I Must Go (2009)\, won the American Book Award. In addition to Comfort Stew\, Jackson has written several other plays: Witness! (1978)\, Shango Diaspora: An African-American Myth of Womanhood and Love (1980)\, and Lightfoot: The Crystal Stair. URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/national-poetry-month-event-blanc-gallery/ LOCATION:Blanc Gallery\, 4445 South King Drive\, Chicago\, Illinois CATEGORIES:Applied Words ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Taken-by-Tim-Andersen-of-Bel-Air-Photography-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20240411T183000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20240411T210000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20240319T152835Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240404T221246Z UID:11191-1712860200-1712869200@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Nikki Patin Book Release DESCRIPTION: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. \n\n\n\n$10 general admission\, $20 for admission + copy of the book \n\n\n\nAbout the Book: \n\n\n\nWorking on Me chronicles the dysfunction and lore of a Black Russian Jewish interracial family on the far south side of Chicago\, and the resulting trajectory of its prodigal child: multifaceted\, multidisciplinary artist\, performer\, and sexual and domestic violence survivor Nikki Patin.   \n\n\n\nA meditation on the biomythography genre defined by Audre Lorde\, Maxine Hong Kingston\, and Joy Harjo\, Working on Me lyrically dances in and out of different voices and perspectives in order to get to something like the truth. Patin’s prowess as a poet and a songwriter is reflected in prose that is brutal\, beautiful\, and brave.  \n\n\n\nWorking on Me is about what it means to work on oneself to heal and break patterns of harm and violence and what makes the healing necessary in the first place: all the forces beyond our control that work on us. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAbout the Author: Featured in The Guardian\, Chicago Tribune\, the Chicago Reader\, on WBEZ\, WTTW\, FoxSoul\, and on international television and radio\, Nikki Patin has been writing\, performing\, educating\, and advocating for over two decades. She has taught workshops on performance poetry\, body image\, sexual assault prevention and LGBT issues for over 20 years. \n\n\n\nPatin has performed\, taught and spoken at the University of Chicago\, Northwestern University\, Cook County Jail\, Rikers Island prison\, University of Michigan\, University of Wisconsin- Madison\, EXPO Chicago\, Black Artists Retreat\, Brooklyn Museum\, and the National Black Theater in Harlem and many other spaces throughout the U.S.\, New Zealand\, and Australia.    \n\n\n\nIn 2014\, Patin addressed the United Nations in Geneva\, Switzerland on behalf of Black women survivors of sexual violence in the U.S. Nikki Patin holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Southern Maine and is founder and Executive Producer of Surviving the Mic\, a survivor-led organization that uplifts the narratives and artistic excellence of writers and performers impacted by sexual harm and trauma. URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/nikki-patin-book-release/ LOCATION:The Honeycomb Network\, 2659 W Division St.\, Chicago\, Illinois\, 60622 CATEGORIES:Applied Words ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/workingonme-3d_orig.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20231027T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20231027T193000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20230924T180238Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231001T211714Z UID:10084-1698429600-1698435000@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Chile—50 Years of Protest and Change: A Reading and Discussion with Kathleen Osberger DESCRIPTION: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 Chile) and Danny Postel (Politics Editor of New Lines Magazine). \n\n\n\nModerated by Mary Hawley (writer and literary translator). This is event is brought to by the Guild Complex and sponsored in part by the Chicago Network for Justice and Peace. URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/chile-50-years-of-protest-and-change-a-reading-and-discussion-with-author-kathleen-osberger/ LOCATION:Haymarket House\, 800 W. Buena Ave.\, Chicago\, Illinois CATEGORIES:Applied Words ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Chile—50-years-of-Protest-and-Change-A-reading-and-discussion-with-author-Kathleen-Osberger.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20231013T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20231013T200000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20230924T173259Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231001T161624Z UID:10071-1697220000-1697227200@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:30th Anniversary of Always Running with Luis Rodriguez DESCRIPTION: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. \n\n\n\nThere 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 Chicago (Director\, Latin American and Latino/a Studies Program) and Lit & Luz Festival Board member. \n\n\n\nBook signing and reception immediately following. URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/30th-anniversary-of-always-running-with-luis-rodriguez/ LOCATION:Chicago History Museum\, 1601 N. Clark St.\, Chicago\, Illinois\, 60614 CATEGORIES:Applied Words ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Always-Running-92023.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20230520T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20230520T170000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20230421T142727Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230705T175216Z UID:9175-1684587600-1684602000@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:TAKING ROOT: Poetry Event with the South Asia Institute DESCRIPTION: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… \n\n\n\nPoetry reading moderated by Faisal Mohyuddin\, with poets George Abraham\, Czaerra Galicinao Ucol\, Samina Hadi-Tabassum\, and Saba Keramati. Music by Maninder Singh. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDocumentation from the event:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nImages added 7/5/23 URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/taking-root-poetry-event-with-the-south-asia-institute/ LOCATION:South Asia Institute\, 1925 South Michigan Avenue\, Chicago\, Illinois\, 60616 CATEGORIES:Applied Words ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/https-__cdn.evbuc_.com_images_497389069_364712999285_1_original.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20230508T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20230508T213000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20230414T190445Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230414T190526Z UID:9157-1683574200-1683581400@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Black Feminist Poetics: From the Dirt to the Delta DESCRIPTION: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 for Black women.  \n\n\n\nThis event is part of a series of community and post-performance events in support of Lifeline Theatre and Pegasus’ co-production of From the Mississippi Delta (April 27-June 18). \n\n\n\nEvent co-produced by Guild Literary Complex and Surviving the Mic. URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/black-feminist-poetics-from-the-dirt-to-the-delta/ LOCATION:Pegasus at Chicago Dramatists\, 765 N. Aberdeen (May and Aberdeen)\, Chicago\, Illinois\, 60642 CATEGORIES:Applied Words ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/pegasus-headshot-block___06115936407.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20230408T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20230408T173000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20230404T021543Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230410T185330Z UID:9032-1680969600-1680975000@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:“From the Mississippi Delta” Sneak Peek\, with Lifeline and Pegasus Theatres DESCRIPTION: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. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPart of Lifeline’s season programming\, join the actors\, director and a member of the production team discussing the process with an excerpt from the play From the Mississippi Delta. A Q+A will follow with guest co-facilitator: Andrea Change\, executive director\, Guild Literary Complex. \n\n\n\nThe production runs at Lifeline Theatre from April 27-June 18; get tickets here! URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/from-the-mississippi-delta-sneak-peek/ LOCATION:Lifeline Theatre\, 6912 N. Glenwood Ave.\, Chicago\, Illinois\, 60626\, United States CATEGORIES:Applied Words ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://guildcomplex.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/337560035_127115113532842_6559889922428363396_n.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150507T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150507T210000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20150422T141112Z LAST-MODIFIED:20150422T141112Z UID:3009-1431027000-1431032400@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Applied Words: On Belonging DESCRIPTION:In a city—let alone a world—of vast geographies\, identities\, experience and more\, how do we understand our place? \nUsing 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 N.\, author of Illegal: Reflections of an Undocumented Immigrant. \nOn Belonging will take place in the upstairs event space of Schubas Tavern (3159 N Southport). Admission is pay-what-you-can ($5 suggested donation). A full bar and food menu is available. \n  \nABOUT OUR AUTHORS \nRebecca Kling is a transgender artist and educator who explores gender and identity through solo pieces and educational workshops. Her multidisciplinary performances incorporate conversational storytelling\, personal narrative\, humor\, and more. She regularly tours to colleges\, universities\, and theatre festivals across the country\, and has received praise from publications coast to coast. In 2013\, Kling was named as part of the inaugural Trans 100 list\, which aims to highlight and celebrate excellence in the trans community. www.rebeccakling.com \n  \n  \n  \nJosé Ángel N. is an undocumented immigrant who came to the US from Mexico in 1993. He received a bachelor’s and a master’s from UIC; he is a regular contributor for El BeiSMan; his book Illegal: Reflections of an Undocumented Immigrant has been recently chosen as book of the year for the One Book One College program at Moraine Valley Community College. He is author of the blog: https://joseangeln.wordpress.com/ \n  \n  \n  \n  \nSahar Mustafah writes about “the others”—Arabs in the United States and abroad\, who are often deemed strange and disparate from the larger racial community. Her work has appeared in anthologies and journals including Great Lakes Review\, Word Riot\, Flyleaf\, Hair Trigger\, and Chicago Literati\, and she’s performed with 2nd Story Chicago. She’s the recipient of a Pushcart nomination. She recently her MFA from Columbia College. She is a teacher and co-founder of Bird’s Thumb\, an online literary journal devoted to new and emerging voices. \n  URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/on-belonging/ LOCATION:Schubas Tavern\, 3159 N Southport\, Chicago\, IL\, 60657\, United States CATEGORIES:Applied Words,Special Events,Writers to Watch END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150325T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150325T210000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20150117T155824Z LAST-MODIFIED:20150309T133118Z UID:2903-1427311800-1427317200@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Applied Words: A Dose of Mind and Body DESCRIPTION: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. \nAnd to make the program more body related\, we have partnered with the International Museum of Surgical Science (1524 N Lake Shore Dr) to host the event. Your admission to the reading will include admission to the museum (normally $15)\, and the venue will be open a full hour early so you can explore all the exhibits on hand. Click HERE for directions and parking information. \n“Dose” is pay-what-you-can ($10 suggested donation). Audience contributions support honorariums for featured authors. \nREMEMBER: The reading starts at 7:30 p.m.\, but the museum will be open to Guild Complex guests as early as 6:30 p.m. Hooray! \n  \nABOUT THE AUTHORS \nRey Andújar is a Dominican writer and dramaturgist. His books have won various awards including: The International Award from Casa de Teatro\, for his book of short stories\, El factor carne (IslaNegra\, 2005); The Puerto Rican Pen Club Award for his novel Candela (Alfaguara\, 2007); The Story Award from the International Book Fair in Santo Domingo for Amoricidio (AgentesCatalíticos\, 2007); The Ultramar Letters Award (New York\, 2011) for Saturnalia (7Vientos\, 2011); and most recently Adújar won The Cuento y Poesía Consenso Award at Northeastern University. \n  \n  \n  \n  \nAndrew Huff is the editor and publisher of Gapers Block\, an award-winning Chicago-centric news and events webzine he co-founded in 2003\, and the co-host of the eclectic reading series Tuesday Funk. In addition\, he has worked for several years as a professional blogger for corporate clients\, and is a sought-after consultant on content oriented web projects. Andrew holds a journalism degree from The Ohio State University and a certificate in medical writing and editing from the University of Chicago\, and spent 10 years in public relations\, working primarily with clients in the healthcare and biotech industries. He has taught in the journalism departments at Loyola University Chicago and Columbia College\, and is a frequent speaker at SXSW Interactive and other conferences. In 2009 was named to the Crain’s Chicago Business 40 Under 40 list. \n  \nSamantha Irby is the author of Meaty\, a collection of essays chosen by Barnes & Noble as a Discover Great New Writers selection in addition to being named one of the Big Indie Books of Fall 2013 by Publisher’s Weekly. Samantha writes the wildly hilarious blog\, BITCHES GOTTA EAT\, co-hosts Guts & Glory\, a reading series featuring essayists\, and has performed all over Chicago. She has been profiled in the Chicago Sun-Times\, Chicago Reader\, Chicago Tribune\, as well as in TimeOut Chicago. Her work has appeared on The Rumpus\, XO Jane\, and Jezebel. \n  \nMegan Stielstra is the author of the essay collection Once I Was Cool. Her writing appears in The Best American Essays\, The New York Times\, Chicago Tribune\, Poets & Writers\, The Rumpus\, and elsewhere\, and her essays have been recorded for NPR\, Chicago Public Radio\, and Radio National Australia. She’s a company member of the critically-acclaimed 2nd Story storytelling series and has told stories for all sorts of theaters\, festivals\, and bars (many\, many bars) including the Goodman\, Steppenwolf\, Museum of Contemporary Art\, Neo-Futurarium\, and regularly with The Paper Machete live news magazine at The Green Mill. She is the Associate Director of The Center For Innovation in Teaching Excellence at Columbia College Chicago and teaches in the MFA Program at Northwestern University. \n  \nABOUT OUR VENUE PARTNER \n  \n \n  \n  \nThe mission of the International Museum of Surgical Science (IMSS) is to enrich people’s lives by enhancing their appreciation and understanding of the history\, development\, and advances of surgery and related subjects in health and medicine. In support of this\, IMSS is committed to: \n\nPortraying through exhibits and other appropriate media\, the art and science of surgery\, and related subjects.\nProviding programs and services for the education and enjoyment of the public\, students\, and the medical profession.\nPreserving the IMSS collection for the education\, inspiration\, and aesthetic enrichment of future generations.\nGaining recognition as a leader among medical and health museums worldwide.\n\n  \n  URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/applied-words-a-dose-of-mind-and-body/ LOCATION:International Museum of Surgical Science\, 1524 N Lake Shore Dr\, Chicago\, IL\, 60610\, United States CATEGORIES:Applied Words,Special Events,Writers to Watch END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20140425T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20140425T210000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20140221T163335Z LAST-MODIFIED:20140417T170254Z UID:2458-1398452400-1398459600@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Applied Words: Voices of Protest DESCRIPTION:Friday\, April 25\, 7:00 p.m.\nFacets Multimedia\n1517 W. Fullerton Ave.\n(Note: The same program takes place at 8 p.m. on Saturday\, April 26.) \n  \nAl-Sheikh\, Maarouf \nVoices 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 Maarouf (Palestine)\, two poets currently living in exile in Scandinavia for their work as writers and journalists. \n \nAs part of this program two short films will be screened which are included in Poets of Protest\, an Al Jazeera produced documentary series by British filmmaker Roxana Vilk. The series focuses on six Middle Eastern authors and the relationship of their work to initiatives for democracy and social justice across the Middle East. Screenings will be followed  by readings from Al-Sheikh and Maarouf. \nTickets are $5 and can be purchased here. \nA public lecture from the Executive Director of International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) will be presented in conjunction with this program. \nSupport for Voices of Protest is provided by the MacArthur Foundation International Connections Fund. It is co-sponsored by Facets Multi-Media\, Al Jazeera America\, Words Without Borders\, and HotHouse. \n About the participants:\nMazen Maarouf is a Palestinian-Icelandic poet and writer\, lauded as a “rising international literary star”. He has published three collections of poetry: The Camera Doesn’t Capture Birds\, Our Grief Resembles Bread\, and most recently An Angel Suspended On The Clothesline\, which has been translated into several languages including French by Samira Negrouche (Amandier Poésie\, 2013). His work is currently being translated into English by Kareem James Abu-Zeid and Nathalie Handal. Maarouf has read in festivals\, universities\, museums and cultural centers in Europe\, the United States and the Middle East. He has written literary and theatre criticism in various Arabic magazines and newspapers namely An-Nahar and Assafir (Lebanon)\, Al-Quds-el-Arabi (London) and Qantara (Paris); and he has translated numerous Icelandic poets as well as the following novels in Arabic: The Blue Fox by Sjón\, Hands of my Father by Myron Uhlberg\, The Story of the Blue Planet by Andri Snær Magnason and Dwarfstone by Aðalsteinn Ásberg. He resides in Reykjavik. \nThe Iraqi poet and writer Manal Al-sheikh was born in Nineveh in northern Iraq. She has a Bachelor’s degree in English- Arabic translation from the college of Arts\, Mosul University. She has worked in local and Arab press as a freelance journalist. She has published creative and literary articles and texts in many Iraqi\, Arab\, and European newspapers and magazines\, and participated in many cultural festivals within and outside the her native country . Many of her poems and essays have been translated into several languages including: English\, French\, Norwegian\, Catalan and Italian. She currently resides in the city of Stavanger\, Norway. \nOur Sponsors:\n  \n \n  \nFacets Multi-Media \n  \nAl Jazeera \n  \nWords Without Borders \n  \nHotHouse \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/applied-words-voices-of-protest/ LOCATION:Facets Multi-Media\, 1517 W Fullerton Ave\, Select a Country: CATEGORIES:Applied Words,Special Events END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20140423T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20140423T200000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20140404T195622Z LAST-MODIFIED:20140409T175612Z UID:2538-1398276000-1398283200@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Safe\, But Not Silent: How ICORN helps persecuted writers DESCRIPTION:Wednesday\, April 23\n6:00 p.m.\nChicago Temple Building\, Pierce Hall \nHelge Lunde \n\n77 W Washington Street\nFREE\n\nSafe\, But Not Silent: How ICORN helps persecuted writers\nA public talk by Helge Lunde\, Executive Director of the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN)\n\n\nHeld in conjunction with the Guild’s Voices of Protest event.\nRSVP for tickets here (click on the blue “6:00 p.m.” link on April 23). \n  \nHelge Lunde\, executive director of the International Cities of Refuge Network\, will discuss the significant work his organization performs to aid writers facing political threats and persecution. The Guild Complex’s guest artists Manal Al Sheikh and Mazen Maarouf\, featured in Voices of Protest\, both benefited from the services of ICORN. As part of his address\, Mr. Lunde will share the history and need for ICORN\, tell stories of affected artists\, and invite Chicago to become an International City of Refuge. There will be a question-and-answer period after the talk\, followed by a reception with the artists. \nVoices of Protest is generously funded by a grant from the MacArthur Foundation’s International Connections Fund. Related April programs are co-sponsored by Facets Multi-Media\, Al Jazeera America\, Words Without Borders\, HotHouse\, and the National Writers Union-Chicago Chapter. \nThis talk is co-presented with Silk Road Rising. \n  \nAbout our speaker:\nHelge Lunde was the director of Kapittel\, Stavanger International Festival of Literature and Freedom of Speech from 1998 – 2005. In the same period he was responsible for Stavanger as City of Refuge for persecuted writers\, and worked together with Norwegian PEN to develop the network throughout Norway and beyond.Mr. Lunde was among the main figures behind establishing ICORN\, the International Cities of Refuge Network in 2005. He became its first Executive Director\, a position he has been holding since.\n\nOur Co-Presenter:\n\n\nSilk Road Rising \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n Our Partners:\n \n  \n \n  \n \n  \n \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/safe-but-not-silent/ LOCATION:Chicago Temple Building– Pierce Hall\, 77 W Washington Street\, Chicago\, 60602\, United States CATEGORIES:Applied Words,Special Events END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20140326T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20140326T210000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20140115T154041Z LAST-MODIFIED:20140310T142117Z UID:2416-1395862200-1395867600@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Applied Words: Unseen Worlds DESCRIPTION:Schubas Tavern\n3159 N. Southport Ave. \nFrom left to right: Paul Gorski\, Joe Austin II\, PhD\, Stephanie Levi (Curator)\, Anne Yoder\, Vojislav Pejović. \nFROM THE CURATOR\, STEPHANIE LEVI\, PhD: \nI 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 was working on my graduate degree\, I did intensive light\, fluorescence\, and electron microscopy\, which is a technique that enables one to look at microscopic objects at both high magnification and high resolution. I was captivated by the images I saw and collected\, as well as the idea that there were worlds that were visible far beyond what our naked eye is capable of visualizing. Although we can’t see them unaided they still exist\, and they are captivating\, inspiring us to think about life at scales that we aren’t able to see. Analagously\, when we view the Earth from space\, it looks like a blue marble\, but those of us here know that there are high peaks and deep depths\, and that the planet is teeming with life. I’ve often thought about the secret lives of the objects and living things at the microscopic level —what are there love stories\, their dramas\, their routines? \nThese ideas and images were the spark for the theme\, and beyond this\, I was intrigued by the many subcontexts of the theme as well. There are communities of people who can’t necessarily access science easily or are underrepresented in STEM\, and I see the theme as an opportunity to highlight these communities and populations\, understand the connection between science and social justice\, and support their engagement and interest in science and math. The theme also crosses disciplines\, exploring how science and the arts and humanities intersect\, and what happens when they do. \nIn putting the group of readers together\, I sought to feature scientists as writers\, and science-curious artists to explore the union of the two. My hope is that attendees and the general public leave the event with a better appreciation of scientists as artists in their own right\, cultural creators who offer comment on our shared experience from vantages not normally witnessed. \nABOUT THE ARTISTS: \nJotham (Joe) Austin\, II\, was born and raised in Philadelphia\, PA. He received his BS in Biology from Penn State University-Behrend\, but when not in the lab he was busy writing short stories and poems. He attended graduate school at Arizona State University\, where he received his PhD in Botany. One could say his love of writing continued to blossom: Joe started reading his poems at coffeehouses and small venues around Tempe\, AZ\, and eventually formed a poetry/music combo with Robbie Roberson\, director of Electron Microscopy. After taking a Postdoctoral position in Microscopy in Boulder\, CO\, he made his way to Chicago where he currently is Director of the University of Chicago’s Electron Microscopy Core Facility. Joe returned to creative writing after tearing his Achilles tendon\, finishing his first novel\, Pretty Small Things. He now knows the true meaning of rejection as he chases publication\, but everyone loves his homebrew. \nPaul Gorski majored in biology and chemistry before taking a job as a technical copywriter. After coordinating his marketing department’s move to digital publishing in the early ‘90s\, he moved on to develop and support digital publishing systems used by ad agencies\, newspapers and publishers. Paul currently supports publishing workflows at the American Dental Association in Chicago. He also writes two weekly columns for The Rock River Times newspaper in Rockford\, where he lives with his wife and children. Somewhere between Chicago and Rockford he pauses long enough to manage www.nwuchicago.org\, the National Writers Union–Chicago website. \nVojislav Pejović (“voice-love peyovich”) is a neurobiologist by training and earns his living as a medical writer. In 2008\, he published a critically acclaimed novel in his native Montenegro\, and in 2010\, translations of Charles Simic’s poetry in Serbo-Croatian. He also wrote a couple of movie scripts. His current project is a collection of stories in English and Serbo-Croatian. He lives in Evanston with his wife and their two sons. \nAnne K. Yoder is a staff writer for the online literary magazine The Millions and is the co-editrix of Projecttile\, a journal of nontraditional writing with a feminist bent. When she’s not dealing in words\, she’s dealing in pharmaceuticals\, legally. She’s a registered pharmacist in three states and she’s moonlighted as a hospital pharmacist for over ten years to support her writing habit. Her fiction\, nonfiction\, and criticism have appeared in Fence\, Bomb\, and Tin House\, among other publications. \nABOUT THE CURATOR: \nStephanie Levi received her Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology at the University of Chicago\, and created a variety of science outreach\, communication and mentoring opportunities during her pre-doctoral years. After completing her Ph.D.\, she centered her career at the nexus of science\, outreach\, education and communication\, focusing on improving student recruitment\, retention and success in the sciences\, technology\, engineering and math (STEM)\, particularly underrepresented students\, first generation and low income students\, and individuals with disabilities. Her impact has led to programmatic success and student achievement at a variety of venues\, including the Midwest’s only four-year Hispanic-Serving Institution\, a national non-profit\, local youth-serving organizations\, museums and libraries\, among others.  Public education and outreach with science\, technology\, engineering and math are critical components of her professional interests\, particularly as they focus on adults. She is the creator of Night Lab and Science is Sexy\, public outreach initiatives to build a bridge between the scientific community and the general public to foster public education\, engagement and interest in science. \nClick the logo below to learn more about Science is Sexy: URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/applied-words-unseen-worlds/ LOCATION:Schubas Tavern CATEGORIES:Applied Words END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20140311T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20140311T210000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20131226T194217Z LAST-MODIFIED:20140310T040044Z UID:2390-1394566200-1394571600@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Applied Words: It Gets Better DESCRIPTION:pictured left to right: Precious\, Jill Howe\, Tamale (curator/host)\, Greg Ledger\, Lily Be \n“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 spring production of Brahman/i: A One-Hijra Stand-Up Comedy Show by Aditi Brennan Kapil—co-produced with Silk Road Rising. \nIt Gets Better is supported in part by a generous donation from Bridgeport Mind and Body. \nThere will be door prizes\, including tickets to Brahman/i\, courtesy of About Face Theatre\, and a sexy gift basket worth $50\, kindly donated by Early To Bed. \nPlease note: This is a 21+ program and is free to attendees. \n  \nABOUT THE PERFORMERS: \nThere is nothing a bio can tell you that will truly introduce you to this wise Mexican badass Lily Be from Humboldt Park. She’s a WNEP Maelstrom winner\, first Latina Moth GrandSLAM champion\, and producer/host of Stoop-Style Stories Live at Rosa’s Blues Lounge. \nJill Howe spends most of her time on stories… her own and others. She organizes fellow writers in sharing their latest work at her monthly workshop\, Friends with Words\, while also co-producing Story Sessions (www.storysessionschicago.com)\, a monthly show and weekly podcast. The next theme is “Phoenix Rising”\, tales of triumph over adversity\, March 16th at City Winery. Jill has experienced story panic attacks before reading at Mortified\, Chicago Solo Theatre\, Ignite Chicago at the 1871 tech lab\, Essay Fiesta\, Story Club Bridgeport and many more. \nGreg Ledger was born in Ohio\, did some time in Canada\, and settled in Chicago\, which is where he as spent  most of his life\, so consider him a “native.” He cohosts the podcast\, “A Dear School\,” performs with the live lit ensemble “Is This a Thing\,” and occasionally with the improv group\, “Tiny Nugget.” He has told true-life stories at Story Lab\, Write Club\, You’re Being Ridiculous\, WNEP Theater\, and Seven Deadly Sins. A web front end developer by day\, he lives in Rogers Park with his partner and an extremely annoying parrot. \nPrecious is Youth Outreach Coordinator at Center on Halsted and coordinates Youth programming surrounding HIV prevention\, Transgender advocacy\, and cultural awareness. Precious is a native Nebraskan\, a 2013 graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a Bachelors of Arts in Musical Theatre\, and was recently awarded the prestigious “30 under 30” award from Windy City Times.  Precious stays busy as an artistic associate with  About Face Theatre and a facilitator with the National Conference for Community and Justice STL’s Anytown program. \n  \nABOUT THE CURATOR/EMCEE \nTamale was born in Arizona\, homeschooled\, and mercilessly teased in public high school. An avid member of the 4-H and the Future Farmers of America\, she discovered a love for all things agriculture that led her to earn a BS in both Agricultural Education and Agricultural Technology Management at the University of Arizona. After college\, she chose to pursue her love of comedy in Chicago\, which had the added benefit of keeping her from being killed with fire and sticks when she came out as a queer lady. She now drives a big black motorcycle with an eyelash\, performs comedy\, and travels the world collaborating with other performers to create amazing multidisciplinary shows. In March\, she will be returning to Europe with the Windy City Blenders for their ten year reunion show in Dublin. The week before\, she has booked her own European tour. You can see examples of her work at BrassChucklesComedy.com and TamaleRocks.com. She loves tiny hats more than most people think is healthy. \n  \nOUR PARTNERS \n  \n \n  \n  \n  \n  \nAbout Face Theatre creates exceptional\, innovative\, and adventurous plays to advance the national dialogue on gender and sexual identity\, and to challenge and entertain audiences in Chicago\, across the country\, and around the world. \n \n  \n  \n  \n  \nSilk Road Rising (formerly known as Silk Road Theatre Project) creates live theatre and online videos that tell stories through primarily Asian American and Middle Eastern American lenses. In representing communities that intersect and overlap\, we advance a polycultural worldview. \n  \n \n  \n  \n  \n \n  \n  \n  \nA diverse line-up of live music seven nights a week. Indie Rock\, Folk\, Country\, Rap\, Jazz– it’s all here at Schubas. And food\, too.  Schubas is located at 3159 N Southport. \n  \n \n  \n  \nA sex positive\, woman-oriented shop where people of all genders can feel comfortable taking control of their sexual selves. Since opening in 2001\, Early to Bed has not only provided sex toys and information to countless people\, but also has worked hard to spread a sex-positive message everywhere they can\, giving workshops and talks throughout the community. \n  \n  URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/applied-words-comedy-part-1/ LOCATION:Schubas Tavern\, 3159 N Southport\, Chicago\, IL\, 60657\, United States CATEGORIES:Applied Words END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20140129T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20140129T210000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20140105T180721Z LAST-MODIFIED:20140129T002433Z UID:2394-1391023800-1391029200@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Applied Words: Notes from the Mainframe DESCRIPTION: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. \n“Notes from the Mainframe” will include readings by Catherine Halley (Director of Digital Programs\, Poetry Foundation)\, Daniel X. O’Neil (Executive Director of Smart Chicago Collaborative)\, and Stephanie Plenner (Founder of Chicago Literary Map). Artists will participate in a Q&A following the event. \nThe Applied Words series explores the intersection between creative writing and other fields. Ranging in discipline from art and architecture to social history and biology\, Applied Words attempts to use the literary arts to creatively describe and enhance our understanding of potentially disparate subjects. \nApplied Words: “Notes from the Mainframe” is co-sponsored by FreeGeek Chicago and Gapers Block. Gapers Block co-founder and editor Andrew Huff will join the fray to share a few technology-themed haiku poems. \nThere is an open mic for this event\, so feel free to bring a tech-inspired bit of writing. (2 min limit) \nShare this event on Facebook by clicking here! Poster design by Stephanie Plenner. \n  \nABOUT THE ARTISTS: \n \n  \nCatherine Halley is the director of digital programs at the Poetry Foundation\, where she serves as editor of poetryfoundation.org. She is working on a book about friendship and intimacy in the age of Facebook. \n  \n  \n \nDaniel X. O’Neil is some dude on the Internet. Also: he’s written three books of poetry. More here: http://juggernautco.com/ \n  \n  \n  \n \n  \nStephanie Plenner is a communication and object designer. She created the Chicago Literary Map\, a cartography project turned mobile app. Plenner holds a design and communication position at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. \n  \n  \nABOUT OUR PARTNERS: \n  \n \n  \n  \n  \nFreeGeek Chicago is a not-for-profit community organization that recycles used computers and parts to provide functional computers\, education\, internet access and job skills training to those who want them. \n  \n \n  \n  \n  \nGapers Block is a Chicago-centric web publication providing information on news\, events and other interesting stuff around town. Gapers Block wants you to slow down and check out your city! \n  \n  URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/notes-from-the-mainframe/ LOCATION:FreeGeek Chicago\, 3411 W Diversey Ave\, Chicago CATEGORIES:Applied Words END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20131019T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20131019T160000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20130816T174534Z LAST-MODIFIED:20131014T160955Z UID:2134-1382191200-1382198400@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Applied Words: Re-Built: Writers on Architecture and the Urban Plan DESCRIPTION: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 Open House Chicago\, a program of the Chicago Architecture Foundation. Stop by for stories built brick by brick! \nThe event will featuring readings by Nwaji Nefahito\, Sandra Seaton\, and Benjamin van Loon\, along with students from Henry Ford Academy: Power House High. An open-mic starts the program. Sign-up for the open-mic begins at 1:30 pm. \nThe venue\, a 14-story brick tower in a Neo-Classical style\, was once part of the world’s largest commercial building\, a 3.3 million square foot warehouse for the old Sears Roebuck and Company. \nApplied Words: “Re-Built” is programmed in partnership with Open House Chicago\, a program of the Chicago Architecture Foundation\, and is generously underwritten by the Foundation for Homan Square. \nABOUT THE ARTISTS: \n \nSandra Seaton is the author of twelve plays. Her libretto for the song cycle From the Diary of Sally Hemings\, a collaboration with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer William Bolcom\, is available as a CD from White Pine Music and as a score from Hal Leonard. Famed actor Ruby Dee appeared in a 1998 Ann Arbor production of The Bridge Party\, Seaton’s first play. In 2009\, A Chance Meeting (adapted from the short story by Chicago author Cyrus Colter) premiered at the University of Michigan starring acclaimed Met tenor George Shirley. A recent play\, Music History\, set at the University of Illinois at Champaign in 1963\, focuses on African American college students from Chicago and their responses to the struggle for civil rights in the South. In 2012 Seaton received the Mark Twain Award “for distinguished contributions to Midwestern literature” from the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature. \n  \nBenjamin van Loon is a writer living in Chicago\, IL. He is the co-founder of Anobium (an experimental literary publication); a former staff writer for Green Building & Design magazine; a runner-up for the Calvino Prize for Fiction; and is presently participating in the Communications\, Media\, and Theater graduate program at Northeastern Illinois University. \n  \n  \nNwaji Nefahito was born and raised in the Lawndale district.  She currently resides on the West Side of Chicago\, where she is a longtime community activist. Ms. Harris is also a baker and an African dance performer.  Her West Side roots have continued to influence her perspective on contemporary life\, which has also been enriched by her extensive travels throughout the world\, including visits to West Africa\, Egypt and Haiti. Ms. Harris attended the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and Southern University at New Orleans. She has the ability of a lifelong Westsider to reflect on the ways things have changed in Chicago beyond downtown and the lakefront. \nPARTNER LINKS: URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/applied-words-re-built-writers-on-architecture-and-the-urban-plan/ LOCATION:The Original Sears Tower\, 930 S. Homan Ave. CATEGORIES:Applied Words END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20130309T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20130309T220000 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20130117T155820Z LAST-MODIFIED:20130225T174313Z UID:1795-1362855600-1362866400@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Applied Words: "A Night of Love" DESCRIPTION:THE GUILD LITERARY COMPLEX \nand  CHICAGO DANZTHEATRE ENSEMBLE PRESENT: \n“A NIGHT OF LOVE” \n“There is a community of the spirit. Join it\, and feel the delight of walking in the noisy street and being the noise…” \n-Rumi \nThe Guild Literary Complex and Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble are pleased to present “A Night of Love”\, an evening of performance\, poetry\, and visual art inspired by the poetry and mysticism of Rumi.  Join for an evening length event that includes a gallery of visual art performances by members of Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble and a poetry reading by poets selected by The Guild Literary Complex. Tickets can be purchased through www.danztheatre.org and are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. All tickets include dessert. \n\nFeatured poets include: Senyo Ador\, Bobby Biedrzycki\, L’Oreal Patrice Jackson\, Teresa Kuruvilla\, and John Sacelli.\nFeatured performers include: Jack Ryan\, Wannapa P-Eubanks & Rachel Javellana\, Ellyzabeth Adler\, Lisa Leszczewicz\, Amy Swanson\, Steve Keller\, Chicago Improv Productions\, and Momar Ndiaye (Klou).\nFeatured visual artists include: David Sarallo\, Joshua Longbrake\, Steve Juras\, Kyle Fletcher\, and Josie Davis.\n\n  \nTeresa\, Bobby\, L’Oreal\, and Senyo \nTeresa Kuruvilla recently graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a B.F.A. in music performance. She recently played Bloom in the Literary Guild Complex’s Unnatural Spaces\, directed by Coya Paz. Other Chicago stage credits include Disconnect (Victory Gardens Theater)\, El Stories: Brown Line (Greenhouse Theater)\, and the Bare Bones Theater Festival (Voice of the City). In addition to acting\, Teresa frequently performs as a vocalist throughout Chicago. She’s a teaching artist for After School Matters\, as well as the International Performing Arts Academy. \nBobby Biedrzycki is a writer\, performer\, poet\, and activist who came to Chicago\, IL from St. Paul\, MN via the Bronx\, NY. His stories and poems have appeared in numerous publications\, and he has performed on stages and bar stools all over the city and country. Bobby is an adjunct faculty member of the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago and a company member of the Chicago-based storytelling collective 2nd Story. He is also in love with love. \nL’Oreal Patrice Jackson is an Artist rooted in theatre\, music\, movement and writing. Ms. Jackson hails from the east coast and graduated from the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts\, where she studied creative writing. In Chicago she received her Bachelor of Fine Art in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University and has worked as a professional actor in theatre\, film\, and voiceover. Chicago Theatre credits include; Unnatural Spaces with The Guild Literary Complex Tearing Down the Walls with ETA\, The Final Word with Gorilla Tango\, The Home Project with About Face Theatre\, 365Days/365Plays at Silk Road\, andVenus with The Mill. As an Arts Educator she teaches theatre performance\, improvisation\, storytelling\, and multi-disciplinary art\, She has worked with Steppenwolf\, Columbia College of Chicago\, Changing Worlds\, The Beverly Arts center and Writers Theatre. Ms. Jackson also serves as the Artistic Director for Sankofa Theatre Company and as a youth leader for Soka Gakkai International (SGI) a lay buddhist organization dedicated to peace culture and education. \nSenyo Ador – Writer\, poet and magazine editor\, Senyo_Twilight\, comes with the most unlikely of backgrounds\, being that he was once an electrical engineer. Raised between Accra\, Ghana and Chicago’s western suburbs he was heavily influenced by Nikola Tesla\, the pioneering electrical engineer\, humanitarian\, and showman from Austria. Senyo_Twilight is now using the power in his words to energize audiences the world over to act on causes both locally and remote. \n  URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/applied-words-rumi-poetry-and-dance/ LOCATION:Fulton Street Collective\, 2000 W Fulton S\, Select a Country: CATEGORIES:Applied Words END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20120608T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20120608T220059 DTSTAMP:20260418T034142 CREATED:20120426T175008Z LAST-MODIFIED:20120608T132529Z UID:1208-1339182000-1339192859@guildcomplex.org SUMMARY:Gil Scott Heron - Passages\, Interludes\, Subtext n' Understandin' DESCRIPTION:  \n \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \nJoin us for an evening of poetry\, music and discussion of the legendary poet/musician/activist. Presented by the Guild’s “Applied Words” series\, with support from the Center for the Study of Race\, Politics & Culture – University of Chicago\, and the Friends of Blackstone Library. \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \nFeatured speakers and performers: \nCarol Adams As one of the nation’s most esteemed educators\, Dr. Adams helped to bring about the convergence of art and education in Chicago\, particularly in its museums and public schools.  Former positions include Chairman of the African American Studies Department at Loyola University; Director\, The Center for Inner City Studies at Northeastern Illinois University; and most recently the Secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services. Carol Adams has spent much of her career engaged in cultural arts research\, analysis and production. Her unique perspective on art and its integral role in shaping and defining culture and community is informed by her parallel study of sociology and Africana history and culture. Among her many awards and honors is the Illinois Arts Council Governor’s Award in the Arts. \nMaggie Brown is a tremendously talented singer and performer using her gift to not only entertain\, but educate as well. Maggie is the daughter of the late Oscar Brown\, Jr. a world renowned composer\, social activist\, and legendary giant on the Jazz music scene. Mr. Brown passed on his artistic integrity to his daughter who now uses her own voice to create images that excite and inspire. For 19 years\, the songstress has nationally toured her one-woman show\, “LEGACY: Our Wealth of Music” which follows the history and evolution of African American music and covers a wide range of musical forms. Miss Maggie’s vocal musicianship proudly heralds the LEGACY left by those who came before us. “Music is a powerful force. We need to use our music\, which is our cultural expression\, in a way that uplifts humanity\, rather than simply for material gain\,” said Brown. The singer\, actress\, and educator Maggie Brown is no stranger to jazz-vocal legends with unique styles of songwriting: she grew up with one in her father. In 1999 Brown worked with the late singer/composer Abbey Lincoln on her CD\, “Wholly Earth”. \nKrista Franklin is a poet\, visual artist and performer from Dayton\, OH who lives and works in Chicago. Her poetry and mixed medium collages have been published in lifestyle and literary journals such as Vinyl 5\, The New Sound\, Coon Bidness\, Copper Nickel\, RATTLE\, Indiana Review\, Ecotone\, Clam and Callaloo\, and in the anthologies Encyclopedia Vol. II\, F-K and Gathering Ground. Her visual art has been featured on the covers of award-winning books\, and exhibited nationally in solo and group exhibitions\, and her chapbook Study of Love & Black Body was published in 2012 by Willow Books. Franklin is a Cave Canem Fellow\, a co-founder of 2nd Sun Salon\, a community meeting space for writers\, visual and performance artists\, musicians and scholars. www.kristafranklin.com \nTravis Jackson is an ethnomusicologist whose work centers on jazz\, rock and recording technology. His theoretical interests include urban geography\, race/culture and identity\, ethnographic method\, performance and aesthetics. He is the author of the forthcoming Blowin’ the Blues Away: Performance and Meaning on the New York Jazz Scene\, as well as articles on topics ranging from the intersection of jazz and poetic performance to the interpretation of meaning in rock. His current work focuses on the affective attachment of musicians and listeners to recording labels. \nKeith M. Kelley is a poet\, spoken word artist\, musician and audio artist. He has been performing professionally since 1991 with his spoken word band\, Funky Wordsmyths and in his one-man “Electric Poetry” show that blends spoken word\, rhythmic utterances\, and live instruments with effects processing and live phrase sampling and looping. In addition to performing\, Kelley has been conducting Poetry\, Spoken Word\, and Music workshops with youth and adults for 20 Years. Kelley is the Executive Director of the Spoken Word Academy of Chicago\, a not-for-profit organization established to provide a comprehensive resource for learning\, practicing\, performing\, and experiencing the spoken word art form. \n Quraysh Ali Lansana is author of five poetry books\, including They Shall Run: Harriet Tubman Poems (Third World Press\, 2004); a children’s book titled The Big World (Addison-Wesley\, 1998); and editor of eight anthologies\, including Dream of A Word: The Tia Chucha Press Poetry Anthology (Tia Chucha Press\, 2006). He is Associate Professor of English/Creative Writing at Chicago State University\, where he served as Director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing from 2002-2011. He is a former faculty member of the Drama Division of The Juilliard School and former Associate Editor-Poetry for Black Issues Book Review. Quraysh earned a Masters of Fine Arts degree at the Creative Writing Program at New York University\, where he was a Departmental Fellow. 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. mystic turf\, his third full-length book of poetry\, will be released in November 2012 by Willow Books. \nMario \, Chicago poet\, educator\, activist and radio personality\,  hosts “News From the Service Entrance” on WHPK 88.5FM/whpk.org/iTunes. He has written essays for Chicago’s public radio affiliate WBEZ \, appeared on Voice of America\, provided Election Night 2008 analysis for BBC Devon\, and has performed his poetry at DePaul University\, University of Chicago\, Traffic Series at Steppenwolf Theater (Inaugural Season)\, MCA\, United Nations Dialogue Among Civilizations\, Old Town School of Folk Music\, Art Institute of Chicago\, Chicago Cultural Center. \nSalim Muwakkil is a senior editor of In These Times\, where he has worked since 1983. He is the host of “The Salim Muwakkil” show on WVON\, Chicago’s historic black radio station\, and he wrote the text for the book HAROLD: Photographs from the Harold Washington Years. Muwakkil has also written for the Washington Post\, Chicago Reader\, The Progressive\, Newsday\, Cineaste\, Chicago Magazine\, Emerge Magazine\, The Black Scholar\, and Utne Reader among others. Muwakkil has won a variety of journalism awards including the “Top Ten Media Heroes of 1994\,” from the Institute of Alternative Journalism\, the “Black Rose Achievement Award for 1997\,” from the League of Black Women\, and the 2001 Studs Terkel Award for Journalistic Excellence from the Chicago-based Community Media Workshop. In his spare time\, Muwakkil serves as a board member for the Progressive Media Project and the Chicago-based Public Square. He has been a faculty member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest’s Urban Studies Program\, and an adjunct professor at Columbia College\, Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. \nThe Primeridian\, a hip-hop based\, power group consisting of Simeon Viltz (See-Me-On)\, and Darshon Gibbs (Race)\, hail from the eclectic\, historical music scene of Chicago. With musical influences from blues and R&B\, to house and acid jazz\, the Primeridian fuses these influences into a soulful\, jazzy\, acid-funk sound independent of musical genres and classifications pushing hip hop to new levels of exposure\, experimentation and expression using thought-provoking lyrics\, a touch of humor\, skilled production and musicianship and years of explosive live performances. Simeon AKA “V\,” a native of Chicago’s southeast Hyde Park area\, represents the ‘the soul’ of Primeridian. Darshon “Race” Gibbs is an electrifying and captivating emcee able to entice those in earshot with lyrical prowess\, depth and a distinct\, strong voice. Original member\, Jaime “Tree” Roundtree is now a teacher\, focused on making connections with his students as an educator and his audience as an artist. \nDavid Stovall is Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies and African-American Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).  His scholarship investigates four areas 1) Critical Race Theory\, 2) concepts of social justice in education\, 3) the relationship between housing and education\, and 4) the relationship between schools and community stakeholders. In the attempt to being theory to action\, he has spent the last ten years working with community organizations and schools to develop curriculum that address issues of social justice.  His current work has led him to become a member of the Greater Lawndale/Little Village School of Social Justice High School design team\, which opened in the Fall of 2005. Furthering his work with communities\, students\, and teachers\, Stovall is involved with youth-centered community organizations in Chicago\, New York and the Bay Area.  In addition to his duties and responsibilities as an associate professor at UIC\, he also serves as a volunteer social studies teacher at the Greater Lawndale/Little Village School for Social Justice. \navery 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. \n  URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/gil-scott-heron-passages-interludes-subtext-n-understandin/ LOCATION:Experimental Station\, 6100 S. Blackstone\, Chicago\, IL\, United States CATEGORIES:Applied Words ORGANIZER;CN="":MAILTO:info@guildcomplex.org END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR