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SUMMARY:BrooksDay 2025: Living Legacy – Tradition Meets Tomorrow
DESCRIPTION:Join us for an unforgettable celebration on Saturday\, June 7\, 2025\, at 2pm as we honor the incredible legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks and the generations of Black female poets who continue her powerful tradition. \n\n\n\nLocation: National Public Housing Museum919 S. Ada St.\, Chicago\, Illinois 60607 \n\n\n\nThe Living Legacy list shines a spotlight on the phenomenal women who are carrying forward Gwendolyn Brooks’ commitment to culture\, community\, and the craft of poetry. This event is not just about celebrating the past—it’s about recognizing the poets shaping the future of Black literary art. \n\n\n\nDon’t miss out on this beautiful intersection of legacy and tomorrow’s voices. We hope to see you there! \n\n\n\nThis event is free to the public.
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/brooksday-2025/
LOCATION:National Public Housing Museum\, 919 South Ada Street\, Chicago\, Illinois\, 60607
CATEGORIES:BrooksDay
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20230607T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20230607T180000
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SUMMARY:10th Annual BrooksDay
DESCRIPTION:BrooksDay 2023 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis year marks the 10th anniversary of BrooksDay! Join the Guild Literary Complex as we honor the legacy of poet Gwendolyn Brooks and celebrate the launch of One Poem\, One Chicago\, which starts with a reissue of Brooks’ 1987 poetry collection Blacks (Third World Press). \n\n\n\nOne Poem\, One Chicago is a collaboration of the Poetry Foundation\, the Chicago Public Library\, Third World Press\, Brooks Permissions\, and Northwestern University Press. Blacks will be reissued for the 2023 program and printed by Northwestern University Press; copies of the newly published edition will be available at all 81 branches of the Chicago Public Library and in the Poetry Foundation’s poetry library. A limited-run print edition of the collection will be available to the public for purchase from Third World Press. \n\n\n\nSince 2013\, BrooksDay has been a marquee event in the Guild’s yearly calendar with many literary\, cultural\, and civic leaders from Chicago and beyond taking the stage to celebrate and honor Gwendolyn Brooks\, former poet Laureate of Illinois and the first African American writer to win the Pulitzer Prize. \n\n\n\nWant to learn more about Gwendolyn Brooks and her legacy? Check out her page on the Poetry Foundation website here! \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2023 BrooksDay Events\n\n\n\nThis year’s BrooksDay will include: \n\n\n\n12:00 pmDoors open for workshop participants only12:15-1:15 pmGolden Shovel Workshop with Maggie Queeney (limited space\, please register here)1:00 pmDoors open for BrooksDay reading1:30 pmBrooksDay reading begins3:30 pmBreak + birthday cake celebration!5:30 pmReading concludes\n\n\n\nAfterwards\, join Brooks Permissions for ALL THIS LIFE: Examining Gwendolyn Brooks’ Maud Martha! The panel will feature Sandra Cisneros\, Dr. Joanne Gabbin\, and Sandra Jackson-Opoku delving into the profound impact of Gwendolyn Brooks and her seminal novel\, Maud Martha. The event will be streamed live on Wednesday\, June 7\, 2023\, from 7:00pm to 8:15pm (Central Time) on Brooks Permissions’s Facebook and YouTube channels.
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/10th-annual-brooksday/
LOCATION:South Shore Cultural Center\, 7059 S South Shore Dr.\, Chicago\, Illinois\, 60649
CATEGORIES:BrooksDay
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SUMMARY:4th Annual BrooksDay\, June 7 2016
DESCRIPTION:Welcome to the 4th Annual BrooksDay\,\na day long celebration of Gwendolyn Brooks \n\nTuesday\, June 7\, 2016\, \nTime: 10:00 am until 6:00 pm  \nChicago Cultural Center\,  \n78 E Washington St.\,  \nChicago\, IL 60602.  \nOur annual celebration of Gwendolyn Brooks is back\, this year at the Chicago Cultural Center.  Special features\, amazing readers and all things Gwendolyn Brooks will commence at 10:00 am and go until 6:00 pm. The Guild Literary Complex\, Brooks Permissions\, the Poetry Foundation\, and Third World Press\, are again partnering as hosts for Chicago’s premier celebration of all things Gwendolyn Brooks: BrooksDay.  This year we return to our roots with BrooksDay being held on the anniversary of Gwendolyn Brooks’ birthday\, Tuesday\, June 7\, 2016\, from 10:00 am until 6:00 pm at the Chicago Cultural Center\, 78 E Washington St.\, Chicago\, IL 60602\, the location of the first-ever BrooksDay.   \nWe are inviting you to join us this year at an event that is intrinsically Chicago! \nOutdoing ourselves\, this year’s program will feature Kevin Coval\, Aviya Kushner\, and Andrea Change\, as emcees\, along with many of Chicago’s top literary and artistic talent including graffiti artist Tyrue Slang Jones\, artistic brother-trio Sketch N’ Tyme\, and readers including Michelle Boone\, Steve Young\, Jackie Taylor\, Calvin Forbes\, Coya Paz\, Eric May\, Angela Jackson\, Toni Asante Lightfoot\, Quraysh Ali Lansana\, and many others.  Putting together a robust day of poetry\, performance\, activism\, and Gwendolyn Brooks\, we are expecting a great and participatory audience for this event\, as we are again centrally located in Chicago’s Loop\, and have the full support of the City of Chicago: DCASE\, as well as last year’s program sponsors including Northwestern University and Intrinsic Books. \nThe past three BrooksDay celebrations have brought wonderful visibility to the poetry\, work and life of Gwendolyn Brooks bringing together artists and audiences representing all facets of Chicago’s diverse community. This year’s reading and performance will be yet another Chicago-must\, serving as a natural launch into the summer poetry and arts festival season with this year’s event featuring thematic segments of her works and writings. As we grow each year looking towards the 100th anniversary of Gwendolyn Brook’s birth in 2017\, now is the perfect time to discover BrooksDay!  \nEmcee: Andrea Change\nAndrea Change is poet\, writer 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. A hometown girl\, born and raised in Chicago\, much of her poetry is inspired by her experiences growing up in the city. Other influences range from the classic poetry of Browning\, to Pablo Neruda\, to poets from the Harlem Renaissance and the beat poets of the ‘60s. A graduate from Northwestern University\, she is still learning and is constantly fascinated by the great voices she hears at local area poetry readings. She is mother to one son\, Phillip and Sasha\, the dog. Still an active member of the poetry and arts community\, she currently resides in Rogers Park. \nEmcee: Kevin Coval\nKevin Coval is the editor of The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop and is the author of Schtick\, L-vis Lives!: Racemusic Poems\, Everyday People\, Slingshots: A Hip-Hop Poetica and the play\, This is Modern Art\, co-written with Idris Goodwin. Founder of Louder Than A Bomb: The Chicago Youth Poetry Festival and the Artistic Director of Young Chicago Authors\, Coval teaches hip-hop aesthetics at The University of Illinois-Chicago\, is a 4x HBO Def Poet and has written for a wide variety of publications including CNN.com\, Huffington Post and Fake Shore Drive. The Chicago Tribune’s called him “the voice of the new Chicago” and the Boston Globe says he’s “the city’s unofficial poet laureate”. This is Modern Art is forthcoming in the Spring of 2016 on Haymarket Books and Coval’s A People’s History of Chicago is due out in the Spring of 2017\, also on Haymarket Books. \nEmcee: Aviya Kushner:My first book\, The Grammar of God: A Journey Into the Words and Worlds of the Bible (Spiegel & Grau/Random House 2015)\, is about the intense experience of reading the Bible in English after an entire life of reading it in Hebrew. My writing has also appeared in The Gettysburg Review\, Gulf Coast\, Partisan Review\, Poets & Writers\, A Public Space\, The Wilson Quarterly\, and Zoetrope: All-Story. I have worked as a travel columnist for The International Jerusalem Post and as a poetry columnist for BarnesandNoble.com. I am currently an associate professor of Creative Writing at Columbia College Chicago\, and I am a contributing editor at A Public Space as well as a mentor for The National Yiddish Book Center. \nEmcee: Mario Smith is the host of News From the Service Entrance on WHPK\, a contributor to\n#TheDownload on WGN Radio and a Break Beat Poet \nBrooksDay 2016 Readers include: \nJavon Smith\nSandra Opoku\nC.Russell\nFatimah Asghar\nElise Paschen\nJulie Nesbitt\nStephen Young\nKimberly Dixon- Mays\nBabu Atiba \nMama Edie\nKai El’Zabar\nCoya Paz\nToni Nealie\nHurley Green\nElizabeth Taylor\nJill Hopkins\nNora Brooks Blakely\nAngela Jackson\nQuraysh Ali Lansana\nVal Gray Ward\nToni Asante Lightfoot\nNatasha Estevez\nHaki Madhubuti\nDuriel Harris\nKofi Ademola\nPage May\nTiff Beatty\nBee Kapri\nK’Love\nBill Ayers\nTim Samuelson\nRebirth with Sketch N Tyme \nFM Supreme\nM’Reld Green\nKristiana Colon\nCalvin Forbes\nJackie Taylor\nRosellen Brown\nMichelle Boone\nPeter O’Leary\nAurora Performance Group
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/4th-annual-brooksday-june-7-2016/
LOCATION:Chicago Cultural Center\, 78 East Washington Street\, Chicago\, 60602\, United States
CATEGORIES:BrooksDay
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SUMMARY:BrooksDay Preview at the MCA\, Chicago
DESCRIPTION:The 4th Annual BrooksDay is right around the corner\, and to pique your interest the Guild Literary Complex in conjunction with the Museum of Contemporary Art is hosting a preview night of artists who represent the broad scope of the BrooksDay legacy and vision.  \nShowcasing their own work\, artists who are part of the BrooksDay family will be performing at this free event\, hosted by the Guild Literary Complex on the top floor of the MCA in conjunction with the Kerry James Marshall exhibition from 6:00 – 7:15 on Tuesday\, May 3rd\, 2016. \nWe hope you will come see and hear the work of some of our great Chicago talent!  \nFeatured artists include:\nTyrue “Slang” Jones\nSketch N’ Tyme with J.Evelyn \nAnd Poets:\nNate Marshall\nPeter O’Leary\nJavon Smith\nC. Russell Price\nNatasha Estevez\nand a special appearance by Nora Brooks Blakely \nA video installation by Noëlle Pouzar will round out the night.   \nCome visit us at the Chicago Cultural Center on\nJune 7th\, 2016 10: 00 AM – 6:00 PM for the 4th Annual BrooksDay!\n \nMeet the artists:  \nA self-taught artist\, Tyrue “Slang” Jones has been cultivating and innovating ideas reflected though his artwork for over 25 years. His wide array of styles\, ranging from graffiti to fine art\, has gained attention around the globe. His signature style of “Figurative Graffiti\,” recognized both nationally and internationally\, combines flowing shapes and abstracted letterforms with traditional figure painting.\nRoger Gastman\, author of “The History Of American Graffiti” says\, “SLANG single handedly defines the Chicago graffiti movement. For 30 years he has been a nonstop force pushing the limits of his art and teaching the history of the culture that he helped to create.” He has worked as an established graffiti artist\, fine artist\, graphic designer\, and professional television animator. His clients have included: Warner Bros. Animation Studios\, Startoons Animation Studios\, Walt Disney Interactive\, General Mills\, Universal Music\, Def Jam\, Interscope\, Allstate\, Leo Burnett and Viacom (MTV\, VH1 and Nickelodeon). Please visit his website at www.slangism.com\n◘\nJohn Towns\, Darnell Towns\, and Robert Towns (aka The Towns Brothers) are the creators of the concept of Sketch N’ Tyme\, a literary arts performance showcasing three brothers who draw rapidly to a host of original stories\, historic events\, and fairytales from around the world on large mural size paper to live narration and music.  Creating a wide reputation for innovative storytelling Sketch N’ Tyme has performed at the DuSable Museum\, The Black Ensemble Theatre\, BrooksDay\, WVON’s Pre Kwanza Celebration at Chicago State University\, The Athenaeum Theatre\, The Black Women’s Expo\, Hyde Park High School’s 150th Anniversary\,  and a host of Chicago Public and Catholic Schools\, just to name a few. Sketch N’ Tyme was also featured on Harry Porterfield’s ‘Someone you should know.’ Using basic art techniques\, the brothers view themselves as modern day Davids against the formidable Goliaths of modern technology.  John\, Darnell\, and Robert graduated from the school of the Art Institute of Chicago and in the 150th year history of that institution\, the Towns Brothers hold the distinction of having the most siblings to graduate from that prestigious institution in back-to-back years.  On Monday\, October 27\, 2014\, Sketch N’ Tyme received a Special Recognition Black Excellence Award from The African-American Arts Alliance for their contribution to Art and Literacy. The 14th Annual Black Excellence Awards was held at the DuSable Museum. Please visit their website at sketchntyme.com.\n◘\nNora Brooks Blakely was the Producing Artistic Director and primary playwright for Chocolate Chips Theatre Company in Chicago for 29 years.  Ms. Blakely taught for 8 years in the Chicago Public Schools; spent over 20 years teaching drama and writing workshops for students and teachers; conducted readings and lectures in several states. She recently added to her teaching time with 3 years teaching theatre at the DuSable Leadership Academy\, part of the Betty Shabazz International Charter Schools family. Nora has also served on boards and committees for several youth and arts organizations.  She is the daughter of two writers\, Henry Blakely and Gwendolyn Brooks and founded Brooks Permissions\, a company which manages her mother’s body of work and promotes its continued relevance in the 21st century.\n◘\nNate Marshall is from the South Side of Chicago. He is the author of Wild Hundreds (University of Pittsburgh) and an editor of The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop (Haymarket Books). Wild Hundreds has been honored with the Black Caucus of the American Library Association’s award for Poetry Book of the Year and nominated for an NAACP Image Award. His last rap album\, Grown came out in 2015 with his group Daily Lyrical Product. Nate is a member of The Dark Noise Collective. He won a 2015 Ruth Lilly/Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship. He is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at Wabash College.\n◘\nPeter O’Leary is the author of five books of poetry\, including The Sampo (Cultural Society\, 2016). He has also edited several volumes of Ronald Johnson’s poetry\, including ARK (Flood Editions\, 2013) and The Book of the Green Man (Uniformbooks\, 2015).  He lives in Oak Park and teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and at the University of Chicago. With John Tipton\, he edits Verge Books.\n◘\nJavon J. Smith\, an educator\, is a double Louder Than A Bomb college slam champion. He recently appeared in Victory Gardens Theater’s We Must Breathe. He is last year’s winner of the Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Award\, and has won numerous awards with Totally Positive Productions\, Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus\, Queer Foundation\, and Young Chicago Authors. A graduate of DePaul University\, Smith studied Secondary Education English with three minors in African and Black Diaspora Studies\, LGBTQ Studies\, and Theatre Studies. He has served as an Artist-in-Residence with Young Chicago Authors and Teaching Artist for Free Street Theater and Victory Gardens Theater. His poetry collection “Righteous Rage” will be released later this year.\n◘\nC. Russell Price is an Appalachian genderqueer punk poet living in Chicago. Previous publications include: Assaracus\, Court Green\, Nimrod\, MiPOesias\, Weave\, and elsewhere. They currently work with The Offing (a channel of the LA Review of Books) and Northwestern University. Their chapbook Tonight\, We Fuck The Trailer Park Out Of Each Other will be published in June 2016 by Sibling Rivalry Press.\n◘\nJ.Evelyn moved to Chicago almost three years and is the 2016 BrooksDay Project Coordinator. She’s also an active storyteller\, poet\, and actor in Chicago. Recently\, a House Ensemble member of Chicago Slam Works upon arriving to Chicago\, by way of Cincinnati\, she boldly made Chicago home performing her one-woman show ‘Arn’t I Still: Lessons of Her for the Solo Chicago Festival. She’s featured for several festivals in the Chicagoland area including Ravenswood Art Walk\, Chicago’s own Beast Women: All Female Cabaret for two seasons\, Still Point Theatre Collective’s “Strong Women” a play created from poetry written by women\, not just inmates of Cook County Jail. She treasures the opportunity to tell stories and helping others searching for their voice to find it\, use it\, and share it.\n◘\nNatasha Estevez is a 20 year old currently living in Chicago attending the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for Creative Writing. Up and out her streets of Harlem\, growing up like many around Natasha with ambition and a movement up in my mind. To be better then what she had seen and to break the cycle of her streets. The mic is Natasha’s home at times where I get to spark something in someone’s mind.\nWith the stories she tells she hopes those who listen leave with a new found hope in their hearts\n◘\nNoëlle Pouzar is a feminist sex essayist and graphic designer. Her practice primarily focuses on female suppression by higher institutions\, societal standards\, and male dominance. Noëlle is currently an undergraduate student at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.\n◘ \nThis is a free event and will coincide with an exhibition of painter Kerry James Marshall.
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/brooksday-preview-at-the-mca/
LOCATION:Museum of Contemporary Art\, 220 East Chicago Avenue\, Chicago\, 60611\, United States
CATEGORIES:BrooksDay
ORGANIZER;CN="Guild Literary Complex":MAILTO:info@guildcomplex.org
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