Happy birthday, Quraysh! And, happy book release to Quraysh Ali Lansana and Christopher Stewart, whose newest book, The Walmart Republic, will be launched this fall. To celebrate in style (as […]
The Guild is sending six Chicago writers to the Kapittel International Festival of Literature and Freedom of Speech in Stavenger, Norway as a part of our ongoing work with writers living […]
Our monthly bilingual reading series in September features Ana Castillo and Paul Martinez Pompa and is curated by Cristina Correa. The event is hosted and co-presented by the Poetry Foundation. States Correa, […]
The Guild and the Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago will present three Asian authors on Wednesday, September 24. In […]
Curated by Cyn Vargas, the theme of this month's Palabra Pura is Want. Cyn writes, "Want. It could be a person, thing, words we long to hear, a new place. […]
UPDATED: ANNOUNCING THE 2014 PROSE AWARD WINNERS! Kate Duva, winner of the 2014 Prose Award in Fiction Elora de Grey, winner of the 2014 Prose Award in Non-Fiction The Guild […]
The Guild Literary Complex is proud and excited to partner with the 2014 Chicago Humanities Festival to present Colm Tóibín's Transatlantic Literary Worlds, a live interview with the award-winning author conducted […]
The Guild’s “good for you” year-end party has returned! This year, after much celebration of our 25th anniversary, we look forward to the future. We plan to celebrate with music, […]
In response to the hangover from colonialism still lingering in the United States, a new literary space has been carved out where historically marginalized bodies, narratives and histories finally have […]
The Guild will be dark for the month of December. We'll be announcing 2015 programming soon...See you next year!
The Guild Literary Complex is pleased to kick off the 10th season of PALABRA PURA with “One Poet / One Poem”. Don't let the name fool you—there will be fiction […]
Chicago is a complicated place, a city where senseless acts of violence and random acts of kindness happen every day, where some can dare to dream and others dream of […]
As part of the Guild's 25th anniversary last year, we highlighted 25 Chicago area Writers to Watch. This year, we program all of them—starting now! "Uncharted" features readings by Eric […]
In September 2014, the Guild Literary Complex sent five Chicago writers to the 2014 Kapittel International Festival of Literature and Freedom of Speech in Stavanger, Norway. NOW, for the first […]
Sharing California roots, a love of poetry, and a feminist devotion to their mothers, Tijuana native Brian Martin and L.A. native Arturo “Tootie” Alvarez blend English and Spanish to pay homage […]
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," […]
Saint Teresa of Jesús held a special, privileged place for books during her life. Not only did she consider books important for her work as a writer, but also as […]
The Guild Complex continues a new reading platform to foreground Asian / American authors and themes. Curated by Dipika Mukherjee, this spring's program—The Alphabet of Distant Harbours—features Toni Nealie, Zhou […]
This month's Palabra Pura is curated by Daniel Borzutzky, who believes that this month's performers, Duriel E. Harris and Rodrigo Toscano, are two of our present moment's most innovative, most […]
The Guild Literary Complex joins the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and other partners in a symposium launch event tonight to honor and discuss the legacy of the […]
In a city—let alone a world—of vast geographies, identities, experience and more, how do we understand our place? Using personal stories, our guest authors will navigate the territory of belonging […]
Click here to buy tickets! The Guild Complex is re-imagining the 1920s through music, song, comedy, and dance in our sixth annual benefit, Wink & Whisper: A 1920s LGBT Cabaret. […]
Please note this month's Palabra Pura is taking place at a special location: the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center (4048 W Armitage Ave). Three fearless and unique feminine voices with […]
Tickets available at door (advance sales have ended). Reverend Billy & The Stop Shopping Choir is a radical performance community based in New York City, and they are coming […]
June 7, 2015 marks the Third Annual BrooksDay and promises to be an exciting continuation of The Guild Literary Complex’s signature event with nonstop readings and performances this year in […]
Founder of Tia Chucha Press and L.A. Poet Laureate Luis Rodriguez returns to Chicago for a special reading event sponsored by Poets & Writers, Inc. This program takes […]
Performers Adam Gottlieb and Angelina Llongueras use their original music, poetry and experience as activists, here and in Spain, to pursue the question: Does English matter? For English expression in […]
For featured authors Diego Báez and Amy Sayre Baptista, violence inhabits their lives and what they write about. This is a violence that divides our culture and us; this is […]
Update: Congratulations to the winner, Javon J. Smith! After the first four rounds, the finalists were chosen by the live audience—no easy task—and included Aja Zakiya Hall, Cassandra McGovern, Javon […]
It's our annual summer programming break! We’ll be taking some time away to regroup through the month of August. Keep an eye out for our Fall Preview, which will contain […]
According to this month's curator, Emilio Maldonado, challenging each other and the status quo is the responsibility of the committed artist, and he has programmed author/activists Aricka Foreman, Christina Obregon, […]
Experiment #89: Fight the Power SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26th7pm / doors lock 7:30pm A special event with 100 Thousand Poets for Changehttp://www.100tpcmedia.org On September 26, 2015, many poets around the world will make their […]
This reading draws inspiration from the work of the featured writers, each of them exploring themes of loneliness, longing, and love. There is desire, and there is dread. There is […]
More information on October's Palabra Pura will be available late summer 2015.
Curated by Cynthia Pelayo October 21 @ 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM $5 | La Bruquena Restaurant, 2726 W. Division in Humboldt Park This month’s curator, Cynthia Pelayo, provides […]
SAVE THE DATE: Reginald Gibbons' Library of First Editions Book Auction Available Starting November 4th Reginald Gibbons is a poet, fiction writer, translator, educator, critic, the former editor of TriQuarterly magazine and National […]
Annual Prose Awards Event November 12, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m., Chopin Theater Every fall, the Guild Literary Complex acknowledges emerging and established prose writers via a judged competition and […]
PALABRA PURA: NOSSA AMÉRICA NOVEMBER 18 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm | $5 La Bruquena Restaurant, 2726 W. Division in Humboldt Park The last Palabra Pura for 2015 […]
The Guild Literary Complex is pleased to kick off the 11th season of PALABRA PURA returning with “One Poet / One Poem”. Come join in the fun 11 years in […]
Palabra Pura March 16, 2016 7:30 - 9:00 pm “Turnt in Relevant Opacity” Curated by Ricardo Gamboa Current events ranging from cover-ups of police shootings and growing social inequalities further […]
Pegasus Theatre has a special deal this weekend just for Guild Literary Complex fans: This weekend, Pegasus Theatre presents sneak peak readings of RUTHERFORD’S TRAVELS, a spellbinding tale based on […]
RANE Flyer, Jpeg Guild Literary Complex, Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, After Hours Press, and the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center invite you to join us for an evening celebrating […]
Welcome to Chicago's newest DIY underground hip-hop event. On the last Thursday of the month (August and December excluded) the Guild Literary Complex hosts an a cappella hip-hop series with […]
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 […]
Palabra Pura with Miguel López Lemus of Lobo Estepario Press presents: Palabra Pura as part of the Guild Literary Complex Una noche bohemia. A bohemian night. Poetry, song, music, storytelling […]
Thursday May 26, 2016. Wicker Park Chicago Guild Literary Complex Presents: Where Margins Meet 5:30 - 7:30 PM Artist Talk with Danny Alexander, Volumes Bookcafe 7:30 Door, 8:00 - 9:45 […]
Welcome to the 4th Annual BrooksDay, a day long celebration of Gwendolyn Brooks Tuesday, June 7, 2016, Time: 10:00 am until 6:00 pm Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E Washington St., […]
The GUILD LITERARY COMPLEX is set to party with you on June 22nd 6:00 - 9:00 PM at Filament theatre. Come celebrate nearly 30 years of the Guild's legacy in […]
The Guild’s annual One Poet/One Poem event starts the year off by looking back. Past Palabra Pura performers are invited to return and share a single poem or other 3-minute piece, painting […]
A Newberry Colloquium Wednesday, October 2, 2019 4pm Towner Fellows’ Lounge, Newberry Library Join us for a talk featuring the Guild Literary Complex’s rich archive, exhibiting its groundbreaking impact on […]
A reading and panel featuring formerly incarcerated writers, and writers who teach in prisons, sharing their work and their perspectives on writing in prison, writing outside of prison, and writing […]
3A panel presented by The Guild Literary Complex + Rebuild Foundation This afternoon with Angela Jackson, Haki Madhubuti, and Eugene Redmond, some of the most important Chicago-area poets working at the intersection of […]
Building on a conversation begun with last Fall’s Applied Words: Performing Queerness On (& Off) the Page, this reading and performance panel brings together three Chicago-based queer femme artists of color working […]
BrooksDay is the Guild Literary Complex’s annual celebration of Gwendolyn Brooks, held every year on June 7th, the anniversary of her birth. Since 2013, BrooksDay has been a marquee event in […]
The Guild hosted an evening celebrating the Guild’s first 30 years, and looking forward to the next 30. Important voices from the Guild’s past introduced the Guild’s 30 Writers to […]
Presented by The Guild Literary Complex + Rebuild Foundation Continuing the collaboration between The Guild Complex and Rebuild Foundation built on the 2016 anthology of African American political art and poetry, Of Poetry and Protest: […]
A screening, reading & conversation This multi-media program looks at the legacy of the Black Arts Movement (BAM) in Chicago as part of the opening weekend of the Of Poetry and […]
En estos tiempos difíciles y en mérito a la evolucion de la lengua, contamos las historias que nuestros zapatos caminan, desde 4 perspectivas diferentes. Democracia, intertextualidad, el muro, THC, LGBTTQQIAAP, […]
The Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Awards (GBOMA) is an annual poetry competition founded by Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) and open to all Illinois residents over the age of 18. The top […]
Information Wants to Be Free & So Do We A Pop Up Library on Communication, Control & Mass Incarceration In collaboration with Read/Write Library, the Guild Complex brings the stories […]
Join the Guild Literary Complex for the last Palabra Pura event of the year, hosted by Kolin Jordan and featuring Amaia Gabantxo and Andrew Hertzberg. Translation will be a theme […]
Join us for a powerful evening of dialogue between Dr. Tara Betts, the Literary Editor of New City, and author Cyntoia Brown-Long as they discuss her new book, Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System.
Join us for the Guild’s annual One Poet/One Poem event as part of our ongoing bi-lingual Palabra Pura reading series. Here are this year's participants: Emcee: Mary Hawley Readers: Emmanuel […]
The Guild Complex Presents: A reading with Backbone Press Featuring our 30 Writers to Watch Tara Betts and Faisal Mohyuddin, along with other Backbone Press authors Naoko Fujimoto, Allison Joseph, […]
Join the Guild Literary Complex in celebrating the recent release of The Distance Between by Timothy J. Hillegonds, and a reading from Kenyatta Rogers, two of the Guild’s 30 Writers […]
More details to come!
More details coming soon!
BrooksDay 2020 will not be held on June 7th, due to COVID-19 restrictions. We're planning a date for the fall and will have more details soon.
Printers Row Lit Fest 2020 has been postponed until September.
Book Release and Reading for Mike Puican's new book of poetry, Central Air. September 17, 2020 7:00pm - 8:00pm, reception to follow Poetry Foundation Also featuring readings from Mary Hawley and […]
Check back soon for more details!
Marvin Tate: Schoolyard of Broken Dreams as part of the Guild's Musicality of Poetry series More details coming soon.
Fuller Award: Reginald GibbonsThursday, October 29, 2020 5:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Reginald Gibbons's prolific writing career has included publication of ten full-length poetry collections; a short story collection and […]
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 […]
Chicago icon Diana Solís will be joined by an intergenerational group of Latinx artists and writers for readings and a conversation about the past/present/future of Spanish language poetry in Chicago. […]
Join us in Springfield for the largest gathering of the arts and culture community in Illinois! Featuring a keynote address from J. Ivy, sessions hosted by arts leaders from all […]
Transvengence is back! Launched in 2022 as part of the Guild's Press Room series, the brainchild of your host, Joss Barton, a trans performer, poet and writer. This event will […]
Somos un colectivo de escritores y editoriales independientes con el propósito de promoverla obra en español propia de Estados Unidos. ¡PRÓXIMAMENTE! El español está vivito y coleando en Estados Unidos; […]
Palabra Pura Poetry Pop-Up featuring Carlos Cumpián, Inmagela Abreu, Beatriz Badikian-Gartler, and Jonny Fadez, with moderator Mary Hawley. This event is part of Feria del Libro (May 4-6).
¡Abierto a poetas de todos estilos y edades! Desde quien apenas esta empezando a escribir, a quienes llevan décadas escribiendo-- todos están bienvenidos a participar. Sólo necesitas dos poemas Ubicado […]
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, […]
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 […]
Join us on Thursday, May 25th, as Exhibit B brings the show to Pilsen Community Books featuring performances from Chad Morgan, Crystal Vance Guerra, Parker Young, and Christie Valentin-Bati.
This 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 […]
Join us for TransVengence with your host, Joss Barton! This month features readings by Aza Greenlee, Noa/Moni Micaela Fields, and Ava Mirage Wanbli. Doors open at 7pm upstairs at My […]
In partnership with Hilton/Asmus Galleries, the Guild Complex will host a special reading with Ana Castillo from her new book, Doña Cleanwell Leaves Home. Joining her will be special guest, […]
As part of our Press Room series, join us for a reading and discussion with Bay Area authors, Michael Warr and Tongo Eisen-Martin (San Fransisco Poet Laureate) about their work, […]
Black Fire: This Time, Volume 1 from Willow Books (a division of Aquarius Press) celebrates the roots and legacy of the Black Arts Movement featuring the works of over 100 poets […]
Palabra Pura is back! Come join us with a poem or your favorite text for a community reading in English and Spanish, featuring guest host Crystal Vance-Guerra! Have a drink, […]
Exhibit B, Comfort Station, and the Guild Literary Complex are coming together to host a free outdoor festival in the heart of Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. This special event will […]
Join your host Joss Barton for Transvengence on Thursday, September 7th! This month features performances by C. Russell Price and Trinity Sapphire, followed by a discussion and open mic.
Join us for a mixer and artist chat at Epiphany Center for the Arts' Golden Hour. First 50 can have a drink on us! Artist talk with Jose Alemain Sasieta […]
Exhibit B will be back at Printers Row Lit Fest! Faylita Hicks, Daniel Borzutzky, Nakiyah T.M. Jordan, and Exhibit B's very own, James Stewart III, are going to bring it! […]
Two writers—Ana Castillo, Doña Cleanwell Leaves Home and Reginald Gibbons, Sweetbitter—read from their latest work and talk about finding longevity in creative writing and the arts. Conversation moderated by Richard […]
Come to the Printers Row Lit Fest's Center Stage for a joint reading presented by the Guild Literary Complex, Hypertext, and RHINO Poetry, with two readers each from Chicago's three […]
Congratulations to the 2023 GBOMA winner: Myron Stokes! Come out and support the 2023 finalists for the Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Awards (GBOMA) as they perform their works live! GET TICKETS […]
Creative Iranian Women Digital Projection and Immersive Experience Invited Artists: Shaghayegh Mohajeri, Alemeh Bagherian, Hedie Javani, Saba Soleimani, Pouye Peyman, Sara Rahanjam Opening reception with musical performances and poetry recitation.
This year’s theme is “TEN,” –celebrating 10 years of remarkable programming. This October, join us for more than a dozen bilingual programs throughout Chicago. This year’s festival kicks off on […]