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 always does), we will be hosting a birthday and book launch on Saturday, September 13, 2014 at the University of Chicago's Reva and...
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, "Across generations, Latino writers and their constellation of experiences and creative identities have found a home in Chicago. For many, home is a constant migration...
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 conjunction with the University of Illinois–Chicago's Kriti Festival—a celebration of South Asian and Asian Diaspora Arts and Literature in Chicago—we present Rachel DeWoskin, Mary Anne...
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. Want is at the core of what we do and say. It drives us or it stuns us. The stories this night will be about...
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 Literary Complex supports divergent and emerging literary voices with our Annual Prose Awards. Every fall we recognize outstanding short fiction and non-fiction from across the...
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...