Guild Literary Complex

AWP | Poets for the People: Opening Reading with Patricia Smith, Roger Reeves, Dr. Taylor Byas, jason b. crawford, and Niki Herd
2024-02-08 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Chicago) | Black Archives Of Mid-America, 1722 E 17th Terrace, Kansas City, Missouri, 64108
In collaboration with the Guild Literary Complex, Cave Canem, and the BLK+BRWN Bookstore, Exhibit B is hosting a series of literary events, free and open to the public, at the Black Archives of Mid-America which will center Black artists and allies. These events complement the AWP conference.

This program is made possible by the support of Cave Canem Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit organization committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of Black poets.

View full description of all events here.

Thurs. February 8th

7:00 PM – Opening Reading

Performances from Patricia Smith, Roger Reeves, Dr. Taylor Byas, jason b. crawford, and Niki Herd

AWP | Poets for the People: KC All Stars Open Mic hosted by Brandon "Amayzn" Nelson
2024-02-08 17:00 - 19:00 | Black Archives Of Mid-America, 1722 E 17th Terrace, Kansas City, Missouri, 64108
In collaboration with the Guild Literary Complex, Cave Canem, and the BLK+BRWN Bookstore, Exhibit B is hosting a series of literary events, free and open to the public, at the Black Archives of Mid-America which will center Black artists and allies. These events complement the AWP conference.

This program is made possible by the support of Cave Canem Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit organization committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of Black poets.

View full description of all events here.

Thurs. February 8th

5:00 PM – KC All Stars Open Mic hosted by Brandon “Amayzn” Nelson

Sign-up starts at 5 PM and all performers will have 3 minutes to read their work.

Guild Complex Holiday Mixer
2023-12-14 18:00 - 19:30 | Epiphany Center for the Arts, 201 South Ashland Ave., Chicago, IL, 60647, United States
Join the Guild Complex for a holiday mixer on Thursday, December 14th (6-7:30pm) at the Epiphany Center for the Arts’ Golden Hour!

Featuring a special artist chat, live music by Bear Williams, happy hour food and beverages, and the first 50 guests get their first drink for free!

Palabra Pura: Marc Zimmerman Carlos Cumpian Book Launch + Open Mic
2023-11-19 13:00 - 17:00 | 18th Street Casa de Cultura, 2057 West 18th Street, Chicago, IL, 60608, United States
LACASA Chicago, Movimento Artístico Chicano (MARCH), 18th Street Casa de Cultura & Guild Literary Complex Invite you to Marc Zimmerman’s Pre-85th Birthday Book Launch of his most important Chicago Latino Publication on the rise of a literary movement: Mexican and Chicano Literature in Chicago: Transplanting Early Roots to the Barrios and Beyond.

“Zimmerman [is] a writer keenly sensitive to the vital literary, socio-cultural and ethno-communal nuances which his book explores and illuminates.” — Roberto Márquez. Latino Lit. Specialist.

Schedule:

1:00—Book Display/Signing/ Sales.Photos by Diana Solís.Music: Negrete Sisters & Juan Corona.1:30— Key Writers in the Book, A Reading: Marta Ayala, CarlosCumpián, Raúl Niño, Marc Zimmerman2:00—Book Discussion. Marta Ayala, emcee. Prof. Olga L. Herrera,Marc Zimmerman, Carlos Cumpián, Raúl Niño3:00—Book Signing/Sales. Light Refreshments3:30—Guild Palabra Pura Book Launch:Joel Méndez, Antonio Zavala, Pablo Ramírezfollowed by:POETRY / OPEN MIC:Eduardo Arocho, emcee; Crystal Vance Guerra3 minutes per reader: 1st come/1st servePre-signup: mzimmerman1939@gmail.com

Free Admission, but limited seating. RSVP: tinyurl.com/chicanolit

For more on LACASA-promoted works, visit lacasachicagobooks.org

An Evening w/ Kathleen Rooney & Jeremy T. Wilson
2023-11-16 19:00 - 21:00 | Pilsen Community Books, 1531 W. 18th St., Chicago, Illinois, 60608, United States
Join us for an evening with two Chicago novelists to celebrate the release of From Dust to Stardust by Kathleen Rooney and The Quail Who Wears the Shirt by Jeremy T. Wilson!

Kathleen Rooney is a founding editor of Rose Metal Press, and a founding member of Poems While You Wait. Her latest poetry collection, Where Are the Snows, won the XJ Kennedy Prize and was published by Texas Review Press in September of 2022, and her latest novel, From Dust to Stardust, was published by Lake Union Press in September of 2023. She lives in Chicago and teaches at DePaul.

Jeremy T. Wilson is the author of the short story collection Adult Teeth and the forthcoming novel The Quail Who Wears the Shirt, both from Tortoise Books. He is a former winner of the Chicago Tribune’s Nelson Algren Award for short fiction and his work has appeared in The Carolina Quarterly, The Florida Review, Jet Fuel Review, The Masters Review, Sonora Review, Third Coast, The Best Small Fictions 2020, and other publications. He teaches creative writing at The Chicago High School for the Arts.

Exhibit B | A Literary Variety Show
2023-11-09 19:00 - 21:00 | Pilsen Community Books, 1531 W. 18th St., Chicago, Illinois, 60608, United States
Exhibit B’s November reading at Pilsen Community Books will feature poetry, prose, and a piano as authors Willie Lin, S.L. Wisenberg, and Michael Dean, will be joined by pianist Marissa Kerbel for a special evening.

Chile—50 Years of Protest and Change: A Reading and Discussion with Kathleen Osberger
2023-10-27 18:00 - 19:30 | Haymarket House, 800 W. Buena Ave., Chicago, Illinois
Author, Kathy Osberger will read from her new book I Surrender: A Memoir of Chile’s Dictatorship, 1975, which chronicles her experiences in Chile two years into the violent authoritarian reign of General Pinochet. A discussion, with the author, on the political situation in Chile today will immediately follow featuring Mario Venegas (human rights activist and torture survivor from Chile) and Danny Postel (Politics Editor of New Lines Magazine).

Moderated 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.

30th Anniversary of Always Running with Luis Rodriguez
2023-10-13 18:00 - 20:00 | Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, Illinois, 60614
In collaboration with the Chicago History Museum, The Guild Complex celebrates 30 years of AlwaysRunning—the debut novel by author, poet, and founder/publisher of Tia Chucha Press, Luis J Rodriguez.

There will be some special performances followed by a special reading with Luis Rodriguez along with an interview and discussion with Hector Chavez, PhD, Loyola University Chicago (Director, Latin American and Latino/a Studies Program) and Lit & Luz Festival Board member.

Book signing and reception immediately following.

Lit & Luz Festival | 10th Anniversary Celebration
2023-10-13 00:00 - 2023-10-21 23:59 | Illinois
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 October 13th with an exhibition of work from Lit & Luz Collaboration Cohort artists from the past decade at Chicago Art Department and closes on October 21st with the Live Magazine Show at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

Lit & Luz Festival is a one-of-a-kind series of events featuring renowned authors and visual artists from the US and Mexico in cultural exchange and conversation.

Generative Multilogue: Artful Protest
2023-10-11 19:00 - 21:00 | South Asia Institute, 1925 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60616
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.

2023 | Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Awards
2023-09-28 19:00 - 21:00 | The Den Theatre, 1331 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL
Congratulations to the 2023 GBOMA winner: Myron Stokes!

Please enjoy this audio recording on the 2023 GBOMA performances.

Come out and support the 2023 finalists for the Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Awards (GBOMA) as they perform their works live!

GET TICKETS NOW

2023 finalists:

Fadia AntabliJóse Bono RovirosaJanet BurrowayMars CaultonMorgan EklundKat FreezeAllison JosephKhloe KammerzellChuck KramerRobert LawrenceIrene MartinezMiguel MarzanaDavid MathewsFrancesca MoroneyHilesh PatelTimothy David ReyMyron StokesKira TuckerCrystal Vance GuerraArne Weingart

All Ages Event

Doors open at 6:00pm, with performances starting at 7:00pm. Get tickets through The Den Theatre.

A Literary Mash Up at Printers Row Lit Fest
2023-09-10 14:00 - 15:00 | Illinois
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 long-standing literary institutions.

Featured readers include:Cheryl Dyer (emerging writer)Nazifa Islam (Forlorn Light – Shearsman 2021)Sahar Mustafah (The Beauty of Your Face – W.W. Norton & Company 2020)Timothy David Rey (poet/playwright/performer)Luis Tubens (poet/writer/performer, a.k.a.“Logan Lu”) (Stone Eagle – Bobbin Lace Press)Jameka Williams

Emceed by Andrea Change of The Guild Literary Complex @ Printer Row Lit Fest’s Center Stage

Going the Distance: A Printers Row Reading with Ana Castillo + Reginald Gibbons
2023-09-10 13:00 - 14:00 | Printers’ Row Lit Fest – Feinberg Foundation Stage, Chicago, Illinois
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 Guzman. Presented by Hypertext and The Guild Complex.

1:00 PM @ Feinberg Foundation Stage, Printers Row Lit Fest

Exhibit B @ Printers Row Lit Fest
2023-09-09 16:00 - 17:00 | Printers’ Row Lit Fest – 731 S. Plymouth Ct., 731 S. Plymouth Ct., Chicago, Illinois, 60647
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!

Catch them on Saturday, Sept. 9th, 4 PM at 731 S. Plymouth Ct.

End of Summer Mixer with Guild Complex + Jose Aleman Sasieta
2023-09-08 18:00 - 19:30 | Illinois
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 begins at 6:30pm.

Transvengence feat. C. Russell Price and Trinity Sapphire (+ Open Mic)
2023-09-07 19:00 - 21:30 | Clash on Clark, 4416 N. Clark St., Chicago, Illinois, 60640
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.

Exhibit B @ Comfort Station | Social Justice Festival
2023-07-30 11:00 - 15:00 | Comfort Station/Logan Square Park, 2579 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, Illinois, 60647
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 feature live music, poetry, free food, and a book drive, along with non-profit organizations tabling to share the incredible work they’re doing in and around Chicago.

Full List of Participants Below:

Partners:

The Guild Literary Complex

Comfort Station

Non-Profit Organizations:

RefugeeOne

Life Span

Chicago Community Bond Fund

826Chi

Surviving The Mic

Books4Cause

Lucky Jefferson

Performers:

Atena O. Danner

Caroline M. Watson

Flor Flores

Katie Prout

Rabha Ashry

Matt Harper

Mondeaux

Nick Rossi

Noa Micaela Fields

Tarnynon Onumonu

Tommy Carroll & Chandler Browne

Palabra Pura: One Poet, One Poem
2023-07-26 19:00 - 20:30 | La Bruquena Restaurant, 2726 W. Division, Chicago, IL, 60622, United States
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, say hi to old friends, and enjoy some bilingual poetry.

This event is free, open to the public, and anyone can bring a poem.

"Black Fire: This Time" | A Reading
2023-07-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Blanc Gallery, 4445 South King Drive, Chicago, Illinois
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 and writers.

Published last spring, perfectly captures the spirit of sankofa, a word from the Akan people of Ghana that roughly translates to “it is not taboo to fetch what is at riskof being left behind.” Black Fire This Time serves up generous portions of essays and plays, but poetry is the main entrée.

The Aquarius Press anthology pays tribute to Black Fire, a 1968 anthology edited by Amiri Baraka and Larry Neal that signaled the beginning of the Black Power movement in America and amplifies the new sentiment “Black is Beautiful. Black is Powerful. Black is Home.”

“In 20 years or so when future anthologists produce an anthology that will reflect a future state of Black writing,” literary icon Ishmael Reed writes in the volume’s introduction, “they will find this one hard to surpass.”

This reading will feature some local contributors from the book, including Curtis L. Crisler, Charlois Lumpkin, aka Mali Newman, Halima J. Olufemi, and Katrina Washington, along with special guests Michael Warr and Tongo Eisen-Martin.

About the Writers:

Curtis L. Crisler was born and raised in Gary, Indiana. Crisler has five full-length poetry books, two YA books, and five poetry chapbooks. He’s been published in a variety of magazines, journals, and anthologies. He’s been an editor and contributing poetry editor. Also, he created the Indiana ChitlinCircuit. Crisler is a Professor of English at Purdue University Fort Wayne (PFW).

Halima J. Olufemi was born and raised in Jackson, MS. She is a member of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, JXN People’s Assembly and work with the People’s Advocacy Institute around their Participatory Defense Program. “My work is deeply rooted in the total liberation of Black people.”

Charlois Lumpkin, aka Mali Newman, is a native of St. Louis, Missouri and a member of the Eugene B. Redmond Writers Club and its performance troupe, the Soular Systems Ensemble. Her work has appeared in Drumvoices Revue, Valley Voices—A Literary Review, Crossing the Divide from the Poets of St. Louis and The Hoot and Holler of the Owls, an anthology published by the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation. New work will appear in the forthcoming anthology 400 years: stories of black people in poems written from love, published by Broadside/Lotus Press.

Originally from San Francisco, Tongo Eisen-Martin is a poet, movement worker, and educator. His latest curriculum on extrajudicial killing of Black people, We Charge Genocide Again, has been used as an educational and organizing tool throughout the country. His book titled, “Someone’s Dead Already” was nominated for a California Book Award. His book “Heaven Is All Goodbyes” was published by the City Lights Pocket Poets series, was shortlisted for the Griffins Poetry Prize and won a California Book Award and an American Book Award. His latest book “Blood On The Fog” was released this fall in the City Lights Pocket Poets series and named one of the New York Times poetry books of the year. In 2020, he co-founded Black Freighter Press to publish revolutionary works. He is San Francisco’s eighth poet laureate.

Poet Michael Warr’s literary honors include San Francisco Arts Commission Awards in 2023 and 2021 and the 2020 Berkeley Poetry Festival Lifetime Achievement Award. His books include Of Poetry & Protest: From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin (W.W. Norton), The Armageddon of Funk, We Are All The Black Boy, and Power Lines: A Decade of Poetry From Chicago’s Guild Complex (Tia Chucha Press). He is a San Francisco Library Laureate and recipient of a Creative Work Fund Award for his multimedia project Tracing Poetic Memory, PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature, Black Caucus of the American Library Association Award, Gwendolyn Brooks Significant Illinois Poets Award, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. His poetry is translated into Chinese as part of “Two Languages / One Community” a collaborative project with poet and translator Chun Yu. Michael is the former Deputy Director of the Museum of the African Diaspora, a board member of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, and founding Director of the Guild Literary Complex.

Katrina Washington is a poet and prose writer from the south side of Chicago. She holds a BA in English with a concentration in Poetry as well as Masters in Higher Education Administration and Organizational Leadership. She is currently pursuing a PhD in English with concentrations in Poetry, Prose, and Black Studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Katrina has published work in online journals such as Kissing Dynamite and will be featured in the upcoming anthology Selkie Noticia. Outside of teaching and writing, Katrina enjoys cooking, being black, and rebelling against gender and racial oppression.

"…Advice at the beginning of the revolution" with Michael Warr + Tongo Eisen-Martin
2023-07-19 19:00 - 21:00 | Haymarket House, 800 W. Buena Ave., Chicago, Illinois
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, the nature of protest, and how the historical acts of revolution during the heyday of the Black Power Movement in the Bay Area have influenced literary activism in a post-George Floyd era of radical social change.

“. . .Advice at the beginning of the revolution” is a line from Tongo Eisen-Martin’s poem “A Good Earth“ and serves as a framework for this important conversation.

**We ask that all attendees wear masks during the program for the health and well-being of the speakers and other guests. We will have a reception afterwards with light refreshments.**

RSVP on Eventbrite here.

Tongo Eisen-Martin

Originally from San Francisco, Tongo Eisen-Martin is a poet, movement worker, and educator. His latest curriculum on extrajudicial killing of Black people, We Charge Genocide Again, has been used as an educational and organizing tool throughout the country. His book titled, “Someone’s Dead Already” was nominated for a California Book Award. His book “Heaven Is All Goodbyes” was published by the City Lights Pocket Poets series, was shortlisted for the Griffins Poetry Prize and won a California Book Award and an American Book Award. His latest book “Blood On The Fog” was released this fall in the City Lights Pocket Poets series and named one of the New York Times poetry books of the year. In 2020, he co-founded Black Freighter Press to publish revolutionary works. He is San Francisco’s eighth poet laureate.

Michael Warr

Poet Michael Warr’s literary honors include San Francisco Arts Commission Awards in 2023 and 2021 and the 2020 Berkeley Poetry Festival Lifetime Achievement Award. His books include Of Poetry & Protest: From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin (W.W. Norton), The Armageddon of Funk, We Are All The Black Boy, and Power Lines: A Decade of Poetry From Chicago’s Guild Complex (Tia Chucha Press). He is a San Francisco Library Laureate and recipient of a Creative Work Fund Award for his multimedia project Tracing Poetic Memory, PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature, Black Caucus of the American Library Association Award, Gwendolyn Brooks Significant Illinois Poets Award, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. His poetry is translated into Chinese as part of “Two Languages / One Community” a collaborative project with poet and translator Chun Yu. Michael is the former Deputy Director of the Museum of the African Diaspora, a board member of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, and founding Director of the Guild Literary Complex.

A Night with Ana Castillo
2023-06-26 06:30 - 20:30 | Asmus/Hilton Gallery (Morgan Arts Complex, Bridgeport), 3622 S. Morgan St., Chicago, Illinois, United States
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, IL Poet Laureate Angela Jackson.

The event will take place on Monday, June 26th, from 6:30pm – 8:30pm at the Hilton/Asmus Gallery, Bridgeport location (3622 S. Morgan St. at the Morgan Art Complex).

Items from her current exhibition, The Many Loves of Ana Castillo, will be available to view. There will be a brief reception along with a book signing immediately following the reading. Beer provided by Sketchbook Brewery.

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Ana Castillo is a multilingual poet, novelist, essayist, editor, feminist theorist, playwright, translator, human rights and environmental activist and visual artist.

TransVengence | Aza Greenlee, Noa/Nomi Micaela Fields, and Ava Mirage Wanbli on June 20th
2023-06-20 19:00 - 21:00 | My Buddy’s (Upstairs), 4416 N Clark St., Chicago, Illinois, 60640, United States
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 Buddy’s!

Featuring:

Noa Micaela (Nomi) Fields is an echodeviant* (*trans poets with hearing aids) in search of transversal wildness in her one and only captionless life. Find her poems and other writing in Tripwire, Anomaly, Zoeglossia, Elderly, Tyger Quarterly, and Sixty Inches From Center. She is a programming curator at the Poetry Foundation and a 2022 Fellow at Disability Lead and Zoeglossia.

Aza Greenlee is a body artist and co-conspirator at No Nation Tangential Unspace Art Lab. This coalescence is one to galavant in dreamscapes, ancestral juke joints, chaturbate masturbation web temples, loose-tooth tanks, and The Heartspace. They organize “Smudge Cinema Project”, a now-and-then-wait-when? screening series that takes a look at what happens when a film is projected on a wall for people to watch. Metabolization seems to be what they appear to do, lately.

Ava Mirage Wanbli is a New Media artist and performer based in Chicago, IL. Her work operates in a multitude of formats, mediums, and presentations of persona to build engagement through virtual and physical aspects of virtual world construction. Ava utilizes video game engines, live performance, installations, sculptures, video, and body to process components of the self through modalities of becoming. She investigates aspects of performing for the camera, mirrors, and virtual reconstructions of the body through 3D scanning, avatar creation, and virtual environment building as a means to craft a voice that speaks towards collapsed temporalities, archiving the body, as well as potentials of future self. Much of Ava’s work is also in conversation with aspects of fetishization of the consumed body through media depictions and how persona is framed through technology. In her primary approaches, she aims to confront the voyeur as well as communicate the complexities of trans narratives through hyper-sexualized imagery and performance.

Ava received her Masters Degree in Fine Arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2019. Alongside her art practice and community engagement, she has been an educator at multiple art institutions for the last 4 years. She is a recipient of 3Arts New Wave Artists Award, and has been a resident of ACRE Artist residency as well as New Art City Residency. Her most current work has shown at Roots and Culture Contemporary Art Gallery in Chicago and is now being shown in a 6 month solo exhibition at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Wanbli has also been published in Tone Magazine as well as curated events at Mana Contemporary in Chicago. Ava continues to organize and build spaces to further her commitment to the conversations around her transwoman body and the voice that it can hold to educate, uplift, and complicate narratives around selfhood through hyper-visibility and fetishization.

10th Annual BrooksDay
2023-06-07 12:00 - 18:00 | South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S South Shore Dr., Chicago, Illinois, 60649
BrooksDay 2023

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 Chicago, which starts with a reissue of Brooks’ 1987 poetry collection Blacks (Third World Press).

One 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.

Since 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.

Want to learn more about Gwendolyn Brooks and her legacy? Check out her page on the Poetry Foundation website here!

2023 BrooksDay Events

This year’s BrooksDay will include:

12:00 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

Afterwards, 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.

Exhibit B Reading: Chad Morgan, Crystal Vance Guerra, Parker Young, and Christie Valentin-Bati
2023-05-25 19:00 - 21:00 | Pilsen Community Books, 1531 W. 18th St., Chicago, Illinois, 60608, United States
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.

TAKING ROOT: Poetry Event with the South Asia Institute
2023-05-20 13:00 - 17:00 | South Asia Institute, 1925 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60616
In honor of AAPI Month, the South Asia Institute and the Guild Literary Complex bring you TAKING ROOT. This arts event features an exhibition tour, poetry, music, book signing, and more…

Poetry reading moderated by Faisal Mohyuddin, with poets George Abraham, Czaerra Galicinao Ucol, Samina Hadi-Tabassum, and Saba Keramati. Music by Maninder Singh.

Documentation from the event:

Images added 7/5/23

Black Feminist Poetics: From the Dirt to the Delta
2023-05-08 19:30 - 21:30 | Pegasus at Chicago Dramatists, 765 N. Aberdeen (May and Aberdeen), Chicago, Illinois, 60642
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.

This 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).

Event co-produced by Guild Literary Complex and Surviving the Mic.

Slam Diáspora @ Feria del Libro
2023-05-06 19:00 - 21:00 | The Pub – University of Chicago, Ida Noyes Hall (basement), 1212 E 59th St., Chicago, Illinois, 60637, United States
¡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 en El Pub, un bar en el beisman de la Universidad de Chicago Ida Noyes Hall. Se puede registrar en línea o el mismo día en persona: http://tiny.cc/feriaslam

Recuerden: el punto no son los puntos, sino la comuna. Queremos crecer como comunidad poética, e invitar a nuevas personas a participar como audiencia, cómo poetas, y cómo amantes de la palabra.

Creemos que la poesía le pertenece a todxs, y que todxs traemos poesía adentro. Este Slam es para experimentar, jugar, y dejar que la palabra fluya.

Slam Diáspora es el primer slam de poesía en español de Chicago y busca crear un espacio que une poetas Latinx en los EEUU con poetas en Latinoamérica para fomentar una comunidad poética a pesar de las fronteras.

¡Participantes y ganadores del año pasado pueden participar de nuevo!

Gracias a El Beisman, Feria del Libro Chicago, Guild Literary Complex, Contratiempo y la Universidad de Chicago por apoyar este proyecto

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Open to poets of all styles and ages! From anyone who is just starting, to anyone who has been writing for decades, are all welcome to participate. All you need is 2 poems

Located at The Pub, a basement bar at the University of Chicago’s Ida Noyes Hall. You can register online or on the same day, in person:http://tiny.cc/feriaslam

Remember: the point is not the points, the point is the poetry. We want to grow a poetry community, and invite new people to participate as audience members, as poets, and as spoken-word lovers.

We believe that poetry pertains to everyone, and that all of us carry it within us. This slam is to experiment, play, and to let the words flow.

Slam Diáspora is the first Spanish slam in Chicago and aims to create a space that unites Latinx poets in the US with poets in Latin America, to form a poetry community despite borders.

Participants and winners from last year can participate again!

Thank you to El Beisman, Feria del Libro Chicago, the Guild Literary Complex, Contratiempo + the University of Chicago for supporting this project

¿Qué es un Slam de Poesía?

El slam es un juego de poesía en el que los poetas interpretan sus obras originales frente a una audiencia y jueces, y son “calificados” en función de ciertos criterios, como contenido, originalidad, lyricismo, entrega y presencia en el escenario. El concepto del Slam se originó en Chicago a mediados de la década de 1980 y desde entonces se ha extendido a nivel mundial.Los principios del slam son: la escucha profunda, la palabra viva, la alegría poética, y la comuna creciente.

La intención de Slam Diáspora es conectar a poetas de raíz latinoamericana con poetas en América Latina, a pesar de las fronteras, y por medio de la palabra viva, la palabra hablada. Slam Diáspora se conecta a la comuna de poesía slam: Slam Abya Yala, y Poetry Slam México.

La estructura del Slam involucra varias rondas y límites de tiempo. Los poetas se eliminan después de cada ronda hasta que se declara un ganador. En este caso serán 10 poetas (registración abierta), habrán dos rondas, y se permite 3 minutos por poema.

El slam es un juego de intercambio. El punto no son los puntos, el punto es la comunidad que se crea. Para poetas que participan, es una oportunidad para desarrollar sus habilidades escénicas, y experimentar con la oralidad, la palabra viva.

El slam hace volar poemas que muchas veces se quedan en papel.

Palabra Pura Poetry Pop-Up @ Feria del Libro
2023-05-04 19:00 - 20:30 | Ida Noyes Hall | University of Chicago, 1212 E. 59th St., Chicago, Illinois, 60637
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).

Feria del Libro (May 4-6)
2023-05-04 09:00 - 2023-05-06 17:00 | Ida Noyes Hall | University of Chicago, 1212 E. 59th St., Chicago, Illinois, 60637
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; incluso, el país ha escalado a la cuarta posición con mayor número de hispanohablantes en el mundo. Se habla ampliamente en el ámbito público y privado, y no solamente por la comunidad latina. Con más de 42 millones de hablantes, el español es el segundo idioma más hablado en Estados Unidos. Se escucha en los pasillos de las instituciones de educación superior, mientras los poetas lo respiran, y tanto los troqueros como las babysitters y los ruferos sueñan en español. Para muchos, el español es una mina de oro. Aproximadamente 66.5 millones de latinos tienen un poder adquisitivo de más de 2 mil billones de dólares en 2022, pero más allá de las cifras gargantuescas, los invitamos a reflexionar sobre el español y la literatura propia de Estados Unidos que está emergiendo de costa a costa. La Feria de Libro de Chicago se realizará del 4 al 6 de mayo de 2023 en el campus de la Universidad de Chicago en colaboración entre El BeiSmAn y la organización Hispanic and Luzo-Brazilian Student Committee.

Transvengence | Maurice Tracy + Open Mic on April 26th
2023-04-26 19:00 - 21:00 | My Buddy’s (Upstairs), 4416 N Clark St., Chicago, Illinois, 60640, United States
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 include an open mic and feature: Maurice Tracy from St Louis.

Maurice Tracy is a transfemme at the beginning of their journey. They are a social worker, a cultural critic—at least in their mind—, a home cook, a lover, a slut, possibly a writer, and a fat dark skin being trying to live and love and help make a better world than the one we’ve been asked to live in.
