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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150916T193000
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DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20150528T193100Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150908T185659Z
UID:3051-1442431800-1442437200@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Palabra Pura: Who Stands With Us
DESCRIPTION: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\, and Raina Wodatch\, and to engage the theme Who stands with us? \n“During this current wave of open aggression and hostility it is important to find who our allies really are\,” Maldonado says. “Where we learn who stands with us can be as important as who stands against us. Far too often we act against our own interests because we allow division to creep in. Liking a post on Facebook just isn’t near enough. The featured readers are strong voices who are committed artists.” \nAll “mother” tongues are welcome! Arrive early to sign up for the open mic. \nPalabra Pura is pay-what-you-can ($5 suggested donation). Audience contributions support honorariums for the curators and featured authors. \nRSVP and share the event via Facebook by clicking here. \n  \nABOUT THE AUTHORS \nAricka Foreman’s work has appeared in The Drunken Boat\, Torch Poetry: A Journal for African American Women\, Minnesota Review\, Union Station Magazine\, Vinyl Poetry\, and Please Excuse This Poem: 100 New Poems for the NextGeneration by Viking Penguin.  A Cave Canem and Callaloo Writer’s Workshop Fellow\, she is the Enumerate Editor for The Offing. \n  \n  \nChristina Obregon\, a second generation Xicana\, was born and raised on the southwest side of Chicago. Since her late teens she has been politically and culturally involved in a series of human rights campaigns including ending violence and the exploitation of women and children. Christina has also been actively involved with La Casa de Arte y Cultural- Calles y Sueños\, a self sustaining autonomous cultural center in the heart of the Pilsen Neighborhood in Chicago. She has been guided and strongly influenced by Jose David\, founder of Calles y Sueños\, and continues to dedicate her time to the development of the project. She is also the coordinator of Calles y Sueños. \n  \nInspired by Chicago’s spoken word and slam poetry community\, Raina Wodatch left her ten-year career in teaching high school English to continue her education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she is working on her MFA in Writing. Though her focus is on poetry\, SAIC’s interdisciplinary program has prompted her to begin a practice in studio arts\, influenced by studies in Concrete Poetry and Surrealism. Tending to her initial interests in spoken word\, Raina has frequented open mics throughout Chicago\, including: The Gala\, Urban Sandbox\, Weeds\, K(NO)W ARMY and West Side School for the Desperate\, Mental Graffiti\, and The Green Mill. \n  \nABOUT OUR CURATOR \nEmilio Maldonado is a poet and performer born and raised in Chicago’s concrete jungle\, where streets bury streets. He knows layers\, has the city’s voices in his bones. As a world traveler with familial roots in Mexico\, he writes for the world\, the everyman\, with poems also layered in the collisions of culture\, and the music\, and the late night streets of anywhere alone. \n  \n 
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/palabra-pura-who-stands-with-us/
LOCATION:La Bruquena Restaurant\, 2726 W. Division\, Chicago\, IL\, United States
CATEGORIES:Palabra Pura
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20150801
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20150802
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20150528T191846Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150528T192658Z
UID:3050-1438387200-1438473599@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:The Guild Goes Dark in August
DESCRIPTION: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 information on programming and events for September-November 2015!
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/the-guild-goes-dark-2/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150722T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150722T213000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20150528T191427Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150724T195615Z
UID:3048-1437591600-1437600600@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:22nd Annual Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Awards Program
DESCRIPTION:Update: Congratulations to the winner\, Javon J. Smith!\nAfter the first four rounds\, the finalists were chosen by the live audience—no easy task—and included Aja Zakiya Hall\, Cassandra McGovern\, Javon J. Smith\, and Sam Herschel Wein. Javon won with his dynamic performance of the poem “Nig(g)ot.” \nJavon J. Smith\, an educator at Perspectives/IIT Math & Science Academy\, is a double Louder Than A Bomb college slam champion. He recently appeared in Victory Gardens Theater’s We Must Breathe. He 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 a Teaching Artist for Free Street Theater and Victory Gardens Theater. His poetry collection Righteous Rage will be released later this year. (Updated July 24 \,2015) \n/// \nFor 22 years\, the Guild Literary Complex annual Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Award has recognized emerging poetic voices from across Illinois. That tradition continues with an award program and live reading from 20 semi-finalists and special guests—and the audience will choose the $600 winning poem! \nHere are the semi-finalists:\nCatalina Bode\, Asia Calcagno\, Suman Chhabra\, Solomohn Nallshi Ennis-Klyczek\, Aja Zakiya Hall\, Larry Janowski\, Caroline Johnson\, Maya Marshall\, Cassandra McGovern\, David Nekimken\, Kelly Raymundo\, Timothy David Rey\, Rachel Slotnick\, Javon Smith\, Myron Stokes\, Jacob Victorine\, Adam Webster\, Sam Wein\, Dylan Weir\, and Kelly Xintaris. (Laura Merleau-McGrady is also recognized as a semi-finalist\, but will not be competing on July 22.) \n  \nMore party than reading\, Chicagoist says of the event\, “If you only attend one poetry reading a year\, it might as well be the Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Award.” The program sold out last year\, so get your tickets in advance! \n  \nThe 22nd annual Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Award will be co-hosted by Toni Asante Lightfoot (2005 winner) and Quraysh Ali Lansana. Last year’s award winner Deepak Unnikrishnan will return to give an opening reading of a Gwendolyn Brooks poem\, and special guest avery r. young will present a poetic tribute in memory of author\, activist\, and teacher Mama Brenda Matthews\, one of the first winners of the award and an inspiration in the spoken word community. \nThere will be a free reception following the event\, with drinks provided by the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts and food courtesy of the Center for the Study of Race\, Politics\, and Culture. \nThis event is co-presented with the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts\, and is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Race\, Politics\, and Culture. \n  \nABOUT OUR EMCEES\n\nQuraysh Ali Lansana is author of eight poetry books\, three textbooks\, a children’s book\, editor of eight anthologies\, and coauthor of a book of pedagogy. He is a faculty member of the Creative Writing Program of the School of the Art Institute and the Red Earth MFA Creative Writing Program at Oklahoma City University. He is also a former faculty member of the Drama Division of The Juilliard School. Lansana served as Director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing at Chicago State University from 2002-2011\, where he was also Associate Professor of English/Creative Writing until 2014. 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. His most recent books include The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip Hop w/Kevin Coval and Nate Marshall (Haymarket Books\, 2015) and The Walmart Republic w/ Christopher Stewart (Mongrel Empire Press\, September 2014). \n  \n\nToni Asante Lightfoot is a founding member of the Modern Urban Griots\, a performance poetry group that was just honored with a Splendid Wake Award from George Washington University in Washington\, DC. She has coached several poetry slam teams over the past 15 years\, and her 2003 Gwendolyn Brooks Center team won Brave New Voices National Teen Poetry Slam in 2003. Since her 2005 fellowship at Soul Mountain in Connecticut\, Lightfoot has been researcing and writing poems/vignettes about Mom’s Mabley’s life as a vaudevillian\, actress\, and as a comedian who came out to her audience in her 70’s. \n  \nABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUESTS \nDeepak Unnikrishnan is a writer from Abu Dhabi. His first set of short stories\, Coffee Stains in a Camel’s Teacup was published by Vijitha Yapa Publications (Colombo\, Sri Lanka). His fiction and non-fiction has appeared in Drunken Boat\, Himal Southasian\, Bound Off\, The State Vol IV: Dubai\, the art project Autopoiesis (www.autopoiesis.io)\, and in the anthology Breaking the Bow: Speculative Fiction Inspired by the Ramayana (Zubaan Books\, India). He has an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago\, where on scholarship he completed the manuscript for his first work of fiction set in the Gulf\,  excerpts from which are forthcoming in Guernica. He is the winner of the 2014 Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Award. \n  \navery r. young is a multidisciplinary artist and a Cave Canem alum & 3Arts Awardee who’s work has appeared in American Studies Journal AIMPrint\, Coon Bidness\,and other anthologies. His work with language\, visual text & sound design has been featured in exhibitions & on-line publications. Recently\, as an artist-in-residence at The University of Chicago\, young completed a collection of sound designs that will be featured on his first full-length album “booker t. soltreyne: a race rekkid” and a collec- tion of concrete poems called “cullud sign(s).” His work celebrates Black American history and culture\, all the while pushing boundaries in aesthetics and the spaces language lends itself. \n  \nABOUT OUR PRELIMINARY JUDGES \n  \nYolanda Nieves\, a Chicago native\, is a researcher and poet. She has a M.A. in Organizational Development from Loyola University\, an M.A. in Reading from Northeastern Illinois University\, and an Ed.D in Adult Education from National Louis University. Her work has been published in various independent anthologies\, literary magazines\, and research journals.  Additionally\, she is a playwright and centers her work on social justice issues.  Dr. Nieves is the recipient of the Dissertation of the Year Award-Arts Based Research from the American Educational and Research Conference\, 2009. Currently\, she is an adult educator and is an Associate Professor at Wilbur Wright College in Chicago. \n  \nCoya Paz is a poet\, Artistic Director of Free Street Theater\, and an Assistant Professor in the Theatre School at DePaul University. She is also a founding member of Proyecto Latina\, and the co-founder of Teatro Luna\, where she served as co-Artistic Director from 2000-2009. Recent projects include Nerds\, Sluts\, (Commies) and Jocks and DOPE at Free Street Theater\, and The Americans\, based on interviews. Coya holds a PhD in Performance Studies at Northwestern University and is a regular commentator on race\, media\, and pop culture for Vocalo.org (FM 90.7). In 2014\, the Guild Complex named Coya one of 25 Writers to Watch. \n  \n  \nABOUT OUR PARTNERS \n  \nThe Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts advances arts practice\, inquiry\, and presentation at the University of Chicago\, and fosters meaningful collaboration and cultural engagement at the university\, on the south side\, and in the city of Chicago. \n  \n  \n  \n  \nThe Center for the Study of Race\, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago was established in 1994 under the direction of Professor Michael Dawson. From its inception\, faculty\, students\, and staff who have been involved with the Center have been committed to establishing a new type of research institute devoted to the study of race and ethnicity\, one that seeks to expand the study of race beyond the black/white paradigm while exploring social and identity cleavages within racialized communities. \n  \n 
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/22nd-annual-gboma/
LOCATION:Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts\, 915 E 60th\, Chicago\, IL\, 60637\, United States
CATEGORIES:GBOMA,Special Events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150715T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150715T210000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20150528T190611Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150528T190747Z
UID:3043-1436988600-1436994000@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Palabra Pura: Latinidad-Who are we? Latino Poets on Identity
DESCRIPTION: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 a colonization of our identity as a man\, as a woman\, and as a Latina/o. What does it mean to be Latina/o? These poets sing compelling stories about the lives of men and women navigating a changing landscape of language\, culture\, and the physical body. Their passion is for the experiences of the unheard\, the misunderstood\, and the undervalued. They manifest political\, historical\, and secret stories with vehement compassion and grace. \nThis month’s program is coordinated by Ruben Quesada. \nAll “mother” tongues are welcome! Arrive early to sign up for the open mic. \nPalabra Pura is pay-what-you-can ($5 suggested donation). Audience contributions support honorariums for the curators and featured authors. \n  \nABOUT OUR FEATURED AUTHORS \nDiego Báez grew up in Bloomington\, Illinois\, and graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers University – Newark. An inaugural fellow at CantoMundo in 2010\, his poems\, fiction\, and reviews have appeared most recently at Ostrich\, The Acentos Review\, and The Los Angeles Review of Books. He lives in Chicago and teaches at the City Colleges. \n  \n  \nAmy Sayre Baptista’s writing has appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review\, Ninth Letter\, S’ouwester\, LUSO American Voices\, LUNA LUNA\, and Chicago Noir. She is a 2013 CantoMundo fellow\, a 2012 Pushcart Prize nominee\, and a 2011 scholarship recipient to the Disquiet Literary Festival in Lisbon\, Portugal. She has an MFA in Fiction from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign\, and lives in Chicago. \n  \n  \nABOUT THIS MONTH’S CURATOR \nRuben Quesada is the author of Next Extinct Mammal and Exiled from the Throne of Night. His writing appears in Guernica\, BOAAT PRESS\, Rattle\, The California Journal of Poetics\, American Poetry Review\, Cimarron Review\, Superstition Review\, and elsewhere. Find him on Twitter @rubenquesada. \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/palabra-pura-latinidad/
LOCATION:La Bruquena Restaurant\, 2726 W. Division\, Chicago\, IL\, United States
CATEGORIES:Palabra Pura
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150617T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150617T210000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20150528T184316Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150528T190910Z
UID:3039-1434569400-1434574800@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Palabra Pura: Does English Matter
DESCRIPTION: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 Latino/a cultural and political communities\, when does the implied “Spanish Only” remain empowering\, and when does the English-dominant Latino/a activist need to transgress? This month’s program is coordinated by poet and educator Elizabeth Marino. Bring your own voice to the short pre-show open mic. \nAll “mother” tongues are welcome! Arrive early to sign up for the open mic. \nPalabra Pura is pay-what-you-can ($5 suggested donation). Audience contributions support honorariums for the curators and featured authors. \nThis event is supported by Poets & Writers\, Inc. \n \n  \n  \nABOUT OUR FEATURED AUTHORS \nAdam Gottlieb is a poet/emcee\, teaching-artist\, musician\, community organizer\, and revolutionary from Chicago. As a teen he was featured in the 2009 documentary film “Louder Than A Bomb\,” about the world’s largest youth poetry slam festival by the same name. Since then\, he has gone on to perform and teach widely throughout Chicago\, the U.S.\, and even the world\, working mostly with youth as a facilitator of safe spaces for creative expression and cultural community-building. In March 2014 he co-founded the Chicago chapter of the Revolutionary Poets Brigade. That same year he was selected by the Guild Complex to be one of five emerging writers in a project called “Voices of Protest\,” through which he participated in the “Kapittel” festival for Literature and Freedom of Speech in Stavanger\, Norway. He leads a band\, “Adam Gottlieb & One Love\,” that plays his original songs. He is also a regular contributor of both poetry and articles to the People’s Tribune. \n  \nAngelina Llongueras is a multicultural\, multilinguist artist\, communicator at heart\, and also a traveler. Angelina works as an actor\, playwright\, director\, poet and interpreter. Her one woman show “Phoolan is Everyone” has traveled the world and is going to India this coming winter\, and she has interacted with many international theatre groups interested in helping communities reconnect with their basic trust in their own cultural power and resources. Her credits include: “Metamorfosis” by La Fura dels Baus\, “Tie Me Up\, Tie Me Down” by Almodovar\, and many others. She is originally from Barcelona\, Catalonia. \n  \n  \n  \nABOUT THIS MONTH’S PALABRA PURA CURATOR \nElizabeth Marino is a poet and educator\, born and based in Chicago. Her chapbook\, Debris: Poems and Memoir\, went into a second printing in 2011 (Puddin’head Press). She was awarded 2011 Hispanic Serving Institution funding from NEIU for her Latina/o Community Creative Non-Fiction Workshop and received a 2012 CAAP grant and conference scholarship to attend the initial Las Dos Brujas Writers’ Workshops\, where she studied with Juan Philipe Herrera\, poet laureate of California. She was a Ragdale resident and holds an MA from UIC’s Writers’ Program\, in addition to having studied literature at Oxford University on public scholarship. Her BA was from Barat College. Elizabeth’s poetry has appeared in print journals\, anthologies and live performance. New work includes a chapbook from dancing girl press (“Ceremonies”) and two international print anthologies originating from India\, due in 2015 (Muse of Peace and The Significant Anthology). A contribution to a jazz poetry anthology is also in the works. She has conducted a creative writing workshop for GLBTT seniors at the Center on Halsted. She was proud to see her work re-appear in the “Best of 2014” issue of the national Latino blog of culture and literature “La Bloga\,” along with the FB page “Poets Responding to SB 1070.” She is a Revolutionary Poets Brigade (Chicago) member. She is also an English dominant Latina poet. \n 
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/palabra-pura-does-english-matter/
LOCATION:La Bruquena Restaurant\, 2726 W. Division\, Chicago\, IL\, United States
CATEGORIES:Palabra Pura
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150613T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150613T153000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20150528T182015Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150604T172338Z
UID:3038-1434204000-1434209400@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Luis Rodriguez reading
DESCRIPTION: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. \n \n  \n  \nThis program takes place at the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center located at 4048 W. Armitage. \nThere will be an open mic! Arrive early to sign up. \nAdmission is a suggested $5 donation\, or pay-what-you-can. \nABOUT THE AUTHOR \nLuis J. Rodriguez is co-founder in 1989 of the Guild Complex and was active in Chicago with poetry\, gangs\, prisons\, the homeless\, and migrant communities for fifteen years. He now lives in Los Angeles where in 2014 Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed him the official Poet Laureate  of the city. Luis has 15 books in poetry\, children’s literature\, fiction\, and nonfiction\, including “Always Running\, La Vida Loca\, Gang Days in L.A.” He is founding editor of Tia Chucha Press  and co-founder of Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley.  His last book\, “It Calls You Back: An Odyssey Through Love\, Addiction\, Revolutions\, and Healing” was a finalist for the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award. (Photo credit: Arlene Mejorado) \n  \n  \nABOUT THE SEGUNDO RUIZ BELVIS CULTURAL CENTER (SRBCC) \nSRBCC realizes its mission to preserve and promote appreciation of the culture and arts of Puerto Rico and its African heritage\, through innovative programing and cultural events for the community. Formerly the Karlov Theater\, their current space was built in 1925 and includes five retail spaces\, two apartments\, and a theatre area. SRBCC currently completed the conversion of the former theater into a multipurpose space. www.srbcc.org \n 
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/luis-rodriguez/
LOCATION:Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center\, 4048 West Armitage\, Chicago\, 60639\, United States
CATEGORIES:Special Events
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150607T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150607T180000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20150401T182712Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150604T221543Z
UID:2983-1433678400-1433700000@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:BrooksDay 2015 - By Any Art Necessary
DESCRIPTION: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 a new location: the stunning Reva and David Logan Arts Center located on the University of Chicago’s Campus\, 915 East 60th Street\, Chicago\, Illinois 60637. BrooksDay is free and open to the public. \nOn June 7\, 2015 from Noon-6:00 pm readers from previous years will mix with new participants all celebrating the life and work of our great Illinois poet\, Gwendolyn Brooks. Emcees Kevin Coval\, Richard Steele and Andrea Change will keep BrooksDay moving as performances by Young Chicago Authors\, Aurora Performance Group\, In the Spirit\, Rebirth\, Lyrically Xplicit bring to this BrooksDay a mix of arts and talents. \nThis is the anniversary of Gwendolyn Brooks’ birthday\, so of course cake will be served.  We look forward to seeing you on June 7th to celebrate poetry\, art\, activism and all things Gwendolyn Brooks. \nCLICK HERE for a complete schedule.\nBrooksDay was created to honor and sustain the work of Gwendolyn Brooks. Brooks is one of the most important of American poets—an artist who broke through racial barriers in American literature and publishing\, who nurtured many younger writers\, and who with poetic virtuosity and courage changed American poetry into the larger realm it should be.  Each year’s program becomes more dynamically charged as we approach 2017\, the 100th anniversary year of the birth of Gwendolyn Brooks. \nBrooksDay presenting partners include: Third World Press\, Poetry Foundation\, American Writers Museum\, Brooks Permissions\, and the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts. \n  \nABOUT OUT PARTNERS \nThird World Press provides quality literature that primarily focuses on issues\, themes\, and critique related to an African American public. The Third World Press mission is to make this literature accessible to as many individuals as possible including our targeted market of primarily African American readers. \nThe Poetry Foundation\, publisher of Poetry magazine\, is an independent literary\norganization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience. \nThe mission of the American Writers Museum Foundation is to establish the first national museum in the United States dedicated to engaging the public in celebrating American writers and exploring their influence on our history\, our identity\, our culture and our daily lives. \nBrooks Permissions\, founded in 2002\, manages the literary works of acclaimed poet Gwendolyn Brooks. Brooks Permissions processes numerous requests for Ms. Brooks’ works annually\, working with mainstream\, educational\, and independent publishers\, as well as individual artists for projects ranging from literary anthologies and academic course packs to theatrical performances\, multimedia projects\, etc. \nThe Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts advances arts practice\, inquiry\, and presentation at the University of Chicago\, and fosters meaningful collaboration and cultural engagement at the university\, on the south side\, and in the city of Chicago. \n 
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/brooksday-2015/
LOCATION:Logan Arts Center\, 915 E 60th St\, Chicago\, IL\, 60637\, United States
CATEGORIES:Special Events,Writers to Watch
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150523T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150523T213000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20150423T000750Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150523T125818Z
UID:3019-1432411200-1432416600@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Reverend Billy and The Stop Shopping Choir
DESCRIPTION:  \n \nTickets available at door (advance sales have ended).\nReverend Billy & The Stop Shopping Choir is a radical performance community based in New York City\, and they are coming to Chicago to march\, sing\, and activate our community with a special live performance—ONE NIGHT ONLY. \nTickets at door are suggested donation of $12 for general admission and $10 for students/seniors. Pay-what-you-can! \nReverend Billy & The Stop Shopping Choir are wild anti-consumerist gospel shouters and Earth loving urban activists who have worked on four continents defending community\, life and imagination. Over the 15 years of their “church\,” the devils have been consumerism and militarism. And in this time of the Earth’s crisis they are especially mindful of the extractive imperatives of global capital. In the performance spectacle “Faster! Monsanto Die! Die!” the devil is Monsanto\, the company responsible for Agent Orange\, PCBs\, GMOs\, Bovine Growth Hormone\, honey bee-killing Neonicotinoids and Glyphosate\, recently designated as a probable carcinogen by the World Health Organization. \nTheir activist performance and concert stage performance have always worked in parallel. The activism is content for the play. While in Chicago\, Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir will join the public and family-friendly March Against Monsanto. \nReverend Billy and The Stop Shopping Choir is co-presented by the Guild Literary Complex and the Peoples Church of Chicago\, located in the historic Preston Bradley Center. Your ticket purchase is a donation that supports the work of both organizations in the community\, as well as the work of Reverend Billy and The Stop Shopping Choir. \nUPDATE: Reverend Billy will “Saint” the Chicago community group We Charge Genocide during the performance\, and a portion of ticket sales will go to their community organizing activities. We Charge Genocide is a grassroots\, inter-generational effort to center the voices and experiences of young people most targeted by police violence in Chicago. \n  \nABOUT REVEREND BILLY \nReverend Billy is an activist\, radio show host\, stage performer and author who has been arrested more than 50 times. He has released three CDs\, three documentary films\, and published three books. He won an OBIE Award\, Alpert Award\, The Dramalogue Award and The Historic Districts Council’s Preservation Award for his work. He has appeared in press ranging from the CBS Evening News in New York to The BBC World Service\, BBC 1 and numerous international print outlets. \nThis past year\, Reverend Billy was arrested twice in Black Lives Matter protests – once in Grand Central Station in New York City and once in Ferguson\, Missouri by the all-white police force there. He recently wrote “Racism kills people\, yes. …[And racism] kills all the good causes and so it has become the only progressive cause at this time in our history. Racism is the only issue until we are killed by it or we are free of it and we are all free.” \nwww.revbilly.com \n  \nABOUT THE STOP SHOPPING CHOIR \nThe Stop Shopping Choir is an all-ages\, 40-member singing group\, under the direction of Savitri D\, and with music director Nehemiah Luckett. The choir represents a diverse array of economic\, ethnic\, religious\, and cultural backgrounds; among them are scientists\, teachers\, artists\, therapists\, welders\, cyclists\, builders\, developers\, hairdressers\, dog walkers\, actors\, truck drivers\, tech geeks\, scholars and executives. The Choir has toured in Europe\, Africa\, South America and throughout North America. They are the subject of Morgan Spurlock’s second feature film\, “What Would Jesus Buy?” \nIn 2014\, Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir\, artists-in-residence at the Public Theater in New York City\, performed their show\, “Monsanto is the Devil!” at Joe’s Pub. They staged an organic Thanksgiving meal on the front lawn of Monsanto’s World Headquarters in St. Louis. They also exorcised the Devil from Monsanto’s office in Boston and the Harvard University laboratory where scientists are constructing the Robobee\, the mechanical pollinator. \n  \nABOUT OUR PRODUCTION PARTNER \nPeoples Church of Chicago is located in the historic Preston Bradley Center in Uptown. Peoples Church of Chicago is a diverse community of open-minded people\, liberal Christians\, Humanists\, and all who are committed to a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Dedicated to social justice\, diversity\, and equality\, Peoples Church welcomes everyone. \nwww.peopleschurchchicago.org
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/reverend-billy/
LOCATION:Preston Bradley Center\, 941 West Lawrence\, Chicago\, IL\, 60640\, United States
CATEGORIES:Special Events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150520T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150520T210000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20150330T223133Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150521T135910Z
UID:2982-1432150200-1432155600@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Palabra Pura: Inner Landscape Queens
DESCRIPTION:Please note this month’s Palabra Pura is taking place at a special location: the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center (4048 W Armitage Ave).\nThree fearless and unique feminine voices with Chicago roots come together for an evening of poetic expressions. Inner and outside landscapes\, light\, sounds and ultimately\, words transmit each artist’s expressions. Arica Hilton\, former president of the Poetry Center of Chicago and current gallery owner\, is a multi-media artist. Born in Turkey where she studied architecture her working philosophy now leads her to where “one form of art media melds into another.” Lah Tere\, former member of rap group\, Rebel Díaz\, co-founder of Momma’s Hip Hop Kitchen: The Soup Kitchen for the Hip Hop Soul\, is also the founder of Inner City Queens\, an organization that provides provides a mobile safe healing space for victims from war torn and/or Third World countries through events and the arts. Curator for this evening’s event is Ana Castillo\, whose long career has produced works that continuously defy women stereotypes. \n“‘We write what we know\, and this is what we do know\,’ says Ana Castillo — novelist\, essayist\, poet\, teacher\, truth-teller\, and\, as she has come to be known\, one of the first generation of highly visible Chicana writers. ‘They describe us as ‘Chicana writers\, in search of their identities.’ We’re not looking for identities — we have this identity.”—The Huffington Post.  \n All “mother” tongues are welcome! Arrive early to sign up for the open mic. \nPalabra Pura is pay-what-you-can ($5 suggested donation). Audience contributions support honorariums for the curators and featured authors. \nThis event is supported by Poets & Writers\, Inc.  \n  \n  \nABOUT OUR FEATURED AUTHORS \nArica Hilton is a Chicago based multi-media artist and poet. Born in Turkey\, many of her collaborations are with international artists. Much like the Luminists\, the poetic art movement that captured light as it moved across the American Landscape\, Hilton’s works are inspired by the European Romanticists\, who depicted cool waterscapes reflecting nuanced skies. Hilton’s paintings and installations are intricately woven with her poetry and three-dimensional materials\, which transports them to the present while still capturing a timeless quality that is ever present in her works. Hilton is co-owner of the Hilton/Asmus Contemporary Gallery. Until recently\, she was the president of the board of the Poetry Center of Chicago. Her book LUMINISIM REVISITED will be released in May 2015. \n  \n  \n  \nLah Tere is a writer\, activist\, emcee\, and songstress. As a spoken word and hip-hop performer\, she has produced various albums\, including International Pearls of Wisdom (with Guerrilla Republik)\, and has appeared on a wide variety of compilations\, including The Illest Female Rappers (Volume 8). From Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood\, she has performed around the United States and in Azua\, Chile\, Spain\, Dominican Republic\, Germany\, Guatemala\, Ireland\, Palestine (West Bank)\, Venezuela\, and elsewhere. Lah Tere is a co-founder of Momma’s Hip Hop Kitchen: The Soup Kitchen for the Hip Hop Soul (MHHK)\, a multifaceted hip hop event designed to showcase intergenerational women artists\, especially women of color. MHHK serves as a social justice community-organizing platform that educates and empowers women of color on issues that impact their lives\, including Health\, HIV/AIDS and reproductive justice. She is also a founding member of the Rebel Diaz Arts Collective (RDAC)\, a multimedia arts and music community center in the South Bronx. www.lahtere.com \n  \n  \nABOUT OUR CURATOR \nAna Castillo is a celebrated poet\, novelist\, short story writer\, essayist\, editor\, playwright\, translator and independent scholar. Castillo was born and raised in Chicago. She has contributed to periodicals and on-line venues (Salon and Oxygen) and national magazines\, includingMore and the Sunday New York Times. Castillo’s writings have been the subject of numerous scholarly investigations and publications. Among her award winning\, best sellling titles: novels include So Far From God\, The Guardians and Peel My Love like an Onion\, among other poetry: I Ask the Impossible. Her novel\, Sapogonia was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. She has been profiled and interviewed on National Public Radio and the History Channel and was a radio-essayist with NPR in Chicago. Ana Castillo is editor of La Tolteca\, an arts and literary ‘zine dedicated to the advancement of a world without borders and censorship and on the advisory board of the new American Writers Museum in D.C. Castillo held the first Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Endowed Chair at DePaul University\, The Martin Luther King\, Jr Distinguished Visiting Scholar post at M.I.T. and was the Poet-in-Residence at Westminster College in Utah in 2012\, among other teaching posts throughout her extensive career. Ana Castillo holds an M.A from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D.\, University of Bremen\, Germany in American Studies and an honorary doctorate from Colby College. She received an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation for her first novel\, The Mixquiahuala Letters. Her other awards include a Carl Sandburg Award\, a Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award\, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in fiction and poetry. She was also awarded a 1998 Sor Juana Achievement Award by the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum in Chicago. Dr. Castillo’s So Far From God and Loverboys are two titles on the banned book list controversy with the TUSD in Arizona. 2013 Recipient of the American Studies Association Gloria Anzaldúa Prize to an independent scholar. Dr. Castillo will hold the Lund-Gil Endowed Chair at Dominican University (IL) in 2014. www.anacastillo.com \n  \nABOUT THE SEGUNDO RUIZ BELVIS CULTURAL CENTER (SRBCC) \nSRBCC realizes its mission to preserve and promote appreciation of the culture and arts of Puerto Rico and its African heritage\, through innovative programing and cultural events for the community. Formerly the Karlov Theater\, their current space was built in 1925 and includes five retail spaces\, two apartments\, and a theatre area. SRBCC currently completed the conversion of the former theater into a multipurpose space. www.srbcc.org\n \n  \n 
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/palabra-pura-inner-landscape-queens/
LOCATION:Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center\, 4048 West Armitage\, Chicago\, 60639\, United States
CATEGORIES:Palabra Pura,Special Events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150517T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150517T210000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20150330T220054Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150504T133308Z
UID:2979-1431885600-1431896400@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Wink and Whisper: the Guild's 2015 benefit party
DESCRIPTION:Click here to buy tickets!\n\nThe Guild Complex is re-imagining the 1920s through music\, song\, comedy\, and dance in our sixth annual benefit\, Wink & Whisper: A 1920s LGBT Cabaret.\nEmceed by Tamale Sepp\, this year’s benefit will celebrate the vibrant spirit and culture of a 1920s LGBT community with a fusion of talented performers\, Vallery Dolls\, Switch the Boi Wonder\, Dirty Devlin\, and Toni Asante Lightfoot (as Jackie “Moms” Mabley)\, compelling readings by Coya Paz\, historical observations with Jennifer Brier\, and the jazz of Chicago Diamond Trio. The evening will conclude with a DJ dance party with Reaganomix (of FKA). \nThe main stage at Uptown Underground.\nThe benefit will take place at the dynamic new venue Uptown Underground (4707 N Broadway)—rumored to be a former Capone speakeasy. In addition to entertainment\, there will be a selection of complimentary cocktails and hors-d’oeuvres provided by Vincent Restaurant\, Crew Bar + Grill\, and Pastoral. The program is open to the public (ages 18 and older)\, and the venue is easily accessible by public transportation and car [MAP]. \nThere will also be a costume contest\, so come as you are\, or come in your finest Roaring Twenties glad rags! Prizes will be awarded to the best dressed. \nAdvanced tickets are available now at www.wink-and-whisper.brownpapertickets.com. Tickets begin at $35 for students and $75 for the general public. If you would like to purchase tickets by mail\, click here to download the RSVP form and instructions. \n  \nOur event inspiration!\nWink & Whisper is inspired by Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago before Stonewall\, by St. Sukie de la Croix (The University of Wisconsin Press\, 2010). Women & Children First Bookstore will be on hand to sell copies of Chicago Whispers\, as well as select related titles. And we will be providing a few copies as prizes! \nClick here to buy your tickets now! \nDoors open at 6:00 pm. Purchase Premium or Choice tickets for reserved seating\, or purchase general admission tickets and plan to arrive early for best available seating. All proceeds benefit the programs of the Guild Literary Complex. \nHere’s the program schedule for Wink & Whisper: \n\n6-7 p.m. Chicago Diamond Trio\n7-8:30 p.m. Main show\n9 p.m.-midnight After-glow dance party with DJ Reaganomix (FKA)\n\nAll ticket prices include admission to the after party starting at 9 p.m.\, and we also have a special admission for the dance party only. \nWe look forward to seeing you! If you have any questions\, please email info@guildcomplex.org. \nClick here to buy tickets!\n  \nABOUT OUR PERFORMERS \nTamale Sepp (emcee) is a multi-disciplinary performer\, she explores gender performance as a drag king and through burlesque\, expresses herself through fire performance\, and tribal belly dance\, and curates mixed media and installation art pieces. Traveling internationally for over a decade with the group she co-produces\, The Windy City Blenders\, Tamale has been the International Guest of Honor for The Dublin Lesbian Arts Festival and performed across Ireland\, Italy\, Germany\, Canada\, and Mexico. Combining her love of art and performance\, Tamale also created and co-produces Tiny Hat Time\, a storytelling show that is based on the creation of an artistic tiny hat and the stories that are created in response. Driving her motorcycle from gig to gig inspired the creation of Bikes and Mics\, a community of riders who ride\, see shows\, have adventures\, and build memories. No Patches. No dues. Just fun! \n  \nNick Sula (piano) is a pianist\, composer\, arranger\, and award-winning music director for theatre and cabaret. Theatre credits include Bohemian Theatre Ensemble\, Porchlight Music Theatre\, Chicago Opera Vanguard\, and Light Opera Works\, and Nick has received the Joseph Jefferson Citation for music direction. His compositions and arrangements have been performed on stage and on national television. He is an active member of the Chicago Cabaret Professionals organization\, and currently performs as arranger/pianist for his vocal group\, With a Twist\, and as music director for WOZ\, a rock/pop retelling of the Wizard of Oz. Nick performs solo and accompanies cabaret performers at venues in and around Chicago. He performs regularly with cabaret artist Scott Gryder\, and can be heard every Tuesday night in Nick Sula’s Spotlight at the Uptown Underground. www.nicksula.com \n  \nChicago Diamond Trio is a diverse jazz trio with an impeccable reputation for providing quality live entertainment receiving a 4-Star review in Downbeat Magazine  w/ members hailing from the best in music today including Lupe Fiasco\, Hey Champ\, Vandermark 5\, Chicago Afrobeat Project\, Bobby Broom and more! As the #1 Rated Jazz Band in IL and Chicagoland\, the Chicago Diamond Trio’s music\, client list\, and reviews speak for themselves! They were the 2013 Chicago Music Award Winner in the “Best Jazz Entertainer” category. Check them out at www.chicagodiamondtrio.com. \n  \nCoya Paz is a poet\, Artistic Director of Free Street Theater\, and an Assistant Professor in the Theatre School at DePaul University. She is also a founding member of Proyecto Latina\, and the co-founder of Teatro Luna\, where she served as co-Artistic Director from 2000-2009. Recent projects include Nerds\, Sluts\, (Commies) and Jocks and DOPE at Free Street Theater\, and The Americans\, based on interviews. Coya holds a PhD in Performance Studies at Northwestern University and is a regular commentator on race\, media\, and pop culture for Vocalo.org (FM 90.7). In 2014\, the Guild Complex named Coya one of 25 Writers to Watch. www.coyapaz.com \n  \nFilthy fun for old and young! The poet laureate of Vaudezilla! Burlesque\, Dirty Devlin aims to please with each testosterrific tease. Devlin mixes up a soupcon of seduction\, a dollop of delight\, and a candyman’s chest hair to serve voracious Chicago audiences and beyond\, performing poetry and striptease in 2015 at the Fierce! Queer Burlesque\, New York Boylesque\, Show-Me Burlesque\, and Windy City Burlesque Festivals. \n  \n  \n  \n  \nJennifer Brier directs the Program in Gender and Women’s Studies at UIC\, where she is also an Associate Professor of GWS and the History Department. She specializes in US gay and lesbian history\, the history of sexuality and gender\, and public history. Brier is the author of Infectious Ideas: U.S. Political Response to the AIDS Crisis\, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2009\, and reissued in paperback in 2011. Between 2008 and 2011\, Brier co-curated with Jill Austin Out in Chicago\, the Chicago History Museum’s award winning exhibition on LGBT history in Chicago. She and Austin also co-edited an anthology that accompanied the exhibition and wrote the introductory essay entitled\, “Out in Chicago: Exhibiting LGBT History at the Crossroads.” \n  \nReaganomix (Ali McDonald) got their start DJ’ing as co-host of Think Pink\, a radio show on WLUW fm in 2003. As an extension of the show\, Ali and co-host Erik Roldan launched Fruit\, Chicago’s first recurring dance party specifically for the queer community. Since then\, Ali’s been filling dance floors across the city with genre smashing sets of booty bass\, nu-disco and classic soul inspired sounds. Ali is currently a co-organizer and resident DJ of Formerly Known As (FKA)\, a monthly queer dance party at Uptown’s Big Chicks bar. \n  \nSwitch the Boi Wonder\, originally from Minneapolis\, has been performing on and off for the last 15 years with the likes of Dykes Do Drag\, the longest running drag show in the country! Switch was voted Drag King Minnesota 2010 and is best known as the gender bending dynamo that is easy on the Boi\, Heavy on the Wonder. \n  \n  \n  \nToni Asante Lightfoot is a founding member of the Modern Urban Griots\, a performance poetry group that was just honored with a Splendid Wake Award from George Washington University in Washington\, DC. She has coached several poetry slam teams over the past 15 years\, and her 2003 Gwendolyn Brooks Center team won Brave New Voices National Teen Poetry Slam in 2003. Since her 2005 fellowship at Soul Mountain in Connecticut\, Lightfoot has been researcing and writing poems/vignettes about Mom’s Mabley’s life as a vaudevillian\, actress\, and as a comedian who came out to her audience in her 70’s. \n  \nBorn out of the dusty parking lots and seedy backrooms of this fair city\, Vallery Dolls has made a home for herself here in Chicago. This loud-mouthed lady of song can belt it all out\, from show tunes and standards\, to the likes of Tom Waits\, Radiohead and Leonard Cohen. Vallery Dolls can be seen the first Friday of the month right here at Uptown Underground appearing in “Muffy and Vallery Sing”. She can also be found in her one woman show “Ladyparts” at Davenport’s Piano Bar on Friday May 22nd. Here she is\, the Baritone Bombshell with a heart of gold and a throat to match. Just sit back\, relax\, and open your hearts and your trousers for the First “Lady” of the Chicago stage… Vallery Dolls! \n  \n  \nABOUT ST. SUKIE DE LA CROIX \nSt. Sukie de la Croix is an internationally published journalist\, columnist\, fiction author\, playwright\, and photographer. In Chicago\, he has written for Outlines\, Windy City Times\, Nightlines\, Nightspots\, Chicago Free Press\, and Gay Chicago. As a historian\, de la Croix has published dozens of articles about Chicago’s gay history\, scripted and acted as tour guide on the Chicago Neighborhood Tours’ gay history bus\, and is the author of “Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago Before Stonewall.” \n  \n  \nSPECIAL THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS \n(click logos to be redirected to partner sites) \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 
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/wink-and-whisper/
LOCATION:Uptown Underground\, 4707 N Broadway\, Chicago\, IL\, 60640\, United States
CATEGORIES:Special Events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150507T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150507T210000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
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:20150417T174500
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150417T201500
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20150309T155857Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150403T185102Z
UID:2955-1429292700-1429301700@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:The Wall of Respect and People’s Art Since 1967 Symposium Opening
DESCRIPTION: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 Wall of Respect. The Wall of Respect and People’s Art Since 1967 is a symposium (April 17-18) that launches a two-year critical conversation on the Wall of Respect that leads up to the mural’s 50th anniversary in 2017. \nIn the summer of 1967\, during a time of political turbulence\, the visual artists of the Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC)\, together with muralist William Walker\, painted a group mural on the South Side of Chicago. Known as the Wall of Respect\, the highly visible community artwork celebrated black heroes\, served as a platform for performance and rallies\, and engendered a sense of collective ownership within the neighborhood\, inspiring community mural movements around the US and the world. \nThis symposium invites the artists to revisit their creative political acts and to reflect on the Wall’s legacy in a public conversation. To see a full schedule\, click here. \nToday’s opening program will be held in the Nichols Trustees Suite of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Modern Wing. The keynote address will be presented by visual artist Wadsworth Jarrell\, and the evening will include poetry\, music\, and more. Speakers for this opening event include: \n\nHaki Madhubuti (Founder and Chairman\, Third World Press)\nWalter Massey (President\, School of the Art Institute of Chicago)\nSiddha Weber (artist\, poet\, musician)\nSherae Rimpsey (poet\, MFAW Candidate at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago)\n\nFree and open to the public. Registration is required. Seating is limited and on a first come\, first served basis. To register\, please contact Drea Howenstein at ghowen@saic.edu or Sonja Falke at sfalke@saic.edu. \n 
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/wall-of-respect/
LOCATION:Art Institute of Chicago\, Modern Wing\, 159 E Monroe St\, Chicago\, IL\, 60603\, United States
CATEGORIES:Special Events
ORGANIZER;CN="Guild Literary Complex":MAILTO:info@guildcomplex.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150415T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150415T210000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20150309T152618Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150504T135614Z
UID:2956-1429126200-1429131600@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Palabra Pura: Borderless Bodies
DESCRIPTION: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 dynamic and powerful and surprising poets and performers. \n“For these two artists\, no distinction can be made between their poetics and their performativity. They write beautiful books\, they make intergalactic music\, they make collaborative theater\, they speak\, they sing\, the transmit multilingually\, and polyphonically. Theirs is an art rooted in movements\, in sounds\, in bodies that dream\, that explode that collapse. Theirs is an art rooted in a politics of radical compassion for laboring bodies\, urbanized anguished bodies\, warring bodies\, and loving bodies. These two poet-performers collapse the borders of language; they evoke political and historical movements that have shaped our social identities; and they are fearless in their ability to say the most difficult things\, and to say them with vehemence\, with intricacy\, and\, finally\, with an art that is fierce\, complex\, and spilling with passion and joy.” ~Daniel Borzutzky \nAll “mother” tongues are welcome! Arrive early to sign up for the open mic. \nPalabra Pura is pay-what-you-can ($5 suggested donation). Audience contributions support honorariums for the curators and featured authors. \nThis program is sponsored by Poets & Writers\, and by the Chicago Center for Working Class Studies. \n \n  \n  \nABOUT OUR FEATURED AUTHORS \nEditor of Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora and cofounder of the Black Took Collective\, Duriel E. Harris is the author of Drag\, Amnesiac: Poems\, and Speleology (a video collaboration with Scott Rankin). A recipient of grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency\, the Cave Canem Foundation\, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and post-doctoral residencies at UIC and the University of California\, Santa Barbara\, Harris’s work has been featured and published internationally. Nominated for the Pushcart Prize\, recent writing appears in Fifth Wednesday and Kweli as well as BAX (Best American Experimental Writing)\, The Force of What’s Possible and The &Now Awards 3. Recent appearances include feature performances at the Art Institute of Chicago\, Babylon Cinema (Berlin) and off off Broadway at The Wild Project (NYC). An associate professor of English at Illinois State University\, Harris is a member of Douglas Ewart & Inventions creative music ensemble and Call & Response—a dynamic of Black women in performance. Current projects include the sound compilation “Black Magic” and Thingification—a solo play in one act. \n  \n \nRodrigo Toscano’s newest book of poetry is Deck of Deeds (Counterpath Press 2012). His previous collection\, Collapsible Poetics Theater\, was a 2007 National Poetry Series Selection. Forthcoming from Fence Books in 2016 is Explosion Rocks Springfield. He was the recipient of a New York State Fellowship in Poetry. His poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies\, including Against Expression\, Diasporic Avant Gardes\, Angels of the Americlypse\, and Best American Poetry. His poetics plays have been performed at the Disney Redcat Theater and Ontological-Hysteric Poet’s Theater Festival. His radio pieces have aired on WPIX FM\, KAOS Public Radio\, WNYU\, and PS.1 Radio. His poetry has been translated into French\, Dutch\, Italian\, German\, Portuguese\, Norwegian and Catalan. Toscano works for the Labor Institute in conjunction the United Steelworkers and the National Institute for Environmental Health Science. He works out of a laptop\, tethered to a Droid\, residing in airports\, occupying poetics in midflight. He enjoys running and writing for the North Brooklyn Runners from his home base in the Greenpoint township of Brooklyn. \n  \nABOUT OUR CURATOR \nDaniel Borzutzky‘s books include In the Murmurs of the Rotten Carcass Economy (Nightboat\, forthcoming); The Book of Interfering Bodies (Nightboat\, 2011); The Ecstasy of Capitulation (BlazeVox\, 2007); and Arbitrary Tales (Ravenna Press\, 2005). His poetry translations include include Raúl Zurita’s The Country of Planks (forthcoming\, Action Books); Song for his Disappeared Love (Action Books\, 2010); and Jaime Luis Huenún’s Port Trakl (Action Books\, 2008). His chapbooks include Data Bodies (Green Lantern\, 2013); Bed Time Stories for the End of the World! (Bloof Books\, forthcoming); One Size Fits All (Scantily Clad\, 2009); and Failure in the Imagination (Bronze Skull\, 2007). His writing has been anthologized in Angels of the Americlypse: New Latin@ Writing; Telephone Books Anthology of English-to-English Translations of Shakespeare Sonnets; La Alteración del Silencio: Poesía Norteamericana Reciente; Malditos Latinos Malditos Sudacas: Poesia Iberoamericana Made in USA; Seriously Funny: Poems About Love\, God\, War\, Art\, Sex\, Madness\, and Everything Else; A Best of Fence: The First Nine Years; and The City Visible: Chicago Poetry for the New Century. His writing has been translated into Spanish\, French\, Bulgarian\, Romanian and Turkish. His work has been recognized by grants from the PEN American Center\, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council. \n 
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/palabra-pura-borderless-bodies/
LOCATION:La Bruquena Restaurant\, 2726 W. Division\, Chicago\, IL\, United States
CATEGORIES:Palabra Pura
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150406T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150406T200000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20150310T193956Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150330T180741Z
UID:2961-1428345000-1428350400@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:The Alphabet of Distant Harbours
DESCRIPTION: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 Sivan\, and Angela Narciso Torres. \n“The Alphabet of Distant Harbours’” will bring together writers who explore the suppression as well as expression of identity in the Asian diaspora. Zhou Sivan (also Nicholas Y. H. Wong) traces the secret lives of ‘M’ in his poems — Malacca\, the Malay Archipelago\, myth\, Maeterlinck\, mother and matter\, marriage\, Medusa\, misanthropes and misbehaving — in exquisitely wrought poetry. Toni Nealie\, who moved to Chicagoland from New Zealand\, raises questions about the shame and fear suppressed through generations and how they continue to manifest in her thought-provoking creative nonfiction. Award-winning poet Angela Narciso Torres will read from her significant body of work to explore the varying degrees of elasticity in the distances between continents\, families\, lovers\, memory and reality\, waking and dreaming\, while invoking her native Philippines and the various landscapes in which she has lived.” ~Dipika Mukherjee \nThis program is presented in partnership with the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events\, and will be held in the Garland Room (first floor) of the Chicago Cultural Center. The programs is free of charge and open to the public. Arrive early to sign up for the open mic. \nClick here to RSVP and share on Facebook. \nABOUT OUR CURATOR \nDipika Mukherjee is a writer and sociolinguist. Her debut novel\, Thunder Demons (Gyaana 2011)\, was long-listed for the Man Asian Literary Prize. She lives in Chicago and teaches at Northwestern University. \n  \n  \n  \n  \nABOUT OUR AUTHORS \nToni Nealie was born in New Zealand. A former journalist\, she worked in N.Z. and the U.K. before moving to Illinois where she teaches and writes. She holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing – Nonfiction – from Columbia College Chicago. Recent essays appeared in Guernica and The Prague Review. Her first collection of essays is forthcoming from Curbside Splendor. \n  \n  \nZhou Sivan was born in Malaysia. His poems have appeared in Asymptote\, The Salt Anthology of New Writing 2013\, Columbia Review\, The Rialto\, QLRS\, and Southeast Asian Review of English\, sometimes under the name Nicholas Y. H. Wong. He is pursuing his Ph.D. in comparative literature at University of Chicago and is managing editor at Chicago Review. \n  \n  \nAngela Narciso Torres’s first book of poetry\, Blood Orange\, won the Willow Books Literature Award for Poetry. Recent work appears in Pirene’s Fountain\, Cimarron Review\, Colorado Review\, and Drunken Boat. A graduate of Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers and the Harvard Graduate School of Education\, Angela has received fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council\, Ragdale Foundation\, and Midwest Writing Center. Her poetry has received Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Manila\, she currently resides in Chicago\, where she teaches poetry workshops and serves as a senior poetry editor for RHINO. www.angelanarcisotorres.com \n  \n 
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/the-alphabet-of-distant-harbours/
LOCATION:The Chicago Cultural Center\, 78 E Washington St. 
CATEGORIES:Special Events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150328T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150328T130000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20150318T204358Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150318T204809Z
UID:2973-1427540400-1427547600@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Poetry Reading: Saint Teresa of Jesús\, The Birth of a Writer and a Poet
DESCRIPTION: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 a reader. Saint Teresa mainly wrote prose and her most popular poems are those that reflect her mysticism. \nIn this special event\, Instituto Cervantes\, contratiempo\, Teatro Aguijón and the Guild Complex will be reading the 7 poems of Santa Teresa and some of her famous prose passages. The program will be in Spanish. \nFree\, but RSVP required. RSVP here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1362180 \n  \nPart of a full celebration of the 500th birthday of Saint Teresa which includes: \nDOCUMENTARY: THE MYSTICAL MADE WORD; SAINT TERESA OF JESUS\, WRITER \nCONFERENCE: TERESA OF JESÚS “QUIJOTE TO THE DIVINE” IN SEARCH OF THE TRUTH \nPOETRY READING: SAINT TERESA OF JESÚS\, THE BIRTH OF A WRITER AND A POET. \nSaturday\, March 28\, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. \n  \nTHE MYSTICAL MADE WORD; SAINT TERESA OF JESUS\, WRITER \nDOCUMENTARY \nSaturday\, March 28\, 11- 11:35 a.m. \nAuditorium \nInstituto Cervantes \nDuration: 35 minutes without subtitles. \nDescription: The Mystical Made Word: Saint Teresa of Jesus\, writer is a documentary about the journey of Teresa as a writer\, and her passion and efforts to turn words into the mystic.  An agile script written by Father Emilio J Martínez\, Vicario General\, and President of the International Carmelitas Descalzos Commission for the Centenary that features 35 minutes of footage of the impressive Saint figure\, and invites the viewer to learn why Teresa writes\, what exactly she writes\, and the difficulties she faced doing it.  The main idea of the documentary comes from the words of Fray Luís of León in Salamanca: “I never met Mother Teresa but I see her alive in her daughters and her works.” \n  \nTERESA OF JESÚS “QUIXOTE TO THE DIVINE” IN SEARCH OF THE TRUTH \nCONFERENCE \nSaturday\, March 28\, 11:35 – 12:30 p.m. \nAuditorium \nInstituto Cervantes \nConference Synopsis by P. Celedonio Martínez Daimiel\, O.C.D.: “In short strokes I will delineate the historical figure of Teresa of Jesus:  life\, work\, and mission.  Also\, I will try to relate the entire Teresian figure to the quixotic spirit\, which in my opinion\, is closely related to both the indefatigable quest they do to reach the “Truth\,” and the fact that they knew to discover it in the vast plains of La Mancha\, where Teresa de Cepeda and Alonso Quijano searched relentlessly.” \n 
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/saint-teresa/
LOCATION:Instituto Cervantes\, 31 West Ohio Street\, Chicago\, IL\, 60654\, United States
CATEGORIES:Special Events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150325T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150325T210000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
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:20150318T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150318T210000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20150117T153353Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150224T184031Z
UID:2901-1426707000-1426712400@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Palabra Pura: A Toda Madre\, Men Pay Tribute to Their Mothers
DESCRIPTION: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 to their mothers. From a mother’s reminder to always use condoms to her struggle to raise her family on her own to the demoralizing beauty standards forced upon women\, Martin and Alvarez show the resilence and resistance of mothers everywhere. March’s Palabra Pura is curated by the Chicago Latino Writers Initiative. \nAll “mother” tongues are welcome! Arrive early to sign up for the open mic. \nPalabra Pura is pay-what-you-can ($5 suggested donation). Audience contributions support honorariums for the curators and featured authors. \n  \nFEATURED AUTHORS \nArturo “Tootie” Alvarez is a musician\, poet and community organizer. At 18\, he organized his first union with fellow hotel workers and the support of Unite Here local 11 in Los Angeles. Inspired by the courage of workers who stand up to the boss\, Alvarez explores his hidden fears and gives them a voice. As a musician he released Were-jaguar in 2011 and played various venues including the Whiskey A Go Go on the Sunset Strip. As a poet he has performed at Da Poetry Lounge in Los Angeles\, Noche de Poesia in Santa Ana\, the Whittier Area Peace and Justice Coalition open mic\, and Cultura in Pilsen’s poetry night.  Originally from California\, Alvarez now resides in Chicago. \n  \nBrian Martin has come a long way from hustling fresas in La Paz\, BCS. They are currently organizing students and studying culture at Columbia College\, though fighting the power occupies most their time. Last summer\, they were invited to study at the Jack Kerouac School for Disembodied Poetics in the name of Zora Neale Hurston (which was pretty cool). You can find their writing on Gozamos.com\, Circus Magazine\, No Assholes Literary Mag\, Tract-Trace\, and crumpled in many people’s bookshelves. \n  \n  \n  \n  \nABOUT THE CHICAGO LATINO WRITERS INITIATIVE \nLaunched in March 2014\, the Chicago Latino Writers Initiative (CLWI) offers programming aimed at cultivating a new generation of Latino writers\, supporting the voices of established writers\, and helping to promote Chicago as a mecca of powerful Latino voices. Programming includes writing workshops\, panels that give writers new insights and access to professionals in the field\, poetry nights that feature the work of local poets and participants from our workshops\, collaborative literary events\, and an online directory that serves as both the first database of Latino writers in Chicago and as a speakers bureau. CLWI\, a joint effort of Proyecto Latina and Gozamos\, is housed at Cultura in Pilsen\, 1900 South Carpenter St\, Chicago. (Planning team: Luz Chavez\, Diana Pando\, Stephanie Manriquez\, Sandra Treviño) http://chicagolatinowriters.com/
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/palabra-pura-march-2015/
LOCATION:La Bruquena Restaurant\, 2726 W. Division\, Chicago\, IL\, United States
CATEGORIES:Palabra Pura
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150312T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150312T210000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20150120T161053Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150224T200829Z
UID:2910-1426186800-1426194000@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Voices of Protest: Home Edition
DESCRIPTION: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 time since their return\, the authors will give a special reading of creative work inspired by the trip and lead a community dialogue on free speech issues. Voices of Protest: Home Edition will take place on Thursday\, March 12\, 7:00 p.m.\, and is co-presented with 826CHI at 1276 N. Milwaukee Avenue\, Chicago. The program is open to the public and free of charge. Donations will be accepted. \nParticipating authors include: Adam Gottlieb\, L’Oréal Patrice Jackson\, Sahar Mustafah\, Erika L. Sánchez\, and M. Quinn Stifler. Each emerging writer was chosen to participate in Voices of Protest due to their professional practices integrating art and activism\, which includes work on gender\, race\, women’s rights\, peace initiatives\, and other issues. \nVoices of Protest programs are supported in part by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s International Connections Fund\, and in a continued partnership with the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN). \nClick here for Facebook RSVP! \nSee below for information on authors and partners! \nFor more information on the 2014 Kapittel festival\, click here. \nFor more information on previous Voices of Protest programs\, click here. \n  \nABOUT THE AUTHORS \nAdam Gottlieb is a poet/teaching-artist from Chicago. He got into spoken word at age 14 via the Young Chicago Authors teen poetry slam festival Louder Than a Bomb\, and was featured in the documentary film by the same name. He recently graduated from Hampshire College\, where he studied poetry and critical pedagogy. He seeks to promote the use of poetry as a medium for dialogue\, self-expression\, and positive social change. \n  \nL’Oréal Patrice Jackson is an artist rooted in theatre\, music\, movement and writing. As an arts educator she teaches theatre performance\, improvisation\, storytelling\, and multi-disciplinary art. She has worked with Steppenwolf\, Writers Theatre\, and Columbia College Chicago\, among others. Before recently relocating to California\, she served as a youth leader for Soka Gakkai International (SGI)\, a lay Buddhist organization dedicated to peace culture and education\, and she was the Education Associate at About Face Theatre\, a production company with a focus on lesbian\, gay\, bisexual\, queer\, and ally arts. \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 is a teacher and co-founder of Bird’s Thumb\, an online literary journal devoted to new and emerging voices. She received her MFA from Columbia College Chicago. \n  \nErika L. Sánchez is a Fulbright Scholar\, CantoMundo Fellow\, and winner of the “Discovery”/Boston Review Prize. Her poetry has appeared in Pleiades\, Witness\, Anti-\, Hunger Mountain\, Crab Orchard Review\, Hayden’s Ferry Review\, Copper Nickel\, Boston Review\, “Latino USA” on NPR\, and is forthcoming in diode and Please Excuse This Poem: 100 New Poems for the Next Generation (Penguin 2015). Her nonfiction appears in The Guardian\, Al Jazeera\, Rolling Stone\, Salon\, NBC News\, Cosmopolitan\, and many others. \n  \n  \nM. Quinn Stifler received a B.A. in Creative Writing and Women’s & Gender Studies at DePaul University. Stifler has worked with Threshold\, DePaul’s student-run literature and arts journal\, and is a co-founder and editor of No Assholes Literary Magazine. Stifler was a finalist for the 2013 Gwendolyn Brooks Open-Mic Poetry Award\, and regularly participates in and organizes house readings around Chicago. \n  \nABOUT OUR PARTNERS \n826CHI is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills\, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. Services are structured around the understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with one-one-one attention\, and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success. 826 CHI provides after school tutoring\, creative writing workshops\, field trips\, in-school support\, help for English language learners\, and assistance with student publications. All programs are tuition-free\, and serve more than 3\,500 students each year.  (www.826chi.org) \n  \nThe International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) is an association of cities around the world dedicated to the value of Freedom of Expression. Writers have consistently been targets of politically motivated threats and persecution\, and the network believes it is necessary for the international community to formulate and implement an appropriate response. Each ICORN city focuses on one writer at a time\, each writer representing the countless others in hiding\, in prison or silenced forever. By providing a Guest Writer with a safe place to stay and economic security for a standard term of two years\, ICORN cities make an important\, practical contribution to the promotion of Freedom of Expression. (www.icorn.org) \n  \nThe John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s International Connections Fund supports two-way artistic exchanges that benefit Chicago arts and culture nonprofits and their peer organizations abroad. The MacArthur Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just\, verdant\, and peaceful world. In addition to selecting the MacArthur Fellows\, the Foundation works to defend human rights\, advance global conservation and security\, make cities better places\, and understand how technology is affecting children and society. (www.macfound.org)
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/chicago-voices-of-protest/
LOCATION:826CHI\, 1276 N. Milwaukee Ave\, Chicago
CATEGORIES:Special Events,Voices of Protest
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150225T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150225T210000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20150117T154520Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150223T163450Z
UID:2902-1424892600-1424898000@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Uncharted: a "25 Writers to Watch" kick-off
DESCRIPTION: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! \n“Uncharted” features readings by Eric Charles May\, Coya Paz\, Roger Reeves\, and Kathleen Rooney. The theme is an open field for the imagination\, but expect to hear stories about adventure\, wandering\, crossing boundaries\, and more. \nUncharted is pay-what-you-can ($5 suggested donation). Audience contributions support honorariums for featured authors. \nClick here to RSVP on Facebook. \nVENUE: Schubas Tavern\, 3159 North Southport Avenue (21+ venue) \n  \nABOUT THE AUTHORS \nEric Charles May is the author of the novel Bedrock Faith. An associate professor in the Fiction Writing Program at Columbia College Chicago and a former reporter for The Washington Post\, his fiction and nonfiction have been published in such literary anthologies as Criminal Class Review\, Briefly Knocked Unconscious By a Low-flying Duck\, Fish Stories: Collective I\, Sport Literate\, Angels in My Oven\, and f Magazine. His writing has also appeared in the Chicago Tribune.\n\n  \n \nCoya Paz is a poet\, Artistic Director of Free Street Theater\, and an Assistant Professor in the Theatre School at DePaul University. She is also a founding member of Proyecto Latina\, and the co-founder of Teatro Luna\, where she served as co-Artistic Director from 2000-2009. Recent projects include Nerds\, Sluts\, (Commies) and Jocks and DOPE at Free Street Theater\, and The Americans\, based on interviews. Coya holds a PhD in Performance Studies at Northwestern University and is a regular commentator on race\, media\, and pop culture for Vocalo.org (FM 90.7). \n  \n  \nAwarded a 2014-2015 Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University\, a 2013 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship\, and 2008 Ruth Lilly Fellowship\, Roger Reeves’ poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Best American Poetry\, Poetry\, Ploughshares\, American Poetry Review\, Boston Review\, Tin House\, and 2014 Pushcart Prize. King Me\, his first book of poems\, was published by Copper Canyon Press in 2013. He is an assistant professor of poetry at the University of Illinois at Chicago. \n  \nKathleen Rooney is a founding editor of Rose Metal Press and a founding member of Poems While You Wait. The author of seven books of poetry\, fiction\, and nonfiction\, she is the winner of a Ruth Lilly Award from Poetry magazine and her novel in poems Robinson Alone (Gold Wake\, 2012) won the Eric Hoffer Award in Poetry. Her debut novel O\, Democracy!  has just been released by Fifth Star Press. Her latest chapbook with Elisa Gabbert is The Kind of Beauty that has Nowhere to Go  (Hyacinth Girl Press\, 2013)\, and recent essays and criticism have appeared or are forthcoming in The New York Times Magazine\, The Chicago Sun Times\, Salon\, The Believer\, Coldfront and The Rumpus. \n  \n  \nABOUT THE VENUE \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.
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/uncharted-a-25-writers-to-watch-kick-off/
LOCATION:Schubas Tavern\, 3159 N Southport\, Chicago\, IL\, 60657\, United States
CATEGORIES:Special Events,Writers to Watch
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150218T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150218T210000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20150117T152901Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150211T163151Z
UID:2900-1424287800-1424293200@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Palabra Pura: Urban Realities/Realidades urbanas
DESCRIPTION: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 escaping their nightmares. Luis Tubens and young poets from Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School will lead us in an exploration of the urban realities that affect the daily lives and future destinies of those who make Chicago their home. \nThis month’s Palabra Pura is curated by Mary Hawley. Arrive early to sign up for the open mic. \nPalabra Pura is pay-what-you-can ($5 suggested donation). Audience contributions support honorariums for the curators and featured authors. \nClick here to RSVP on Facebook. \n  \nABOUT OUR FEATURE \n \nLuis Tubens (Logan Lu) is a Chicago born Puerto Rican poet. His narrative poems depict the gritty ambiance of the inner-cityscape while describing reflective personal experiences. He draws inspiration from the urban realities of the developing Latino diaspora and from his observations of proletarian struggles. His interactive style and hyper performance invite the crowd to be active participants in his performance. \n  \nABOUT OUR CURATOR \nMary Hawley is the author of Double Tongues\, a poetry collection\, and co-translator of the bilingual poetry anthology Astillas de luz/Shards of Light\, both published by Tía Chucha Press. She works as a freelance writer\, editor\, and translator\, and has been involved for many years with the Guild Complex’s Palabra Pura bilingual reading series. Her poems have appeared in journals and anthologies such as The Bloomsbury Review\, Mudlark\, contratiempo\, Notre Dame Review\, and Power Lines: A Decade of Poetry from Chicago’s Guild Complex. \n 
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/palabra-pura-february-2015/
LOCATION:La Bruquena Restaurant\, 2726 W. Division\, Chicago\, IL\, United States
CATEGORIES:Palabra Pura
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20150121T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20150121T213000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20150116T220237Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150120T155614Z
UID:2899-1421868600-1421875800@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Palabra Pura: One Poet One Poem (Stories too!) 10 year anniversary kickoff party!
DESCRIPTION: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 stories too!2015 guest curators reveal their plans and past readers share a poem (or short story) during this annual party celebrating poetry and fiction in more than one tongue. Contributing authors include: \nEduardo Arocho | Emmanuel Ayala | Beatriz Badikian | Alex Bonner | Marta Collazo | Jan Peña Davis | Raúl Dorantes | Rafael Franco-Steeves | Stephanie Gentry-Fernández | Juana Goergen | Nora León | Mark Litwicki | Miguel López Lemus | Olivia Maciel | Elizabeth Marino | Miguel Marzana | Yolanda Nieves | Coya Paz | Mike Puican | Martha Cecilia Rivera | Luis Tubens | Febronio Zatarain | and more! \nThere will be plenty of essential liquids at the bar—and CAKE! \nThe event is free + donations are welcome! Oh\, and it’s a cash bar\, but the cake is on us. \nMore information at guildcomplex.org. \n\n Click here to RVSP/Share on Facebook.Due to the number of readers for the party\, there will be no open mic. The open mic will return in February. \n*** \nABOUT PALABRA PURA\nThe Guild’s night of poetry and community\, curated by and spotlighting Chicago’s most powerful voices in the Chicano and Latino communities. Palabra Pura takes place on the third Wednesday of every month (except August and December).
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/palabra-pura-one-poet-one-poem-stories-too-10-year-anniversary-kickoff-party/
LOCATION:La Bruquena Restaurant\, 2726 W. Division\, Chicago\, IL\, United States
CATEGORIES:Palabra Pura
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20141201
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20141202
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20140626T152333Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20140626T152333Z
UID:2688-1417392000-1417478399@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Winter Break!
DESCRIPTION:The Guild will be dark for the month of December. We’ll be announcing 2015 programming soon…See you next year!
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/winter-break/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20141119T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20141119T210000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20140617T193729Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20141105T155646Z
UID:2660-1416425400-1416430800@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Palabra Pura: From the Margins of the Margins
DESCRIPTION: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 their say; it has been named “Latino/a literature”. What happens\, though\, when some of the loudest voices inhabiting that space reproduce the very conditions they are supposed to be subverting? Who counters the oppressed who have taken up the business of oppression? Two uprisings come to mind: Daniel Borzutzky and Justin Petropoulos. The work of these writers forces us to confront an uncomfortable but essential question: is Latino/a poetry a viable\, subversive political logic\, or is it merely a marketing strategy already co-opted and rendered ineffective in the face of capitalism? \nAn open mic is included in the event. For the Facebook event page\, click here. \nCo-sponsored by the following departments at Northwestern University: Poetry and Poetics Colloquium; the Latina/o Studies Program; the Department of Spanish & Portuguese; and the Center for the Writing Arts.\n \n  \nAbout the Artists:\n  \nDaniel Borzutzky‘s books include In the Murmurs of the Rotten Carcass Economy (Nightboat\, forthcoming); The Book of Interfering Bodies (Nightboat\, 2011); The Ecstasy of Capitulation (BlazeVox\, 2007); and Arbitrary Tales (Ravenna Press\, 2005). His poetry translations include include Raúl Zurita’s The Country of Planks (forthcoming\, Action Books); Song for his Disappeared Love (Action Books\, 2010); and Jaime Luis Huenún’s Port Trakl (Action Books\, 2008). His chapbooks include Data Bodies (Green Lantern\, 2013); Bed Time Stories for the End of the World! (Bloof Books\, forthcoming); One Size Fits All (Scantily Clad\, 2009); and Failure in the Imagination (Bronze Skull\, 2007). His writing has been anthologized in Angels of the Americlypse: New Latin@ Writing; Telephone Books Anthology of English-to-English Translations of Shakespeare Sonnets; La Alteración del Silencio: Poesía Norteamericana Reciente; Malditos Latinos Malditos Sudacas: Poesia Iberoamericana Made in USA; Seriously Funny: Poems About Love\, God\, War\, Art\, Sex\, Madness\, and Everything Else; A Best of Fence: The First Nine Years; and The City Visible: Chicago Poetry for the New Century. His writing has been translated into Spanish\, French\, Bulgarian\, Romanian and Turkish. His work has been recognized by grants from the PEN American Center\, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council. \n  \n \nJustin Petropoulos is the author of two collections of poetry\, Eminent Domain (Marsh Hawk Press 2011)\, selected by Anne Waldman for the 2010 Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize and <legend>   </legend> (Jaded Ibis Press 2013)\, a collaborative work with multimedia artist\, Carla Gannis. His poems have appeared in American Letters & Commentary\, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review\, Columbia Poetry Review\, Crab Creek Review\, Gulf Coast\, Mandorla\, Portland Review\, and Spinning Jenny. Justin is a contributing editor for Entropy magazine and the program director of an after-school program for at-risk\, elementary age children. He is also an adjunct faculty member at New Jersey City University\, where he teaches composition and creative writing. \n  \n  \nAbout the Curator:\nPaul Martinez Pompa is the author of My Kill Adore Him (University of Notre Dame Press 2009) and is a recent recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Literary Award. He teaches composition and poetry at Triton College and lives in the Dunning neighborhood of Chicago. \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \nAbout our Co-Sponsors:\n  \n \n  \n  \n  \nThe Poetry & Poetics Colloquium is the principal forum for cross-disciplinary\, transhistorical scholarship on poetics at Northwestern University\, as well as a collection of arts initiatives that support the practice of poetry on campus and beyond. Founded in 2009\, the consortium regularly convenes a group of core faculty and graduate students who share an interest in the long and varied traditions of poetry and poetics across languages and historical eras. http://poetry.northwestern.edu \n \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \nThe Latina and Latino Studies Program at Northwestern University engages in teaching\, research\, and service activities that represent current production of knowlege about Latina/o communities in the United States. It aims at building bridges with the diverse departments that are collectively working toward ameliorating social and political inequalities of Latino Chicago by holding public events in the pertinent communities. It ultimately seeks to embrace heterogeneous identities\, socioeconomic status\, racial\, national\, and generational differences\, among others. http://www.latinostudies.northwestern.edu \n  \n \n  \n  \n  \n  \nThe Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Northwestern University blends a community of scholars\, whose strong research interests range across Spanish\, Latin American and Latino literatures and cultures\, and a community of instructors\, who are dedicated to teaching a strong culture-based language program. Our faculty offers a rich array of courses in Spanish\, Portuguese\, and English and serves not only Weinberg College but all Northwestern’s schools. http://www.spanish-portuguese.northwestern.edu/ \n  \nThe Center for the Writing Arts at Northwestern sponsors undergraduate creative writing and literary courses\, brings distinguished visiting writers to campus\, presents and co-sponsors university-wide public events focused on writing\, advocates for the centrality of writing in undergraduate education\, and assists the MA/MFA in Creative Writing. http://www.northwestern.edu/writing-arts
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/palabra-pura-curated-by-paul-martinez/
LOCATION:La Bruquena restaurant (upstairs)\, 2726 W. Division\, Chicago\, IL\, United States
CATEGORIES:Palabra Pura
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20141113T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20141113T210000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20141007T164810Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20141101T204248Z
UID:2817-1415901600-1415912400@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:TONIC
DESCRIPTION: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\, libation\, and the best company in Chicago: YOU. \nAlso\, a very special guest will be joining us: Marcel Proust. Best known for his recollections of the past\, Mr. Proust is now a fortune-teller. And he will be on hand to cheerfully prognosticate what’s around the corner for any who seek a glimpse of the future. \nTickets include a light buffet and open bar with well drinks\, domestic beer\, and soda\, plus Maker’s Mark bourbon as long as the bottles last. There will be door prizes and—per Proust’s request—COOKIES! \nTickets are $30 in advance and $40 at the door; $5 discount for students. This event is 21+. \nAll proceeds benefit your Guild Literary Complex. Click here for tickets\, or use the “Buy tickets” button below.\n \nABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUEST \nMarcel Proust is a French novelist (born July 10\, 1871)\, best known as the author of the seven-volume novel À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time). He is currently on tour as a fortune teller and motivational speaker. TONIC is his only Midwest stop. \n  \n  \n  \nPhotos from last year’s TONIC! \n \n  \n  \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/tonic2014/
LOCATION:Beauty Bar\, 1444 W. Chicago Ave\, Chicago\, IL\, 60642\, United States
CATEGORIES:Special Events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20141109T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20141109T170000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20140626T152230Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20140911T125503Z
UID:2687-1415548800-1415552400@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Colm Tóibín's Transatlantic Literary Worlds
DESCRIPTION: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 by the Guild’s Director\, John Rich. This special program also marks the celebration of two 25-year anniversaries\, both for the Guild Literary Complex and the Chicago Humanities Festival. \nTICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW. Click HERE to purchase. \nIn 2014\, the Guild has made great strides to highlight the tribulations of writers living abroad—especially those living in exile. Many of Tóibín’s works of fiction and nonfiction address themes of living abroad and the creation/preservation on personal identity in the face of cultural and geographic clashes. \nTóibín is the author of 24 books and short stories\, and in 2014 was named as a trustee to The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry\, which awards the Griffin Prize for Poetry. He is currently the Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University.
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/joint-program-with-chicago-humanities-festival/
LOCATION:Northwestern University School of Law\, Thorne Auditorium\, 375 East Chicago Avenue\, Chicago \, 60611\, United States
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20141022T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20141022T213000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20140910T135500Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20141023T223748Z
UID:2801-1414006200-1414013400@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Annual Prose Awards Reading and Recognition Event
DESCRIPTION:UPDATED: ANNOUNCING THE 2014 PROSE AWARD WINNERS! \nKate Duva\, winner of the 2014 Prose Award in Fiction\nElora de Grey\, winner of the 2014 Prose Award in Non-Fiction \nThe 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 State of Illinois and award $500 cash prizes to one outstanding writer in each category. \nWe congratulate the winners and all the finalists. Bios of all artists are below. \nNON-FICTION FINALISTS \nSuman Chhabra for “Upon the Ground”\nElora Roslin de Grey for “The Bluejay”\nDana Norris for “The Fog” \nFICTION FINALISTS \nKate Duva for “Horizontal”\nScott Onak for “The Final Problem”\nAnne K. Yoder for “Just Another Love Story” \n/// \n[original event information] \nPlease join us on October 22\, 7:30 pm\, at the Chopin Theatre\, located at 1543 W. Division Street\, as we celebrate the authors at a special reading and award event featuring all six finalists. \nEach finalist will read their entry and be recognized at this event at the historic Chopin Theatre where we also announce the $500 cash-prize winners in each category! \nWith special musical guest Cameron McGill. \nGeneral admission is $8\, and students get in for $6. \nSpecial thanks to our 2014 judges\, Janet Burroway (fiction) and Donna Seaman (non-fiction). \n  \nABOUT THE FINALISTS \nSuman Chhabra writes. She graduated from the University of Michigan where she studied Political Science and South Asian Languages & Cultures. Chhabra has taught in diverse environments including the slums of India\, Cranbrook Educational Community and as a Teach For America corps member. She is now an MFA candidate in Writing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. \n  \nKate Duva is a writer\, performer\, community organizer and play therapist from Chicago. She is currently working on a historical novel about a burlesque dancer from the Dust Bowl who strikes up an unlikely friendship with an autistic savant. Find links to her other published works online at www.kateduva.com. \n  \nElora de Grey is an artist and writer. When she is not writing about things made up or recollected\, she can be found doing research or building work in her studio in West Loop\, Chicago. Her current projects include a collection of short stories\, a script\, and two new series of paintings. Select works can be seen at http://elledegrey.com. \n  \n  \nDana Norris is the founder of Story Club\, a nonfiction storytelling show held in Chicago\, Boston\, and Minneapolis. She is the editor-in-chief of Story Club Magazine and she teaches at StoryStudio Chicago. She has been published in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency\, The Rumpus\, the Tampa Review\, and her stories have been featured on WBEZ (91.5 FM) and Vocalo.org (89.5 FM).  You may see her upcoming performance schedule at dananorris.net. \n  \n  \nScott Onak received his MFA in fiction from the University of Idaho. His stories have been published in Mid-American Review and Willow Springs\, and his book reviews appear on The Rumpus. He teaches creative writing at StoryStudio Chicago and the University of Chicago Graham School of Continuing Studies. He has been a resident at the Ragdale Foundation and is currently working on a novel. \n  \n  \nAnne K. Yoder’s fiction\, essays\, and criticism have been published Fence\, Bomb\, and Tin House\, among other publications. She is a staff writer for The Millions\, co-editrix of Projecttile\, a journal of nontraditional writing with a feminist bent\, and a member of Meekling Press. She lives in Chicago\, where she’s at work on a novel. \n  \n  \nABOUT OUR MUSICAL GUEST \nCameron McGill is a songwriter who lives in Chicago\, IL. His sixth full-length album\, Gallows Etiquette\, was released on October 15\, 2013. Over the past ten years he has released the following recordings: Gallows Etiquette (2013); Is A Beast (2011); Deserters EP (2010); Two Hits and a Miss EP (2009\, on Parasol Records); Warm Songs for Cold Shoulders (2009\, on Parasol Records); Hold On Beauty (2008); Street Ballads & Murderesques (2006); Stories of The Knife and The Back (2004). Find more info at cameronmcgill.com.
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/annual-prose-awards-reading-and-recognition-event/
LOCATION:Chopin Theatre\, 1543 West Division Street\, Chicago\, IL\, United States
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20141015T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20141015T213000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20140617T193440Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20140925T163452Z
UID:2659-1413401400-1413408600@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Palabra Pura: Want
DESCRIPTION: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 narrators wanting something or someone and what they do to try and get it. What happens if they don’t? What happens if they do? We’ve all been there\, so come join us for a night of fictional stories where the want is very real.” \n  \nAbout the Artists\nBobby Biedrzycki is a writer\, performer\, educator\, and transnational human rights activist who resides in Chicago\, IL. His stories\, poems\, and performances have appeared on pages\, stages\, and public spaces across the U.S. and beyond. His work is rooted in cross-disciplinary collaborations that focus on creating social change. Bobby is the Curriculum and Instruction Associate in the Department of Education and Community Engagement at the Goodman Theatre\, a company member of 2nd Story\, and is faculty at Columbia College Chicago\, where he was the 2013 recipient of the Excellence-in-Teaching Award. Bobby is also deeply committed to collaborating with youth artists working to change the world\, and is @bobbyfloats on all forms of social media. \n  \n  \n  \n  \nAdriana Galvan is a native of Northwest Indiana\, Adriana Galvan is a first generation Mexican-American writer who enjoys the art of creating and exploring. Her passion for storytelling began at a young age when she would listen to her late grandmother share stories about growing up in Northern Mexico and later immigrating to Gary\, Indiana. Over the years\, this oral tradition grew into Adriana’s writing and takes root in her short stories. She currently lives in Chicago and is working on her first novel\, “In a Distant Dream.” \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \nKevin Kane is an MFA candidate in Fiction Writing at Columbia College Chicago. He served as managing editor for The Handshake Magazine from March 2011 to November 2012; managing editor for the Spring 2012 issue of fictionary\, an editor for the 2012 Story Week Reader\, and editor for the 2012 Story Week special edition of fictionary. His fiction and nonfiction has appeared in Hair Trigger\, Story Week Reader\, and Word Riot. \n  \n  \n  \n  \nAbout the Curator\nCyn Vargas‘ short story collection is being published by Curbside Splendor Publishing and set to be released in spring 2015. She is the winner of the 2013 Guild Literary Complex Prose Award for Fiction\, received a Top 25 Finalist & an Honorable Mention award in Glimmer Train’s Short Story Award for New Writers contests\, and holds an MFA in Creative Writing- Fiction from Columbia College Chicago. Her work has appeared in Word Riot\, Split Lip Magazine\, Hypertext Magazine\, and elsewhere. She writes because it’s her way of legally exposing herself in public. www.cynvargas.com \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/palabra-pura-curated-by-cyn-vargas/
LOCATION:La Bruquena restaurant (upstairs)\, 2726 W. Division\, Chicago\, IL\, United States
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20140924T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20140924T203000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20140821T154829Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20140828T195540Z
UID:2750-1411585200-1411590600@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:I Come To Your Country\, Name Me: Asian/American Author Reading Series
DESCRIPTION: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 Mohanraj\, and Deepak Unnikrishnaan. \nDipika Mukherjee\, Curator\, states: “‘I Come To Your Country\, Name Me'” will be a creative exploration of Expatriation and Migration in the Asian diaspora. Asia has many communities and languages and cultures\, so we will speak in anecdotes instead of reductive generalities. Rachel DeWoskin will read from her life as the megastar of a Chinese soap opera in Beijing\, then read from her new book based in Shanghai. Mary Anne Mohanraj\, in her memoir\, discusses bisexuality\, taboos and going home to a discontented Sri Lanka which is no longer home. Deepak’s writing is grounded in Abu Dhabi where he grew up as the son of Indian expatriates\, but home has been America for more than a decade. All three readers live and work in Chicago.” \nABOUT THE ARTISTS\nRachel DeWoskin’s fourth book\, the critically acclaimed Blind\, was published by Penguin in August 2014. Her novel Big Girl Small (FSG 2011) received the 2012 American Library Association’s Alex Award and was named one of the top 3 books of 2011 by Newsday. DeWoskin’s memoir\, Foreign Babes in Beijing (WW Norton 2005) about the years she spent in China as the unlikely star of a Chinese soap opera\, has been published in six countries\, optioned first by Paramount for a feature film and then by HBO to be developed into a television series\, for which DeWoskin co-wrote the pilot episode. Her debut novel Repeat After Me (The Overlook Press\, 2009)\, which follows the unexpected romance between a young American teacher and her Chinese student\, won a Foreward Magazine Book of the Year Award. She has written essays and articles for Vanity Fair\, The Sunday Times Magazine of London\, Teachers and Writers\, and anthologies including Found: Requiem for a Paper Bag\, and Wanderlust. Her poems have appeared in journals including Ploughshares\, Seneca Review\, New Delta Review\, Nerve Magazine and The New Orleans Review. She teaches fiction and memoir at the University of Chicago. \n  \nMary Anne Mohanraj is author of Bodies in Motion (HarperCollins)\, The Stars Change (Circlet Press) and ten other titles. Bodies in Motion was a finalist for the Asian American Book Awards\, a USA Today Notable Book\, and has been translated into six languages.  The Stars Change is a Lambda-award-finalist science fiction novella.  Previous titles include Aqua Erotica and Wet (two erotica anthologies edited for Random House)\,Kathryn in the City and The Classics Professor (two erotic choose-your-own-adventure novels\, Penguin)\, The Best of Strange Horizons\, the collection\, Without a Map\, Aqueduct Press\, co-authored with Nnedi Okorafor\, The Poet’s Journey (picture book)\, and A Taste of Serendib (a Sri Lankan cookbook). \nMohanraj founded the Hugo-nominated magazine\, Strange Horizons\, and serves as editor-in-chief of Jaggery\, a South Asian literary journal (jaggerylit.com). She was Guest of Honor at WisCon 2010\, will be Guest of Honor at Maneki Neko Con\, received a Breaking Barriers Award from the Chicago Foundation for Women for her work in Asian American arts organizing\, and won an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Prose.  She serves as Executive Director of both DesiLit (www.desilit.org) and the Speculative Literature Foundation (www.speclit.org)\, and directs the Kriti Festival of South Asian arts and literature (kritifestival.org). Mohanraj has taught at the Clarion SF/F workshop\, and is Clinical Assistant Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago. \n  \nDeepak Unnikrishnan is a writer from Abu Dhabi. His first set of short stories\, Coffee Stains in a Camel’s Teacup was published by Vijitha Yapa Publications (Colombo\, Sri Lanka). His fiction and non-fiction has appeared in Drunken Boat\, Himal Southasian\, Bound Off\, The State Vol IV: Dubai\, the art project  Autopoiesis (www.autopoiesis.io)\, and in the anthology Breaking the Bow: Speculative Fiction Inspired by the Ramayana (Zubaan Books\, India). He has an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago\, where on scholarship he completed the manuscript for his first work of fiction set in the Gulf\,  excerpts from which are forthcoming in Guernica. He is the winner of the 2014 Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Award. \n\n  \n  \nABOUT THE CURATOR\n \n  \nDipika Mukherjee is a writer and sociolinguist. Her debut novel\, Thunder Demons (Gyaana 2011)\, was long-listed for the Man Asian Literary Prize. She lives in Chicago and teaches at Northwestern University. \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \nABOUT OUR PARTNERS\n \n  \nKriti is the Hindi word for “creation\,” and Chicago’s Kriti Festival was launched in 2005 to celebrate South Asian and diaspora literature and arts. In 2005\, 2007\, and 2009\, more than thirty writers\, artists\, performers\, editors\, and agents came to Chicago to share their work with the general public\, through panel discussions\, readings\, theatrical\, music\, and dance performances\, workshops\, and more. \nThe festival returns in September 2014\, and will be hosted at the University of Illinois at Chicago\, co-sponsored by the English Department\, the Asian Studies Program\, and the Asian American Studies Program. \n  \n \n  \nThe School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s (SAIC) Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Writing program is for writers of all genres—fiction\, nonfiction\, poetry\, and playwriting—as well as for writers and artists who work with both image and text. \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/forged-identities-i-come-to-your-country-name-me-asian-author-reading-series/
LOCATION:SAIC\, LeRoy Neiman Center\, 37 S Wabash Ave\, 1st floor\, Chicago\, 60602\, United States
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20140917T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20140917T210000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20140428T162105Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20140818T193926Z
UID:2602-1410980400-1410987600@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Palabra Pura: Calling Home
DESCRIPTION: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. \nStates 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 between places and memories. For others\, home is a space in which their productions are collected and honored: museums\, bookcases\, stages. Home is often a multi-faceted location\, both physical and spiritual\, that occurs when we can recognize ourselves in it. It is a place that facilitates growth and exchange. As a powerhouse of intellectual honesty in fiction\, nonfiction\, and poetry\, Chicago-born and raised Ana Castillo provides the illuminating force for this conversation with home. Her fearless cultural and linguistic presence has provided a source of home for other writers interested in maintaining honest and critical dialogue with the places they come from.” \nAbout the Artists:\nAna Castillo is a celebrated poet\, novelist\, short story writer\, essayist\, editor\, playwright\, translator and independent scholar. Castillo was born and raised in Chicago. She has contributed to periodicals and on-line venues (Salon and Oxygen) and national magazines\, includingMore and the Sunday New York Times. Castillo’s writings have been the subject of numerous scholarly investigations and publications. Among her award winning\, best sellling titles: novels include So Far From God\, The Guardians and Peel My Love like an Onion\, among other poetry: I Ask the Impossible. Her novel\, Sapogonia was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. She has been profiled and interviewed on National Public Radio and the History Channel and was a radio-essayist with NPR in Chicago. Ana Castillo is editor of La Tolteca\, an arts and literary ‘zine dedicated to the advancement of a world without borders and censorship and on the advisory board of the new American Writers Museum in D.C. Castillo held the first Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Endowed Chair at DePaul University\, The Martin Luther King\, Jr Distinguished Visiting Scholar post at M.I.T. and was the Poet-in-Residence at Westminster College in Utah in 2012\, among other teaching posts throughout her extensive career. Ana Castillo holds an M.A from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D.\, University of Bremen\, Germany in American Studies and an honorary doctorate from Colby College. She received an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation for her first novel\, The Mixquiahuala Letters. Her other awards include a Carl Sandburg Award\, a Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award\, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in fiction and poetry. She was also awarded a 1998 Sor Juana Achievement Award by the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum in Chicago. Dr. Castillo’s So Far From God and Loverboys are two titles on the banned book list controversy with the TUSD in Arizona. 2013 Recipient of the American Studies Association Gloria Anzaldúa Prize to an independent scholar. Dr. Castillo will hold the Lund-Gil Endowed Chair at Dominican University (IL) in 2014. \n  \n  \nPaul Martinez Pompa is the author of My Kill Adore Him (University of Notre Dame Press 2009) and is a recent recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Literary Award. He teaches composition and poetry at Triton College and lives in Chicago. \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \nAbout the Curator:\nCristina Correa is a VONA/Voices writer and a Midwestern Voices and Visions awardee. Her work has recently been published in TriQuarterly\, broadcast on National Public Radio’s Latino USA\, and exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. She is an MA candidate in Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \nAbout Our Co-Presenter:\n \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \nThe Poetry Foundation\, publisher of Poetry magazine\, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience.
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/palabra-pura-curated-by-cristina-correa/
LOCATION:Poetry Foundation\, 61 West Superior Street
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20140917
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20140922
DTSTAMP:20260403T142529
CREATED:20140626T152018Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20140916T225524Z
UID:2686-1410912000-1411343999@guildcomplex.org
SUMMARY:Dispatches from Kapittel
DESCRIPTION: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 in exile and advocating for freedom of speech. \nOur six attendees are blogging on their experiences at GuildDispatches.tumblr.com. \nAbout the Attendees:\nAdam Gottlieb is a poet/teaching-artist from Chicago. He got into spoken word at age 14 via the Young Chicago Authors teen poetry slam festival Louder Than a Bomb\, and was featured in the documentary film by the same name. He recently graduated from Hampshire College\, where he studied poetry and critical pedagogy. He seeks to promote the use of poetry as a medium for dialogue\, self-expression\, and positive social change. \n  \n  \n  \n  \nL’Oréal Patrice Jackson is an artist rooted in theatre\, music\, movement and writing. As an arts educator she teaches theatre performance\, improvisation\, storytelling\, and multi-disciplinary art. She has worked with Steppenwolf\, Writers Theatre\, and Columbia College Chicago\, among others. She serves as a youth leader for Soka Gakkai International (SGI)\, a lay Buddhist organization dedicated to peace culture and education. She is the Education Associate at About Face Theatre\, a production company with a focus on lesbian\, gay\, bisexual\, queer\, and ally arts. \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 is a teacher and co-founder of Bird’s Thumb\, an online literary journal devoted to new and emerging voices. She received her MFA from Columbia College Chicago. \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \nErika L. Sánchez is a Fulbright Scholar\, CantoMundo Fellow\, and winner of the “Discovery”/Boston Review Prize. Her poetry has appeared in Pleiades\, Witness\, Anti-\, Hunger Mountain\, Crab Orchard Review\, Hayden’s Ferry Review\, Copper Nickel\, Boston Review\, “Latino USA” on NPR\, and is forthcoming in diode and Please Excuse This Poem: 100 New Poems for the Next Generation (Penguin 2015). Her nonfiction appears in The Guardian\, Al Jazeera\, Rolling Stone\, Salon\, NBC News\, Cosmopolitan\, and many others. \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \nM. Quinn Stifler received a B.A. in Creative Writing and Women’s & Gender Studies at DePaul University. Stifler has worked with Threshold\, DePaul’s student-run literature and arts journal\, and is a co-founder and editor of No Assholes Literary Magazine. Stifler was a finalist for the 2013 Gwendolyn Brooks Open-Mic Poetry Award\, and regularly participates in and organizes house readings around Chicago. \n  \n  \n  \n John Rich is the Director of Guild Literary Complex\, a cross-cultural presenting organization in Chicago celebrating 25 years of supporting diverse\, divergent\, and emerging voices. John is a founding member of Chicago Writers House and Chicago Book Expo. He earned an MFA in Writing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago\, where he taught writing and creativity for several years. He is a recipient of the Vaclav Havel Fellowship in Playwriting from Western Michigan University and a Ragdale Foundation residency in writing. He co-founded the collaborative theater group Attention Deficit Drama (1997-2003) and has performed with Every House Has a Door. \n  \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://guildcomplex.org/event/dispatches-from-kapittel/
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