Events Archive - The Chicago Poetry Center https://www.poetrycenter.org/events/archive/ Mon, 11 May 2026 15:53:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.poetrycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/cropped-pigeon-32x32.png Events Archive - The Chicago Poetry Center https://www.poetrycenter.org/events/archive/ 32 32 Blatant Gold https://www.poetrycenter.org/event/blatant-gold/ Thu, 09 Apr 2026 15:38:13 +0000 https://www.poetrycenter.org/?post_type=cpc-event&p=27561 Every year, the Chicago Poetry Center’s summer poetry gathering brings together the city’s literary community. In 2026, Blatant Gold features…

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Every year, the Chicago Poetry Center’s summer poetry gathering brings together the city’s literary community. In 2026, Blatant Gold features Chicago Poet Laureate Mayda del Valle and honors Musu Bangura, recipient of the Gwendolyn Brooks Award for Excellence in Teaching. Join us for an open mic, watch performances by the featured poets, and raise a glass to the writers, readers, and teachers of Chicago poetry.

 

RSVP for Blatant Gold 2026! 

Tuesday, June 9
6pm – 9pm
Haymarket House
800 W. Buena Ave.

6pm – open mic
7pm – readings + award
8pm – community hour

 

Featuring Mayda del Valle,
Chicago Poet Laureate

 

Honoring Musu Bangura,
recipient of the Gwendolyn Brooks Award
for Excellence in Teaching

 

 

 

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]]> Book Celebration: Orange by Noel Quiñones https://www.poetrycenter.org/event/book-celebration-orange-by-noel-quinones/ Fri, 10 Apr 2026 18:38:28 +0000 https://www.poetrycenter.org/?post_type=cpc-event&p=27565   Join the Chicago Poetry Center as we celebrate Orange, the debut collection of poetry by Poet in Residence Noel…

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Join the Chicago Poetry Center as we celebrate Orange, the debut collection of poetry by Poet in Residence Noel Quiñones. The event will include a reading from the book by Noel, along with poems from Maya Odim, Timothy David Rey, Amari Amai, and Madison Mae Parker.

 

About the Book:

Painting a vivid and fraught portrait of the North Bronx, Orange unflinchingly highlights and confronts the contradictions at the heart of love, divorce, gender, religion, and community. Through narrative poems and innovative forms, Orange explores the ripple effects of reconciling a lineage of masculinity and queerness, unearthing truth from within lies, and grappling with the complexity of familial influence. Yet, family expands well beyond the nuclear as poems center relationships between friends, cousins, teachers, and partners. Orange ultimately argues that truth resembles color, something so real, yet elusive and impossible to prove.

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]]> Blue Hour Patrycja Humienik & Soham Patel https://www.poetrycenter.org/event/blue-hour-patrycja-humienik-soham-patel/ Wed, 12 Nov 2025 19:06:14 +0000 https://www.poetrycenter.org/?post_type=cpc-event&p=26008 May 20th, 2026 Blue Hour Featuring Patrycja Humienik & Soham Patel

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]]> National Poetry Month Workshops with Musu Bangura https://www.poetrycenter.org/event/april2026/ Thu, 26 Mar 2026 21:39:51 +0000 https://www.poetrycenter.org/?post_type=cpc-event&p=27429 In partnership with the Chicago Public Library, CPC Poet in Residence Musu Bangura is bringing thoughtful discussion and creative experimentation…

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]]> In partnership with the Chicago Public Library, CPC Poet in Residence Musu Bangura is bringing thoughtful discussion and creative experimentation to a library branch near you.

 

April 15: June Jordan and the Protest Poem (registration required)
June Jordan believed in the concept of “Poetry for the People” and demonstrated this through her staunch dedication to protest poetry. In this course, we’ll spend time with political poetry and examine its artistic purpose.

Wednesday, 4/15
4pm – 5:30pm
South Shore Branch
2505 E. 73rd St.

 

April 25: Erasure Poetry
Read and discuss some of Musu’s favorite erasure poems. Then, using preexisting texts, try this this erasure or blackout technique to create your own poems.

Saturday, 4/25
12:30pm – 1:30pm
Harold Washington Library
400 S. State St.

 

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]]> New Visions: A Broadside Exhibition https://www.poetrycenter.org/event/broadsides-exhibition/ Tue, 11 Nov 2025 20:40:14 +0000 https://www.poetrycenter.org/?post_type=cpc-event&p=27381 Join us at 7 p.m. on April 15 for the debut of the Chicago Poetry Center’s nine new poetry broadsides!…

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]]> Join us at 7 p.m. on April 15 for the debut of the Chicago Poetry Center’s nine new poetry broadsides!

Designed and printed by local artist Ben Blount, these limited-edition pieces feature poems by George Abraham, Nadia Alexis, Cathy Linh Che, Jalen Eutsey, Keetje Kuipers, Maya Marshall, Soham Patel, Monica Rico, and Jimin Seo.

Arrive early for two free broadsides, and stick around for the Blue Hour open mic and featured readings at 7:30 p.m.

This project was made possible by a Creative Projects grant from the Illinois Arts Council.

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]]> Blue Hour Diego Báez & Samyak Shertok https://www.poetrycenter.org/event/blue-hour-diego-baez-samyak-shertok/ Wed, 12 Nov 2025 19:06:21 +0000 https://www.poetrycenter.org/?post_type=cpc-event&p=26009 April 15, 2026 Blue Hour Featuring Diego Baez & Samyak Shertok

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]]> Night Shift in Perfect English with Mina Khan https://www.poetrycenter.org/event/night-shift-in-perfect-english-with-mina-khan/ Fri, 06 Mar 2026 21:40:20 +0000 https://www.poetrycenter.org/?post_type=cpc-event&p=27323 Join poet Mina Khan for a an evening of celebration of her new book, Night Shift in Perfect English, at Haymarket…

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Join poet Mina Khan for a an evening of celebration of her new book, Night Shift in Perfect English, at Haymarket House, with special guests Jesse Fairbanks, Francesca Kritikos, and Natasha Mijares.

2024 Winner of the Two Languages Book Award, Mina Khan’s debut collection Night Shift in Perfect English is a tender, album-like retelling of the immigrant family post-American Dream. Drawing upon her Korean-Pakistani heritage, Khan discusses the NYC bodega in a gentrifying neighborhood, the aging body, and a rapidly deteriorating climate; Everyday violences-and the vivid joys that persevere.

**We ask that all in-person attendees wear masks in the event space during the program for the health and well-being of the speakers and other guests. We will have a reception afterwards with light refreshments and copies of Night Shift in Perfect English available for purchase.**

Mina Khan is a Korean-Pakistani American poet from NYC. Her work spans across nations, generations, to discuss cyclicality, violence, tenderness, ecology, and the everyday. She is the author of MON-monuments, monarchs & monsters (Sputnik & Fizzle, 2020) and Night Shift in Perfect English (Gasher Press, 2026.) Her work has appeared in AAWW’s The Margins, Tupelo Quarterly, Epiphany Magazine, and more. Khan holds a BA from Wesleyan University, MFA from Columbia University, and is a Tin House alum.

Jesse Fairbanks (they/them) is a nonfiction writer from East Tennessee whose work reflects the conditions and consequences of racial capitalism. Through stories of their dead mothers, Jesse honors the concept of complex personhood, celebrating their matriarchs’ stubbornness while mourning their passivity. Their essays weave political and familial histories to expose white supremacy as soul-sucking for white southerners with little income and no wealth. Jesse currently works as a Policy Analyst on the Public Benefits Justice team at the Center for Law and Social Policy, where they advocate to increase funding for and expand access to federal rental assistance programs

Francesca Kritikos is the editor in chief of SARKA, a journal and publisher focused on works of the flesh. Her latest book, The season of lilacs is monstrous, was released by Blush Lit in October 2025. Her writing has been published in English, French and Greek in numerous online and print journals. She also writes the Substack column Body Composition.

Natasha Mijares is an artist, writer, curator, and educator. She received her MFA in Writing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has exhibited at various international and national galleries. Her work has appeared in Gravity of the Thing, Hypertext Review, Calamity, Vinyl Poetry, and more.

This event is sponsored by Haymarket Books and the Chicago Poetry Center. While all of our events are freely available, we ask that those who are able make a solidarity donation in support of our important publishing and programming work.

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]]> Poets for Chicago: A Night of Art & Community Benefiting ICIRR https://www.poetrycenter.org/event/poets-for-chicago-a-night-of-art-community-benefiting-icirr/ Wed, 25 Mar 2026 22:20:36 +0000 https://www.poetrycenter.org/?post_type=cpc-event&p=27432 Join the Chicago Poetry Center, Haymarket Books, and Lit for Chicago for a reading in support of the Illinois Coalition…

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]]> Join the Chicago Poetry Center, Haymarket Books, and Lit for Chicago for a reading in support of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights. Featured readers include José Olivarez, Mayda del Valle, C. Russell Price, Juan Martinez, and The Borderless Poets.

Tickets: $20 Donation to ICIRR. (Donate ahead and provide proof of donation for entry, or donate cash at the door.) Donate to ICIRR here.

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]]> Blue Hour April Gibson & Mira Cameron https://www.poetrycenter.org/event/blue-hour-april-gibson-mira-cameron/ Wed, 12 Nov 2025 18:53:00 +0000 https://www.poetrycenter.org/?post_type=cpc-event&p=26003 March 18, 2026 Blue Hour Featuring April Gibson & Mira Cameron

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]]> Blue Hour Jalen Eutsey & Michelle Peñaloza https://www.poetrycenter.org/event/blue-hour-jalen-eutsey-michelle-penaloza/ Wed, 12 Nov 2025 18:52:00 +0000 https://www.poetrycenter.org/?post_type=cpc-event&p=26002 February 18, 2026 Blue Hour Featuring Jalen Eutsey & Michelle Peñaloza

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