Poetry Foundation’s May 2015 Events
The following events are free and open to the public on a first come, first served basis. These spring events take place at Poetry Foundation, 61 West Superior Street, Chicago unless otherwise specified. More information about our events is available at poetryfoundation.org/programs/events
Be sure to also visit the Poetry Foundation gallery for The Chicago 77, a single, hand-made edition of a 77-line poem comprised of found text and objects from each of Chicago’s 77 community areas.
Poetry Foundation May 2015 Events
(recently added events are in bold)
The Chicago 77
First Friday Gallery Reception
Friday, May 1, 6 pm – 9 pm
Join us at the First Friday gallery reception for The Chicago 77 exhibition at Poetry Foundation. The evening features include tabletop games, video screenings, and tunes by J. Johari Palacio aka Basis aka Perpetual Rebel aka The Bored Enthusiast—plus refreshments.
Poetry off the Shelf
Poesia en Abril
Saturday, May 2, 7 pm
The annual bilingual festival Poesía en Abril returns to the Poetry Foundation for readings by two of its featured poets. Olvido García Valdés is the author of a dozen collections of poetry, including Y todos estábamos vivos, which won Spain’s National Poetry Prize in 2007, as well as books of translation, prose, and art criticism. Distinguished Mexican poet and translator Héctor Carreto has won the prestigious Luis Cernuda and Aguascalientes National Poetry prizes.
Co-sponsored by contratiempo, Instituto Cervantes, and DePaul University
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Poetry off the Shelf
Tim Seibles
Wednesday, May 6, 7 pm
Tim Seibles is the author of several collections of poetry, including Hurdy-Gurdy, Buffalo Head Solos, and Fast Animal, which won the Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Prize and was nominated for a 2012 National Book Award. He has taught at Old Dominion University, the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast MFA program, and at Cave Canem.
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Poetry off the Shelf
Middle East Poetry Festival
Saturday, May 9, 2 pm
Peace! In these troubled times, will we ever achieve peace for ourselves, our families, our community, our world? Hear Iraqi and other Middle Eastern poets describe what peace means to them in their own language.
Co-sponsored with the Iraqi Mutual Aid Society
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Poetry off the Shelf
A. Van Jordan
Tuesday, May 12, 7 pm
- Van Jordan was born and raised in Akron, Ohio. His collections of poetry include Rise (2001), which won a PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award and was selected for the Book of the Month Club of the Academy of American Poets; M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A (2005), which received the Anisfield-Wolf Award; and Quantum Lyrics (2007).
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Poetry off the Shelf
Kundiman Reading
Thursday, May 14, 7 pm
The Poetry Foundation partners with Kundiman, a national organization that supports Asian American writers, to present a reading by Kundiman faculty and fellows Li-Young Lee, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Eugenia Leigh, and Helene Achanzar.
Co-sponsored with Kundiman
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The Open Door Reading
Eastern Illinois University’s Charlotte Pence & Derick Ledermann / DePaul University’s David Welch & Laura Wagner
Tuesday, May 19, 7 pm
The Open Door series presents work from Chicago’s new and emerging poets and highlights the area’s outstanding writing programs. Each hourlong event features readings by two Chicagoland writing program instructors and two of their current or recent students.
Harriet Reading Series
Literature for All of Us Poetry Bash
Friday, May 22, 1:00 pm
Youth come together to share parts of their lives and their perspectives on the world in poetic verse. Literature for All of Us invites you to come join us as they demand songs of peace and ask that we paint them in their true colors.
Harriet Reading Series
Lecture by Jon Leon
Thursday, May 28, 6:30 pm
The Harriet Reading Series features talks, performances, and readings by poets whose work has appeared on Harriet, the Poetry Foundation’s blog. Writer and critic Jon Leon is the author of The Malady of the Century, Elizabeth Zoë Lindsay Drink Fanta, The Hot Tub, and a number of privately issued titles and special editions.
Music/Words
Inna Faliks & Jesse Ball at Piano Forte
Friday, May 29, 7:30 pm
PianoForte Studios
1335 South Michigan Avenue
Created by acclaimed pianist Inna Faliks, Music/Words is an interdisciplinary performance series that explores the connections between poetry and music in the form of a live recital and reading with prize-winning novelist and poet Jesse Ball.
Co-sponsored with PianoForte Foundation
Poetry Foundation April 2015 Exhibitions
The Chicago 77
March 20–May 29, 2015
Commissioned by the Poetry Foundation, The Chicago 77 is a 77-line poem comprised of found text and objects from each of Chicago’s 77 community areas. The piece was created by poets and artists Fatimah Asghar, Krista Franklin, Fo Wilson, and Jamila Woods. The completed poem has been calligraphed by Liz Isakson-Dado in a single edition on paper made by artists Margaret Mahan and Drew Matott.
Exhibition Hours:
Monday–Friday, 11 am – 4 pm, and during any of our evening and weekend events.
Visit www.poetryfoundation.org/programs/exhibits for more details.
About the Poetry Foundation
The 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. The Poetry Foundation seeks to be a leader in shaping a receptive climate for poetry by developing new audiences, creating new avenues for delivery and encouraging new kinds of poetry through innovative literary prizes and programs. For more information, please visit poetryfoundation.org.
About Poetry Magazine
Founded in Chicago by Harriet Monroe in 1912, Poetry is the oldest monthly devoted to verse in the English-speaking world. Monroe’s “Open Door” policy, set forth in Volume 1 of the magazine, remains the most succinct statement of Poetry’s mission: to print the best poetry written today, in whatever style, genre or approach. The magazine established its reputation early by publishing the first important poems of T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, H.D., William Carlos Williams, Carl Sandburg and other now-classic authors. In succeeding decades it has presented—often for the first time—works by virtually every major contemporary poet.
About the Poetry Foundation Library
The Midwest’s only library dedicated exclusively to poetry, the Poetry Foundation Library invites the reading of poetry through its collections and public programs. Browse a collection of more than 30,000 volumes. Experience audio and video recordings in private listening booths. View exhibitions relating to the world of poetry. The library continues to offer its weekly Wednesday Poemtime, a storytime event for children ages two through five that introduces poetry through fun, interactive readings and crafts; and field trips that welcome group visits from students of all ages and lifelong learners. To learn more or to arrange a field trip, contact library@poetryfoundation.org.
Follow the Poetry Foundation and Poetry on Facebook at facebook.com/poetryfoundation or on Twitter @PoetryFound.
POETRY FOUNDATION | 61 West Superior Street | Chicago, IL 60654 | 312.787.7070
Media contact:
Polly Faust, pfaust@poetryfoundation.org, 312.799.8065
Elizabeth Burke-Dain, eburkedain@poetryfoundation.org, 312.799.8016