The Chicago Poetry Center presents BLUE HOUR, a free, public monthly in-person reading series and generative writing workshop hosted and facilitated by Marty McConnell.
*** HEALTH & SAFETY NOTE: We are requesting that attendees mask for this event. Thank you for your cooperation! ***
The Blue Hour reading includes a brief open mic followed by two featured poets from Chicago and beyond. The open mic includes five readers drawn lottery-style from a hat that goes out at 7:15. The reading starts promptly at 7:30. Each open mic poet reads one poem or for three minutes, whichever comes first.
The name comes from a line by Chicago poet Li-Young Lee, from a section of “The City in Which I Love You”:
I wait
in a blue hour
and faraway noise of hammering,
and on a page a poem begun, something
about to be dispersed,
something about to come into being.
EVENT DETAILS FOR MARCH 20:
- Workshop (registration required) begins promptly at 6 p.m., ends at 7 p.m.
- Open mic sign-up begins at 7:15.
- Reading (registration recommended) begins at 7:30, followed by community gathering time.
- Reading registration is free; the workshop is sliding scale with a suggested donation of $10.
- Register for the workshop here.
- Get your ticket for the reading here.
- Livestream is available here.
ABOUT THE READING:
The Blue Hour reading features readings by two poets from Chicago and beyond, preceded by a five person lottery-style open mic and followed by community gathering time.
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:
The Blue Hour generative writing workshop is suitable for writers and poetry fans of all levels. We will discuss a poem together, then Marty will guide the group through individual writing on an exploratory prompt that draws on themes from the poem.
ABOUT THE SPACE:
Accessibility, Health, & Safety:
– All restrooms at Haymarket House are gender-neutral, including single-user and stalled restrooms.
– Each event includes ASL interpretation. Haymarket House is ADA compliant and fully wheelchair-accessible; email curator@poetrycenter.org to ensure ramp access and with any other accessibility needs.
– Masks are currently strongly encouraged for all indoor events, and the space is equipped with a professional air filtration system.
MARCH FEATURES:
Edgar Kunz is the author of “Fixer” (Ecco, 2023) and “Tap Out” (Ecco, 2019). He has been an NEA Fellow, a MacDowell Fellow, and a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford. New poems appear in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Poetry, and Oxford American. He lives in Baltimore and teaches at Goucher College.
Megan Sungyoon translates between languages and across genres. Sungyoon’s work has appeared in 128LIT Digital, World Poetry Review, Copper Nickel, Asymptote, Columbia Journal, SAND Journal, and The Margins, among others. Currently based in Seoul, Sungyoon holds a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA in Poetry and Literary Translation from Columbia University.
Seo Jung Hak (서정학), poet and a native of Seoul, made his debut on the Korean literary scene when his four poems, including “Hideout” (“은신처”), were published in the Winter 1995 issue of Literature and Society (문학과 사회). His first poetry collection, The King of Adventure and Aristocrats of Coconut (모험의 왕과 코코넛의 귀족들) was published in 1998 by Moonji Publishing Co., one of the biggest literary publishers in South Korea. The Cheapest France in Town is his second book of poetry published in 2017.
ABOUT THE HOST:
Marty McConnell is a poet, educator, and healer based in Chicago. She is the author of when they say you can’t go home again, what they mean is you were never there, winner of the 2017 Michael Waters Poetry Prize; her first full-length collection, wine for a shotgun, received the Silver Medal in the Independent Publishers Awards and was a finalist for both the Audre Lorde Award and a Lambda Literary Award. Her first nonfiction book, Gathering Voices: Creating a Community-Based Poetry Workshop, is available through YesYes Books. She is the co-creator and co-editor of underbelly, a web site focused on the art and magic of poetry revision. An MFA graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including Best American Poetry, Southern Humanities Review, Gulf Coast, and Indiana Review.
To learn more about the series and history, go here.
