Poetry @ The Green at 320 continues for the summer season this July!
The Chicago Poetry Center and The Green at 320 S. Canal are proud to host this free, weekly reading and open mic series co-curated by CPC’s Poets in Residence Joy Young and Timothy David Rey.
Join us on certain Monday nights at 6 p.m. in this beautiful setting to hear outstanding featured poets perform their work in this partnership between Chicago Poetry Center and The Green at 320 S. Canal (aka The Green at 320). After every poetry performance, there will be an open mic for any individual that would like to share poetry of their own!
MARK YOUR CALENDAR! We’ll be at The Green every Monday through the end of September. Check the details for this event and others in our City-wide Literary Events Calendar!
CPC believes poetry should be enjoyed by all. If you’d like to request an ASL interpreter at Poetry @ the Green, please email timothy@poetrycenter.org two weeks before the event date.
JULY FEATURED PERFORMERS:
July 1st: Alissa Nalewajko: Alissa Nalewajko is a poet and cool girl from Boise, Idaho. She studied poetry at Princeton University and upon graduation in 2022, moved to Chicago where she now lives and writes. She writes confessional poetry that explores themes of religion, human sexuality, and illness with a heavy lean towards ekphrasis. Her thesis, “My Summer With Spiders“, tells the story of a couple living with an unwanted pregnancy through (often tender, often violent) poems detailing insect mating habits. Alissa continues to write in the space between the human and the natural and loves to pack a punch. You can find her work in various small publications both in and out of Chicago.
July 15: Amina Kayani: Amina Kayani is a Muhajir writer, editor, teacher, and ghost-seer from unceded Cherokee and Muscogee land. She holds an MFA in fiction from Purdue University and has served as the Managing Editor at Sycamore Review and the Art Editor of Kajal. Her stories have been in the The Kenyon Review, the Florida Review, JOYLAND and elsewhere. She lives in Rogers Park with her spouse.
July 22nd: Kira Tucker: Kira Tucker is a poet and visual artist from Memphis and a recent MFA+MA graduate from Northwestern. Kira currently serves as an Associate Agent with the Shipman Agency and as Assistant Managing Editor for TriQuarterly. Her poems appear in Tupelo Quarterly, The Spectacle, Jazz & Culture, and elsewhere. Kira is also at work on her hopeful debut book collection—a poetic investigation spanning the mythos of the American Dream and the landscapes of our collective unconscious. For personal restoration, they love taking walks along Lake Michigan in the summer sun, cultivating an indoor forest of houseplants, and trying new vegetarian recipes.
July 29: Maud Lavin: A Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, Maud Lavin writes creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. She has published recently in BULL, Cowboy Jamboree, Reckon Review, JAKE, Icebreakers, BRIDGE, Heimat Review, Harpy Hybrid, and Roi Fainéant, and earlier in the Nation, Harper’s Bazaar, Slate, and other venues. One of her books, CUT WITH THE KITCHEN KNIFE (Yale UP), was named a New York Times Notable Book. Her other books include CLEAN NEW WORLD and PUSH COMES TO SHOVE, both MIT Press, and three anthologies. Her writing has appeared in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German, Dutch, Finnish, and Spanish as well as English. This fall Cowboy Jamboree Press will publish her chapbook SILENCES, OHIO. She is a 4-H alumna and a Guggenheim Fellow. A professor emerita, she taught at the School of the Art Institute for 22 years, and before that part-time at UIC, UChicago, NYU, Hunter, and Queens. She works as a freelance editor and runs the READINGS series in Chicago’s South Loop, now in its 6th year.
ABOUT THE CURATORS:
Joy Young is a Chicago-based poet and educator, who holds a BA in Fiction from Columbia College Chicago and MA in Writing and Publishing from DePaul University. Her work has appeared in the literary journals Poetry East and Lunch Ticket, as well as an collaborative art therapy project at the InnerSpace Studio of Homan Square and LOCUS: VIII Gallery Showcase at The Martin. When she’s not teaching, you can usually find her at open mics and performance arts venues.
Timothy David Rey is a writer/performer who works in poetry, plays, and monologue (both fictional and autobiographical). He teaches creative writing and performance throughout the city of Chicago and its suburbs. He is a 2015 Semi-Finalist for the Guild Literary Complex’s Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Poetry Award, and one of the winners of Project Exploration (The Poetry Center of Chicago 2004). He is the co-founder of the LBGT Solo Performance Showcase, Solo Homo (2002-2011). Timothy’s plays and performance pieces have been seen and heard at venues throughout Chicago as well as out of state and in Panama. Timothy’s writing has appeared in magazines and journals including ’60 Inches From Center,’ and ‘After Hours: The Chicago Journal of Writing & Art.’ ‘His book of poetry and performance, Little Victories, was published in 2012 by NewTown Writers Press. Timothy has performed at Steppenwolf Theater (Lookout Series), New York City’s International Fringe Festival as well as The Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts.
ABOUT THE LOCATION:
The Green is a public park located in the West Loop and will be host to many family-friendly activities and events this summer!
