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Wednesday, July 20
CPC Presents: A Summer Poetry Gathering
Reading + Community Event
6 p.m. at Haymarket House
This July, the Chicago Poetry Center presents A Summer Poetry Gathering!
On July 20, 2022, the Chicago Poetry Center will gather poets and poetry fans from across the city to celebrate summer and our ability to unite as a community.
The first part of the evening will include a showcase of CPC’s Poets in Residence including Fullamusu Bangura, Larry Dean, Teresa Dzieglewicz, Isaac Ginsberg Miller, Tarnynon Onumonu, Timothy David Rey, and Joy Young, followed by Adrian Matejka, the new editor of Poetry.
Following the performance, we will move outdoors for beverages, snacks, poetry activities, and community building.
Tickets for the event are available here. Doors will open at 6 p.m., with performances beginning promptly at 6:30.
FEATURES: ADRIAN MATEJKA + CPC POETS IN RESIDENCE
Adrian Matejka is the author of The Devil’s Garden (Alice James Books, 2003) which won the New York / New England Award and Mixology (Penguin, 2009), a winner of the 2008 National Poetry Series. His third collection of poems, The Big Smoke (Penguin, 2013), was awarded the 2014 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. The Big Smoke was also a finalist for the 2013 National Book Award, 2014 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and 2014 Pulitzer Prize in poetry. His fourth book, Map to the Stars, was published by Penguin in 2017 and his mixed media project in collaboration with Nicholas Galanin and Kevin Neireiter inspired by Funkadelic, Standing on the Verge & Maggot Brain (Third Man Books) was published in 2021. His most recent collection of poems, Somebody Else Sold the World (Penguin, 2021), was a finalist for the 2022 Rilke Prize. His first graphic novel, Last On His Feet, will be published in 2023 by Liveright. Among Matejka’s other honors are the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award, a Pushcart Prize, the Julia Peterkin Award, and fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and a Simon Fellowship from United States Artists. He served as Poet Laureate of the state of Indiana in 2018-19 and is Editor of Poetry magazine.
Fullamusu Bangura is a writer originally from Washington, D.C. and currently residing in Chicago, Illinois. They are the author of the essay-book “…Considers Lil’ Kim’s Hard Core.” Their work has been published in New Delta Review, Apogee Journal, and Cosmonauts Avenue. Fullamusu is an educator at heart, working in various formal and popular education roles since 2015. In 2020, they were selected as a 2020 Best of the Net Poetry finalist.
Larry O. Dean was born and raised in Flint, Michigan. His books include Frequently Asked Questions (forthcoming), Muse, Um (2022), Activities of Daily Living (2017), Brief Nudity (2013), Basic Cable Couplets (2012), Abbrev (2011), About the Author (2011), and I Am Spam (2004). He is also an acclaimed singer-songwriter whose latest solo album is Good Grief (2015); Product Placement, the sophomore album from his band, The Injured Parties, was released August 2019. For more info, go to larryodean.com.
Teresa Dzieglewicz is an educator, Pushcart Prize-winning poet, and part of the founding team of of the Mní Wičhóni Nakíčižiŋ Wounspe (Defenders of the Water School) at Standing Rock Reservation. Her first book, Something Small of How To See a River, was selected by Tyehimba Jess as the winner of Tupelo Press’s 2021 Dorset Prize and is forthcoming in 2023. She received her MFA from Southern Illinois University, where she received the Academy of American Poets Prize. She is the winner of the 2018 Auburn Witness Prize and the 2020 Palette Poetry Prize and has received fellowships from New Harmony Writer’s Workshop, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, the NY Mills Arts Retreat, and Brooklyn Poets. Her poems appear in the Pushcart Prize XLII, Best New Poets, Beloit Poetry Journal, Prairie Schooner, Ninth Letter, Sixth Finch, and elsewhere.
Isaac Ginsberg Miller is a poet, scholar, and educator. Isaac received his MFA in poetry at NYU, where he was a Goldwater Hospital Writing Workshop Fellow, and is currently a PhD candidate in African American Studies at Northwestern University. Isaac has worked as a professional teaching artist in the Bay Area, Detroit, and New York City with organizations including InsideOut Literary Arts Project, Youth Speaks, the James and Grace Lee Boggs School, and Urban Word NYC. His poetry appears in journals such as Colorado Review, Foglifter, Muzzle Magazine, Sonora Review, Tupelo Quarterly, and Zone 3. His chapbook Stopgap won The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review Chapbook Contest, and was published in 2019.
Tarnynon (Ty-yuh-nuh) Onumonu is an emerging writer, performing and visual artist born and raised in the Jeffery Manor neighborhood on the southeast side of Chicago and is extremely proud of and humbled by her southside citizenship and West African lineage. She has featured at literary spaces and competitions throughout the Midwest and has performed locally everywhere from nightclubs to bookstores to The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Aside from her art, she is committed to social justice and youth empowerment.
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 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 performances 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.
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.
Check out the Blue Hour archive to revisit your favorite readings or any you missed at this link!
