Description
The Chicago Poetry Center presents BLUE HOUR, a free monthly in-person reading series and generative writing workshop hosted and facilitated by Marty McConnell. SEPTEMBER FEATURES are Faylita Hicks and Hila Ratzabi.
Each event takes place at Haymarket House and features readers from Chicago and beyond, preceded by an optional, limited-space workshop focused on a poem by one of the featured readers and including guided generative writing time.
Registration is free and you can sign up for one or both portions of the event, but each registration must be completed separately.
ABOUT THE FEATURES:
FAYLITA HICKS (she/they) is a queer Afro-Latinx activist, writer, and interdisciplinary artist. Born in South Central California and raised in Central Texas, they use their intersectional experiences to advocate for the rights of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ people. They are the author of HoodWitch (Acre Books, 2019), a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Poetry. The former Editor-in-Chief of Black Femme Collective and Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, they are a voting member of the Recording Academy/GRAMMYs. Hicks is also the recipient of fellowships and residencies from the Art for Justice Fund, Black Mountain Institute, the Tony-Award winning Broadway Advocacy Coalition, Civil Rights Corps, The Dots Between, Jack Jones Literary Arts, Lambda Literary, Texas After Violence Project, Tin House, and the Right of Return USA. Hicks received a BA in English from Texas State University-San Marcos and an MFA in Creative Writing from Sierra Nevada University.
HILA RATZABI's poetry has been published in Narrative, Alaska Quarterly Review, The Adroit Journal, The Normal School, About Place, and elsewhere, and has been anthologized in The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry and Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology. She is the author of There are Still Woods, forthcoming on June Road Press, and the chapbook The Apparatus of Visible Things. The recipient of numerous fellowships, including the Willapa Bay AiR and the Crater Lake National Park residencies, she also served as editor-in-chief and poetry editor of Storyscape Literary Journal and holds an MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College. She is currently the director of virtual content and programs at Ritualwell.org and lives in Oak Park, Illinois, with her partner and two children.
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, and YesYes Books published her first nonfiction book, "Gathering Voices: Creating a Community-Based Poetry Workshop." 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. www.martyoutloud.com
ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION:
The mission of the Chicago Poetry Center is to connect people with poetry, equitably engage poets with communities, and foster creativity and literacy in schools. We envision a world where poetry catalyzes reflection, connection, and change.
Since the Chicago Poetry Center’s first readings took place at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 1975, the Poetry Center has been a mainstay of Chicago’s cultural scene. Free public readings continue to be offered monthly in virtual and physical formats. Over 325 poets have participated in public readings, and a digital archive of their work is available on the Poetry Center website. The expansive archive also serves as the basis of a digital module for teaching poetry, which was recently developed by the Center's Executive Director and is available at no cost to teachers.