Chicago Poetry Center

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Chicago Poetry Center

CPC connects people and poetry, equitably engages poets with communities, and fosters creative literacy in the city and beyond.

08/25/2026

The Chicago Poetry Center is proud to be recognized as a 2026 Illinois Humanities Project Grant grantee partner, with funding supporting our "We Are Chicago" project.

Through this program, CPC will lead workshops to create a short film and discussion guide featuring Chicago Public School students sharing original poems about their lived experience with immigration.

Support from Illinois Humanities allows us to advance community-centered public humanities work that helps preserve stories, foster dialogue, and strengthen connections across Illinois.

Learn more about this year's grantee partners: ilhumanities.org/news/meet-the-2026-project-grantee-partners

08/20/2026

Chicago Poetry Center returns to Printers Row Lit Fest this year! 📚✨

Printers Row Lit Fest is the Midwest's largest FREE outdoor literary festival. Look for the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame tent, and swing by our table on September 13 and 14 to snag new merch or to learn more about programming and events at CPC!

For more info on scheduling and location, check out https://www.instagram.com/printersrowfest.

See you there! 😎

08/19/2026

Don't miss our final Poetry at the Green of the season, featuring Kenyatta Rogers!

Kenyatta Rogers is a Cave Canem fellow and has been awarded scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. His work has been previously published in or forthcoming from the Academy of American Poets, Poetry, Jubilat, Bat City Review, The Volta, PANK, and MAKE Magazine, among others. Rogers is a lead teacher for the Poetry Foundation’s Teacher Institute. He serves on the board of directors for AWP and the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. A Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, he is a cohost of the Sunday Reading Series with Simone Muench and lives in Chicago. His debut poetry collection, Before I Let Go, is forthcoming in 2027 from Trio House Press.

Poetry at the Green is curated by Timothy David Rey and Joy Young. After every reading, stick around for the open mic to share your own poems, stories, songs, and more!

🗓️ Monday, August 24
⏰ 6–7pm
📍 The Green at 320
320 S. Canal St.

08/18/2026

The 2026–2027 Blue Hour season officially begins next month! 💙

Scroll to see dates and featured poets, and click the link below for more infomation:

https://www.poetrycenter.org/events/upcoming-events/

Registration for each event opens the day after the previous month’s Blue Hour.

Can’t wait to see you there!

08/14/2026

The gloomy weather as of late has us missing our camp days! 🌤️

Swipe to see a few photos from poetry camp this summer at Twain Elementary and Sabin Dual Language School. Use the link in our bio to see more photos and read student poetry!

📸 Joshua Tatro

08/12/2026

Next week's Poetry at the Green features Amari Amai!

Amari Amai (he/they) is a Black nonbinary storyteller, poet, playwright, and worldbuilder born and raised in Chicago. Their work has received support and fellowships from Tin House, Periplus Collective, Sundress Academy for the Arts, Hyde Park Art Center, The Watering Hole, Vermont Studio Center, and Celebration Theater of Los Angeles. Amari is the founder of Crossroads Writers Collective, a communal writing group for Black q***r folks based in Chicago. As a 2025 Pushcart Prize and 2026 Best of the Net nominee, they are currently at work on their debut poetry collection and accompanying performance series.

Poetry at the Green is curated by Timothy David Rey and Joy Young. After every reading, stick around for the open mic to share your own poems, stories, songs, and more!

🗓️ Monday, August 17

⏰ 6–7pm

📍 The Green at 320

320 S. Canal St.

08/05/2026

Next week's Poetry at the Green is a double feature!

Madison Mae Parker (they/she) was voted as best poet in Kansas City, Missouri in 2022 by The Pitch Magazine. They teach somatic classes with Khecari and lead a reading and movement class called Movement Philosophy.

Nat Martinez-White is a writer who studied Anthropology and Cinema & Media Arts at Vanderbilt University before settling in Chicago. Their work can be found in Polygon, Current Affairs, and on random bits of paper in their many bags.

Poetry at the Green is curated by Timothy David Rey and Joy Young. After every reading, stick around for the open mic to share your own poems, stories, songs, and more!

🗓️ Monday, August 10
⏰ 6–7pm
📍 The Green at 320
320 S. Canal St.

07/29/2026

Poetry at the Green continues throughout August!

Next week's Poetry at the Green features Lisa Low.

Lisa Low is the author of Replica (University of Wisconsin Press, 2026) and the chapbook Crown for the Girl Inside (YesYes Books, 2023). She is the recipient of a 2023 Pushcart Prize and the 2020 Gulf Coast Nonfiction Prize, and her poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Ecotone, The Massachusetts Review, Poetry, The Southern Review, and elsewhere.

Poetry at the Green is curated by Timothy David Rey and Joy Young. After every reading, stick around for the open mic to share your own poems, stories, songs, and more!

🗓️ Monday, August 3
⏰ 6–7pm
📍 The Green at 320
320 S. Canal St.

07/22/2026

Next week's Poetry at the Green features Shivani Gupta!

Shivani Gupta is a Chicago-based writer. Her chapbook my mother is a mixed metaphor was published by Rockwood Press. Her work has been featured across BBC, Forbes, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Baby Teeth Journal, Epiphany Magazine, Corpus Callosum & more.

Poetry at the Green is curated by Timothy David Rey and Joy Young. After every reading, stick around for the open mic to share your own poems, stories, songs, and more!

🗓️ Monday, July 27
⏰ 6–7pm
📍 The Green at 320
320 S. Canal St.

Address

1448 E. 52nd Street , #256
Chicago, IL
60615

Website

http://www.poetrycenter.org/

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