Past Events

On September 24, Alex Kotlowitz became the 17th recipient of the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame’s Fuller Award for his lifetime achievements. Ben Austen led a speaking lineup that included Stuart Dybek, Julie Justicz, Meribah Knight, Mary Rowland and Ricardo “Cobe” Williams. The Chopin Theatre ceremony…

read more

Come to the Hyde Park house where Edgar Lee Masters wrote the classic Spoon River Anthology. Three shows take place in a two-weekend festival celebrating this iconic work from the 1910s. Let the ghost of Edgar Lee Masters take you on an imagined journey to Spoon River, Illinois! Limited tickets are now on sale for each show.  Spoon River…

read more

Printers Row Lit Fest returns for its 39th year. Chicago Literary Hall of Fame will once again host a tent with partners After Hours, Chicago Poetry Center, Chicago Quarterly Review, Contratiempo, Guild Literary Complex, Rhino, and Stories Matter Foundation. The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame will host an open mic for young writers at some point…

read more

As part of the Printers Row Lit Fest's action-packed schedule, the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame will host an open mic reading for young writers. Poets Billy Tuggle and Marty McConnell will emcee the open mic, which is open to all high school-aged students. Billy is a South Side Chicago native; a writer, vocalist, performance poet and…

read more

Come witness the final development reading of Dooley's Place at Chief O'Neill's, where the staged production will take place in the near future.  After successfully introducing Martin J. Dooley back to Chicago audiences in two  development readings, Poet Ape Productions is excited to showcase its final script. Come…

read more

On July 11, Patricia Smith received the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame's Fuller Award for her lifetime achievements. The ceremony, co-presented with our host the Poetry Foundation, as well as American Writers Museum, Shipman Agency, Inc., Chicago Poetry Center, Guild Literary Complex, Third World Press, and Lee & Low Books was free…

read more

At the second American Writers Festival on Sunday, May 19, Jane Hseu led a discussion with authors Ugochi Nwaogwugwu, Nestor Gomez, and Lani T. Montreal. These artists came to Chicago from Guatemala, Nigeria, and the Philippines. Each has explored the immigration experience in a variety of ways, including spoken work, memoir, poetry,…

read more

The Randall Albers Young Writers Award was back for its second year. On Saturday, May 11, we presented awards to young writers of both prose and poetry and listened as they read aloud from their work. We were joined by families, friends, teachers, and a host of notable Chicago writers. It was a touching and entertaining way to welcome our…

read more

read more

Our new Chicago Literary Hall of Fame class of Hamlin Garland, Eunice Tietjens, and E. Donald-Two Rivers was inducted at a ceremony featuring a lineup that included William J. Bowe, Melissa Bradshaw, Naomi Athena, Carlos Cumpián, Arica Hilton, Jesse Raber, and Dorene Wiese. Two-Rivers’s daughter, Annabelle Broeffle,…

read more