Chicago Poetry Center's Blue Hour generative workshop

800 West Buena Avenue,Chicago IL 60613

21 September, 2022

Description

The Chicago Poetry Center presents BLUE HOUR, a donation-based monthly in-person generative writing workshop and reading series hosted and facilitated by Marty McConnell at Haymarket House. Each event features two readers from Chicago and beyond, preceded by a limited-space workshop focused on a poem by one of the featured readers and including guided generative writing time. The workshop will begin promptly at 6 p.m. (arrival encouraged anytime after 5:30 p.m.) and will end at 7 p.m. The reading will begin at 7:30, followed by community gathering time. You can sign up for one or both portions of the event, but each registration must be completed separately. The reading is completely free, and donations for the workshop begin at $5. If price is a barrier, please email [email protected] for a no-questions-asked admission waiver. Haymarket House is fully ADA-compliant and wheelchair-accessible. Please contact [email protected] with any accessibility questions. ABOUT THE READING: The Blue Hour reading features readings by two poets from Chicago and beyond, followed by community gathering time. ABOUT THE WORKSHOP: The Blue Hour generative writing workshop is suitable for writers and poetry fans of all levels. We will discuss a poem by one of the night’s featured readers, then Marty will guide the group through individual writing on an exploratory prompt that draws on themes from the poem. ABOUT THE FACILITATOR: 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. Her first nonfiction book, Gathering Voices: Creating a Community-Based Poetry Workshop is available through YesYes Books. 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.