Past Events

All are welcome to a discussion and creative writing workshop led by Maggie Queeney. In December, we explore the cento, a poem comprised entirely of lines and passages from other...

The Poetry Foundation Library is open to the public on select Saturdays. Browse our collection of more than 30,000 books of poetry, including 2,500 chapbooks, and a selection of local...

Join us as we welcome Joshua Mehigan for the next program in the John Barr Reading Series, made possible through the generosity of the Poetry Foundation’s first president. This series...

All are welcome to a poetry discussion and creative writing workshop in conversation with Pop América, 1965-1975. Together, we will read and discuss Pop poems from a wide range of North,...

Explore the connections between poetry and philosophy with poet and essayist Ann Lauterbach and art historian T.J. Clark. Lauterbach has published 10 collections of poetry, most recently Spell, as well...

All are welcome to a poetry discussion and creative writing workshop led by Maggie Queeney of the Poetry Foundation. In November, we focus on metaphor, a comparative device that makes...

Read, discuss, and write poems with Maggie Queeney of the Poetry Foundation and the Jesse Brown VA Palliative Care Team. Monthly meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of every...

Join us for a reading and discussion on the theme “writing our family’s histories” with Chiyuma Elliott, Gregory Pardlo, and Marilyn Nelson. Elliott is the author of Vigil and California...

All are welcome to a discussion and creative writing workshop led by Maggie Queeney. In November, we explore the catalog poem, which borrows form from the list, “the most archaic and...

 Join us for a pop-up poetry reading with Matthias Regan at the Field Museum.

The Open Door series presents work from Chicago’s new and emerging poets and highlights the area’s outstanding writing programs. Each hour-long event features readings by two Chicagoland writing program instructors...

The Poetry Foundation Library is open to the public prior to our November Open Door Reading. Browse our collection of more than 30,000 books of poetry, including 2,500 chapbooks, and a current...

All are welcome to a discussion and creative writing workshop led by Maggie Queeney of the Poetry Foundation. In November, we explore ars poetica, a poem that takes the art...

Join us for Poetry magazine’s seasonal party. Celebrate recent issues of Poetry with contributors, editors, and the poetry curious. The event will include performances by Naoko Fujimoto, beyza ozer, and...

Join the Smart Museum of Art and Poetry Foundation for a poetry reading, discussion, and creative writing workshop. Presented in conjunction with Down Time: On the Art of Retreat, the workshop...

All are welcome to a special book discussion and poetry workshop led by Dorothea Lasky. For this special session, we will read and discuss Animal, a volume of four lectures exploring...

Join us for a reading with John James, winner of a Max Ritvo Poetry Prize, and Bagley Wright Fellow Dorothea Lasky. James is the author of The Milk Hours, selected...

Join us for a reading with Reginald Dwayne Betts, poet, essayist, and national spokesperson for the Campaign for Youth Justice who writes and lectures about the impact of mass incarceration...

All are welcome to a poetry discussion and creative writing workshop led by Maggie Queeney of the Poetry Foundation. To celebrate fall in the Lurie Garden, we will read and discuss...

All are welcome to a monthly book group moderated by library staff. In November, we read and discuss Wild is the Wind by Carl Phillips.  Space is limited to 15 participants....