Achy Obejas

Who captures the Chicago of today as Bellow did in The Adventures of Augie March? Thankfully for us, the list is long, but we’ve gathered a few to read from their work and talk about the inspiration that is Chicago. This reception and reading features Stuart Dybek (The Coast of Chicago, I Sailed With ... (more)Magellan), Achy Obejas (Ruins), Natalie Moore (WBEZ, The Almighty Black P Stone Nation) and Jaswinder Bolina (Carrier Wave) as well as the finalists in our flash fiction contest. J.C. Gabel of Stop Smiling Books and The Chicagoan serves as master of ceremonies. Reservations are recommended. Email rsvp@stopsmilingonline.com.

RUINS

When the Cuban Revolution triumphed in 1959, Usnavy was just a young man and eagerly signed on for all of its promises. As a true believer, he is faced with the choice between the Revolution and his love for his family.

Ruins is set in Havana during the tumultuous summer of 1994, when the government allows Cubans to leave the country on anything that floats and more than 100,000 Cubans flee. At the story’s center is Usnavy, a true believer of the Cuban revolution, who must choose between his family and the dream he ... (more)has staked his life on, while the city, and his ideals, crumble around him. “Daring, tough, and deeply compassionate, Achy Obejas’s Ruins is a breathtaker.” –Junot Diaz

Featuring Achy Obejas, Ching-In Chen, Nickole Brown, Tamiko Beyer Emerging and established lesbian poets come together for tonight’s event, celebrating the present and future of the lesbian poetic tradition. Chicagoan Obejas (Ruins, Days of Awe) will read from her recent poetry release, This is What ... (more)Happened in Our Other Life, Chen is celebrating the release of her novel-in-poems, The Heart’s Traffic. Nickole Brown, an NEA fellow, will read from her collection, Sister, and Tamiko Beyer’s work has been featured in many journals, including The Crab Orchard Review and the Gay and Lesbian Review. Refreshments will be served.

(NOTE: Tickets $5.00 EA / FREE for Educators & Students) DESCRIPTION: Lambda Literary Award–winning authors Doty and Obejas will read from and discuss their latest work. Doty, the celebrated poet and memoirist, has written movingly on love and loss in modern gay life. Obejas, an esteemed Chicago-based ... (more)journalist, novelist, and translator, writes about the tension between public identity and private experience in the United States and her native Cuba.

Both will address the question: how do writers grapple with questions of social, political, and cultural resonance surrounding the LGBTQ experience? C. C. Carter, Lambda Literary Finalist for Best Lesbian Poetry and director of community and culture for the Center on Halsted, will moderate.

Generously sponsored by The Poetry Foundation and presented in partnership with the Center on Halsted