Chicago Public Library Foundation, opens a new window presents the 27th Annual Poetry Fest, to be held at Harold Washington Library Center Saturday, April 25th. The event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., features an impressive lineup of workshops, open mics and presentations all centered around poetry. View the full list of events below and learn more about celebrating Poetry month at CPL.
22nd Annual Haiku Fest
10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. - Auditorium
The Haiku Festival’s Awards Program is a family‑friendly celebration featuring readings of award‑winning poems and essays by young writers ages 8 to 18. All are welcome to enjoy the talents of these emerging poets as they share their work and receive recognition for their achievements.
Poems While You Wait
11 a.m. to 2 p.m. - Grand Lobby
Poems While You Wait, founded by Dave Landsberger, Kathleen Rooney and Eric Plattner, is a collective of poets and their manual typewriters whose mission is to appear around the city in public places – street festivals, museums, libraries, theaters and other events – to provide their patrons with a magical, unexpected, unpretentious and decontextualized encounter with poetry. No requested topic is too big or too small, too funny or too sad, too silly or too serious.
Chicago Poetry Expo
11 a.m. to 2 p.m. - Lower-Level Complex
Discover the many organizations dedicated to sharing poetry across Chicago—in every neighborhood and in countless creative forms. Your journey doesn’t end with Poetry Fest; these are the groups eager to welcome you into their vibrant poetic community. Featuring Poetry Foundation, Illinois State Poetry Society, Young Chicago Authors, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Chicago Poetry Center, Swoboda Deaf Center and more!
Writing Poetry in the Era of Overwhelm with Diego Baez
11 a.m. to Noon - Multipurpose Room A
Do you find yourself mired in cycles of doomscrolling, knee-jerk disengagement, and anxious reconnection with the world at large? Is it possible to make art when culture grabs our attention with so many worthwhile foci and superficial distractions? How can poets push back against the nonstop stream of information while embracing the contemporary rush of life? We will explore topics of inundation, boundaries, and abundance through brief reading selections, generative writing prompts, and shared discussion.
Gathered Voices: A Poetry Fest Reading
11 a.m. to Noon - Reception Hall
Featuring Jamie Wendt, Elise Paschen, Terry Belew, and Ananda Lima.
Jamie Wendt is the author of the poetry collection Laughing in Yiddish (Broadstone Books, 2025), which was a finalist for the Philip Levine Prize in Poetry. Her first book, Fruit of the Earth (Main Street Rag, 2018), won the 2019 National Federation of Press Women Book Award in Poetry. Her poems and essays have been published in various literary journals and anthologies, including Feminine Rising, Catamaran, Lilith, Jet Fuel Review, Consequence, Atlanta Review, the Forward, and others. She contributes book reviews to the Jewish Book Council and is a Poetry Reader for The Good Life Review. Wendt holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Nebraska Omaha. She is a middle school Humanities teacher and lives in Chicago with her husband and two kids.
Elise Paschen, an enrolled member of the Osage Nation, is the author of Blood Wolf Moon, Tallchief, The Nightlife, Bestiary, Infidelities (winner of the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize), and Houses: Coasts. As an undergraduate at Harvard, she received the Garrison Medal for poetry. She holds M.Phil. and D.Phil. degrees from Oxford University. Her poems have been published widely, including Poetry Magazine, The New Yorker, A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry and The Best American Poetry. She has edited or co-edited numerous anthologies, including The Eloquent Poem and The New York Times best-seller, Poetry Speaks. A co-founder of Poetry in Motion, Dr. Paschen teaches in the MFA Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Terry Belew lives in rural Missouri. His debut poetry collection, The Deep Blue of Neptune, was selected by Alison Hawthorne Deming for the 2024 Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize and was released by Kent State University Press in September 2025. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in journals such as Meridian, Southern Humanities Review, The Pinch, and Atlanta Review among many others.
Ananda Lima is the author of Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil (Tor/Macmillan, 2024), and Mother/land (Black Lawrence Press, 2021), winner of the Hudson Prize. Her work has appeared in three chapbooks, including Amblyopia (Bull City Press, 2020), and The American Poetry Review, Poets.org, Kenyon Review, Poet Lore, Poetry Northwest, and elsewhere. She has an MA in Linguistics (UCLA) and an MFA in Creative Writing (Rutgers-Newark). She is a Contributing Editor at Poets & Writers and Program Curator at StoryStudio, Chicago. Craft, her fiction debut, was longlisted for the Story Prize and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.
Sijo and Sijo-song: Korea's Poetry Form with Lucy Park
11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. - Multipurpose Room B
In celebration of Poetry Month, you will learn about Sijo, Korean poetic form and create Sijo-songs using your own Sijo or winning entries from the Sejong Cultural Society, opens a new window's Sijo contest. Lucy Park, author of the Sijo: Korea's Poetry Form and executive director of the Sejong Cultural Society, will lead a Sijo workshop and introduce various Sijo-songs, from traditional Sijo-Chang (時調唱), boasting a 700-years history, to modern Sijo-song pieces created using the AI-based music production program Suno.
Blooming Voices: An ASL Poetry Slam
11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. - Video Theater
Blooming Voices is a National Poetry Month event that celebrates Deaf artistry through original ASL poetry exploring womanhood, Deaf identity, growth, and Black experiences. Hosted by Swoboda Deaf Center and featuring guest Deaf artists from Chicago, the accessible program fosters community connection, encourages emerging performers, and amplifies underrepresented voices. Centered on resilience and creative expression, it supports the preservation and evolution of Deaf cultural arts and reflects Swoboda Deaf Center’s commitment to uplifting Deaf voices.
A Conversation with Illinois Poet Laureate Mark Turcotte
12:15 p.m. to 1 p.m. - Reception Hall
Mark Turcotte (Turtle Mountain Band Anishinaabe) grew up on the Turtle Mountain Reservation, in migrant camps across the West, and later in Lansing, Michigan, spending many years traveling the country before settling in Chicago in 1993. After completing an MFA at Western Michigan University, he taught at the Institute of American Indian Arts, the Solstice MFA Program, and Northwestern University, and now serves as Senior Lecturer and Distinguished‑Writer‑In‑Residence at DePaul University. He was announced as Illinois Poet Laureate in 2025. He will be in conversation with Dr. Dorene Wiese.
Self-Portrait in Verse with Dr. E.J. Wade from Poets & Patrons
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. - Multipurpose Room B
This workshop introduces participants to the fundamentals of free verse and haiku poetry, guiding them toward writing a short poem that functions as a self-portrait. Participants will explore how language, imagery, and poetic structure can reflect identity. The session concludes with a hands-on art component in which each participant pairs their poem with a personal photograph and mounts both onto a decorative background suitable for framing.
Erasure Poetry with Musu Bangura and the Chicago Poetry Center
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. - Multipurpose Room A
Join Chicago Poetry Center Poet in Residence Musu Bangura in an exploration of erasure poetry. Participants will read and discuss examples of erasure poems, then use preexisting texts to create new poems.
From Chicago to the World: Voices of Young Chicago Authors
1 p.m. to 1:50 p.m.
Hosted by Demetrius Amaparan.
Inspiration from the Archives of avery r. young
1:15 p.m. to 2 p.m. - Video Theater
Chicago’s inaugural Poet Laureate, avery r. young, will join us in person to discuss how archives have long fueled creative work and how they can continue to do so. Fresh from the debut of his opera safronia, he will be in conversation with CPL staff about navigating archival materials and the distinctive richness of the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection in particular. This program is presented as part of the Renaissance Project, a Mellon Foundation initiative dedicated to digitizing and activating CPL’s archives.
Keynote with Chicago Poet Laureate Mayda del Valle
2 p.m. to 3 p.m. - Auditorium
Chicago Poet Laureate Mayda Alexandra del Valle is a poet, performer, educator, and interdisciplinary artist from Chicago’s South Side. Author of A South Side Girl’s Guide to Love and Sex and The University of Hip-Hop, she is a winner of the Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize and a former Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam and National Poetry Slam champion—the youngest and first Latine poet to earn both titles in the same year. Her work has appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry and on the Tony Award–winning Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. Del Valle brings a multidisciplinary practice rooted in poetry, performance, music, movement, and cultural history. Featuring music, readings and conversation, she will be in an engaging dialogue with fellow multidisciplinary artist Sandra Delgado.
Open Mic with Eros
3 p.m. to 4 p.m. - Reception Hall
Closing Poetry Fest is an open mic is hosted by Eros. Eros, The Prince of Poetry is an International Award-Winning Poet and Recording Artist. He is 2020's Ham Slam Poetry Champion, the C.E.O and Founder of Hot Chocolate Poetry, The National Spoken Word Awards 2020, 2021, and 2022's Nominee for Best Male Poet and Best Album, 2022's winner for Best Host and Best Open Mic. Mentor for Chicago Public Schools, Community Advocate, and Author. Eros places the focus of his art around love and self-reflection, diving deep into the conversations that we tend to steer away from.
Sign up is first come first serve!
Chicago Poetry Expo Organizations
Poetry Foundation, opens a new window
Chicago Poetry Center, opens a new window
Illinois State Poetry Society, opens a new window
Young Chicago Authors, opens a new window
Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, opens a new window
Chicago Public Library Foundation
This event may be recorded for CPL publicity purposes. If you do not want you or your child being photographed or videotaped, please speak with a CPL staff member.