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CONTACT: Marty McConnell, Blue Hour curator, marty@poetrycenter.org
The Chicago Poetry Center invites you to this year’s final three editions of Blue Hour, voted “Chicago’s best reading series 2025” by the Chicago Reader! Blue Hour is a free monthly in-person reading series paired with a generative writing workshop.
The next Blue Hour will take place on Wednesday, April 16. The writing workshop will run from 6 to 7 p.m., followed by the open mic and featured readers from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Our features for the night are Ayokunle Falomo and Viola Lee.
Ayokunle Falomo is Nigerian, American, and the author of “Autobiomythography of” (Alice James Books, 2024), “AFRICANAMERICAN’T” (FlowerSong Press, 2022), two self-published collections and “African, American” (New Delta Review, 2019; selected by Selah Saterstrom as the winner of New Delta Review’s 8th annual chapbook contest). He is the recipient of fellowships from Vermont Studio Center, MacDowell, and the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program, where he obtained his MFA in Creative Writing—Poetry.
Viola Lee graduated from NYU with an MFA in Poetry. Her book “Lightening after the Echo” was published by Another New Calligraphy. She has published poems in literary journals throughout the US, including Barrow Street, Bellevue Literary Review, and Another Chicago Magazine. Her poems were finalists in the Pleiades Prufer Poetry Prize and the 2022 Mississippi Review Poetry Prize. Her manuscript “The Only Home” was a finalist in the 2023 Switchback Books’ Gatewood Prize, Semi-finalist in the 2023 Perugia Press Poetry Prize and finalist in the 2024 X.J. Kennedy Poetry Prize.
Registration for the April edition of the Blue Hour reading is available https://AprilBlueHour.eventbrite.com.
Registration for the April edition of the workshop is available https://april25-bluehour-workshop.eventbrite.com.
The workshop and reading both take place at Haymarket House located at 800 W. Buena in Chicago. The reading includes a brief open mic followed by two featured poets. Pre-registration is free and recommended.
May’s featured poets will be Nadia Alexis and Keith S. Wilson. Information about the series, including upcoming features and the history of the series, can be obtained here.
ACCESSIBILITY: ASL Interpreted, Wheelchair Accessible