March Blue Hour Featuring Sarah Ghazal Ali & R.A. Villanueva

The Chicago Poetry Center presents BLUE HOUR, a free monthly in-person reading series and generative writing workshop. Our March featured readers are Sarah Ghazal Ali and R.A. Villanueva.

Each event takes place at Haymarket House (800 W. Buena) and includes a brief open mic followed by two featured poets. Pre-registration is free and recommended. The open mic includes five readers drawn lottery-style from a hat that goes out at 7:15. The reading starts promptly at 7:30. Each open mic poet reads one poem or for three minutes, whichever comes first.

ABOUT THE FEATURES:

Sarah Ghazal Ali is the author of Theophanies (Alice James Books, 2024), selected as the Editors' Choice for the 2022 Alice James Award. She holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is an Assistant Professor of English at Macalester College. Winner of The Sewanee Review Poetry Prize, her poems and essays have been published in The American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, the Academy of American Poets' Poem-a-Day series, Best New Poets, and elsewhere. A Stadler and Kundiman Fellow, Sarah serves as the poetry editor for West Branch and lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

R.A. Villanueva is the author of "A Holy Dread," winner of the 2024 Alice James Award, and "Reliquaria" (University of Nebraska Press, 2014), winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize. New work has been featured by the Academy of American Poets and National Public Radio—and his writing appears widely in international publications such as Poetry London and The Poetry Review. His honors include commendations from the Forward Prizes, and fellowships from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts. Born in New Jersey, he lives in Brooklyn.

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION: The mission of the Chicago Poetry Center is to connect people and poetry, equitably engage poets with communities, and foster creative literacy in the city and beyond. Learn more about our programs at www.poetrycenter.org.

ABOUT THE SPACE - Accessibility, Health, & Safety:

- All restrooms at Haymarket House are gender-neutral, including single-user and stalled restrooms.

- Each event includes ASL interpretation. Haymarket House is ADA compliant and fully wheelchair-accessible; email [email protected] to ensure ramp access and with any other accessibility needs.

- Masks are currently strongly encouraged for all indoor events, and the space is equipped with a professional air filtration system.

PARKING: Limited free and paid street parking is available near Haymarket House. The parking lot at Disney Magnet School is relatively close and is a paid lot; there are also locations nearby available through SpotHero.

Looking for the Workshop? Register here.

Host or Publisher Chicago Poetry Center