About this Event
The Chicago Poetry Center presents BLUE HOUR, a free monthly in-person reading series and generative writing workshop. Our April featured readers are Scott Woods & Alicia Mountain.
Each event takes place at Haymarket House 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:
Scott Woods is an Emmy award-winning writer and event organizer in Columbus, Ohio, and founder of Streetlight Guild, a performing arts non-profit. Woods is the author of three books and has been featured multiple times in national press, including appearances on National Public Radio. He is the Greater Columbus Arts Council winner of the 2017 Columbus Makes Art Excellence Award for his event series “Holler: 31 Days of Columbus Black Art", and a 2018 Columbus Foundation Spirit of Columbus Award recipient. He is the 2022 winner of the Press Club of Cleveland’s award for Best in Ohio Essay Writing, and the 2023 winner Best in Ohio for the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the co-founder of the Writers’ Block Poetry Night and in 2006 became the first poet to ever complete a 24-hour solo poetry reading…a feat he bested seven more times without repeating a single poem.
Alicia Mountain is the author most recently of "Four in Hand" (BOA Editions 2023). Her debut collection, "High Ground Coward" won the Iowa Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared in The Nation, Guernica, Pleiades, Poetry Northwest, American Poetry Review, and elsewhere. Mountain holds a MFA from the University of Montana and a PhD from the University of Denver. She serves on the Board of Directors of Foglifter, a LGBTQIA+ journal in the Bay Area. Mountain lives in New York City, where she is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Writer’s Foundry MFA program at St. Joseph’s University in Brooklyn.
ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION: The mission of the Chicago Poetry Center is to connect people with 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.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Haymarket House, 800 West Buena Avenue, Chicago, United States
USD 0.00