Sunday, October 18, 2009

Chicago Humanities Festival



Michael Salinger: Well-Defined, An Irreverent Poke at Vocabulary Definitions


Sun, Nov. 8 2:00 - 3:00 PMAdmission: Adults: $5.00, Educators & Students: FREE
Where: Francis W Parker School, 2233 N Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60614

Michael Salinger delivers his playful poems and also will discuss his work on stage and in the classroom as a literary advocate and poetry champion.

Michael Salinger is a poet, fiction writer, and performer. His work has appeared in dozens of literary journals published across the US and Canada and he is the author of Stingray and Well Defined - Vocabulary in Rhyme, among others. An eight-time captain and coach of the Cleveland Slam team that represented the city at the National Poetry Slam competition, he is also the founder and director of the Nova Lizard project, and chief facilitator of the teen writing and performance program at Cleveland's Playhouse Square Foundation

After writing poetry for more than twenty years, Michael Salinger had an epiphany. A veteran of the National Poetry Slam competition, he recognized the correlation between the rich rhythms of the English language and the complexities of its vocabulary. He has since created an innovative teaching method, incorporating rhyming and vocal performance, that helps youth understand and remember such challenging vocabulary words as “credulous” and “instigate.” Playful poems and Salinger’s animated delivery make this program family-friendly. Salinger will also discuss his work on stage and in the classroom as a literary advocate and poetry champion.


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Kay Ryan and Billy Collins: Poets in Conversation



Sun, Nov. 15 6:00 - 7:30 PM
Admission: Adults: $10.00, Educators & Students: FREE
Where: Northwestern University School of Law, Thorne Auditorium, 375 East Chicago Street, Chicago, IL 60611

Note: Tickets to this event are SOLD OUT.

California-based Kay Ryan is in the midst of her second yearlong term as US Poet Laureate; New Yorker Billy Collins served a pair of terms earlier this decade. Both are wry and sly, wise and capacious, and deservedly beloved. The prospect of the two of them onstage together, trading insights and verse, fills us with delighted anticipation. Collins, winner of the 2005 Mark Twain Prize for Humor in Poetry, is the author of the anthologies Picnic, Lightning, Sailing Alone Around the Room, and Ballistics, among others. Ryan won the 2004 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Her books include Say Uncle and The Niagara River.


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The Chicago Humanities Festival's mission is to create opportunities for people of all ages to support, enjoy and explore the humanities. We fulfill this mission through our annual festivals, the fall Chicago Humanities Festival and the spring Stages, Sights & Sounds, and by presenting programs throughout the year that encourage the study and enjoyment of the humanities.

For a complete schedule of events, visit here.