Tuesday, Jan 19
7:30pm
The Bourgeois Pig
738 W. Fullerton
The TallGrass Writers Guild Open Mic welcomes Guest Author
Allan Johnston
reading from his new book of collected poetry, Northport (Finishing Line Press, 2010), based on his experiences living in eastern Washington State in the mid-1970s. The regularly scheduled Open Mic, where everyone is welcome to present up to 10 minutes of poetry, fiction, memoirs, and more, immediately follows his program. Sign-up to read at the Open Mic starts at 7 pm.
Cover charge for the evening's events, which are upstairs at, in Chicago, is $6 reduced to $5 for students.
Johnston's poems have appeared in over 50 journals including Poetry, Rhino, South Florida Poetry Review, and California Quarterly, and he has received a fellowship in poetry from the Illinois Arts Council. He lives in the Chicago-metro area and teaches writing and literature at DePaul University and Columbia College-Chicago. Says Richard Jones about Johnston and Northport, "Self-discovery and loss—these are the touchstones of Allan Johnston’s fine new collection that recalls the countercultural ‘back to the land’ movement of the 1970s. In Northport, the poet guides the reader through the wonder and waste of the past, and to travel with him is to suffer with him; yet it is also a transcendent chance to recover valuable old territory, to make it new again." And Alan Williamson raves, "These are beautifully-made poems ... in Gary Snyder’s tradition of close attention to the world, the moment, and the heft of words. It’s a pleasure to see them in print."
For details on this and other TallGrass Writers Guild events, call 219-322-7270 or email tallgrassguild@sbcglobal.net.
