Poets & Writers Theater

Poets & Writers Live was at Chicago's Instituto Cervantes on June 20, 2015, for a program featuring Li-Young Lee, Marc Kelly Smith, Kevin Coval, Haki Madhubuti, Roger Reeves, Parneshia Jones, Megan Stielstra, and many other authors, editors, agents, and literary professionals. More information about this and other Poets & Writers Live events can be found at pw.org/live.

Stuart Dybek reads an excerpt of his story "Tosca," from Paper Lantern: Love Stories (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014), as part of the Chicago Icons segment of Poets & Writers Live in Chicago on June 20, 2015.

Marc Kelly Smith, the founder of the poetry slam movement, performs as part of the Chicago Icons segment of Poets & Writers Live in Chicago on June 20, 2015.

Poet and live lit performer Parneshia Jones reads three poems from her debut collection, Vessel, published by Milkweed Editions in 2015, as part of the Page on Stage segment of Poets & Writers Live in Chicago on June 20, 2015.

Essayist and live lit performer Megan Stielstra—author of the collections Once I Was Cool (Curbside Splendor, 2013) and Come Here Fear, forthcoming from Harper Perennial—reads an essay as part of the Page on Stage segment of Poets & Writers Live in Chicago on June 20, 2015.

Fiction writer and live lit performer Lindsay Hunter—author of the novel Ugly Girls (FSG, 2014), and the story collections Don't Kiss Me (FSG, 2013) and Daddy's (Featherproof Books, 2010)—reads a new story called "Hit or Miss" as part of the Page on Stage segment of Poets & Writers Live in Chicago on June 20, 2015.

Essayist Jenny Boully delivers a craft talk called "Beginnings and Endings: Revising Lives in Nonfiction" at Poets & Writers Live in Chicago.

Novelist Edward Kelsey Moore delivers a craft talk called "Making Up the Truth: Using Real-Life Experiences to Enrich Fiction" at Poets & Writers Live in Chicago.

Poet Roger Reeves delivers a craft talk called “The Work of Art in the Age of Ferguson, Baltimore, and Charleston” at Poets & Writers Live in Chicago.

Melissa Faliveno, associate editor of Poets & Writers Magazine, talks with the editors of literary magazines and small presses about the kind of work they publish, along with practical advice for writers looking to submit their work and tips for how to establish successful working relationships with editors. Panelists include Adrienne Gunn of TriQuarterly, Jeff Pfaller of Midwestern Gothic, Don Share of Poetry magazine, and Ben Tanzer of Curbside Splendor.

Agents Jeff Kleinman of Folio Literary Management and Renée Zuckerbrot of the Renée Zuckerbrot Literary Agency join publicist Michael Taeckens and Kevin Larimer, editor in chief of Poets & Writers Magazine, for a conversation about how authors can make a good impression—in query letters, book proposals, and even at social gatherings. A select group of audience members are invited on stage for a critique of their query letters—and one writer gets a special surprise.

Poet Li-Young Lee gives the poetry keynote at Poets & Writers Live Chicago in June 2015.