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Nonfiction Read-Aloud Book Group

Nonfiction Read-Aloud Book Group meets online on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month, 5:30 – 7pm.
We’ve been meeting since 2019 and the makeup of the group is fluid. Pop in when you can! We take turns reading aloud to each other and stop the reading frequently to discuss the text, ask questions, and repeat sentences. People are not required to read in order to participate.
We’re currently reading Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals, by Alexis Pauline Gumbs.
Undrowned is a book-length meditation for the entire human species, based on the subversive and transformative lessons of marine mammals. Alexis Pauline Gumbs has spent hundreds of hours watching our aquatic cousins. She has found them to be queer, fierce, protective of each other, complex, shaped by conflict, and struggling to survive the extractive and militarized conditions humans have imposed on the ocean. Employing a brilliant mix of poetic sensibility, naturalist observation, and Black feminist insights, she translates their submerged wisdom to reveal what they might teach us. The result is a powerful work of creative nonfiction that produces not a specific agenda but an unfolding space for wonder and questioning.
Email [email protected] for the Zoom link

PO Box Poetry Reading Series

This popular, free monthly event features 3 local poets reading from their work.
In October, we celebrate the work of Brian Foley, Faisal Mohyuddin, and Kira Tucker.

ONLINE: Nonfiction Read-Aloud Book Group

Nonfiction Read-Aloud Book Group meets online on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month, 5:30 – 7pm. We’ve been meeting since 2019 and the makeup of the group is fluid. Pop in when you can! We take turns reading aloud to each other and stop the reading frequently to discuss the text, ask questions, and repeat sentences. People are not required to read in order to participate.

We’re currently reading Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals, by Alexis Pauline Gumbs.

Undrowned is a book-length meditation for the entire human species, based on the subversive and transformative lessons of marine mammals. Alexis Pauline Gumbs has spent hundreds of hours watching our aquatic cousins. She has found them to be queer, fierce, protective of each other, complex, shaped by conflict, and struggling to survive the extractive and militarized conditions humans have imposed on the ocean. Employing a brilliant mix of poetic sensibility, naturalist observation, and Black feminist insights, she translates their submerged wisdom to reveal what they might teach us. The result is a powerful work of creative nonfiction that produces not a specific agenda but an unfolding space for wonder and questioning.

Email [email protected] for the Zoom link.

ONLINE: Nonfiction Read-Aloud Book Group

Nonfiction Read-Aloud Book Group meets online on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month, 5:30 – 7pm. We’ve been meeting since 2019 and the makeup of the group is fluid. Pop in when you can! We take turns reading aloud to each other and stop the reading frequently to discuss the text, ask questions, and repeat sentences. People are not required to read in order to participate.
We’re currently reading Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals, by Alexis Pauline Gumbs.
Undrowned is a book-length meditation for the entire human species, based on the subversive and transformative lessons of marine mammals. Alexis Pauline Gumbs has spent hundreds of hours watching our aquatic cousins. She has found them to be queer, fierce, protective of each other, complex, shaped by conflict, and struggling to survive the extractive and militarized conditions humans have imposed on the ocean. Employing a brilliant mix of poetic sensibility, naturalist observation, and Black feminist insights, she translates their submerged wisdom to reveal what they might teach us. The result is a powerful work of creative nonfiction that produces not a specific agenda but an unfolding space for wonder and questioning.
Email [email protected] for the Zoom link.

Prisoner Letter Writing Night

This monthly event is presented by Rogers Park Solidarity Network (RSPN) to respond to the many letters sent to us by people held in prisons and jails from across the country.

Please bring stamps if you can!

***COVID SAFETY: Event is indoors with air purification, ventilation, and outdoor space. Masks are required and we expect everyone who can to be vaccinated. Please consider testing regularly and do not come if you test positive, are feeling unwell, or have been recently exposed to Covid.

A Night of Poetry with Krystyna Dąbrowska + Ghayath Almadhoun

Please join us for a special night of poetry featuring visiting writers Krystyna Dąbrowska and Ghayath Almadhoun. Dąbrowska’s collection Tideline has recently been translated from Polish to English and is now out from Zephyr Press (link: https://www.zephyrpress.org/product-page/tideline). Almadhoun’s collection Adrenalin was translated from Arabic to English in 2017—out from Action Books (link: https://actionbooks.org/ghayath-almadhoun-adrenalin/). We are excited to host this sure-to-be lively reading and conversation!

About the Authors:

Krystyna Dąbrowska is the author of four books of poetry, as well as essays and translations, and the winner of two of Poland’s most prestigious literary prizes, the Wisława Szymborska Award and the Kościelski Award. English translations of her work have been published in numerous U.S. literary journals, including Harper’s, The Harvard Review, The Brooklyn Rail, The Los Angeles Review, and elsewhere, and she has been translated into sixteen other languages. She lives and works in Warsaw, Poland.

Ghayath Almadhoun is a Palestinian poet born in Damascus in 1979 and immigrated to Sweden in 2008. Right now he lives in between Berlin & Stockholm. Almadhoun has published four collections of poetry, the latest “Adrenaline” in Milano 2017. In Sweden, he has been translated and published in two collections: Asylansökan (Ersatz, 2010), which was awarded the Klas de Vylders stipendiefond for immigrant writers. He also authored Till Damaskus (Albert Bonniers Förlag, 2014) together with the Swedish poet Marie Silkeberg. which was included in “Dagens Nyheter” (the largest Swedish newspaper) literary critic list for Best New Books and converted to a Radio Play for Swedish National Radio. With Silkeberg, Almadhoun has also made several poetry films. His work has been translated into Swedish, German, Greek, Slovenian, Italian, English, Dutch, French, Spanish, Czech, Croatian, Albanian, Lithuanian, Indonesian, Macedonian, Bengali, Persian, Hindi, Maltese, Hebrew, and Chinese. (Website: https://www.ghayathalmadhoun.com/)

madres buscando justicia *no olvidamos Ayotzinapa / ayotzi 8 years

*english below*
un dia especial
(este 26 de sept 2022 se conmemoran 8 anos de lo acontecido a los estudiantes normalistas de Ayotzinapa, Guerrero
asi que desde este espacio, desde Chicago
honramos la digna lucha de las madres/familias de quienes fueron asesinados esa larga noche;
de Minerva Bello, de Bernardo, Saul y Tomas
padres que murieron en la espera de la verdad y justicia )
convivencia en solidaridad con las mujeres/madres que luchan en busqueda de l@s desaparecid@s en Mexico , por justicia para las hijas victimas de feminicidio

De que se trata?
conversar mientras se crean posters/ linoprints /bordados
Proyectando imagenes /video
de madres en busqueda/ material creado por colectivos en Mexico
Donde? en el @poboxCollective
*****
a special gathering at pobox
(this year, this date 26th september marks 8 years of what happened to the students of Ayotzinapa, Guerrero
so from this space, from Chicago
we honor the dignified struggle of the mothers/families of those who were killed that long night; those who were disappeared
as well we remember
Minerva Bello, Bernardo, Saul and Tomas
parents who died in the hope of truth and justice for their sons.

sharing time with you
who can attend first fridays of each month –
in solidarity with mothers who are in search of their sons/daughters who has disappeared in Mexico ,
justice for their daughters, sisters [ femicide victims]
come to create
posters/prints, writting words of support, embroidering names or coloring linoprints
sometimes
we will screen images/video /
bring any ideas to create art together

PO Box at Glenwood Ave Arts Fest!

SUNDAY 8/21
Tarot Readings with Joy Messenger 12-4pm
Photo Booth with Mari Ortiz 1-3pm
Mending Lab with Sophie Canadé and Savneet Talwar 2-4pm
Screen Printing hours TBA
Book Exchange all day

We will also be serving beverages (donation) and snacks (free!).

PO Box at the Glenwood Ave Arts Fest!

The PO Box will be open during the Glenwood Ave Arts Fest afternoons with a full schedule of events:

SATURDAY 8/20
Tarot Readings with Arcadia 1-5pm
Live Music on the Patio with Adam Gottlieb 1-2pm
Screen Printing 2-5pm
Book Exchange all day

We will also be serving beverages (donation) and snacks (free!).

PO Box Poetry Reading Series

This popular, free monthly event features 3 local poets reading from their work.
In September, we celebrate the work of Alex Jane Cope, Beatrix Lee, and Joy Messinger.