WMG Literary Event: Call Me Crazy… Unsane Writings For An Insane World

WMG’s first reading since January 2020 was a wonderful and inspiring event! Thank You to our Presenters and Guests. 

“Call Me Crazy: Unsane Writings for an Insane World” on April 15, 2023 was hosted by WMG’s Literary Events Curator, artist and writer Jae Green and included distinguished poets Andrea Change, Lani Montreal, Adrienne Nadeau and Chirskira Caillouet with a Special Presentation by The Yellow House Library, and musical contribution by Vessy Mink Thank you for sharing your gifts. We were honored by your presence.

(Banner image left to right: Chirskira Caillouet, Lani Montreal, Adrienne Nadeau, Jae Green, Andrea Change. Photo credit: Cathleen Ann Schandelmeier)

 

Andrea Change
Andrea Change is a hometown girl, born and raised in Chicago. A graduate of Northwestern University with a Master’s degree from Roosevelt, she has been an active member of Chicago’s literary community for more than 20 years. Her work has been published in the past in various journals and poetry anthologies from Tia Chucha Press, Powerlines and Stray Bullets. Her poetry was also included in the 2000 Steppenwolf Theatre production, Words on Fire. She is currently working on a book of memoir poetry and prose inspired by her experiences growing up on the city’s west side.

Andrea is the executive director for the Guild Literary Complex and currently lives in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood with her two dogs Sasha and Missy.

Lani Montreal
Lani T. Montreal is a queer feminist Filipina writer/educator/rabblerouser in Chicago, whose works have been published and produced in the U.S., Canada, and the Philippines. She’s currently working on a series of short plays called Queerantine: Love in the Time of Corona. Her play, Panther in the Sky, about gun violence in Chicago, is set to be staged by Filipino-American theater group CIRCA-Pintig at Chicago Danztheatre in Fall 2023. Lani writes to create her home in the diaspora. She is a two-time recipient of 3Arts Residency Awards and a 2017 alumni of the VONA Writers or Color Workshop. Montreal currently teaches writing at Malcolm X College and writes a blog called “Fil-in-the-gap

Chirskira Caillouet
Chirskira  Caillouet authored Honey Licorice (available on lulu.com) and earned the Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Awards semi-finalist distinction multiple times. Caillouet achieved her Masters of Arts in Teaching in Elementary Language Arts.  She currently holds a certificate in Spoken Word Pedagogy at Concordia University. She hosts and curates Wordfetti Open Mic, in person.  In 2023, she will facilitate the Sampling the Greats workshop for Chicago Public Library and has the Youtube Channel: FroFoodie23.

 

Adrienne Nadeau
Over the past two decades, Adrienne Nadeau has facilitated workshops and performed poetry at theaters, schools, prisons, coffee shops, bookstores, and bars. She has led successful slams, including Mental Graffiti and Lethal Poetry, and hosted events through the Sofar Sounds network.

As a solo artist and as part of Two Wrongs, Adrienne has performed domestically and internationally, gracing stages in Toronto, Sydney, Melbourne, and Paris. She has represented her city in the National Poetry Slam, Rustbelt, and Southern Fried and slayed slams in her own right … Although she can usually be found playing cribbage, and writing in dive bars.

Woman Made Gallery • 2150 S Canalport Ave, 4A-3, Chicago, IL 60608. Please let us know if you need any special accommodations. general@womanmade.org | 312-738-0400

WMG Literary Events Curator

Jae Green — WMG Literary Events Curator
Jae Green is connected to Woman Made Gallery since its early days when the organization was located at its first location in Ravenswood Manor on Chicago’s northwest side. Jae is a visual artist, writer and published poet. She serves since 2020 on WMG’s Board of Directors and is also part of WMG’s Program Committee. In celebration of Woman Made Gallery’s 30th Anniversary she co-juried the Generations group exhibition in 2022 together with Gallery Coordinator, Marisa Miles.

 

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Former Literary Team

Nina Corwin 
Much gratitude goes to Nina Corwin and her years of service as WMG’s Literary Events Curator until Covid prevented us from planning any public events. Nina is a published poet, Founding Editor for Fifth Wednesday Journal and psychotherapist/advocate for victims of sexual assault. She is the author of two books of poetry, The Uncertainty of Maps and Conversations With Friendly Demons and Tainted Saints. Her work has appeared in ACM, Forklift OH, Hotel Amerika, New Ohio Review, Southern Poetry Review, Verse and has been nominated for the Pushcart prize. Corwin is an Advisory Editor for Fifth Wednesday Journal and co-edited Inhabiting the Body: A Collection of Poetry and Art By Women. She has read and performed her work across the country, at times set with musical or choreographic compositions.

Jennifer Steele
Thank you Jennifer Steele for your service as WMG Literary Events Outreach Coordinator for several years. She is a published poet and educator and serves as Partnerships Coordinator for Teen Services at Chicago Public Library.  She served as co-founder and co-curator of the Revolving Door Reading Series. Her work has appeared in Another Chicago Magazine, Callaloo Journal, Columbia Poetry Review, Warpland Journal, So To Speak, and others, and is a Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop fellow. She has taught creative writing and digital media arts across Chicago since 2008 and has collaborated with numerous youth organizations and cultural institutions, designing innovative arts programming.

 

Kurt Eric Heintz
We are grateful to Kurt Eric Heintz who served as WMG’s Literary Events Audio Recordist through 2019. Kurt once taught computer graphics programming at Columbia College, and worked as an independent web developer. He’s since become the lead video director at Britannica. Kurt is known for his poetry videos, begun in the early 1990’s. He also video-conferenced his colleagues’ poetry in the late 1990’s — years before Skype and the iPhone. He was a technical advisor to the Electronic Literature Organization in its earliest years, and is the video content editor for Another Chicago Magazine.

 

Thank you Angela Narciso Torres, for your wonderful work and support for WMG and our past Literary Program!

 

 

Woman Made Gallery is partially supported by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events; The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; The Illinois Arts Council Agency; a major anonymous donor; and the generosity of its members and contributors.