A Creative Summer for Glencoe

Lean back, get comfortable, and enjoy some sheer creativity! Local talent will abound at "Stories, Songs, and Slam Poems," a literary and musical celebration on Tuesday, May 22, at 7:00 p.m. This relaxed event will include readings by poets John O’Connor and Jim Davis, short-story author Bob Boone, and the New Trier Poetry Team. There even will be a guitarist or two!  "Stories, Songs, and Slam Poets" is for older children and adults. If you’re thinking about signing up for the library’s “Wordplaygrounds” creative writing workshop for teenagers (see below), the instructor will be present and glad to answer your questions after the performance.

Follow up on the poetry theme by viewing "Louder Than a Bomb"on Wednesday, June 6, at 6:30 p.m. This documentary takes a look at the world's largest youth poetry slam, which takes place each year in Chicago. The event draws more than 600 teenagers from over 60 Chicago area schools; the resulting competition is an explosion of expression. Rogert Ebert named "Louder Than a Bomb" one of the ten best documentaries of 2011. The film will be introduced by Glencoe's own Bob Boone, whose writing program Young Chicago Authors sponsors the slam.

Teenagers are invited to discover for themselves that writing is more than a school assignment--it can become a gratifying part of anyone's life. Students ages 13-18 may join New Trier English teacher (and poet) John O'Connor for a four-week creative writing workshop titled "Wordplaygrounds." The workshop will meet Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 7:00-8:30 p.m. June 19-July 12. The workshop is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Glencoe Public Library and Bob Boone/Glencoe Study Center. If you would like to participate in Wordplaygrounds, please sign up at the library's Readers' Services Desk by Monday, June 11. Glencoe residents will get first priority for this special series, but teens from other communities are welcome if there is room.

All events are free and presented in the library's Hammond Room.