Poets to speak at Oakton's Chicago Writers Series

Join Chicago area influential poets and educators Jamila Woods and Kevin Coval for a special reading at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 29, at Oakton Community College's Footlik Theater, 1600 E. Golf Road, Des Plaines. Admission to this Chicago Writers Series event is free, and a book signing and reception will follow.

Woods, who was raised in Chicago and graduated from Brown University, is a recording artist who has performed with Grammy Award winning artist Chance the Rapper as well as Donnie Trumpet. Her latest solo album, "HEAVN," has received rave reviews by publications including the Chicago Tribune and Pitchfork. She also is an award-winning poet who has won a Pushcart Prize and a Poetry Foundation fellowship.

A professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago, where he teaches hip-hop aesthetics, Coval is the author of the newly released "A People's History of Chicago."

Chance the Rapper expressed his gratitude to the Northbrook native and Glenbrook North High School alumnus in the book's forward, writing, "Kevin Coval made me understand what it is to be a poet, what it is to be an artist, and what it is to serve the people."

Coval and Woods are artistic directors of Young Chicago Authors. The organization encourages self-expression and literacy through creative writing, performance and publication. Since 1991, Young Chicago Authors has been transforming the lives of young people through free programs and workshops in the areas of poetry, hip-hop, rap and journalism.

"Coval has read at Oakton several times in the past to huge, enthusiastic audiences. Woods is a young, talented poet and musician who has a very strong message of hope and inspiration for our students, and both demonstrate the power and relevance of poetry today in Chicago," said Lynn Woodbury, professor of English.

Funded by the Oakton Educational Foundation and student activity fees, the Chicago Writers Series attracts award-winning fiction and nonfiction writers and poets to Oakton to perform, engage and educate. Oakton's connection to native Chicago authors, as well as those who have called Chicago "home," allows the community to access diverse, inspiring and relevant authors in a space outside the traditional classroom.

For information, contact Lynn Woodbury at (847) 635-1953 or woodbury@oakton.edu.