Illinois’ new Poet Laureate to speak to St. Charles Writers Group

The St. Charles Writers Group is honored to welcome Illinois Poet Laureate Mark Turcotte as the guest speaker for its next session on Saturday, Nov. 22.

The program will take place at 9:15 a.m. in the Huntley Community Room on the main level of the St. Charles Public Library, 1 S. Sixth Ave.

Governor JB Pritzker, in partnership with the Illinois Arts Council (IAC), Illinois Humanities, and the Poetry Foundation, recently announced Turcotte as the newest Illinois Poet Laureate.

Turcotte, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Anishinaabe, spent his early years on North Dakota’s Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation and migrant camps across the western United States.

After arriving in Chicago in 1993, he quickly became a distinctive voice in the city’s vibrant poetry scene.

Among his many achievements: winner of the First Gwendolyn Brooks Open-mic Poetry Award; selected by Gwendolyn Brooks as a Significant Illinois Poet; featured on the Illinois Authors Poster; recipient of a Writer’s Community Residency from National Writer's Voice; and awarded the Josephine Gates Kelly Memorial Fellowship by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers.

This event is open to the public. For more information, call (630) 584-0076.