Poet Kevin Coval will give reading at Oakton

Northbrook native and Glenbrook North High School alumnus Kevin Coval will read selections from his collection of poetry 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20, at Oakton Community College's Student Center (Room 1530), 1600 E. Golf Road, Des Plaines.

Admission to this Chicago Writers Series event is free and open to the public.

An award-winning poet, Coval is the author of "Everything Must Go: The Life and Death of an American Neighborhood." A professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago, where he teaches hip-hop aesthetics, Coval also penned "A People's History of Chicago."

Coval is also the artistic director of the MacArthur Award-winning cultural organization, Young Chicago Authors, and founder of Louder Than a Bomb: The Chicago Youth Poetry Festival, the world's largest youth poetry celebration, now in over 19 cities throughout North America. He co-hosts the podcast "The Cornerstone" on WGN Radio.

"People are drawn to his truth, sincerity, humility and strong storytelling abilities," Tina Fakhrid-Deen, associate professor of English at Oakton, said in a news release. "He is truly a gem of the Windy City."

For more information, contact Tina Fakhrid-Deen at tfakhrid@oakton.edu.