March 8, 2025 - Hila Ratzabi Reading & Poetry Open-Mic
Saturday, March 8, 2025
4PM - 6PM
@ Wayfarer Theater Office
1850 Second Street, Highland Park.
Highland Park Poetry welcomes Hila Ratzabi as our feature poet. Hila Ratzabi is the author of the poetry collection There Are Still Woods (June Road Press, 2022), which won a gold Nautilus Book Award and was a finalist for a National Indie Excellence Award. Her poetry has been published widely in literary journals, including Narrative, Linebreak, Alaska Quarterly Review, The Adroit Journal, and others, and in The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry and Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology. She holds an MFA in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College (2007) and lives outside Chicago.
Poets may bring up to 3 short poems to share, though HPP reserves the right to reduce the number read to ensure all participants have an opportunity. Come a few minutes early to sign up for the line-up.
*Location* Next door to movie theater. Recommend using Renaissance Place 3-hour free underground parking garage. Stairs in southeast end take you to Second Street or follow signs to movie theater.
There is no cover charge. We hope attendees will support the businesses that support us. Consider seeing a film at Wayfarer Theater before or after.
Upcoming Dates for Readings & Open-Mics at The Wayfarer Theater, 1850 Second Street, Highland Park, IL
April 12 - Terry Loncaric & Pamela Miller
May 10 - Trey Baker
June 14 - Jameka Williams
July 12 - Sandra Marchetti & Jamie Wendt
August 9 - Virginia Bell
September 13 - 2025 Prairie State Poetry Prize Winner
October 11 - Caroline Johnson
November 8 - TBD
December 13 - Holiday Open-Mic
If you are interested in becoming a featured poet, please reach out.
Pamela Miller & Terry Loncaric
Other Local Poetry Events & Opportunities
This event is not hosted by Highland Park Poetry but we are pleased to share this information with our friends and followers.
Rachel DeWoskin in Conversation with Laura Joyce-Hubbard
Monday, April 21, 2025
6 PM at Wayfarer Theater, 1850 Second Street.
Please join Rachel DeWoskin, an award-winning Chicago author of eight books, and Laura Joyce-Hubbard, Highland Park's Poet Laureate, for an evening at Wayfarer Theater in downtown Highland Park. Rachel will discuss the writing life, including inspiration, research and imagination, art and activism, and writing across genres including fiction, non-fiction, dramatic writing, and poetry. DeWoskin's novels include Someday We Will Fly; Banshee; Blind; Big Girl Small; Repeat After Me; two poetry collections, absolute animal and Two Menus; and the memoir Foreign Babes in Beijing. She has won awards including a National Jewish Book Award, a Sydney Taylor Book Award, an American Library Association Alex Award, and an Academy of American Poets Award. Foreign Babes in Beijing, Someday We Will Fly, and Banshee are being developed for film or TV, and DeWoskin’s poems and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Ploughshares, The Baffler, and New Voices from the Academy of American Poets. She serves on the national steering committee of Writers for Democratic Action (WDA). A book signing will follow the event.
This program is sponsored by the City of Highland Park's Cultural Arts Advisory Group.
Daily Poems from February 2025
Here are the poems posted on Highland Park Poetry's Facebook page from February 2025.
Thank you to our contributors to this special section: Gary Beck, Jan Chronister, Jackie Chou, Daniel Cleary, Victoria Crawford, Gail Denham, Jerry Durick, Mark Hammerschick, Ali Hedayati, Colleen McManus Hein, Julie Isaacson, Arlene Gay Levine, Terry Loncaric, Karian Markos, William Marr, Carl "Papa" Palmer, Rene Parks, Ann Privateer, Linette Rabsatt, Barbara Robinette, Kay Thomas, Anthony Ward, Damaris West, Lynn West, Ken Wheatcroft-Pardue, Lynn White, Michael P. Wright and R. M. Yager
Please also enjoy our Muses' Gallery. Join us on Facebook and Instagram.
Highland Park Poetry seeks submissions of shorter poems for our Daily Poem posts. Collaborations are welcome as are poems in non-English languages when accompanied by an English translation.
Continue to celebrate words and carry poetry in your heart!
Thank you to our contributors to this special section: Gary Beck, Jan Chronister, Jackie Chou, Daniel Cleary, Victoria Crawford, Gail Denham, Jerry Durick, Mark Hammerschick, Ali Hedayati, Colleen McManus Hein, Julie Isaacson, Arlene Gay Levine, Terry Loncaric, Karian Markos, William Marr, Carl "Papa" Palmer, Rene Parks, Ann Privateer, Linette Rabsatt, Barbara Robinette, Kay Thomas, Anthony Ward, Damaris West, Lynn West, Ken Wheatcroft-Pardue, Lynn White, Michael P. Wright and R. M. Yager
Please also enjoy our Muses' Gallery. Join us on Facebook and Instagram.
Highland Park Poetry seeks submissions of shorter poems for our Daily Poem posts. Collaborations are welcome as are poems in non-English languages when accompanied by an English translation.
Continue to celebrate words and carry poetry in your heart!
