Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation Stage
(On W. Polk St., just east of Clark St.)
Saturday 9/12, 1:30pm

Mayda del Valle is a multidisciplinary artist born and raised on Chicago’s South Side. She is the author of The University of Hip Hop and A South Side Girl’s Guide to Love and Sex. She was the 2001 National Poetry Slam Champion and appeared on six episodes of HBO’s Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry. An original cast member and contributing writer of the Tony Award-winning Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, she has performed internationally, including at the White House by invitation of President Obama and the First Lady. She is the 2026–2027 Poet Laureate of the City of Chicago.