Center Stage (On S. Dearborn St. in Printers Row Park between Polk and Harrison Streets, West Side of Dearborn.) Sunday 9/13, 4pm Trygve Thoreson is Professor Emeritus of English and Humanities at Harper College, Palatine, Illinois. At Harper, he designed and developed architecture tours of downtown Chicago for humanities students and currently serves as a ... Read more
Center Stage (On S. Dearborn St. in Printers Row Park between Polk and Harrison Streets, West Side of Dearborn.) Sunday 9/13, 2pm Ugochi Nwaogwugwu is a multidisciplinary creative. Her poems have been published in Storm Between Two Fingers (Flipped Eye Publishing, 2007) and Too Young, Too Loud, Too Different, (Corsair Poetry, 2021) both international anthologies ... Read more
Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation Stage (On W. Polk St., just east of Clark St.) Sunday 9/13, 3pm Vaishnavi Patel is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Kaikeyi, Goddess of the River, Ten Incarnations of Rebellion, and We Dance Upon Demons. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The ... Read more
Digital Realty Stage (On W. Polk St., at Plymouth Ct.) Saturday 9/12, 10am Veronica Chapa is an author, essayist, and award-winning copywriter with a master’s degree in advertising from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She lives in the Chicago area with her husband.
North Stage (On S. Dearborn St., just south of Ida B. Wells Dr.) Sunday 9/13, 11am Veronica I. Arreola is the author of the children’s board book, J is for Justice: An Activism Alphabet, one of the most banned books for the 2024-2025 school year. She spent three decades in higher education building award-winning diversity ... Read more
Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation Stage (On W. Polk St., just east of Clark St.) Sunday 9/13, 11am Viet Thanh Nguyen is the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sympathizer, Nothing Ever Dies, and, most recently, To Save and to Destroy. A recipient of the MacArthur Foundation and Guggenheim fellowships and a member of the American ... Read more
Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation Stage (On W. Polk St., just east of Clark St.) Sunday 9/13, 10am Wenguang Huang is a Chicago-based writer and translator. A former staff member of The New York Times Beijing Bureau, Huang is the author of The Little Red Guard, a memoir and A Death in the Lucky Holiday ... Read more
Grace Place, 1st Floor (637 S. Dearborn St.) Saturday 9/12, 12pm Will Boast is the author of a story collection, Power Ballads (University of Iowa Short Fiction Award), a memoir, Epilogue (Liveright/Norton), and a novel, Daphne (Liveright/Norton). His short fiction, reporting, criticism, and essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, ... Read more
Grace Place, 1st Floor (637 S. Dearborn St.) Saturday 9/12, 12pm Yasmina Din Madden is the author of the story collection You Know Nothing, Northwestern University Press (2026), named a most anticipated book of 2026 by the Chicago Review of Books. Her fiction and nonfiction have been published in Electric Literature, The Idaho Review, The ... Read more
Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation Stage (On W. Polk St., just east of Clark St.) Saturday 9/12, 4:30 Yolanda Nieves is a poet and an activist-educator. She identifies as a second-generation Puerto Rican woman, and her poetry and research have been widely published. With two acclaimed books of poetry published and is the winner of ... Read more
Center Stage (On S. Dearborn St. in Printers Row Park between Polk and Harrison Streets, West Side of Dearborn.) Saturday 9/12, 3pm Yosha Gunasekera is an attorney at the Innocence Project, representing people who have spent decades behind bars for crimes they did not commit. She teaches a course on wrongful conviction and exoneration at ... Read more
Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation Stage (On W. Polk St., just east of Clark St.) Saturday 9/12, 3:30pm Zayd Ayers Dohrn was born underground and raised in New York City. He is the author of the book Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young; creator of the hit podcast Mother Country Radicals, and writer (with Rock and ... Read more
Grace Place, 2nd Floor (637 S. Dearborn St.) Saturday 9/12, 12pm Zimbo is a Chicago-based actor trained in stunts, stage combat, and martial arts. Represented by TalentXAlexander. A member of SAG-AFTRA. Previous credits include Sanctuary Stories, Chicago PD, Deli Boys, Counterfeit Combat's Bar Brawl, and Point Theatre's Gladiator Fight Night and Fright Night series. On ... Read more
Christina Gonzalez serves as the Director of Finance and Human Resources for CLA (The Laundry Association) and the LaundryCares Foundation. As the daughter of Mexican immigrants, Christina grew up speaking Spanish. Her parents taught her to value the stories, culture, and traditions of her Mexican heritage. That early connection continues to shape Christina’s passion for ... Read more
North Stage (On S. Dearborn St., just south of Ida B. Wells Dr.) Saturday 9/12, 12pm Timothy David Rey (he/him) is a poet, playwright: 2023 Eugene O'Neill Semi-Finalist for his play, Zip!, Survive, and Thrive; 2-year grant awardee from Changing Worlds/Arts Work Fund, Lambda Literary Fellowship, 2022, RHINO 2026, Obsidian: 2022, the Poetry Foundation, Steppenwolf ... Read more
Alicia Ross is the intrepid leader of the Sunday Smut adult romance book club and worm wrangler for the Adventurers Guild middle grade book club at Booked in Evanston. Born and raised in the south, she arrived in Chicagoland by way of Northwestern and hasn't left since becoming a regular at her local coffee shop. ... Read more
E. Hughes is the author of two collections of poetry: Another Way to Say Dying (Autumn House Press 2027), which won the 2026 Center for African American Poetry and Poetics Book Prize and Ankle-Deep in Pacific Water (Haymarket Books, 2024), which was longlisted for the 2025 Maya Angelou Book Award. Hughes is a graduate fellow ... Read more
Nicholas Wade has been a drummer since grade school and he enjoys performing with his band Distaff for the past 3 years. He lives in Rogers Park with his two sons and is excited to share his love of music with the Printers Row Lit Fest!
LaTanya Lane (she/her) is a writer and performer. She can be found telling jokes around town or performing stories as a company member with 2nd Story. You can learn more about LaTanya and her work at www.latanyalane.com.
Deshon Johnson came to Literacy Chicago in 2024 determined to strengthen his reading after years of living with a low level of literacy. Since then, his progress has opened new doors personally and professionally. Deshon has launched his own chauffeuring company, purchased his home, and begun working toward his GED. An enthusiastic reader, he is ... Read more
Born in Chicago, IL, Jeffrey’s interest in music began basically from the start of his existence. His earliest inspirations to pick up the art form came from watching his father, sister, aunts, uncles and cousins play and sing in the church. In his junior year of high school, Jeffrey picked up the bass and from ... Read more
Ivan Torres will be performing as the Chicago Library's Great Horned Owl for Saturday morning's Storybook Children's Parade. He is excited to do his small part in promoting books and reading to children in this digital age. He gives a hoot and intends to prove it! No matter the cost - ie, sweat and possibly ... Read more
Madhavi "Mad" Rajan is in 9th grade. She plays viola, loves riding horses and wants to be a vet. She has recorded musical and voice narration for the This is Music board book series.
Arjun "Chip" Rajan is in 7th grade. He plays football and soccer and loves chemistry. He has recorded musical and voice narration for the This is Music board book series.