We’re excited to announce the third annual ChiTeen Lit Festival!
ChiTeen Lit Fest is an annual literary festival for teens, by teens. The purpose of this event is to bring young adults from across Chicago together to celebrate their talents and express their individual voices through the literary arts. In the past, the festival has been a fun experience for young aspiring writers and creatives to express themselves in a safe and creative environment, and we can’t wait to see what this year will bring.
This Year’s Activities
This year’s ChiTeen Lit Fest kicks off on April 13th with a party at the Harold Washington Library Center, with featured performers Roy Kinsey and DJ Lisa Decibel. The party will have free food, great music, dancing and some snazzy button-making. The festival continues on April 14th at Columbia College, where at this teens-only festival, young people will have the opportunity to attend writing workshops with featured writers, teachers, and editors such as Alverne Ball, Jessie Anne Foley, Alex V. Hernandez, Alison Ogunmokun, and Sejahari Saulter Villegas. Attendees can choose from workshops such as Get Published! A Step-by-Step Workshop; Video Games vs. Poetry; A People’s History of Chicago, by Teens, for Teens; Choose Your Sound: Tackling the Songwriting Process, and many more. A full schedule of workshops can be found here.
The festival will also include Read-A-Loud performances taking place throughout the day, as well as discussions, performances, and open mic opportunities. It will be a can’t-miss event for any young Chicagoan with a bent towards the creative and literary arts. For more information, click here. And to register to attend, head here. The event is open to teens 13 – 18 years old.
About ChiTeen Lit Fest
ChiTeen Lit Fest is produced as a special project within YOUmedia and Chicago Public library. YOUmedia is the first digital learning space created for teens and preteens and currently has twelve locations throughout the Chicago Public Library system. At YOUmedia, young adults engage in projects across interdisciplinary STEAM fields (science, technology, engineering, art, and math), including graphic design, fashion, photography, video, music, podcasts, and more, all with the assistance of skilled mentors in a space designed to inspire collaboration and creativity. Watch this video— produced by YOUmedia teens!– to see this outstanding program in action.
The ChiTeeen Lit Fest is made possible through our generous sponsors, in particular, The HIVE Chicago Fund for Connected Learning, Chicago Community Trust, BMO Harris Bank, The Allstate Corporation, Comcast, Children’s Museum of Pittsburg, Susan Crown Exchange Inc., Terra Foundation for American Art, Motorola Solutions Foundation, Oppenheimer Family Foundation, and Jewell Events Catering and GLJ Leasing.
Our many initiatives are made possible by donations from sponsors like these, and also individuals like you. To become a supporter of education programs like YOUmedia through the Chicago Public Library Foundation, please donate here.