Chicago Humanities Festival

We connect people and ideas to cultivate a more informed, inspired, empathetic, and participatory society.

[nprbooks]

Can poetry change the world? United States Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera thinks so. But he tells NPR that the change poems can effect in people is often subtle, by nudging along shifts in perception or understanding.

Juan Felipe Herrera On Poetry In Tough Times

[chicagohumanities]

MY OBSESSION MY STUFF

This week is #CHFShowAndTell, we’re exploring the intensity of our attachments to our favorite things, our obsessions and passions, what we absolutely can’t live without. 

What kinds of objects sustain you in your day to day life? Is a luxury item or a thing of beauty ever a necessity? Do you sometimes suspect that your possessions might, in fact, possess you? Or do they afford you some kind of escape or sanctuary? 

Play Show and Tell with us! Show us something that you just can’t live without, and tell us what you think it says about your investment in the material world around you.

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What object are you obsessed with? 

This week in #CHFShowAndTell, we're exploring our OBSESSIONS. CHF's Senior Program Manager Tiff B. shares her recent obsession with a certain clothing item...

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Our digital pop up project starts today! 

What does your STUFF say about you? 

About your passions, your past, your sense of self? 

Do your things spark joy, prompt nostalgia, or trigger rage?

Play “Show and Tell” with us on social platforms throughout the month of April to reflect on these questions and more. Inspired by our Springfest’s theme STUFF and its diverse associations, this social media project invites you to critically explore the sometimes emotional, often perplexing, always political relationship we have with the material things around us.

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Tickets for Springfest/17: STUFF are on sale to the public!

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Once upon a midnight dreary, we ate cake until worn and weary...

Today was our Production Manager Grayson’s birthday AND our distinguished Artistic Director Jonathan Elmer gave a rousing lunchtime lecture on Poe’s aesthetic legacy. So naturally we celebrated with....RAVEN CAKE. 🎂🔪😨

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“Four score and seven minutes ago, I did approach yon graveyard upon horseback...” 😂 🎤 📕

Acclaimed master of short fiction and MacArthur Fellow George Saunders came to CHF to discuss his long-awaited first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo with DePaul University Humanities Director Peter Steeves. Before they talk, there’s a staged reading from the book...Saunders plays Abe Lincoln, because (duh), “it’s [his] friggin’ show.” 

[chicagohumanities]

People’s Pop Up: Show and Tell

A digital project exploring the sometimes emotional, often perplexing, always political relationship we have with our stuff. April 1-30. #CHFShowAndTell

Share the stories of your stuff!

Objects surround us: some mundane, some fascinating, some confounding.  But what do our things say about us -- about our passions, our past, our sense of self? Do they spark joy, or trigger shame?

Part of CHF’s Springfest/17: Stuff, the People's Pop Up: Show and Tell is a digital exhibit that will be created by the people who participate -- in other words, by you! 

CHF invites you to connect with us in new ways and explore the varied meanings and complicated relationships we have with our stuff. Throughout the month of April, we'll ask YOU to play Show and Tell with us here on Tumblr, as well as on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Follow along with the hashtag #CHFShowAndTell.

[chicagohumanities]

Tickets are on sale NOW for our members!

Our Fallfest/16: Speed is coming up...well, fast!

With a fantastic lineup of 100+ programs including Dan Savage, Trevor Noah, Melissa Harris-Perry, Senator Barbara Boxer, Philip Glass, Maureen Dowd with David Axelrod, speedy Shakespeare, slow food, and much more -- a number of events are bound to sell out in a flash!

Check out the full program guide to start planning your own must-see event schedule. Tickets go on sale to to the general public on September 27th at 10 AM.

Want a better shot at getting tickets to the most in-demand programs? Become a CHF member now to access our members-only ticket presale period, going on right now!

Our members get year-round benefits including discounted tickets and books of the festival, special member preview events, and more, but we know the early access to tickets is a high-value perk for our members!

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It’s a busy and exciting time here at Chicago Humanities Festival!

The full schedule for Fallfest/16: Speed is out for your (relaxed or speedy) perusal. At roughly 47 gorgeous pages, it still might take some time to speed-read! Check out our brief overview of Speed and follow us here and on other social platforms to hear about the CHF staff’s top picks, stories about our presenters, and more features leading up to our Fallfest!

We’re preparing to welcome a slew of stellar fall presenters including Maureen Dowd, Philip Glass, Trevor Noah, Barbara Boxer, Dan Savage, and Melissa Harris-Perry (tickets on sale soon), as well as Lin-Manuel Miranda, Gloria Steinem, and Thomas Friedman (these programs already sold out in a flash!)

And, we’re gearing up for Fallfest tickets to go on sale to our members (September 20) and to the general public (September 27)!

Want early access to tickets? Join or renew your CHF membership now to access our members-only ticket presale, which starts September 20th at 10 AM.

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Tickets to the 2015 Chicago Humanities Festival, Citizens, are now on sale to CHF Members!

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We're thrilled to announce the schedule for the 2015 Fall Festival, Citizens: October 24 - November 8! Join us for 130 programs at venues across Chicago, including our first annual Pilsen Day. Browse the full schedule now.

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"That's like Mister Rogers telling you that you don't deserve love"— Judd Apatow on being told by Jim Henson that he 'lacks warmth.'

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[sinceileftyoublog]

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Watching filmmaker and screenwriter Judd Apatow engage in a rapid-fire conversation with Chicago film critic Richard Roeper was like watching Apatow’s characters trade jokes laden with profanities, absurdities, and pop cultural references. Those who believe that his...

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If there’s one thing that was made abundantly clear in polling the literati for this year’s Lit 50 list, it’s that the Chicago literary scene is an incredibly

We're so proud that our Director of Programming and Planning, Corrina Lesser, was named to Newcity's Lit 50 2015!

[chicagohumanities]