Louder Than A Bomb Youth Poetry Festival Marks 15th Anniversary

By Parker Molloy in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 18, 2015 5:00PM

Photo courtesy Louder Than A Bomb

Louder Than A Bomb: The 15th Annual Chicago Youth Poetry Festival, opens Saturday with the “All Black Women Everything” event, and concludes on March 28 with the team finals. Billed as the largest youth poetry festival on the planet, LTAB draws in more than 1,000 participants between the ages of 13 and 25 from 120 Chicago-area schools and organizations.

On March 1, LTAB co-founder Kevin Coval, along with co-hosts Alec Baldwin, Alfre Woodard, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, lead a day of fundraising with three events ranging from the $100 per person “Re-Imagining Chicago” event at the Black Ensemble Theater to the $1,000 per person “LTAB Sunday Brunch” at Soho House.

In 2010, filmmakers Jon Siskel and Greg Jacobs released a full-length documentary capturing the excitement of the month-long event. Upon its release, the film received widespread acclaim, even landing on the late Roger Ebert’s “10 Best Documentaries of 2011” list.

“There is power here: a growing mass, an army, a counter-culture to norms that dehumanize people of color, the working class and the critically underserved,” Coval says. “The poets at LTAB in Chicago and the nationwide movement they represent are changing things for the better. Together we will make a more equitable country for all."

Additional info and tickets can be found at youngchicagoauthors.org.