Chitlin Circuit
Category: Event Calendar
Date and Time
- Saturday, Aug 15, 2026 2pm - 5pm
Location
The Athenaeum Foundation, Inc.
401 East Michigan Street
Details
Curtis L. Crisler, Indiana Poet Laureate, created the Chitlin Circuit. The term “chitlin circuit” refers to a historical, segregation-era network of safe performance venues for Black musicians, comedians, and entertainers during the Jim Crow era. It is a current, dynamic, modern literary event.
The program is organic and no one really knows what is going to happen.
The first set is 20 minutes, where three poets feed off what the first poet reads.
The second set, each poet reads ten minutes of their own poetry.
The third set the poets read each line of a poem until the last line, which all read together.
There will be two intermissions between sets and food and music are included.
