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Join Pilsen Community Books as we welcome James Madigan and Jamie Wendt to the store for an event in celebration of Madigan's new book Political Prisoners USA and Other Poems and Wendt's Laughing in Yiddish. They'll be joined in conversation by poet Angelica Julia Dávila, author of Bilingual Bitch.

About Political Prisoners USA and Other Poems:

The poems in Political Prisoners USA and Other Poems are daring and direct, igniting consciousness and conscience. Madigan recognizes divisions, the fissures in our humanity, and often, the injustices we manifest. Smooth and intimately detailed, this writing calls the reader to action. “Look to the person next to you. Look them in the eye and say:/I will be there with you—.” The reader can count on a reliable speaker, a poet with a vision, and a mission. “Political Prisoners USA: A poem in five parts,” is the narrative thread that intermittently snaps the reader out of disappearing entirely into reflection. His correspondences with political prisoners creates a dose of reality, a sharp pain in the reader’s side: persecution and incarceration exist. The language Madigan uses in the face of such disappointment is lyrical, innovative, and deeply moving. Where equality may not exist socio-politically, it can exist artistically. In “For Every Person,” Madigan writes, “There was a poem/for former Black Panther Billy Che, / for Nathan a proud gay man, / for Phyllis who loves music/that plays down her spine.” His hard-truth content paired with lyric imagery presents the reader with the dichotomy between ugliness and beauty. He is confident, informed, and careful. Madigan’s commentary about ongoing historical, political, environmental, and personal injustice seem to possess a glimmer. “As we approach the end singing,” Madigan muses in the poem, “Songs for Ceasefire,” “Which Side are You On? / a woman appears offering a platter / of sliced watermelon. / Take some, she says. Eat.”

About Laughing in Yiddish:

“To tell a long story short, Papa says, / and then proceeds to tell bits of a long story.” Poet Jamie Wendt does the same in her new collection Laughing in Yiddish, and through telling bits of her family’s journey from Russia to contemporary Chicago she enters upon the very long and often horrific story of Jewish history and tradition. Overcoming her relatives’ reticence to look backward (“No one talked about the past back then”) she teases out touching details of Jewish community life in America and beyond, sketching vivid portraits of the individuals who informed her life and identity. There is the sort of laughing one does to keep from crying, and while these poems are not themselves in Yiddish, the role of dark humor in the face of catastrophe that pervades that language and culture is evident throughout. And it seldom has felt so timely, and so necessary.

About Bilingual Bitch:

Angelica Julia Davila's Bilingual Bitch explores the complexities of being Mexican yet growing up in the United States through multilingual expression, generational conflict, and longing for a homeland while existing in a limbo. With a sharp tongue that disrupts both English and Spanish, Davila's poems document familial and US/Mexican history through oral knowledge and chisme while lamenting lost histories. Bilingual Bitch is for the pochas everywhere who find themselves always wondering “which country” is their country.

About the authors:

James Madigan was born in Chicago, the eldest of twelve children. He began writing and publishing poetry in retirement after twenty-five years in public library administration. His background informs his writing, and includes working in retail, assembly line, delivery truck, banking, and administrative positions in non-profits arts and social service organizations. He is a long-time political activist in peace and social justice movements. He returned to school after retirement, and was the recipient of the Michael Anania Award for Poetry in May, 2022 awarded by the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is the father of three daughters, and he and his partner divide their time between Oak Park, Illinois and Cleveland, Wisconsin.

Jamie Wendt is the author of the poetry collection Fruit of the Earth (Main Street Rag, 2018), which won the 2019 National Federation of Press Women Book Award in Poetry. Laughing in Yiddish is her second book and was a finalist for the 2022 Philip Levine Prize in Poetry. Her poems and essays have been published in various literary journals and anthologies, including Feminine Rising, Lilith, Jet Fuel Review, the Forward, Green Mountains Review, Catamaran, Minerva Rising, Gyroscope Review, Minyan Magazine, and others. She contributes book reviews to the Jewish Book Council. Wendt was a third prize winner of the 2024 Reuben Rose Poetry Competition, she has received a Pushcart Prize Honorable Mention, and was nominated for Best Spiritual Literature. She was selected as an International Merit Award winner in the Atlanta Review 2022 International Poetry Competition. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Nebraska Omaha. She lives in Chicago with her husband and two children.

Angelica Julia Dàvila is a writer, performer, and self-advocate. She is currently a PhD Candidate at the Program for Writers at University of Illinois at Chicago. She writes fiction, poetry, and essays and has recently dived into sketch. Her work is an exploration of the Latinx and bilingual identity, autistic self-expression, and mental borderlands. Angelica is also a comedian, improviser, and co-producer of “Antojitos Fest: Chicago’s Latin American Comedy Festival” and the monthly Latinx variety show “La Hora de Antojitos” at Logan Square Improv Theater in Chicago.