Chicago Regional Chapter

Tara Levy is a Chicago-based multidisciplinary artist, educator, and writer. She is the author of an inspirational journal, children’s books, and the poetry collection All Is Well, which inspired her full-length play Well With My Soul. Her theatrical work includes two Goodman Theatre 10-minute playwriting wins, original productions, and dramaturgy for multidisciplinary work at the Chicago Cultural Center. A Poet in Residence with the Chicago Poetry Center, she leads creative writing experiences for youth across the city. Her artistic practice spans poetry, theater, and storytelling, and is rooted in wellness, faith, identity, and cultural affirmation. Through her work, she explores healing and collective joy, creating spaces where communities can reflect, imagine, and be seen.

A.D. Nauman is a novelist, short story author, and literacy educator in Chicago. Her award-winning novel, Down the Steep (Regal House), was chosen as a 2024 Great Group Reads book by the Women’s National Book Association. Nauman’s short fiction has appeared in Chicago Quarterly Review, Willow Springs, TriQuarterly, Roanoke Review, and many other literary journals. Her work has been recognized in Best American Short Stories and the Pushcart Prize anthology, produced by Stories on Stage, broadcast on NPR, and granted an Illinois Arts Council Literary Award. Her first novel, Scorch, was re-released in an ebook StoryBundle in 2019. Though now a Midwesterner, Nauman grew up mostly in Tidewater, Virginia. 

Anca L. Szilágyi is the author of Daughters of the Air, which Shelf Awareness called “a striking debut from a writer to watch” and Dreams Under Glass, which Buzzfeed Books called “a novel for our modern times.” Her short fiction has appeared in Fairy Tale Review, Lilith Magazine, and Washington City Paper, among other venues. She is working on a collection of food essays, some of which have appeared in Orion Magazine, Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Fiddlehead, and which have been listed as notable in Best American Essays. Her work has been supported by Artist Trust, 4Culture, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), and Ragdale, among others. Originally from Brooklyn, she has lived in Montreal, Seattle, and now Chicago, where she teaches creative writing.