Festivals, Fairs & Special Events, Museums, Galleries & Exhibitions
American Writers Festival: America at 250: Untold Stories June 7, 2026
American Writers Museum (AWM), the first and only U.S. museum dedicated to the history and impact of American writers, is pleased to announce the return of its American Writers Festival this summer. Presented in partnership with Chicago Public Library, this year’s festival is expanding to two days, Saturday, June 6 from 11 a.m.–5 p.m. and Sunday, June 7 from 11 a.m.–5 p.m. All festival programs are free to the public. Festival programming on Saturday, June 6 will be held at the American Writers Museum (180 N. Michigan Avenue), with AWM offering free museum admission to all attendees. On Sunday, June 7, the festival and all related programming moves to Harold Washington Library Center (400 S. State Street); AWM will be closed that Sunday. Seating for festival programs is available on a first come, first served basis. AWM members get preferred seating at main stage events.
America at 250: Untold Stories
Featured writers: Darius Bost, Anna O. Law, C. Riley Snorton, and Valerie Gugala
This program explores America at 250 years old, through lenses of migration, Black history, and queer liberation. Darius Bost and C. Riley Snorton discuss their book A Black Queer History of the United States, the first-ever Black history to center queer voices. Anna O. Law discusses her book Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship, which reveals the unmistakable effects of slavery and Native American dispossession in modern U.S. immigration policy. Moderated by historian and author Valerie Gugala.
June 07, 2026
2:00 pm – 2:55 pm
Harold Washington Library Center
Book signing times (all signings take place in the First Floor Lobby of the library)
🖊️Anna O. Law: 3:00 – 3:20
🖊️Darius Bost: 3:30 – 3:50
🖊️C. Riley Snorton: 3:30 – 3:50
