Chicago’s “unofficial poet laureate” is coming to the Evanston Public Library on Monday, January 29, to share his poetry. Influenced by hip-hop and invoking writers and artists like Gwendolyn Brooks, Studs Terkel, and the rapper Common, Coval’s most recent book, A People’s History of Chicago, contains 77 poems that honor the everyday lives of Chicago’s workers, poor people, people of color—one poem for each of the city’s 77 neighborhoods.

Coval uses poetry to build community. He is the artistic director of Young Chicago Authors, and founder of Louder Than A Bomb: The Chicago Youth Poetry Festival. The annual Louder Than A Bomb teen poetry slam engages schools and community organizations from all over the Chicago area. This friendly competition gathers the best and brightest young writers (age 13-19) from throughout the region with the winners going on to represent Chicago at the national level. 

“Chicago is in the midst of a cultural renaissance run by young people 16 to 26,” says Coval. “They are changing the way the world gets down.”

He also serves as a professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago, where he teaches hip-hop aesthetics. He has mentored thousands of young writers, artists, and musicians. Chance the Rapper says of him, "Kevin Coval made me understand what it is to be a poet, what it is to be an artist, and what it is to serve the people."