Sometimes change happens Poof. We wake up and the world is transformed by snow. Or, as we're inching our way toward Spring, we see that first crocus popped up through the frozen ground overnight as if it is a miracle. And sometimes change sneaks up on us before we realize the big ta-da. The baby in our lives is suddenly receiving phone calls from the opposite sex and asking for clothes instead of toys for presents. We pause and say, "When did that happen?" and "When did you start looking like that?"

When the Guild Complex burst on Chicago's literary scene in 1989, it was a kind of Poof experience. Innovative programs. Strong leadership. Wonderful new voices. And now, the Guild is new again, but this time the ta-da has sneaked up on us. In our nineteenth season, we have taken steps forward from our birth to a new maturity as an "adolescent" organization. The change started with our new logo. (Think of it as our new wardrobe.) Then, we started presenting a few new programs -- Palabra Pura, the Poetry Performance Incubator and the Prose Series -- and we updated our website. Last year, we added more new programs -- The Chicago/International Writers Exchange, the Muslim Women Writers Series, and B.Y.O.P. (Bring Your Own People.) This year, a few more new projects are on the horizon -- the Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry On Tour (six cities over two years), and a partnership with the Andrés Montoya Prize and Cave Canem to support two partner residencies for writers of color. We've also updated our mission statement and added new faces to the board.

We appreciate your patience with us as we've made these steps forward. We're still working with a small staff and our new efforts are a bit gangly at times in true adolescent form. We hope you'll visit our website often for updates. (Now that we've got things up and running, we'll keep the information on the site fresh. And, we've got some plans for new electronic developments in the not too distant future.) Again, like true adolescents, we're trying new things all the time. For those who have known us throughout the years, we hope that you're proud of us for having the courage to change with the times, and for those who are new to us, we really hope that you want to ask us out on a date.