Billy Corgan will give a multi-media performance of his poetry to kick off the Poetry Center of Chicago's thirty-first annual Reading Series on September 17th.

The Zwan frontman joins a list of Poetry Center readers that has, over the years, included Saul Bellow, Margaret Atwood, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and David Mamet. Corgan has assembled a collection of his verse and was recently in New York City to shop it around to book publishers.

Details of the reading are scant, but according to the Poetry Center, Corgan's reading will emphasize "the link between poetry, song lyrics and music."

The event will be held at the Art Institute of Chicago's Rubloff Auditorium and will benefit the Poetry Center of Chicago. Tickets are available through TicketWeb for $35.

ANDREW DANSBY
(September 10, 2003)