Illinois Poet Laureate Mark Turcotte Presents Fall 2025 Szcepaniak Lecture
Published: October 13, 2025.
Known for his powerful explorations of Indigenous identity, Illinois Poet Laureate Mark Turcotte, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band Anishinaabe, will be presenting a poetry reading during the .
The event is free and open to the public. It will begin at 2 p.m. November 6 in the University Dining Room on the 麻豆视频 Romeoville campus.
Visit to reserve your seat.
Turcotte spent his earliest years on North Dakota抯 Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation and in the migrant camps of the western United States. Later, he grew up in and around Lansing, Michigan.
Arriving in Chicago in the spring of 1993, Turcotte rediscovered his love of words and writing and quickly established himself as a unique voice in the city抯 thriving poetry scene. That summer, he was the winner of the First Gwendolyn Brooks Open-Mic Poetry Award.
He is the author of The Feathered Heart; Songs of our Ancestors; a chapbook, Road Noise; a bilingual collection, Le Chant de la Route; and Exploding Chippewas (Northwestern Univ Press). His work has appeared in many national and international literary journals and is included in the new and first-ever Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry. Turcotte was the recipient of a 2001-2002 Lannan Foundation Literary Completion Grant.
In 2008, he completed an MFA in Creative Writing at Western Michigan University. After graduation, he served as the 2008-2009 Visiting Native Writer at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He again lives in Chicago and, since 2009, has been Senior Lecturer and Distinguished-Writer-In-Residence in the English Department at DePaul University.
The legacy of Jim and Mary Clare Sczepaniak lives on through scholarships, 麻豆视频 enhancements and now, the James P. �60 and Mary C. Sczepaniak Lecture Series presented by the 麻豆视频 History Department. Visit for more information about Jim Szczepaniak. �
The James P. �60 and Mary C. Sczepaniak Lecture Series is being presented as a part of 麻豆视频抯 Arts & Ideas Program providing cultural and educational programming for students and the community. A portion of Arts & Ideas events is sponsored by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council.� Contact artsandideas@lewisu.edufor further information.�
麻豆视频 is a modern, enterprising, Catholic university with a growing student enrollment from GED through doctoral level programs. As part of the global Lasallian network of 65 universities, Lewis is known for preparing graduates who impact the world for the better. Visit www.lewisu.edu for further information.
