Join us on Saturday, August 15 at 7 PM for a special reading with local poets Fabu Carter, Araceli Esparza, and Guy Thorvaldsen.
Don't miss a word! We have assistive hearing devices available. If you'd like to reserve one, you can reach out to us in advance at liz@artlitlab.org. Then simply arrive at least 10 minutues early.
Fabu Phillis Carter, known as Poet Fabu, writes to encourage, inspire and remind. Her work focuses on the South, Kenya and the Midwest. In 2025 she performed her original poetry on Mary Lou Williams at the Kennedy Center.
Araceli Esparza is a published, award-winning bilingual Chicana poeta. Her work has appeared in multiple anthologies and journals, and her voice can be heard in the Wisconsin Life archives. She is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and a graduate of the MFA program at Hamline University.
Born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, Araceli is the daughter of migrant farmworkers from Guanajuato, Mexico. A lineage that continues to ground her work in resilience, labor, and story.
Today, she is planting seeds as a social justice speaker, survivor, and founder of Midwest Mujeres, a Latina mentoring and storytelling collective where women transform their lived experiences into voice, healing, and power.
In her words: “To me, being a Chicana poeta means to catch fire—to bring forth something from labor and sweat, to have enough when there’s not a lot.”
Guy Thorvaldsen is a first generation Norwegian-American carpenter who grew up extremely curious about how the world is put together. His carpentry has appeared in in a myriad of different places. His second act was teaching community college English for 20 years, exploring how human beings understand themselves, learn how to communicate, bridge cultural gaps, and build community. The third act is tinkering and thinking in his workshop and at his desk, building poems, furniture, community and stories.
Guy’s poetry has appeared in Alligator Juniper, Forge, Gulfstream, Magma 69, Zone 3, Poet Lore, Sports Literate, Isthmus, and Verse Wisconsin. His poem “Sweeping” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and his first full-length book of poetry, Going to Miss Myself When I’m Gone came out in October 2017 through Aldrich Press.
Arts + Literature Laboratory is located at 111 S. Livingston Street #100, Madison, Wisconsin, 53703.
Our galleries are normally open Tuesday through Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday noon to 5pm, and other programs take place throughout the week. Please check the events calendar and education section for details.