Live Performance by Award-Winning Slam Storyteller Nestor Gomez – An NEA Big Read Event

CHICAGO, March 12, 2024 — Illinois Humanities and Midwest Partners will present “Everyone Has a Story: Performance by Nestor Gomez,” on March 23 at the Prairie Arts Center, 24 Park Ave E, Princeton, IL 61356, from 6:30pm–8:00 p.m. CT, with a reception to follow from 8:00-9:00 p.m. CT. Light refreshments will be served. This family-friendly event is free and a part of The NEA Big Read: Reconsidering the American Dream program. RSVP is required. 

Narrated by dynamic, award-winning storyteller Nestor Gomez, this immersive performance tells Gomez’s personal stories of his American dream—in particular, his family’s immigration to the United States and the social, cultural, and linguistic struggles he has navigated ever since. 

Initially undocumented (now a citizen), Gomez moved from Guatemala to Chicago at the age of 10 in the mid-1980s. He began his storytelling career on a whim, winning first prize at his first Moth Storytelling Slam in Chicago over a decade ago. He has since won 35 Chicago Moth Story Slams and more than 30 others in cities across the nation.   

For those interested in learning to tell their own stories, in writing or performance, Gomez will lead an in-depth Storytelling Workshop the following day, March 24, at The Bike Place, 701 N Main St, Princeton, IL 61356, from 1:00-3:00 p.m. CT. RSVP is required. 

These events are part of the Illinois Humanities program, The NEA Big Read: Reconsidering the American Dream, which includes free book groups, public events, and hands-on workshops that explore and challenge our understanding of the "American Dream" through two engaging books: Sarah Smarsh's Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth and Patricia Engel's Infinite Country. 

Princeton Public Library and Prairie Arts Council are promotional partners for the event. 

Learn more about The NEA Big Read: Reconsidering the American Dream, join or start a book group, and register for an upcoming event at ILHumanities.org/BigRead.

The NEA Big Read is a program of Illinois Humanities made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.