let us help you plan an event worth writing about!
The American Writers Museum is located in the heart of downtown Chicago on the famed Michigan Avenue and offers event spaces tailored to groups ranging from 20 to 250 people. Our colorful, interactive event spaces provide an atmosphere unlike any other for cocktail parties, fundraisers, breakfasts, corporate meetings, small wedding venues, and more.
Looking for a fun activity for your staff, alumni group, club, family, or friends? We can help you host a wide variety of events with specialized tours and experiences to make your group’s visit memorable.
We can collaborate on and customize virtual and in-person event experiences for adults and children of all ages and to fit varying budgets. Complete the form or email events@americanwritersmuseum.org.
Fill Out Request Form HereExplore our Virtual Hub to find online exhibits, prerecorded tours, author talks, podcasts and more content that you can share with your group. Find four literary-themed cocktail recipes with instructional videos by a Food For Thought mixologist on our blog here.
For curriculum based field trips for K-12 school groups, visit our Education page or contact education@americanwritersmuseum.org.
Group tours are for 10 or more and start at $75 for groups up to 25. AWM members receive 15% off tours. Please fill out our inquiry form and AWM Events will get back to you shortly.
- General Museum/Highlights Tour
Perfect for first time visitors!
- Poe Tour
The man behind the myth, from talking ravens to thumping tell-tale hearts. You’ll dive into Poe’s work and see how his legacy continues to impact the world today. - Trailblazing Women Writers Tour
Discover the women of American literature with this tour highlighting the accomplishments and contributions of literary foremothers. - Frederick Douglass Tour
You learn not only about the writer and statesman but who influenced him in life and the famous American writers and activists he worked with. - My America Tour
Highlighted immigrant and native writers in each area of the Museum. - Hispanic Heritage Tour
The voices of Hispanic writers have always been a part of the American literary landscape: from 1528 Spanish expeditions, to the first Puerto Rican librarian in New York City, to contemporary Chicago poets. - Museum Tour with AWM President Carey Cranston (higher rate than other tours)
- Poems While You Wait
- A collective of poets & their manual typewriters who provide a magical, unexpected, unpretentious, & decontextualized encounter with poetry. No requested topic is too big or too small, too funny or too sad, too silly or too serious.
- Chicago Detours
- A Deep Slice of Chicago Food History: Chicago is known across the country as a food town! Learn about the history of the Billy Goat Tavern, a regular hangout for writers, and the influence of different cultures bringing food traditions together in Chicago. Recommendation – Bundle with the My America tour!
- Badass Women of History: Hear stories of women who forged their own paths and reflect on how their stories of fearlessness, influence and integrity can inspire us personally and professionally today. Recommendation – Bundle with the Trailblazing Women Writers tour!
- A Deep Slice of Chicago Food History: Chicago is known across the country as a food town! Learn about the history of the Billy Goat Tavern, a regular hangout for writers, and the influence of different cultures bringing food traditions together in Chicago. Recommendation – Bundle with the My America tour!
- Adult Spelling Bees by Danielle Sepulveres
- The Twilight Zone: There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge…of spelling. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call The Adult Spelling Bee.
- Fictional Characters We Wish Hadn’t Died: Can you spell Anna Karenina? How about Ned Stark? What better way to eulogize the fictional characters whose deaths have saddened us than correctly spelling their names!
- RomComs Forever: Tonight the words will be acted out in the form of a romantic comedy quote! If you spell it correctly AND guess which RomCom it’s from, you will get double points! Time to rewatch HARRY MET SALLY for the hundredth time!
- Request a themed bee to be curated for your group
- The Twilight Zone: There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge…of spelling. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call The Adult Spelling Bee.
- Food For Thought’s A Night at the Museum Dinner Packages – 5 Stage Story Plated Dinners
- A Night at the Museum: Mediterranean Tour
- A Night at the Museum: A Far East Adventure
- StoryStudio Chicago
- Single-session creative writing workshops
- Single-session creative writing workshops
- Scavenger Hunt
- A Women Writers scavenger hunt will take your group through our permanent exhibits to find iconic American women who shaped the history of this country with their words and voices.
- The Big Quiz Show
- Literary-themed Trivia: Multimedia, “figureoutable” trivia, but focusing on famous authors, lit classics, publishing phenomena, and more.
- Children’s storytime, author talks, and more.
