Event:Meetup/Chicago/Women's History Month Edit-a-thon 2026

Wikimedians of Chicago's March meetup will be an online and in-person edit-a-thon in collaboration with Skunk Cabbage Books in Bucktown. An edit-a-thon is a collaborative editing event focusing on a particular subject area. This edit-a-thon will focus on Chicago woman authors and writers! In running this event, our goal is to encourage awareness of subject gaps around this topic as well as supporting the arts here in Chicago. Editors of all skill levels are welcome.

The online portion of the edit-a-thon will span the entire month of March - we will provide a list of articles for participants to work on. Participants can make edits to these pages, which will be tracked as part of the edit-a-thon through the program dashboard linked below. On March 24th, you can join us in-person at Skunk Cabbage Books to work on editing together and share your contributions!

Those interested in participating in the edit-a-thon online should register on the program dashboard here to count your edits towards the edit-a-thon. To participate, you must create a Wikipedia account and assign any articles worked on as part of the edit-a-thon to yourself via the dashboard.

To attend the in-person event, click the "register for event" button above. Attendees are asked to review the code of conduct prior to registration. If you are not logged in, you will be prompted to create an account. Although it is not strictly required, it is highly recommended that participants create a Wikipedia account to participate in this event.

(Note: users on the Wikipedia app will have to use their phone's browser to register as the event registration tool does not appear on the mobile app.)

Location: Skunk Cabbage Books, 2826 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago IL. Please note that this venue is mask-required; face masks will be provided in-store.

Time: March 24th, 6:00pm-8:00pm. Come at any time and stay for as long as you want.

About: Attendees will be given a brief presentation on the basics of editing Wikipedia, as well as an introduction to the topic and some suggestions for pages or topics for people to work on. The presentation will be given at approximately 6:45, but experienced editors will be present to guide beginners, so feel free to arrive at any time. Refreshments will be served, although it is asked that attendees wear face masks when not eating or drinking.

A more detailed agenda will be provided closer to the date of the event.

Bring: A laptop or other device to edit with (editing from a mobile device is an option, but may present difficulties). Prior to arrival, it's recommended that attendees register on the program dashboard.

Transit info: Skunk Cabbage Books is accessible via the 56, 82, and 76 bus lines and is walking distance from the Logan Square Blue Line Stop, by the Spaulding and Milwaukee entrance. The storefront and aisles are ADA accessible with two in-line doors to enter.

Following is a short list of some woman writers from Chicago with pages that are stubs or low-quality. These articles have been listed as "available" in the program dashboard. In addition to adding information to pages, other possible improvements could include translating the pages into other languages, creating pages for notable works authored, improving page categories, or filling out Wikidata entries. Articles that are stubs (very short and incomplete) are bolded.

• Thalia Mara
• Camille Bordas
• Adeline Lobdell Atwater
• Gaylon Alcaraz
• Barbara Ransby
• Celeste Raspanti
• Wendy Brenner
• Barrie Jean Borich
• Kalisha Buckhanon
• Jamie T. Phelps
• Necia Apfel
• Eileen Favorite
• Beauty Turner
• Stacey Kade
• Cheryl West
• Carol Beach York
• Leigh Davenport
• Lydia R. Diamond
• Mary Gehr
• Lisa Holton
• Laura Bannon

To search for more relevant articles, it may be useful to search within categories such as Writers from Chicago, Poets from Chicago, Journalists from Chicago, and Novelists from Chicago. To search on Wikipedia within a category, add the keyword incategory:and the category name in quotes. For example, to find stubs that are writers from Chicago, you can use this search query: incategory:"Writers from Chicago" incategory:"All stub articles"

Another useful resource is the Women in Red red list index. This is a database of women who have been linked to from other articles but do not yet have pages of their own, causing them to appear as red links. Searching "Chicago" within these categories can bring up red links for people who were born or died in Chicago. For instance, searching with Cmd/Ctrl+F "Chicago" on this page will bring up female novelists with red links.

Use this section to ask questions and discuss the event.