Compliments of Chicagohoodz: Chicago Street Gang Art and Culture James “Jinx” O’Connor & Damen “Mr. C” Corrado Feral House Al Capone’s Chicago Outfit gets most of the attention, but the city hosted […]
Trust Exercise Susan Choi Henry Holt and Co. If high school didn’t exist, writers would have to invent it. A writer’s job is to articulate what others feel; and what other time […]
Up Jumped the Devil: The Real Life of Robert Johnson By Bruce Conforth and Gayle Dean Wardlow Chicago Review Press Robert Johnson is a definitive legend, though the dead-at-27 bluesman would’ve preferred […]
Interview conducted by contributing writer Terry Galvan Julia Fine is a recent graduate of Columbia College Chicago’s MFA program. She lives in Chicago with her husband and their son. Her critically acclaimed […]
Chicago is home to 200 to 250 theater companies, depending on who’s counting. Most of them are what we might call traditional theaters that stage scripted productions, both new works and revivals. […]
Mike “McBeardo” McPadden is truth in human packaging. A beard is indeed present, bristly, with streaks of grey—suggesting wisdom in matters strange and arcane. I’ve seen McPadden in action as well, on-stage, […]
By Ariel Parrella-Aureli Eve Ewing knows how to pack a room and capture the moment. With her goofy humor and charismatic energy, the local author, poet, and professor pleases anyone she encounters. […]
Typewriters, inkwells, Braille writers and more of the tools that writers use will be featured in the Tools of the Trade exhibit opening at the American Writers Museum on Saturday, June 22. Exact […]
By Clay Purdy Chicagoan Ken Wells has invented an alternate form of autobiography: a memoir with recipes. Gumbo Life: Tales from the Roux Bayou is 250 pages of nothing but gumbo—history, memories […]
Iconoclastic film- and filth-maker John Waters told interviewer Michael Phillips that the first time he came to Chicago was with a “drive-away” car. He couldn’t believe a stranger trusted him with an […]
Daniel X. O’Neil sees art everywhere, but not in that Bob Ross on ’shrooms sort of way. Mr. O’Neil is a connoisseur and curator of what he calls Arte Agora, art produced […]
A few months back, there was a gross misunderstanding on the Internet. No, really. Noted tiny organizer lady Marie Kondo, filled with an unquenchable thirst for bibliocide, commanded everyone to toss their […]
