Essay: How Many Books Can $30 Buy at the Newberry Book Fair?
When I visited the Newberry Library Book Fair on Friday, I knew I had to come up with a strategy. …
Kids Can Learn Sign Language, Storytelling and Teamwork with Sweet Animated Video Calvin Can’t Fly
Jennifer Berne wrote the storybook Calvin Can’t Fly: The Story of a Bookworm Birdie in 2010, and her second cousin…
Dialogs: Actor/Performer/Etc. Alan Cumming Brings Charm and Stories to Chicago Humanities Festival
By Carr Harkrader With its dramatic palazzo ornamentation, twinkling star-lit ceiling, and mischievous cherubs nuzzling within insets, the Music Box…
Dialogs: Salman Rushdie and Srikanth Reddy Discuss Power, Truth, and the Imaginary in CHF Panel
Salman Rushdie is sometimes asked why, in this age of lies, he chooses to write fiction, adding more untruths to…
Dialogs: Cornelius Eady and Joe Morton Discuss the Rhymes of History in CHF Panel
History doesn’t repeat, Mark Twain said: it rhymes. And, as poet and playwright Cornelius Eady and performer Joe Morton both…
Dialogs: Carol Leonnig and Andrea Mitchell Discuss the Secret Service, Politicization, Failures of Imagination
DeeMost of us don’t think of imagination when we think of the Secret Service, if we think of them at…
Dialogs: Elizabeth Kolbert and Eula Biss Talk Unintended Consequences and Problems Caused by Solutions in CHF Panel
The Chicago River, as many of us know, once flowed the other way, into Lake Michigan. It was reversed—a triumph…
Dialogs: Michio Kaku and LeVar Burton Bring Joy and Excitement to the Solar System and Beyond
What do junior high school science, science fiction, string theory, the God equation, and Elvis Presley have in common? They…
Dialogs: Heather McGhee and Helene Gayle Discuss Stories, Politics, Economics, and the Hope for Change in CHF Panel
Most of us probably don’t think of economics as an optimistic field. For some of us it pulls up thoughts…
Dialogs: Louis Menand Commingles Art, Ideas and the Cold War in CHF Discussion
A parade of artists and pop art, literary and music figures from mid-century America populate Louis Menand’s new book, The…
Dialogs: Jhumpa Lahiri and Jennifer Scappettone Discuss Mother Tongues, Displacement, and the Verb Trovarse in CHF Panel
When one speaks more than one language, and moves from one to another with any degree of frequency, one runs…
The Illustrative Man: New Exhibit on Local Speculative Fiction Writer Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury’s work and reputation have aged like fine dandelion wine. Unlike many of his fellow 20th century science-fiction…
