Comics and Graphic Novels, Fiction, Lit, Live lit events

Review: Quiet Obsession and Control—Tender by Beth Hetland

There’s something wrong with Carolanne. Beth Hetland’s graphic novel Tender tells the story of a woman with #goals: Carolanne lives in a cozy apartment in Chicago, takes the train to […]

Allison Manley /
Fiction, Interviews, Lit, Live lit events, Poetry

Interview: Diego Báez Debuts New Poetry Collection, Yaguarete White

Interview conducted by Binx River Perino. Chicago-based writer Diego Báez is an educator at the City Colleges and a fellow at CantoMundo, the Surge Institute, and the Poetry Foundation’s Incubator […]

Guest Author /
Dialogs, Events, Interviews, Lit, Live lit events, Nonfiction, Stages, Talk show

Dialogs: Considering Contagion with Maddow and Schama at Chicago Humanities Festival Events

This autumn’s Chicago Humanities Festival is chock-a-block with notable writers. That focus is normal for one of the Windy City’s most diverse and comprehensive cultural institutions, but especially true this […]

Karin McKie /
Events, Fiction, Interviews, Lit, Live lit events

Interview: Sinister Twisters—Author James Kennedy Talks Horror and His New Book, Bride of the Tornado

James Kennedy will appear at the HORRORPALOOZA! event at After-Words Bookstore (23 E. Illinois Street), Sunday, October 29, at 5pm, with fellow horror authors Cynthia Pelayo and Julia Fine and […]

Dan Kelly /
Comics and Graphic Novels, Events, Interviews, Lit, Live lit events, Music, Nonfiction

Review: Something Out of Nothing—New Book Shares the History and Images of Garage Rock Label Estrus Records

Chris Coyle and designer Scott Sugiuchi will attend a book release party at Quimby’s Bookstore (1854 W North Ave) on Saturday, October 21, beginning at 1 p.m. Another party takes […]

Dan Kelly /
Chicago history, Events, Fiction, Interviews, Lit, Live lit events

The Haunting of Hemingway House: Four Women Writers Make Hemingway’s Childhood Home a Clean, Well-Frighted Place

Note: The event is sold out, but Ernest Hemingway’s Birthplace Museum continues to present tours and weekly events all year round. As the quintessential literary man’s man, it’s easy to […]

Dan Kelly /
Chicago history, Events, Food, Lit, Live lit events, Nonfiction, Recipes

Review: Consuming My Religion: Holy Food, by Christina Ward

No matter how busy they were creating the universe, some gods always found time to lay down the law on what their worshippers should eat. Diets and deities have a […]

Dan Kelly /
Dialogs, Events, Fiction, Lit, Live lit events

Dialogs: Zadie Smith’s New Historical Fiction The Fraud Plumbed at Chicago Humanities Festival Event

Fiction is a “medium that must always allow itself…the possibility of expressing intimate and inconvenient truths,” acclaimed London-born author Zadie Smith once said. She recently stopped by Lincoln Park’s Francis […]

Karin McKie /
Interviews, Lit, Live lit events

Reader of the Banned: City Lit Theater Presents Books on the Chopping Block

Devoting one’s life to banning books undoubtedly cuts into one’s reading time. Those too busy to read the volumes they work so hard to keep others from perusing should consider […]

Dan Kelly /
Chicago history, Chicago history, Children's books, Essays, Event, Lit, Live lit events, Nonfiction, Poetry

Printers Row on Saturday: A Celebration of Community

Near the end of Saturday at this year’s Printers Row Lit Fest, an 80-year-old Italian painter from the North Shore told me she’s going to have a huge party if […]

Patrick T. Reardon /
Events, Fiction, Interviews, Lit, Live lit events

Dialogs: Kathleen Rooney and Ignatius Aloysius Discuss Creation of Her New Novel at Writers Museum

Chicago author Kathleen Rooney writes in many genres—fiction, non-fiction, essays, poetry—even Poems While You Wait. She has written several historical fiction novels in her own distinctive style. Heavily researched, novelized, written in […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Events, Fiction, Interviews, Lit, Live lit events

Toya Wolfe’s Last Summer on State Street Wins $25,000 Pattis Family Foundation Chicago Book Award

Most readers are familiar with the more prestigious annual book prizes out there, among them the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the PEN America Literary Awards. A new […]

Elizabeth Niarchos Neukirch /