Steve Wiley’s Grown-up Chicago Fairytale Lacks a Happy Ending
New York is a city of legends. Los Angeles is a town of myths. In The Fairytale Chicago of Francesca Finnegan, author Steve Wiley frames the city in a milieu […]
Roxane Gay, Camille Paglia and Jessa Crispin at War in My Head
Several weeks ago, I went to hear Roxane Gay read from her latest book Hunger as a part of the Chicago Humanities Festival Now summer programming. The event fell on […]
Review: Chicago Monumental Provides View of Public Statues, Fountains, Tombs
[soliloquy id=”14888″] Larry Broutman, a Chicago-based photographer, has traveled over the world in his quest for travel and wildlife images. He has concentrated on remote tribal cultures and African […]
Review: Stephen Florida Isn’t the Pride Month Read You Were Hoping for
Guest author Evan Bryson studied painting and writing in Indiana. He lives in Chicago and works in higher ed. Stephen Florida is a real goddam puzzler. I read it everywhere, […]
Review: Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost is the indepth biography Molina deserves
If you’re looking for a very short review of Erin Osmon’s Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost, here it is: If Jason Molina has ever been important to you, then […]
A CLAssy Affair: Night of 300 Books at the Chicago Literacy Alliance
At the Literacenter, you’ll find a large, colorful office filled with book puns, some scooters, and a pink-haired woman greeting you at the desk. The Chicago Literacy Alliance (CLA), started […]
Barbara Browning’s The Gift is Auto-Fiction That Falls Flat
Guest author Evan Bryson studied painting and writing in Indiana. He lives in Chicago and works in higher ed. Here he reflects on Barbara Browning’s The Gift published by Coffee House Press. […]
Review: Sarah Manguso’s 300 Arguments
Guest author Evan Bryson studied painting and writing in Indiana. He lives in Chicago and works in higher ed. Here he reflects on Sarah Manguso’s book 300 Arguments published by […]
Word on the Street: American Writers Museum Opens in Chicago
It’s quite literally one of a kind. Though a city like Chicago could rest on its laurels museum-wise, with a glittering crown of over 60 institutions to its name, the city of […]
Review:Spiritual American Trash Celebrates the Lives of Eight Outsider Artists
God help the outsider artists. The emotional carnage of their lives suggests they were abandoned by God long ago, yet they continue to reach out to any listening Supreme Beings […]
Review: See You in the Morning by Mairead Case
“I think about that a lot. How if you are a bird, your nest is home. Absolutely everything else is the world. You stick out a wing, and there you […]
Celebrating Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks Thursday May 4th at The Poetry Foundation
“We Real Cool” By Gwendolyn Brooks The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel. We real cool. We Left School. We Lurk late. We Strike straight. We Sing gin. We […]