Talk of the Town: An Eclipse Poem
Everyone looked up On Michigan AvenueOn balconies and rooftopsBy the AdlerWe all looked up. We all felt giddyGrateful even for this momentPeople waved their solar glasses at each otherAs if we […]
Review: The Lies of the Land Is a Lopsided But Informative Read
Like many history books, Steven Conn’s The Lies of the Land: Seeing Rural America For What It Is—And Isn’t is a showcase of and argument for nuanced thinking. In his […]
Dialogs: Percival Everett Talks About James, His New Book, About American Fiction, and Why He’s Finally Going on Tour
Percival Everett has published 30-some books—mostly novels—over his career, but he has not been a well-known author in the literary zeitgeist. But the LA-based author has a large Chicago fan […]
Dialogs: Kara Swisher Talks Tech Bros— They’re “Frequently Wrong But Never in Doubt”—at CHF Event
Kara Swisher has a lot of opinions—and she doesn’t hesitate to share them, both in her new book and in her conversation with social work professor Brené Brown before a sold-out […]
Interview: Elizabeth Flock Explores Women Versus the World in New Book, The Furies
Interview and article by Katherine Frazer. The Furies: Women, Vengeance, and Justice tells the story of three women across the globe, all united in their search for justice against their […]
Interview: Poet Hannah V. Warren on Apocalypse and Digging Up the Past
In the humid loam of a Jurassic-era feeling Southern United States, poet Hannah V. Warrendebuts her collection, Slaughterhouse for Old Wives’ Tales (Sundress Publications, January2024). Betraying the old adage, you […]
Review: Maps and Martyrs, Encounters in the New World: Jesuit Cartography of the Americas, by Mirela Altic
A strikingly drawn and boldly colored map, attributed to the Jesuit priest and explorer Jean de Brebeuf, is the image used on the cover of Mirela Altic’s Encounters in the […]
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 […]
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 […]
Review: Celebrating Well-Made Books—The Book by Design: The Remarkable Story of the World’s Greatest Invention, edited by P.J.M. Marks and Stephen Parkin
For more than 18 centuries, paper was made with rags—old clothes, sails, and ropes—the same way it had first been fashioned in China. But, by the 19th century, the process of […]
Review: “A Repugnant Purity”: Al Capone, by Pierre-Francois Radice and Swann Meralli
Chicago is best known for its transplants. Our biggest celebrities come to a pocketful of names—most from elsewhere, but now synonymous with the Windy City. Much like Oprah, Michael, Ditka, […]
Dozens of Published Books, One Writing Nonprofit: StoryStudio Chicago
This week StoryStudio Chicago kicked off its third annual Pub Crawl, a month-long online publishing intensive, or program, of classes and panels demystifying the publishing world.