Dialogs, Essays, Events, Interviews, Lit, Live Lit, Stages, Talk show

Dialogs: The Fire This Time with Roxane Gay at the Chicago Humanities Festival

The Chicago Humanities Festival hosted writer Roxane Gay, in conversation with writer Lindsay Hunter, at the University of Chicago’s Lab School. Like recent CHF speaker and fellow Black female author […]

Karin McKie /
Lit, Live Lit, Stages

Dialogs: Patti Smith, a Woman of Depth, Artistry, and Love for Humanity, Lights up the Music Box

When I hear the name Patti Smith, so many images are conjured in my mind. The 1970s at Club 950, No Exit, and Neo were teeming with people sporting mohawks […]

Kathy D. Hey /
Lit, Live Lit, Stages, Talk show

Dialogs: How Chicagoans and Russians Write—CHF’s Chat with Author George Saunders

Oak Forest native to the “political left of Gandhi,” essayist and award-winning author George Saunders returned to Chicagoland to talk about writing with Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me host Peter Sagal. “The Art of the Short […]

Karin McKie /
Live Lit, Stages, Theater Festival, Virtual

Preview: Lifeline’s Fillet of Solo Festival Celebrates Personal—and Virtual—Storytelling

Lifeline Theatre has launched its 25th annual Fillet of Solo Festival for a three-week run of virtual storytelling by some of the most vibrant and creative storytellers from Chicago and […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Events, Lit, Live Lit, Stages

Dialogs: Two Screenwriters Talk About Their New Novels—Utopia Avenue and Antkind

It was just serendipity that the Chicago Humanities Festival scheduled two screenwriters with hot new novels two weeks in a row for their livestream show. Well, serendipity and the fact […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Live Lit, Stages

Historian Adam Hochschild on Activist Rose Pastor Stokes in Humanities Festival Event

Rose Pastor Stokes was born poor, married rich and became an activist and agitator most of us have never heard of. Historian  Adam Hochschild tells her story in his new […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Live Lit, Stages

Three-Minute Record: Steep Ensemble Members Perform Carl Sandburg’s “Chicago”

Like all our 250-some Chicago theaters, nothing’s on stage at Steep Theatre, that fine inventive company on Berwyn that, appropriately, used to be a grocery store. It’s one of those […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Live Lit, Stages

Preview: Fillet of Solo Festival Celebrates Live Lit With Storytelling Collectives and Solo Performers

The 23rd Annual Fillet of Solo Festival, running January 10–26, celebrates Chicago’s storytelling and live lit scene at Lifeline Theatre and the Teal Room in Rogers Park. The festival, organized by […]

Nancy S Bishop /
Beer and wine, Events, Interviews, Lit, Live Lit, Stages

Rachel Maddow’s Blowout, Impeachment Porn and Martini Recipe at Chicago Humanities Festival

Picture of the author

Emmy Award-winning host of the eponymous MSNBC program Rachel Maddow made a book tour stop on October 12 at McCormick Place’s Arie Crown Theater, as part of the Chicago Humanities […]

Karin McKie /
Events, Lit, Live Lit, Stages

Third Coast Audio Festival Puts Chicago at the Center of Podcasting for Two Weeks

Long before the podcast, there was Third Coast International Audio Festival. Since 2000, Third Coast has been a leader in audio storytelling, paving the way for this craft back when […]

Colin S. Smith /
Art & Museums, Live Lit, Theater

Theatre Oobleck’s Closed Casket: Baudelaire’s Final Act

It is no small undertaking to decide to adapt Charles Baudelaire’s seminal 19th century volume of poetry, Les fleurs du mal. Some may find its sheer length and poetic complexity daunting, […]

Bianca Bova /
Comedy, Live Lit, Stages, Theater

Faith in a Sleight of Hand: Love and Polar Bears in Windy City Playhouse’s Apartment 3A

Do you believe in God? How about in magic, or nature? Do you believe in love? Windy City Playhouse’s Apartment 3A, led by Eleni Pappageorge as Annie, José Antonio Garcia […]

Lucas Garcia /