Fiction, Lit

Interview: Stormy Weather—Christopher Hawkins Releases New (and Award-Winning) Horror Novel, Downpour

For horror novelist Christopher Hawkins, the dark and drenching clouds described in his latest novel, Downpour, have led to brighter, sunnier skies. Recently winning the Booklife Prize in Fiction, Downpour […]

Dan Kelly /
Children's books, Fiction, Lit, Poetry

Review: Mother Goose for English Majors, The Lamb Cycle: What the Great English Poets Would Have Written about Mary and Her Lamb, by David R. Ewbank, with illustrations by Kate Feiffer

If Shakespeare, instead of Mother Goose, had written “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” perhaps he would have penned a sonnet to take the young girl to task for abandoning “Thy […]

Patrick T. Reardon /
Fiction, Lit, Reviews

Review: Cravings: An Inventory of Human Life, by Garnett Kilberg Cohen

Reviewed by Guest Author Arieon Whittsey Cravings, by Chicago author Garnett Kilberg Cohen, offers an exploration of life and the moments that define it through an unlikely group of characters […]

Guest Author /
Essays, Fiction, Lists, Lit

Return of the Revenge of the Featured Creatures Massacre IV: Chicago Area Horror Writers Share Horror Recommendations

Once again, it’s time for me to slip out of my TCR Lit Editor role and into my Crypt-Keeper robe. In celebration of Samhain, I contacted several Chicago-area horror writers […]

Dan Kelly /
Fiction, Lit, Reviews

Review: A Feel-Good Novel about Coping Together, Everybody Here Is Kin, by BettyJoyce Nash

BettyJoyce Nash will be at The Book Cellar at 4736 N Lincoln Ave. in Chicago at 7pm on Thursday, October 26, to discuss her new novel Everybody Here is Kin […]

Patrick T. Reardon /
Essays, Events, Fiction, Lit, Nonfiction, Poetry

Shortlist Announced for 2023 Chicago Review of Books Awards

The 2023 Chicago Review of Books Awards shortlist includes literary works ranging in subject matter from queer motherhood to belonging and migration, Chicago’s Black cowboy culture, and women’s overlooked heroism during World War II.

Elizabeth Niarchos Neukirch /
Chicago history, Chicago history, Fiction, Lit

Review: A Sparkling, Gritty, and Compassionate Collection, Dona Cleanwell Leaves Home: Stories, by Ana Castillo

The seven stories in Ana Castillo’s sparkling and new, yet gritty and compassionate collection Dona Cleanwell Leaves Home, share several common themes. Ghosts, for one, including a beautiful naked woman […]

Patrick T. Reardon /
Fiction, Interviews, Lit, Previews

Interview: Kathleen Rooney on Silent Film Stars, Fairies, and Her New Book From Dust to Stardust

I first encountered Chicago author Kathleen Rooney years ago at The Neo-Futurists’ funky New Year’s Eve bash, where her collective Poems While You Wait was delightfully typing up custom poetry […]

Elizabeth Niarchos Neukirch /
Children's books, Fiction, Lit

Review: Wonder and Joy and Questions, The Happy Prince & Other Tales, by Oscar Wilde

It’s something of a surprise to be reminded that Oscar Wilde—the author of The Picture of Dorian Gray and the subject of a scandalous 1895 trial over consensual homosexual acts—wrote […]

Patrick T. Reardon /
Fiction, Lit, Reviews

Review: Julia Fine Weaves an Alluring Gothic Fairy Tale in Maddalena and the Dark

Vividly set amongst the winding cobblestone streets and shadowy canals of 18th century Venice, Chicago writer Julia Fine’s Maddalena and the Dark is a wonderfully moody, gothic fairy tale about […]

Elizabeth Niarchos Neukirch /
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 /
Chicago history, Chicago history, Lit, Live lit events, Nonfiction

Review: A Harrowing Novel of Resilience in the Face of Racism, Last Summer on State Street, by Toya Wolfe

Toya Wolfe’s debut novel Last Summer on State Street is a harrowing, poignant, and visceral evocation of life and death in the Robert Taylor public housing development in its final […]

Patrick T. Reardon /