Tonight! Stop by City Lit Books to hear Charles Finch discuss his new novel, The Last Enchantments, 6:30 pm.
Tonight! Head over to The Book Cellar to hear from local authors Mark Brand, Giano Cromley, Ben Tanzer, and Joseph Peterson, as they read from and discuss their latest works, 7 pm.
Saturday! You’ve finally perfected that short story collection, polished up the novel, edited the poetry down to one concise word; what next? CHI PRC hosts a submission workshop that will cover every step along the way to publishing your work, 3 - 5 pm, $10.
Saturday! Muscle your way into the sold-out 90-Second Newbery Festival, and enjoy young readers’ creative adaptations of Newbery-Award-winning books, 1.5 minutes at a time. Show goes up at the Vittum Theatre at 3 pm.
Saturday! Cole’s Bar hosts Back to Print in their 4th anniversary Jubilee, as they release their latest collection “Weather or Not”. Drop in to enjoy readings, followed by music, and, most importantly, cake. 9 pm.
Sunday!
Theatre Wit presents Here’s the Story, a livelit series featuring seasoned storytellers as well as five open mike slots, all accompanied by a potluck dinner. Bring a dish, dish the dirt, $8 at 8 pm.
— Miden Wood
Events Thu Jan 30 2014
Imagine a short film, a minute and a half long, wherein little kids reenact their favorite children’s books. Now imagine watching a multitude of these shorts, back-to-back-to-back. Kind of triggers your ‘awww’ reflex doesn’t it?
Well such a festival isn’t hypothetical; it exists. It’s called the 90-Second Newbery Festival, and through it founder and The Order of Odd-Fish author James Kennedy challenges children to re-create Newbery-award-winning books within strict time constraints. The festival, which is only now entering its third year, has been a massive success, drawing in hundreds of submissions from around the world, all of which James watches and posts on his blog.
Even from its initial inception the concept was a hit. After losing the Newbery to Neil Gaiman in 2009, Kennedy was “embittered”. “I really wanted to win the Newbery. I really felt, in my heart of hearts, that I really deserved it [Author’s sarcasm].” After staging a fake battle with a friend dressed as Gaiman—including a series of physical challenges and ending with Kennedy’s own sacrifice at the altar of Newbery—Gaiman took notice, and took to social media about the whole spectacle. Then, when Kennedy posted the first Newbery adaptation, a 90-second A Wrinkle in Time, the concept exploded in popularity— and Neil Gaiman re-tweeting the video didn’t hurt.
After sitting down with Kennedy to discuss the upcoming festival on February 1st, it became apparent that this event is not just in it for the awww’s. “When you adapt a piece of literature, you take ownership of it,” he says of the 90-second challenge. By encouraging kids to not only read Newbery award winning books carefully, but also to pick and choose key narrative moments, they will inevitably develop opinions about that literature.
Continue reading this entry »
— Miden Wood /
Reviews Tue Jan 28 2014
As I was reading it or mentioning it to friends, I kept forgetting what, precisely, debut author Alex Garel-Frantzen's new book was called. It does feel a bit like a subtitle in search of a title, an absence of flash that's emblematic of the style of Gangsters & Organized Crime in Jewish Chicago, now out from The History Press. The writing is reminiscent of a masters thesis, although apparently it's not; the precocious Garel-Frantzen is a law student at the University of Illinois. His core assertion--that organized crime shaped the development of Chicago's Jewish community from the mid-19th century through the 1920s--is a modest one, made methodically. Fans of, say, Devil in the White City-style dramatization and trans-temporal mind-reading will not find much to engage them here.
But if Garel-Frantzen is more the meticulous academic than a natural-born storyteller, his brief volume still touches on a number of striking stories. Rather than focus on characters affiliated with big shots such as Al Capone who simply happened to be Jewish--and there certainly were a few--Garel-Frantzen spends most of his time examining forms of organized crime that were particularly bound up with Jewish community life, first in the Maxwell Street ghetto on the near South Side, and later in Lawndale.
Continue reading this entry »
— Daphne Sidor
Reviews Tue Jan 28 2014
When a friend found out I was reading Vintage Attraction, she asked me what I thought of the book.
"Um, I'm still trying to figure that out," I said. "There are some good things about it. Blackstone likes puns, which is cool. There are a lot of Chicago culinary hotspots mentioned. There's a pug."
My friend couldn't help but laugh. "Listen to what you're saying! There's a pug???"
She called me out, and there was no way around it. In vino, veritas. The same thing could be said about book reviews. So this is my truth: I read Vintage Attraction, and was mystified by the very public fanfare it seemed to be receiving. Had we read the same book?
Continue reading this entry »
— Ines Bellina
Events Tue Jan 28 2014
This Wednesday, Jan. 29, the Guild Literary Complex hosts the first of a two-part series, Applied Words: Notes from the Mainframe, at FreeGeek Chicago, 3411 W. Diversey.
The series, which invites writers employed in technology to read their work and discuss the interplay between creative writing and art and science, will include readings from the director of digital programs at Poetry Foundation, Catherine Halley; executive director of Smart Chicago Collaborative, Daniel X. O'Neil; and the founder of Chicago Literary Map, Stephanie Plenner. Readings will be book-ended by a warm-up open mic and a post-reading Q&A.
Applied Words: Notes from the Mainframe is co-sponsored by FreeGeek Chicago and us here at Gapers Block. Our co-founder and editor Andrew Huff will host the event, sharing a few technology-themed haiku poems.
The second part of this series, curated by Dr. Stephanie Levi, founder of Science is Sexy, will be scheduled in March.
— John Wawrzaszek
Author Mon Jan 27 2014
Last spring the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography released Women Float, Maureen Foley's fiction debut. Today we welcome Foley as she stops at Book Club on her blog tour promoting the novella (click here to see other tour stops and dates).
Foley is a writer and artist living on an avocado ranch with her family in Southern California. She is the author of the poetry chapbook Epileptic and her writing has appeared in Wired, The New York Times and elsewhere. She received a Master of Fine Arts in prose from Naropa University, and now teaches creative writing, visual art and bookmaking in Santa Barbara County.
Women Float touches on female relationships and the drama of becoming an adult. Protagonist Win, a lesbian pastry chef in California, is afraid of swimming, a phobia underscored by the fact that her absent mother was a professional surfer. Win's journey takes her from her mother's abandonment at age 9, into her adulthood struggle to overcome hydrophobia. Mix in a relationship with her New Age neighbor and a penchant for pathological lying, and you've got an entertaining romance with none of the cheesiness of a supermarket paperback.
We're honored to feature Foley's essay Who Says Who Writes What below.
In it she discusses her choice to address gender and sexuality in her work, which is new territory for her. This personal narrative focuses as much on Foley's choices as a writer as it does on the meaning of being a contemporary female author. Enjoy!
Continue reading this entry »
— John Wawrzaszek
Saturday! Tamale Hut Cafe Reading Series featuring Janet Wondra, 7pm.
Saturday! Local Authors Read featuring mystery/crime authors Gail Lukasik, Matt Hader, Mark Rusin and John K. Manos at the Evanston Public Library, 3pm.
Sunday! The Historic Pullman Garden Club presents its annual Winter Lecture Series on first ladies and their Midwestern roots, 3pm.
Sunday! Sunday Salon Chicago presents readers Grace Tiffany, Geoff Hyatt, Zak Mucha and Cris Mazza at Black Rock Pub, 7pm.
— Lara Levitan
Author Wed Jan 22 2014
For gardeners especially, Chicago winters have to be tough: all the gleaming polar vistas of the lakefront can't entirely make up for the months of bare branches and frozen ground. Normally devoted to beautifying its neighborhood, The Historic Pullman Garden Club keeps itself and the public busy this time of year by putting on an annual Winter Lecture Series. The first of the year will be held Sunday, January 26, at 3pm at the Historic Pullman Center, 614 E. 113th St. Local author and public historian Cynthia Ogorek will shine a spotlight on first ladies with Midwestern roots and trace their connections to Chicago. The series will continue on February 28 and March 28 and refreshments will be served at each event. Those who plan to attend should RSVP by calling 773-568-2441 or emailing historicpullmangardens@gmail.com.
Photo/reminder of what flowers look like courtesy of The Historic Pullman Garden Club.
— Daphne Sidor
Events Wed Jan 22 2014
The Society of Midland Authors has made something of a specialty of celebrating lesser-known corners of the Midwest's literary heritage, and with the new Cliff Dwellers Book Club series, they open up a few more--not least of which is the penthouse digs of The Cliff Dwellers (200 S. Michigan), where meetings will be held. Since 1907, the private club has been an aerie above the city for makers and supporters of literature and the arts.
Only natural, then, that the first meeting--slated for Saturday, January 25, from 11am to 2pm--will focus on William Blake Fuller's 1893 novel The Cliff-Dwellers. Fuller did not find the cliffs and canyons of Chicago's ever-busier streets particularly hospitable, and in the book he catalogues the inhabitants of one particular skyscraper with a sardonic eye.
The novel, being in the public domain, is available for free on Google Books if you don't have a copy lying around. But if you miss this meeting, you'll have other chances: the club's set to meet monthly, with upcoming reads from the likes of Ring Lardner and Richard Babcock; selected authors who are still living will be invited to attend. Throughout the series, Cliff Dwellers member Richard Reeder will keep the discussion rolling. Attendees may reserve a spot by emailing reservations@cliff-chicago.org.
— Daphne Sidor
Poetry Tue Jan 21 2014
Over the past month, Shia LaBeouf has taken plagiarism (and public infamy) to new heights.
Since the 2012 short film he directed, Howard Cantour.com, was revealed to be a rip off of a comic called Justin M. Damiano by Chicago-born graphic novelist Daniel Clowes, LaBeouf has tweeted numerous apologies and justifications, quoting everyone from Yahoo! commenters to Kanye West, Eliot Spitzer and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford -- all without attribution.
In addition, LaBeouf has mockingly re-posted a cease and desist letter from Clowes' attorneys after he tweeted a purported storyboard based on another Clowes work, publicly feuded with Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy, hired a plane to write "I AM SORRY DANIEL CLOWES" above the L.A. sky, and declared himself a performance artist...just days after declaring he would be retiring from public life and headbutting a man in a London pub.
Yesterday, The New Inquiry posted an essay with LaBeouf's byline called #stopcreating, exploring the recent history of artistic re-appropriation and the merits of long-held notions of authorship and originality in the digital age.
The prose and reference points may seem impressive for a man better known for Transformers and the Disney Channel. But if you look closer, #stopcreating is perhaps LaBeouf's boldest act of defiant plagiarism to date.
The sources? The words of poet and literary critic Kenneth Goldsmith -- including some that may have originally appeared on the website of Chicago's very own Poetry Foundation.
Continue reading this entry »
— Jason Prechtel /
Events Mon Jan 20 2014
The Encyclopedia Show hits 2014 hard this Wednesday, January 22, 7:30pm at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont. The theme "shame" will be addressed by all featured readers, which include a variety of spoken word, storytelling, music and comedy performers.
Each reader will dissect a topic relating to shame. Writer Natalie Edwards will address the unflattering and universal "walk of shame". HBO Def Poet Dan Sullivan goes back to syndicated television to recall the Batman villain Shame. Adam Moshe Levin, founder of the Young Chicago Authors' workshop Emcee WreckShop, gets serious about racial shame. Two Louder Than a Bomb college champions will read: Jasmine Alexandria Barber lives through vicarious shame, and Susie Swanton will address slut shaming. Poet Alison A. Ogunmokun invokes elementary school shame with her piece on dunce caps. Write Club host Ian Belknap will be wearing and reading about the Elizabethan Collar. And blogger Berto Saldana will speak of the shame of The Scarlet Letter heroine Hester Prynne.
The show is all ages, $9 for adults, $6 for students. This is the last season of The Encylopedia Show, so enjoy this while you can!
— John Wawrzaszek
Ishmael Beah's Radiance of Tomorrow is a return in a few different ways. It's the Sierra Leonean's second book; it revisits the war-torn homeland he first wrote about in memoir A Long Way Gone; and it tells the tale of Sierra Leoneans coming back to their country and trying to rebuild. This time around Beah's working with fictional characters rather than his own incomprehensibly brutal adolescence, and as the title suggests, there's more room for optimism. In interviews, he's suggested that former child soldiers like himself may gain less from forgetting and "rehabilitation" than from simply refocusing the survival skills they've had to learn.
In the intro to Radiance of Tomorrow, Beah mentions being inspired by his homeland's oral tradition--making the public reading a natural form for him. He'll talk about the book on Tuesday, January 21, at 6pm at the Harold Washington Library Center's Cindy Pritzker Auditorium, 400 S. State. Audiences will get a glimpse not only into Sierra Leone's tragic history, but into the arresting beauty of its native narrative forms--for instance, Beah notes, "In Mende, you wouldn't say 'night came suddenly; you would say 'the sky rolled over and changed its sides.'" Admission is free, and Beah will stick around to sign books afterward.
Photo of the author by John Madere.
— Daphne Sidor
Tonight! Office Pizza Party Reading at CHIPRC, 8pm.
Tonight! Samuel R. Delany presents the first of two readings at University of Chicago's Harper Memorial Library, 4:30pm. (The second reading is Friday, January 31.)
Saturday! Author Alex Garel-Frantzen presents and signs his latest book, Gangsters & Organized Crime in Jewish Chicago, at the Edgewater branch of Chicago Public Library, 11am.
Saturday! The Chicago Writers Association presents its 3rd annual Book of the Year Awards at The Book Cellar, 7pm.
Saturday! Myopic Poetry Series presents Benjamin Hollander & Ed Roberson, 7pm.
Saturday! Novelists Chris Abani and Luis Alberto Urrea at International House at the University of Chicago, 2pm.
Sunday! The Green Mill hosts the Uptown Poetry Slam with an open mic at 7pm, featured poets at 8pm, and a slam competition at 9pm. Cover is $6.
All weekend! Sink your teeth into storytelling festival Fillet of Solo at Lifeline Theatre. $10, times vary.
And don't forget-- on Monday, all Chicago Public Libraries are closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
— Lara Levitan
Awards Wed Jan 15 2014
The Chicago Writers Association presents its third annual Book of the Year Awards on Saturday January 18, 7pm, at The Book Cellar, 4736 N. Lincoln Ave.
The annual award chooses selections in the categories of traditional and non-traditional fiction and non-fiction. The winning books of 2013 are Susan Nussbaum's Good Kings Bad Kings, Jay C. Rehak's 30 Days to Empathy, Bree Housley's We Hope You Like This Song, and David W. Berner's Any Road Will Take You There. All winning authors will read selections from their books. The event will be emceed by Tori Collins, President of Chicago Writers Association.
The event is free and open to the public. Authors will sign copies of their winning books, which will be sold at the event.
— John Wawrzaszek
Events Wed Jan 15 2014
Fun facts about Gary Shteyngart, author of The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Absurdistan, Super Sad True Love Story and most recently, the memoir Little Failure:
He was born Igor Steinhorn (which means "stone horn") in the city formerly known as Leningrad in 1972. After he and his parents moved to America his name was changed to Gary so he wouldn't be mistaken for "Frankenstein's assistant."
Shteyngart has been likened to everyone from Anton Chekhov to Judd Apatow to Alexander Portnoy, but he is perhaps best know as the excitable blurber behind The Collective Blurbs of Gary Shteyngart: A Catalogue of Promiscuous Praise.
And perhaps the most fun fact of all, Shteyngart will be appearing in conversation with another brilliant writer of the immigrant experience, Aleksandar Hemon, in our fair city next week!
As part of a great line-up of winter author talks, the Chicago Humanities Festival, in partnership with Unabridged Bookstore, hosts Shteyngart and Hemon on Wednesday, January 22 at 6pm at First United Methodist Church at The Chicago Temple, 77 W. Washington St. General admission is $15, and book and package deals are available (see the website for more info).
To whet you appetite, view the hilarious book trailer for Little Failure featuring James Franco, Rashida Jones and a few more famous hotshots.
Photo of Shteyngart courtesy of WSJ.com
— Lara Levitan
Events Mon Jan 13 2014
If you're a Chicago nerd who needs a creative outlet, Chicago Nerd Comedy Festival may just be your jam. Stage 773 is currently putting together the second annual Nerdfest, inspired by their popular recurring event Hey, I'm a Big Fan, which showcases readings of original fan fiction.
The festival itself will take place from March 19-22 at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont (kicking off on the 19th with Hey, I'm a Big Fan), but applications to perform at the festival are due on Wednesday, January 22. You can download the application from the Chicago Nerdfest Tumblr and follow them on Facebook for even more updates.
Image courtesy of the Chicago Nerd Comedy Festival Tumblr
— Eden Robins
Author Sun Jan 12 2014
You may know him best as the author of sci-fi classics such as Dhalgren and the Return to Nevèrÿon series. Or you may have encountered him (as I did) through works that provocatively mix memoir and queer theory, such as Times Square Red, Times Square Blue. (His beard alone probably qualifies as a major artistic contribution to American society.) Chicago audiences get to see a few of Samuel R. Delany's many sides with a pair of upcoming public readings at the University of Chicago's Harper Memorial Library, 1116 E. 59th St. They're sponsored by Critical Inquiry, the interdisciplinary journal of theory based at U of C.
The first reading, held on Friday, January 17, will focus on Delany's recent fiction. Then, on Friday, January 31, he'll return to share insights from the writing course he's been teaching, entitled The Mirror and the Maze: Scenes and Sentences in Flaubert's 'Sentimental Education' and Moore/Campbell's 'From Hell.' Both lectures start at the somewhat inconvenient hour of 4:30pm, perhaps banking on the likelihood that some people will be curious enough to find out what connects Gustave Flaubert to a graphic novel about Jack the Ripper to sneak out of work early. Both events are free.
Photo courtesy of the author's Facebook page.
— Daphne Sidor
In 2006, a group of Columbia College students banded together to found Switchback Books, a small, nonprofit press with an precisely targeted mission: publishing poetry by women. They're still tiny--publishing just two volumes a year--but they've accumulated a diverse and adventurous catalog that includes experimental, limited-run formats such as Mónica de la Torre's FOUR. Now, with the inaugural Queer Voices Contest, they're aiming to make their roster even more diverse. Through February 1, queer-identified women are encouraged to submit full-length poetry manuscripts; aside from publication, the prize will include a $1,000 honorarium. Poet and social-justice researcher Dawn Lundy Martin will judge.
Image courtesy of Switchback Books' blog.
— Daphne Sidor
Tonight! Musical comedy game show Shame That Tune presents "The Future" with readers Danny Black, Thymme Jones and Peter Andreadis at the Hideout, 6:30pm.
Saturday! Quimby's Bookstore hosts a Zlumber Party, an overnight workshop for zinesters, 9pm- 9am Sunday.
Saturday! Red Rover reading series presents "The Vulnerable Rumble" (coinciding with the MLA Convention) at Outer Space Studio, 8pm.
Saturday! Author Douglas Trevor reads from his debut novel Girls I Know, joined by fellow author Michael Byers (Percival's Planet, Long for This World) at the Book Cellar, 7pm.
Sunday! The Fillet of Solo monologue-fest presents Five from Rogers Park--including writers Liz Baudler and Jade C. Huell, among others--at the Heartland Studio Theatre, 5pm.
Sunday! Book launch for Eat Ink: Recipes, Stories, Tattoos at Atwood Cafe, 4pm.
— Lara Levitan
Reviews Fri Jan 10 2014
Chicago's Favorite Chicago Books is a series of reviews of fiction by Chicago authors. These books are chosen by YOU (and, well, me). To suggest a title I should review, comment here, tweet me @edenrobins and/or use the hashtag #faveChicagobooks!
I'm pretty embarrassed about this, but for several impressionable teenage years, I read and reread Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead at least six times. Now, in high school I was about as bloodied a bleeding-heart liberal as you could get, dubbed a "feminazi" by male classmates (yes really), a rabid recycler, a fervent believer in philanthropy. So please believe me when I say that I never bought into her manic, hyper-conservative DIY OR DIE mentality. But there was something about the way Rand discussed integrity and the satisfaction of good work and the respect for beauty over greed that, well, for better or worse, it stuck with me.
Man oh man, I wish I had had known of Edna Ferber back then. Edna Ferber is Ayn Rand for people with a soul. Or maybe that's too harsh? Let's go with "conscience" instead.
Continue reading this entry »
— Eden Robins
Events Wed Jan 08 2014
Red Rover Series, an experimental live lit show, is sponsoring a collaborative reading with the theme "Vulnerable Times," to coincide with the MLA Convention's theme for 2014. Readers will present writing (by themselves or others) which bears some mark of vulnerability: forgotten work, work that nearly didn't exist, denied or discouraged work, etc.
This event will feature Amaranth Borsuk, Amy Catanzano, BK Fischer, Chris Glomski, Alan Golding, Rob Halpern, Carla Harryman, Lyn Hejinian, Douglas Kearney, John Keene, Philip Metres, Laura Moriarty, Ladan Osman, Danielle Pafunda, Lily Robert-Foley, Kenyatta Rogers, Jennifer Scappettone, Evie Shockley, Divya Victor, Barrett Watten, Christine Wertheim, Keith Wilson, Ronaldo Wilson, Kate Zambreno, Kazim Ali and Jonathan Stalling. Red Rover series is curated by Laura Goldstein and Jennifer Karmin with special guest Laura Mullen.
The reading will take place on Saturday, Jan.11 at Outer Space Studio, 1474 N. Milwaukee Ave, (third floor walk up, not wheelchair accessible). There's a suggested donation of $4.
Photo courtesy of the Red Rover Series Facebook page.
— Eden Robins
Events Tue Jan 07 2014
Thursday, Jan. 9, the Chicago Publishers Resource Center (CHIPRC), 858 N. Ashland Ave., hosts the Wasted Pages Fiction Reading at 8pm.
This fall, CHIPRC held the inaugural Wasted Pages Writers' Workshop, a weekly meetup operating outside of the academic writing framework and allowing writers to work on their craft. Writers of all skill levels shared work and gave feedback. The evening will showcase the short fiction generated at the workshop.
Readers include Montserrat De Frutos, Adam Rohacs, Miden Wood (one of our own Book Club contributors), Khadi King, Ben Spies (publisher of No More Coffee zine), Ariane Kenney and Collin Brennan (poet and publisher of Continental Interlude zine).
Learn more about the Wasted Pages Writing Workshop and sign up for their any of their upcoming writing workshops on the CHIPRC website. The event is free, but donations are appreciated.
— John Wawrzaszek
Events Tue Jan 07 2014
You may know that the Chicago Writers Conference (CWC) happens annually each fall, but did you know it also holds Writers Night Out workshops throughout the year? Catch the latest, Query Letter 101, on Monday January 13, 6:30-9pm at Lillstreet Loft, 4437 N. Ravenswood Ave.
Literary Agent Joanna MacKenzie of Chicago's Browne & Miller Literary Associates and CWC Founder and Executive Director Mare Swallow will lead an hour-long discussion and ensuing Q&A covering the definition of a query letter, why it's necessary for getting published, how to write one effectively and what an agent sees when they read your letter. (A glimpse into an agent's brain? Not impossible after all!)
The $65 registration ($60 per if you register two folks at once) also includes snacks, a prize-drawing and plenty of opportunities to hobnob with fellow writers. (Take heed: according to QueryTracker, MacKenzie specializes in commercial fiction, family saga, middle grade, romance, women's fiction and young adult--those whose book falls into that genre may be extra-interested in attending.)
Future Writers Night Out workshops include: Writing Sex in Fiction on Monday, February 3, and Breaking into Self-Publishing on Monday, March 3. All workshops are held from 6:30-9pm at Lillstreet Lofts. To stay in the know, sign up for the CWC email newsletter.
— Lara Levitan
Events Mon Jan 06 2014
This Tuesday, Jan. 7, shake off Monday's hibernation with monthly live lit series Two Cookie Minimum as it returns to kick off 2014! In addition to the promised presence of cookies, Two Cookie always showcases talented emerging writers, and this month features readers guaranteed to wake you from your wintry slumbers:
Mason Johnson, author of Sad Robot Stories on CCLaP
Jason Fisk, author of self-published novel, Hank and Jules
Cassandra Greenwald, member of Chicago Woman in Publishing, runner, vegan and author
Kevin Budnik, cartoonist and author of collections Our Ever Improving Living Room and Dust Motes
and Jessica Scott, creative writing student at Columbia College Chicago.
On top of edible and literary goodies, a Two Cookie commemorative zine will be available at the event, composed of cartoonist Alex Nall's caricatures and doodles of readers and scenes depicted at Two Cookie Minimum readings of 2013. As usual, the reading will be held at The Hungry Brain (2319 W. Belmont Ave.) at 9pm. Both the event and zine are free, though donations are always appreciated!
— Miden Wood
Tonight! The Interview Show hosted by Mark Bazer featuring Robbie Fulks, Paul Kahan and Kate James at the Hideout, 6:30pm.
Saturday! The Fillet of Solo Fest presents The Best of Story Club at 7pm; and rapid-fire literary faceoff Write Club at Lifeline Theatre, 9pm.
Sunday! Here's the Story featuring Rahmaan Statik Barnes, Angela Oliver, Don Hall, Katie Liesener and Samantha Irby at Stage 773, 7:30pm potluck, 8pm show.
— Lara Levitan
Books Wed Jan 01 2014
In its mission statement, the website--and, more recently, e-book publishing company--Thought Catalog claims that "all thinking is relevant," which leads it to "a value-neutral editorial policy." What this vacuum of editorial values produces in practice is mostly insipid lists and first-person musings on such fresh subjects as the pitfalls of online dating and the plight of the American 22-year-old. But in a best-case scenario, such openness might instead result in something truly diverse--something more like the recent Thought Catalog Originals release Boys, an Anthology.
Of course, it helps that there's some actual vision at the helm here. (And proceeds from the book are being donated to the Lambda Literary Foundation, so no matter your feelings about Thought Catalog, you can plunk down your $5.99--or $11.69 for the paperback edition--in good conscience.) The collection was edited by Chicago writers-about-town Zach Stafford and Nico Lang, both of whom have long track records writing thoughtfully about LGBT issues on the personal, local, and national fronts. Broadening the cultural conception of what it is to be a young gay/queer/trans man is foremost on the book's agenda. "When we begin to ask where we are now and what our community really looks like, we must first address the way that community is represented--which is usually urban, middle- to-upper class and white," the editors write in a foreword.
Continue reading this entry »
— Daphne Sidor
Events Wed Jan 01 2014
Punk rock, zines, and karaoke: there are some mutual affinities here. They're open even (or especially) to the untrained, they celebrate vigor and enthusiasm more than technical skill, and they're tons of fun to make. Fitting, then, that Chicago Zine Fest's first fundraiser of the year will be a night of Punk Rock Karaoke, held at Beauty Bar (1444 W. Chicago) on Thursday, January 9, at 8pm. (If you're wondering how come Bikini Kill and Black Flag don't show up in the songbooks at Spyner's or Lincoln Karaoke, it's because Punk Rock Karaoke Chicago records many of its backing tracks from scratch.) There's a $5 cover, which goes directly to the Fest--slated for March 14-15 this year, if you've unwrapped your 2014 calendars already.
— Daphne Sidor
