Writer Molly Backes will be celebrating the release of her young adult novel The Princesses of Iowa this Friday, May 18, at 7pm at StoryStudio's Chicago location. In addition to her work as a writer and as a teacher at the North side school, Backes works as its assistant director. The event billed as both celebration and networking opportunity, is open to the public and free of charge.
Backes is gearing up for the approaching chaos of her book tour, but managed to set aside time for us to discuss the task of writing a young adult novel. She spoke to the particular challenge of depicting the in between place that we all occupy at one time or another in which we figure out that adults aren't always right and begin to discover who we want to become.
"It's about my protagonist going from being a young woman shaped by society's idea of perfection and, by the end, she's leaning to listen to her own voice," Backes said. "That's the crux of the teenage experience."
Unlike some writers whose work is reformulated and marketed towards a young adult audience, Backes, a former middle school teacher, set out to appeal to the junior high crowd. While teaching 7th and 8th grade English in rural New Mexico, Backes became uniquely attuned to the complicated dynamics that define teenage life.
"I wanted to write something challenging, literary, and realistic," Backes said. "As a teacher I saw all these girls who woke up at 5am to curl their hair to look perfect. I got really interested in the idea of how we forget that there's something under the surface. No one is perceiving anyone else correctly; that's how high school feels."
When the story begins we find Paige, presumably living a life that's as close to perfection as one in his or her formative years could possibly imagine. A "could have been so much worse" car accident following a night of partying ends all of this, however, and leaves her shunned from the social scene she'd been so successful at navigating. Left without options, Paige locates comfort and a newfound interest in figuring herself out apart from the social hierarchy in her creative writing class.
"As I was trying to publish it everyone was saying, 'why do I care about a spoiled princess?'" Backes said. "But that's the point. It's interesting that people can't get passed their prejudices. So much of how we behave towards people is based on who we think they are, and when they don't live up, we're uncomfortable with that to varying degrees."
The book, published by Candlewick Press, is set in Iowa, the site of Backes's student teaching career, as well as her college state. She wrote it while isolated in New Mexico, still adjusting to the move.
"I felt homesick," Backes said. "I grew up in the Midwest and part of me always wants to write about the place I love. Having gone to college in Iowa, it's where I feel like I really came of age and figured out who I was. In retrospect, it's very appropriate that I wrote a coming of age story set there."
StoryStudio is located at 4043 N. Ravenswood Ave., #222.
Author and illustrator Maurice Sendak died in the early morning today. He was 83. Well known for his work Where the Wild Things Are, Sendak had a distinct style that many children came to know and love. His work had resonance that spanned over four decades.
Last night authors Etgar Keret and Nathan Englander allowed the audience at Chicago Sinai Congregation Temple in on a conversation between friends. It was precisely the sort of conversation you'd imagine--casual, fluid, at once philosophical and effortless. The two know one another well, and it showed.
The conversation began on the subject of Keret's lost luggage, and the generally grueling book tour schedule. He joked that he began bribing his driver, agreeing to get in the car only in exchange for a pair of clean underwear, and in some cases, socks, too.
The Chicago Humanities Festival organized the event, which was a stop on a long line of lectures Keret is giving around the country to promote his sixth bestselling story collection, Suddenly a Knock at the Door, translated into English by Englander. In typical Keret fashion many of the stories are a blip in word count terms, coming out to less than three small pages. In impact, they are small worlds, containing characters as real and human as you or me. The audience was privileged to learn how it all comes together.
"For me writing is a place of ultimate freedom," Keret said. "When I write I don't have any idea what I'm writing. It's like trust falls--couples go to counseling and do those trust falls. I close my eyes and fall back and I hope the story will catch me, and when it works, what comes out is me."
For those of us with aspirations of becoming famous enough that our work might one day be translated, this method is a bit overwhelming. It hinges on one's natural abilities and doesn't bode well for what can be learned in class rooms. But that's his point. We all need to let loose a little and just write. Englander was as much in awe as Keret's fans despite his own success as a short story writer, novelist, and playwright.
"The stories I love most are the ones I can't understand why they're working for me, but when I finish I'm filled with such a deep and beautiful sadness, or belief, or love," Englander said of Keret's work. "The rules in his works are impeccable; the emotions are real. It's almost like hyperrealism to me. You can see yourself in the character, just maybe in another dimension."
Keret discussed the way he became a writer, or more accurately realized he could be one while doing his compulsory service in Israeli army in his early twenties. While in training he read Kurt Vonnegut and Franz Kafka, the writers he is often compared to today.
"All these soldiers were much better people, better soldiers, than me," Keret said. "But Slaughterhouse 5 made me think, there are worse than me. I always thought writers have answers, but really they are the hysterical people who say, 'holy shit, what should we do?' That's me."
The act of translation was discussed at length as both Englander and Keret have taken on the project of translating one another's work. Both were equally honored to work with the other.
"The act of translating is unbelievably moving to me," Englander said. "That you can take every word in someone's book and replace it with another and still laugh in the same spot is the most beautiful thing about fiction."
Keret addressed the subject, too, and got laughs from the audience when he noted that in his opinion Englander is not a typical translator, in that he "upgrades" the work.
"The word mind doesn't exists in Hebrew," Keret said. "You have head and brain, but no mind. So the act of translation is reinventing the story and a good translator will ask you, 'in English this word has three meanings, how did you mean it?' It's like having juice in a Hebrew glass and you spill it in another glass. It's the same juice."
To learn about future Chicago Humanities Festival programming check out the event calendar, here.
Historian and Rolling Stone magazine columnist Rick Perlstein will discuss his upcoming book, The Invisible Bridge: The 1970s and the Rise of Ronald Reagan, on Tuesday, March 13 at 7pm at the Cliff Dwellers Club (200 S. Michigan Ave.).
The event, part of the Society of Midland Authors programming, will start off at 6pm with a social hour, with complimentary snacks and a cash bar. You don't need to register and admission is free, but the Society will appreciate donations to defray the cost of programs.
David Ansell author of County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital will be at Revolution Books. David Ansell is on the Board of Directors for the Cook County Health System, and was once training as a doctor at Cook County Hospital where he was exposed to the injustices of racial inequality of the uninsured. Ansell will discuss his novel about what he and other doctors witnessed at Cook County Hospital.
Listen to David Ansell on Thursday, Feb 16 @ 7pm at Revolution Books, 1103 N. Ashland Ave.
Activist Jay Michaelson, author of God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality will be reading and discussing his novel. Founder of Nehirim: GLBT Jewish Culture and Spirituality, Michaelson was a professor at Yale University, and is an advocate for LGBT equality in religion.
Join Jay Michaelson in a discussion and reading on Thursday, Feb 16 @ 7pm at the Center on Halsted, Hoover-Leppen Theatre, 3656 N. Halsted St. There will be a $5 suggested donation.
Last night at the Women & Children First bookstore, Chinelo Okparanta and Nami Mun read from their work, and conducted a question & answer session afterward. Despite the wintery weather, a good sized crowd made it out to hear the authors read. The authors were reading to promote famed British magazine Granta. Chinelo Okparanta, a graduate from the Iowa Writers Workshop, and a professor at Iowa University, read from her story "America" in Granta's 2012 Winter edition titled "Exit Strategies." Nami Mun, a professor at Columbia College in Chicago, who's story, "The Anniversary" is in Granta's 2011 Spring issue titled, "Aliens." Nami decided to read from her 2008 novel Miles from Nowhere from a chapter called "At the Employment Agency."
Chinelo Okparanta
Nami Mun
Aspiring writers from Columbia College, where Nami Mun is a professor, and a few from Iowa, where Chinelo Okparanta teaches at Iowa University, asked the authors questions pertaining to plot line, inspiration, being put into a category, and how to know where to end a novel. When answering the questions, both authors showed their difference in style, and writing process. Chinelo Okparanta starts with a location first, while Nami Mun starts with the characters. But, the commonality they share is their enjoyment for writing, which is what keeps them writing.
Poet Vittorio Carli reads from his book, A Passion For Apathy, Saturday, February 11th, at Quimbys. Carli's book experiments with genre varying from beat to the surreal. Carli is joined by Vince Bruckert, Dave Gecic, Lynn Fitzgerald, Bradley Lastname, and others.
Go to Quimby's Bookstore at 7pm, located at 1854 W. North Ave.
Iraqi novelist, and instructor at De Paul University, Mahmoud Saeed will be reading from his latest novel, The World Through the Eyes of Angels at The Book Cellar. Mahmoud Saeed has written over 20 novels, among them, Saddam City.
Join Mahmoud Saeed at The Book Cellar, 4736-38 N. Lincoln Ave, Wednesday, Feb 8 @ 7pm.
The University of Chicago's Poem Present Reading and Lecture Series is welcoming poet Ben Lerner. The university familiarizes students, and the community with poets and their work. Since 2001 they have been giving the students the chance to direct questions to the poets regarding their work, as well as the contemporary poetry scene.
Ben Lerner will be sharing his poetry and conducting a question and answer session. This event is free and is open to the general public. It will be held on Thursday, Jan. 26 at 4:30pm at the University of Chicago in Rosenwald Hall 405, 1101 E. 58th St.
Marcus Sakey isn't just an award-winning crime novelist anymore. He's now also host of a new TV show, "Hidden City," debuting Dec. 6 on the Travel Channel. Here's a preview:
The first episode focuses, naturally, on Sakey's home town of Chicago. You can see more sample clips from the premier on the show's video page on TravelChannel.com.
Claire: The Universe In Miniature In Miniature
by Patrick Sommerville Emily: Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman
by Sam Wasson John W: A Visit from the Goon Squad
by Jennifer Egan Rebecca: Naked at the Feast: The Biography of Josephine Baker
by Lynn Haney Megan: Frank Sinatra Has a Cold, and Other Essays
by Gay Talese Veronica: The Help
by Kathryn Stockett
Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital
vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality will be reading and discussing his novel. Founder of 
Iraqi novelist, and instructor at De Paul University, 
The University of Chicago's 
