Wednesday, June 22, 2022
By Donald G. Evans
From the Logan Center’s 9th floor, you can look out across Hyde Park all the way to the skyline, watch the horizon twinkle and roar and blush. But I wasn’t looking. I stationed myself in the small room outside the penthouse—a kind of vestibule with no windows—to greet guests as they arrived for the launch of Wherever I’m At: An Anthology of…
Wednesday, June 1, 2022
This conversation is clarified from the discussion that took place at the Fuller Award ceremony to Reginald Gibbons, which took place September 21, 2021 via Zoom.
Alex Kotlowitz: I wish I was seeing you in person—I miss our Furama days! I loved your talk. Everybody talks about your generosity—it was so "Reg"—and here we are to celebrate your writing and you spend fifteen minutes celebrating all…
Thursday, April 28, 2022
By TBD
Mike Royko died 25 years ago, on April 29, 1997.
It’s only right to start a remembrance of Mike Royko with a quick one-sentence lede. The swift jab of his lede was a hallmark we all appreciated, straight through to the knockout punch of his snappy conclusion.
Here’s an iconic example from October 19, 1971, on the imminent destruction of Adler &…
Saturday, April 9, 2022
I get a curious email from a man named Artis. He’s writing on behalf of the United States Postal Service. It isn’t to ask me to stop harassing the post office about delayed or lost packages, as I would have surmised. He’s inviting me to take part in the unveiling of the first-ever stamp featuring the work of Shel Silverstein.…
Sunday, April 3, 2022
April of this year, 2022, marks the 107th anniversary of the Chicago-based Society of Midland Authors, a lively group that still flourishes with nearly 400 paid members representing book authors in 12 States of the American Midland. SMA conducts monthly meetings and literary programs, normally at the Cliff Dwellers’ Club, high above the Art Institute, overlooking Grant Park and Lake…
Thursday, March 17, 2022
by Gint Aras
I have deep connections to Eastern Europe. I’m a dual citizen, qualified for Lithuanian citizenship because my parents and grandparents are displaced Lithuanians. During WWII, they fled Russian occupation and the strong likelihood of execution or deportation to Siberia, where Russia had set up labor and prison camps. My elders landed in Cicero, Illinois, whose manufacturing jobs, affordable housing and ethnic parishes…
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
Almost from the start of her education at Little Italy grade schools and then Jones College Prep, Ana Castillo refused to limit herself to one thing or another. Growing up in a politically-charged Chicago, Castillo witnessed the near-demolition of her family’s neighborhood, Martin Luther King, Jr. in Marquette Park, the Democratic Convention riots, and so much more that sparked her interest…
Thursday, February 17, 2022
I had the pleasure of having lunch with author Nancy Johnson at the Cliff Dwellers recently. Nancy is the featured author at the February Cliff Dwellers book club on Saturday, February 26, discussing her debut novel, The Kindest Lie. The book club is still meeting via Zoom, so since Nancy had never been to the club, I invited her…
Tuesday, February 1, 2022
Back in August of 2020, I tweeted: “Why aren’t more people reading TRUMBULL PARK by Frank London Brown? About black families integrating a housing project in the 1950s? It should be taught in high school. Taught in college. Made into a movie. It’s maybe the best Chicago novel ever written.” I had been reading the book as part of my…
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
Poems While You Wait is a small, quirky concern, a quiet presence at Chicago literary festivals, book fairs, theaters, flea markets, and other corridors in which small, intellecturally curious types cluster. At first, it strikes one as all concept: wow! clever!! do me!!! It's a bit like the boardwalk artists offering to draw your caricacture. Except this is literature. We…
Chicago Literary Hall of Fame
Email: Don Evans
4043 N. Ravenswood Ave., #222
Chicago, IL 60613
773.414.2603
