by Michael Antman The Chicago Writers Association (CWA) Book of the Year awards ceremony, held on January 18 at the Warwick Allerton Hotel’s Tip Top Tap Ballroom, honored a highly eclectic group of books, ranging widely in subject matter and setting from a remote farm in rural Illinois to the…

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by Allison Manley One of my personal goals for 2025 is to attend more lit events. I usually only attend a handful a year, but that’s not for lack of opportunity. Each month in Chicago, there are dozens of events, including author events and book launches, literary lectures, live lit and…

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by Randall Albers “An honest woman is a provocation to the meanness of the world.”—Dorothy Allison, “Spirit Healing,” Chicago Literary Hall of Fame Fuller Award Tribute to Sandra Cisneros Gut punch. Word came in a text from writer and longtime friend Megan Stielstra.…

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by Donald G. Evans A year is a super long time that is gone in a snap. You do, do, do, do some more…and then it’s done. Before we move on, we want to reflect on what 2024 meant to the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame and those we serve. This past year was our 15th as an organization,…

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by Richae Mastrolonardo  When I log on to Zoom, it’s a Saturday morning, and I’m instantly greeted by enthusiastic questions from Mark Fishbein: “Tell me about you, what are you studying?” In an online world, it can feel hard to forge any kind of real connection, but…

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by Donald G. Evans Director Rana Segal’s documentary The Light of Truth: Richard Hunt’s Monument to Ida B. Wells will be screened on Sunday, October 27 as part of the 60th Chicago International Film Festival. The 66-minute film will be shown at the Chicago History Museum, starting at…

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by Rosellen Brown It isn’t easy to make a mark in the world by being a good guy, a friend, an acute observer more kind than critical. Those qualities don’t sound dramatic enough to constitute a career but Alex K, soft-spoken and content to stay out of the limelight, has brought us a…

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by Miles Harvey What Alex Kotlowitz remembers about his first apartment in Chicago is lugging dozens of cinderblocks up three flights of stairs to build makeshift bookshelves for his growing library. He remembers the downstairs neighbor who ran an informal bike-repair shop out of his first-floor…

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by Michael Antman “Where are Elmer, Herman, Bert, Tom and Charley, The weak of will, the strong of arm, the clown, the boozer, the fighter? All, all are sleeping on the hill. “One passed in a fever, One was burned in a mine, One was killed in a brawl,  One died in a jail,  One…

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