by Donald G. Evans Photo by AJ Kane.  When I arrived at Rita Dragonette’s North Lake Shore Drive condominium last February, I found her anxious. The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame’s first in-person cocktail fundraiser started in an hour, and in total about 40 people were expected.…

read more

Michael Burke and Robert Charles are quintessential community builders. If you don’t know them, you know people who do. You see them at a wide variety of Chicago cultural events – theater, music, dance, art, sports, and other fun happenings. They’re staples at nonprofit…

read more

by Donald G. Evans Chicago provides a fertile landscape for literature, perhaps even more in the 1920s than now. The considerable body of literature set in that era includes Beer Wars, flappers, jazz and blues, and all other celebrated aspects of that post-War, pre-Depression historical time. But…

read more

by Donald G. Evans Happy holidays. January 1 is a somewhat arbitrary marking point—we don’t really stop there and begin again here. We just keep going. But everything does slow down around this time of the year. “Hello, I am currently away until…” “administrative…

read more

by Donald G. Evans Scott Turow speaks in fully formed, piercing sentences, so much so that if his off-the-cuff remarks were transcribed, they would read like polished prose. (Photo by David Joel) I’ve seen him deliver truly delightful and smart lectures, pitch perfect down to deliberate…

read more

On Saturday and Sunday, September 9 and 10, Printers Row becomes all about literature. The free outdoor gathering, now in its 38th year, features author and book events in multiple locations starting at 10 a.m. each morning and going until 6 p.m. Practically the entire neighborhood is blocked to…

read more

    by Jesse Raber Chicago’s literary history, according to most accounts, begins around 1893. The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame’s earliest writers, such as Jane Addams, Henry Blake Fuller, and Carl Sandburg, started publishing around that time, with Fuller’s 1893 novel…

read more

by Donald G. Evans   Writers, contrary to Hollywood stereotypes, do not materialize in a magical poof, or rise to prominence on the wings of talent alone. Becoming a serious, productive writer requires labor, learning, grit, determination. And support. There is perhaps no apprenticeship longer…

read more

The Book Cellar   [June 12, 2004—Present] Owner: Suzy Takacs Location: 4736 N. Lincoln Avenue Neighborhood: Lincoln Square Independent Bookstore Day Specials: Booksellers tote bags for sale; big balloon photo op; drawings for discounts; free popcorn.     by Donald G. Evans Books…

read more