Anchoring Our Communities

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

by Jarrett Neal Coming out of the destabilization and devastation of the pandemic, worldwide protests over systemic racism, and an increasingly histrionic political climate, place has never meant so much to our daily lives. Our connections to our communities as well as the histories and inhabitants…

Independent Bookstore Day, April 24, 2021

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Inside for Indies: Live on Independent Bookstore Day 11 a.m. Until Noon via Zoom Free and Open to the Public Registration Required by Donald G. Evans This pandemic. We're more than a year into it and I think we all feel like we deserve some kind of return to normal. We miss all those things,…

Five Chicago Baseball Books I Really Like

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

By Donald G. Evans I have not read nearly all of the Chicago books on baseball. In fact, I own several dozen more than I’ve read, always looking for an opening to move one or more of those onto my nightstand. The insincerity of any “best” list is the insinuation that the…

Our Cultural Community in Full Force

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

by Donald G. Evans In a ceremony on Saturday, March 13, from 7-8 p.m., Sandra Cisneros is to be honored with the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame’s Fuller Award for lifetime achievement. It is CLHOF’s highest honor for a living writer. Sandra joins an illustrious list of honorees that…

In Memoriam: Harry Mark Petrakis (June 5, 1923 – February 2, 2021)

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

By Donald G. Evans Harry Mark Petrakis, one of Chicago’s great literary figures, died, unofficially of old age, last Tuesday, Feb. 2, near his longtime home in Chestertown, Indiana. He was 97 years old. Harry gained a reputation as a foremost Greek-American author, but anybody who's read…

Chicago (Love) Classics

Monday, February 1, 2021

By Donald G. Evans Chicago (Love) Classics Saturday, Feb. 13 7-8 p.m. Free and Open to the Public Advanced Registration Required Valentine’s Day isn’t for everybody, and, now, thanks to our ongoing health pandemic, it’s not really for anybody. There will be no fancy restaurants, no…

Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Saturday, January 30, 2021

by Donald G. Evans Strong associations between drinking and writing, for better or worse, continue to be the stuff of legend, especially in Chicago. Hard drinking literary heroes like Ernest Hemingway (not to mention Terkel and Royko etc. and etc.) earn much of the attention, though more polite…

“Today A Reader, Tomorrow A Leader”

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

By Donald G. Evans What: 14th Annual MLK Literacy Festival When: 12:30-4 p.m. on Monday, January 18. Where: Facebook Live / Zoom Register at: https://linktr.ee/Projectyes The very fact that Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a federal holiday offers a profound civics lesson for all of us…

Chicago Writers Association’s 10th Annual Book of the Year Awards

Sunday, January 10, 2021

By Randy Richardson On January 16th the Chicago Writers Association will host its 10th annual Book of the Year Awards. This year the celebration will be virtual. For the past nine years CWA’s book awards were held at The Book Cellar, the charming little bookstore in the heart of Lincoln…

Patricia McNair’s Responsible Adults Launches Sunday, Jan. 3

Sunday, January 3, 2021

By Donald G. Evans Life is hard in author Patricia Ann McNair’s new collection, Responsible Adults. It is hard in ways inherited, and hard in ways self-inflicted, and hard in ways merely unlucky. But what’s telling about these uncommonly good stories is that that difficulty is assumed,…