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,…

Man, What a Year!

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

By Donald G. Evans Every year of every life takes on its own texture. Even in the most routine of years, there is crazy. Even in the most crazy of years, there is routine. Sometimes, our meticulous plans just don’t work out at all; other times, our half-baked ideas come to fruition. We try to…

Lake Geneva Getaway Package Being Auctioned Off on Thursday, Dec. 11

Wednesday, December 9, 2020

by Ana Carolina Jorge According to the Lake Geneva Visitor Center, other than the requirement to wear masks, it is basically business as usual around town. That’s great news for those of us tempted to bid on the Lake Geneva Getaway that will be auctioned off live at the Chicago Literary…

Online Auction Set for Thursday, Dec. 10

Thursday, November 12, 2020

by Donald G. Evans On Thursday, Dec. 10 of this year, the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame will host a virtual auction—our only major fundraiser of 2020. It is, at once, a tried-and-true little road trip, and a drive into completely unknown terrain. Since 2010, our first year, CLHOF has hosted…

Chris Green and Other Chicago Poets Celebrate and Discuss American Gun on Friday, November 20th, at 6:00 P.M.

Saturday, October 31, 2020

By Kelci Dean Friday, November 20 at 6:30 p.m. Big Shoulders Books will be hosting an official launch party for their recently published poem American Gun. No registration is necessary; the event will be held online over Zoom meetings. The Zoom link and meeting ID can be found at the bottom…

Free Stream Goodman Theatre’s Death of a Salesman (1999) Oct. 21-25

Monday, October 19, 2020

By Donald G. Evans It was in March that the emails starting trickling in: from Shakespeare Theatre Company, Oak Park Festival Theatre, First Folio, and others from whom I’d purchased tickets and eagerly awaited the scheduled live performances. The news was bad: there would be no live…

Dance, Romance, Culture: Women Writers on the Essay’s Power

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Wednesday, October 14, 2020 6-7 p.m. Via YouTube Live Sponsored by the Chicago Public Library Chicago author Michele Morano, whose new "memoir in essays" Like Love was recently released, will join a discussion on the essay via the Chicago Public Library's…