A Look Ahead at Chicago Lit: March

A Look Ahead at Chicago Lit: March

by Allison Manley

February was busy, both for me as well as the broader lit community in Chicago. We saw not one, not two, but THREE Chicagoans whose short story collections were longlisted for the Story Prize (Amina Gautier for The Best That You Can Do, Abby Geni for The Body Farm, and Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Ananda Lima). Newberryfest at The Newberry Library returned after its debut last year, and I hope it returns this summer. Dandelion Bookshop opened in Oak Park. Here at the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, we’re still recovering from the festivities at our fundraising party, The Man with the Golden Amaretto. As for me, I attended the release of Nancy Johnson’s second book People of Means at Semicolon Books. Not only did I get to hear an insightful and tender conversation between Johnson and Three Girls from Bronzeville author Dawn Turner, but I also experienced a lit-lover rite of passage: I saw, and ate a piece of, a big cake decorated to look like a book cover. I am crossing my fingers that Semicolon gets to build the cafe space of their dreams so they can host more book launches (and serve giant book cakes) in the future. Based on the status of their recent Kickstarter campaign, it looks hopeful. Read more about it here. 

Literary powerhouses dominate the lit calendar in March. On Wednesday, March 5, attend Writing the Impossible Thing with Natasha Trethewey, Cristina Rivera Garza and Rebecca Makkai. The event is hosted by Pulitzer on the Road in collaboration with StoryStudio Chicago and the Chopin Theater. Trethewey, a local and two-term Poet Laureate of the United States, won the Pulitzer in Poetry for Native Guar. Makkai, the artistic director for StoryStudio Chicago, was a finalist in Fiction for The Great Believers. Rivera Garza won in the Memoir category for Liliana’s Invincible Summer. I know Rivera Garza best for her short and impossible-to-categorize novel The Iliac Crest, and the English-language translation of her 2007 novel Death Takes Me was just released this week. See these three literary stars align on Wednesday, March 5 at 6:30 p.m. at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 West Division Street. Get your ticket here.

Donna Seaman shares more about her relationship to books and reading in her next author event for River of Books: A Life in Reading. Join her on Thursday, March 6 at 6 p.m. (in person at the Harold Washington Library and in Zoom). Seaman is a fixture in the literary scene in Chicago, but her influence extends to the rest of the country; she’s the Editor in Chief for Adult Books at Booklist, which publishes reviews for thousands of books each year. (I wouldn’t be surprised if Seaman herself has written thousands of reviews since she began her career at Booklist in 1990.) She’ll be in conversation with Alex Kotlowitz, one of our 2024 Fuller Award winners. I recommend attending in-person at the Harold Washington Library Cindy Pritzker Auditorium (400 S. State Street) if you can; the event will be streamed live on the Chicago Public Library Youtube channel if you prefer to join remotely. Learn more about the event here, and prep for it by reading this delightful interview with Seaman in Newcity Lit here (she gives us a shout-out!).

 On Wednesday, March 26 at 7:30 p.m. at the Athenaeum Theatre (2936 N Southport Avenue), Chicago journalist Sasha-Ann Simons joins Roxane Gay to discuss The Portable Feminist Reader. Simons hosts Reset, a mainstay of WBEZ’s local programming. Gay, the accomplished multi–genre writer, edited this impressive collection of essays and works spanning centuries of feminist thought. I don’t know if I could choose my favorite of Gay’s works: the audiobook of her powerful work Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, or the 2-minute personalized Cameo video from Gay that my sister got me for my birthday in 2020. Tickets are $50 (including a copy of the book) and can be purchased here.

Scott Jacobs, the late great playwright, dramatized A Child of the Century, the memoir of Ben Hecht (Chicago Literary Hall of Fame Inductee, 2013). On Saturday, March 1 at 1 p.m., stop by the Newberry Library (60 West Walton Street), to attend the reading of this adaptation. The event is free; learn more here and get your ticket here. 

StoryStudio Chicago features mystery writing as part of its monthly Genre Series. Many mystery writers call Chicago home, including Tracy Clark; Sara Paretsky (Fuller Award, 2019); Scott Turow (Fuller Award, 2023); and one of my personal favorites, Gillian Flynn. As part of this month’s events, Chicago writers Susanna Calkins and Mia P. Manansala participate on a panel with non-local mystery writers John Copenhaver and moderator Elise Hart Kipness. Hear the conversation on Wednesday, March 5 at 7 p.m. in Zoom. Most events in the Genre Series cost anywhere from $10 to $300 dollars, but the Genre Series: Mystery Edition Panel is free to attend. Grab your tickets here.

Speaking of mystery - JoAnn Fastoff celebrates the release of her latest book The Fury: A Howard Watson Intrigue. The FBI Special Agent is back on the case in the 8th installment of the Howard Watson Intrigue series, which expertly weaves high-stakes criminal investigations with Watson’s personal narrative. You have two opportunities to meet her and pick up a copy of her book: On Saturday March 1 at 3 p.m., join Fastoff at the Whitney Young Library, 415 E. 79th Street. On Sunday March 2 at 5 p.m., meet her at M Lounge, 1520 South Wabash Avenue. Learn more here. 

In other book launch news, Cynthia Pelayo celebrates her new novel Vanishing Daughters this month. On Tuesday, March 11 at 6:30 p.m., join Pelayo at City Lit Books, 2523 N Kedzie Boulevard, where she’ll be in conversation with a fellow Chicagoan and horror writer, Christina Henry. Learn more here.

Illinois Humanities hosts events all throughout Illinois, and I was glad to find some Chicago-based events in the near future. Part of the Illinois Humanities offerings includes Road Scholars, which allows members of the public to book speakers and presenters on a range of humanities-based topics. As part of the series, writer and performer Ada Cheng presents Our Words, Our Truths: Storytelling for Collective Identity and Community Engagement on Saturday, March 15, 10 a.m. at the Rizal Center, 1332 W Irving Park Road. It’s a presentation on Cheng’s journey as an Asian American immigrant storyteller as well as a workshop to explore the use of storytelling as a community engagement tool. Learn more here. 

It’s your last opportunity to see the Theaster Gates: When Clouds Roll Away: Reflection and Restoration from the Johnson Archive at the Rebuild Foundation. The exhibit’s scope and scale are massive: using space on all three floors of the Stony Island Arts Bank, the exhibit is “reimagining the formerly abandoned South Side financial institution as the headquarters for a fictive, contemporary Black publishing company in the spirit of the Johnson Publishing legacy.” You may be most familiar with the magazines Ebony and Jet, which covers news, beauty, and cultural perspectives for Black readers - the magazines were founded by and formerly owned by the publishing company. For the exhibition, Gates drew inspiration from and used the Johnson Publishing Company archives, which includes the company’s “library, ephemera, periodicals, furniture, inventory, and architectural fragments.” The exhibit closes Saturday, March 15; catch this monumental work at the Rebuild Foundation within the Stony Island Arts Bank at 6760 S Stony Island Avenue, Chicago. Plan your visit to the Rebuild Foundation here. 

On Wednesday, March 5 at 6 p.m., learn about the history of the musical Suffs, the Tony award-winning musical about suffragettes and the fight for women’s right to vote. This online event features the National Park Service Mellon Fellow Caitlyn Jones, producer Rachel Sussman, actress Nikki M. James, and historians Cathleen Cahill and Michelle Duster. Duster’s work “has focused on highlighting, celebrating, and documenting the contributions African Americans and women have made to the United States,” and this includes the contributions of her great grandmother, journalist and activist Ida B. Wells (Chicago Literary Hall of Fame Inductee, 2011). Learn more about the event here.

Let’s Just Write! The Chicago Writers Association (CWA) Conference takes place March 21-23 at the Warwick Allerton Hotel, 701 North Michigan Avenue. The conference has a packed schedule with a reception, dinner, presenters, and master classes. The conference also offers pitch sessions with literary agents, and the CWA graciously created a tips document to help you pitch your work to the agents in attendance. Accomplished journalist Alex Kotlowitz (Fuller Award, 2024) delivers the keynote address; stick around for the Saturday dinner and reception to chat with acclaimed poet and fiction writer Stuart Dybek (Fuller Award, 2018). Grab your tickets here. 

I don’t want to summarize all the live lit events happening in Chicago this month - there are dozens of live lit organizations and groups in the city - but there are some I want to highlight in particular. Indie publisher General Things Press hosts a monthly series, “General Readings,” which is currently open to reader submissions for their 2025 events. (I found out about General Readings from their ad in the newly-launched Gab Magazine, a Chicago-based magazine which will publish its second issue sometime this spring.) After the readings, the writers participate in a panel to talk about their work. Organizer Evan Fusco is planning a joint General Readings/birthday event this month; look for details soon on the General Things Press Instagram page here.

On Tuesday, March 18, read other people’s poems at the aptly-named Other People's Poems. There’s a lot to appreciate about this monthly event - not only does it give you a chance to hear poetry from any time and any author, but readers are required to recite their poems. No reading from screens or paper - readers have to memorize the work. There are different times you can stop by depending on how much you want to socialize, prep, and engage: Readings start at 8 p.m., but you can show up at 7 p.m. for mingling, or take advantage of happy hour specials as early at 4 p.m. at the Consignment Lounge, 3520 West Diversey Avenue. More info here. 

And over at the Chicago Poetry Center, check out their Blue Hour Open Mic and Reading on Wednesday, March 19. (Leave it to the poets to come up with an evocative image for the name of their reading series!) I like this event because they combine an open-mic style format with established writers. Not only that, but an hour before the main event, there’s a generative writing workshop - the workshop is required for prospective open mic readers. Chicago poet Marty McConnell leads this monthly series. For March’s iteration, you can put your name in a hat for a chance to read alongside Sarah Ghazal Ali and R.A. Villanueva. Take your chances and enjoy some excellent poetry on Wednesday, March 19 at Haymarket House, 800 W. Buena Avenue. To attend the workshop, arrive by 6 p.m.; if you’re just interested in the readings, arrive by 7:30 p.m. Read about the event, review the structure, and access registration links here.

There's plenty to do outside the Hall of Fame, but don't forget our Events page as well. This month, we're running our South Side Literary Bus Tour on Saturday, March 29 at 10 a.m. - learn more and grab your ticket here before we sell out. And check out our workshop "It Happened in Chicago: A Workshop for Chicago Writers and Readers." For six weeks starting Tuesday, March 18, attend this workshop specifically for stories set in Chicago. Don't fall victim to the common mistakes people make when writing about the City of Big Shoulders. Learn more about this workshop here. 

There’s just too many Chicago lit events - it's difficult to choose among the dozens of readings, lectures, launches, and celebrations. It’s a good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless. If this month’s list doesn’t inspire you, you can check out the resources on our website to find local bookstores, live lit, our authors index, and more.

Allison Manley writes short stories and book reviews, and works at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has been published in The Chicago Reader, Third Coast Review, the Southern Review of Books, Oyez Review, Not Deer Magazine, and The Gateway Review. She is an Associate Board member of the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. 

If you know of any literary events you’d like us to feature for April or future months, please send a note to newswire@chicagoliteraryhof.org.