A Look Ahead at Chicago Lit: September

by Allison Manley

September offers the big kahuna, the top dog, the creme de la creme of lit events in Chicago: Printer's Row Lit Fest. Printer's Row Lit Fest is the annual festival that celebrates authors, writing, bookstores, and community organizations that help promote literature in Chicago. The festival’s backbone is the arrangement of vendor tents and tables along Dearborn Street (between W Polk S and Ida B Wells Drive). This year's programming – curated by Amy Danzer, the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame President of the Board of Directors – boasts dozens of events, including readings, panels, and discussions. Sandra Cisneros (Fuller Award, 2021) is this year's festival headliner, but all events and programming take place September 6 and Sunday, September 7 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Learn more about the festival here, and plan out your days by reviewing the list of events here. Stop by our table if you are in the area - we will share a tent with a few other friends to the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. 

Lollapalooza has afterparties; Printer’s Row Lit Fest is no different. You can join the Printer’s Row Offsite Reading Marathon on Friday, September 5 and celebrate Chicago’s many independent presses. The Whistler hosts this event (2421 N Milwaukee Ave); doors open at 6 p.m. and readings take place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. At least a dozen presses will be in attendance (hence ‘marathon’ in the event title). Stay for drinks, and don’t forget to tip your servers; The Whistler hosts a lot of lit events and they are a friend to Chicago’s literary community. Learn more about the event and the featured presses here. You can also check out the Printer’s Row After Party on Sunday, September 7 at Rainbo Club (1150 N Damen Ave) starting 7 p.m., with a live DJ set from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. The event says “No Readings,” but I can’t guarantee that attendees will not quote literature, talk about their books, or invite you to other live lit events. Learn more about the not-official official afterparty on the Maudlin House Instagram page here. 

There is, of course, more to September than Printer’s Row Lit Fest. Are you a nonprofit worker? A fan of arts administrators? A Virgo? If any of those apply to you, you might enjoy some of September’s events featuring nonprofit and arts administrators in Chicago. John Palfrey, the President of Chicago’s genius-grant awarding MacArthur Foundation, will be in conversation with University of Zurich scholar Eszter Hargittai to discuss their new book Wired Wisdom: How to Age Better Online. Wired Wisdom focuses specifically on internet users above the age of 60 and explores how this generation’s relationship to technology is misunderstood. Hear Palfrey and Hargittai on Thursday, September 4 at 6 p.m. at Bookends and Beginnings (1620 Orrington Ave, Evanston, 60201). Learn more about the Wired Wisdom event here.

You should also stop by Seminar Co-op Bookstores to welcome Kevin Bendle, the new Executive Director of the bookstores, on Saturday, September 20. They haven’t picked the times Bendle will be at each location, but check out their website for updates. You should plan to stop by the bookstore on Saturday, September 20 anyway to attend their event about the book The Wrigley Building: The Making of an Icon. (Unlike the Willis Sears Tower, the official name of the Wrigley Building can never change.) Multiple people who contributed to the book will be there: author Robert Sharoff, photographer William Zbaren, and book commentary writer Tim Samuelson. Learn more about The Wrigley Building event here (5751 S Woodlawn Ave). Seminary is unique in Chicago’s bookstore landscape: it’s one of only a handful of nonprofit bookstores in the city. Not only that, but their booksellers are unionized!  

And speaking of unions: If you did not get a chance to learn about labor history this past Labor Day, it’s not too late! Visit Slant of Light Books (1543 N Wells St) on Tuesday, September 9 at 6:30 p.m. for History in Action: Joe Rulli on Chicago’s Labor Movements and Struggles. Joe Rulli is a dedicated labor educator, and he’s published multiple books specifically about the fight for labor rights in Chicago. This topic is particularly relevant right now – not just in Chicago, but across the U.S. Labor Day ended, but we fight for our rights daily. Learn more and get tickets here. 

Illinois Humanities continues its work bringing quality humanities programming to people throughout the Land of Lincoln. Celebrate their accomplishments and their 50 years of work at Momentum: the Illinois Humanities 50th Anniversary Gala. On Friday, September 19 at 6 p.m., learn more about their important work and mingle with other fans of the humanities at this inspiring event with cocktails, dinner, and dancing. I’ve featured some of the events produced by this great organization, and they are truly making humanities programming accessible to everyone in Illinois. The gala takes place at Morgan Manufacturing (401 N Morgan St), and it’s not too late to sponsor the event. Learn more about the gala and purchase tickets here.

The Newberry Library also provides a lot of public humanities events, both online and in-person in their gorgeous Chicago building. Part of their programming includes the The Pattis Family Foundation Chicago Book Award, which is “is presented annually to a book that transforms public understanding of Chicago, its history, or its people.” This year’s recipient is Scott W. Berg, whose book The Burning of the World: The Great Chicago Fire and the War for a City’s Soul explores the destruction and rebuilding of the October 1871 catastrophe. Learn more about Berg’s work on Saturday, September 20 at 1 p.m. Register for the in-person event at the Newberry Library (60 W Walton St) here; register for the online event here. 

In 2015, we inducted playwright Theodore Ward into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. Last month, the Court Theatre (5535 S Ellis Ave) ran a reading series featuring two Ward plays, Our Lan' and Just Before Day. Those events quickly sold out, but you have a chance to catch Ward's work in the Court Theatre's upcoming production of Big White Fog. Big White Fog was inspired by Ward's deep and personal disillusionment with the United States: "...we as a people were engulfed by a pack of lies, surrounded, in fact, by one big white fog through which we could see no light anywhere." The show begins Friday, September 12 and runs through October 12. Learn more about Big White Fog at the Court Theatre and purchase tickets here. 

I’ve been eagerly anticipating the return of the Chicago Art Book Fair, which features art book vendors. Yes, most books are works of art, but art books explore bookmaking as an art form itself, including books that experiment with binding, materials, and how the book object is read. The fair was last held in 2019 in the weirdly-endearing Chicago Athletic Association pool room. This year, they are launching Preface, a kind of anticipatory weekend ahead of the full programming relaunch in 2026. Preface takes place Saturday, September 20 and Sunday, September 21 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 400 N Peoria. Preface is, in turn, part of Chicago Exhibition Weekend. Learn more about Preface and the triumphant return of the Chicago Art Book Fair here. 

If you’re more interested in a low-key, conversation-based event, then attend brunch at Da Book Joint   (6900 S Stony Island Ave) on Saturday, September 13 from 12 to 2 p.m. Eat brunch, have a mimosa, and enjoy conversation with other book lovers at Once Upon a Brunch. Stick around for a double feature – at 3 p.m., Da Book Joint hosts a book launch for Daddy, You’ve Shown Me: An Ode to My Father, Hope Kyle’s tender picture book that celebrates fathers and the other paternal figures who care for their family members. Learn about both events on Da Book Joint’s events page here.

Are there events we should feature for October? Feel free to let us know at newswire@chicagoliteraryhof.org. Thanks for reading – we’ll see you at these events in September. 

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.