Past Events

Cyrus Colter's Short Stories Come to the Stage

Director Tim Rhoze and author Sandra Seaton bring to life the frustrations and triumphs of 1960s Black life on Chicago’s South Side, in a powerful adaptation of Cyrus  Colter’s prize-winning short stories.

The trilogy begins with A Chance Meeting, a two-person play about an accidental meeting between two African Americans who worked for the same wealthy white Chicago family. Their conflicting reminiscences reveal contrasting attitudes about race, class, sexuality and art. The trilogy continues with The Lookout, a solo play that takes place on a snowy Saturday afternoon on Woodlawn Avenue, where Mildred’s determination to spy on her friend’s exclusive bridge luncheon reveals attitudes about marriage, social status, envy, and interracial divisions. Finally, in Black For Dinner, Anita Hill’s obsession with her dinner party attire contrast with her husband’s worries over his health. In the process, the play explores mortality and the pettiness of surface realities.

This event is cosponsored by the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, the Guild Literary Complex, and Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre, and is held in conjunction with the Evanston Literary Festival.

Ron Rapoport, longtime sportswriter and author, will be the honored guest at a special Cliff Dwellers luncheon on May 4. Ron is in town from Los Angeles to give keynote remarks at Ring Lardner’s induction into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame later that evening at Newberry Library, and also to promote his new book, Ring Lardner’s Lost Journalism. A buffet lunch will be served at noon, and around 1 p.m. Ron will deliver a talk about Ring Lardner’s legendary literary and journalistic career. Volumes Bookcafé will be on hand to sell his new book, which the University of Nebraska Press is releasing later this month. Ron will happily sign copies of the book at the conclusion of his talk. 

The price for the luncheon and program is $30. Reservations are required, and can be made by emailing reservations@cliff-chicago.org, or calling 312.922.8080. 

Ron was a sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and the Los Angeles Daily News and was sports commentator for National Public Radio's "Weekend Edition Saturday." He also wrote about sports for the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press in New York and San Francisco. He is the recipient of the Ring Lardner Award for Excellence in Sports Journalism. The Lost Journalism of Ring Lardner, which contains the best of Lardner’s journalism from his earliest days at the South Bend Times through his years at the Chicago Tribune and his weekly column for the Bell Syndicate, which appeared in 150 newspapers and reached eight million readers. In these columns Lardner not only covered the great sporting events of the era—from Jack Dempsey’s fights to the World Series and even an America’s Cup—he also wrote about politics, war, and Prohibition, as well as parodies, poems, and penetrating observations on American life. 

Ring Lardner (March 6, 1885-Sept. 25, 1933) will be inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame on May 4, 2017 at Newberry Library's Ruggles Hall. Ron Rapoport, veteran sports journalist and editor of a the newly-released The Lost Journalism of Ring Lardner, will give the keynote address, and James Lardner (The Nation) will accept the statue on his grandfather’s behalf. Brian Bernardoni, Don DeGrazia, James Finn Garner, Christina Kahrl and Fred Mitchell will also speak. Guests are encouraged to arrive an hour before the program starts for refreshments and a chance to view the Lardner exhibit (including highlights from the Ring Lardner Papers). Sponsors for the event include the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, Newberry Library, Guild Literary Complex, Chicago Writers Association, Society for American Baseball Research—Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter, Chicago Baseball Museum and Bardball.

Free and open to the public.

One hundred years ago, Bohemian author and editor of the radical Masses magazine, Floyd Dell, began a passionate affair with a newcomer to Greenwich Village—the yet to be discovered “girl poet,” Edna St. Vincent Millay. In the years that followed, both Dell and Millay became symbols of early twentieth century feminism, rebellion, and literary freedom.

A century later, while poring over her grandfather Floyd’s papers at Chicago’s Newberry Library, Jerri Dell discovered hundreds of handwritten letters and an unpublished memoir about his love affair with Millay. Finding him as outlandish, entertaining, and insightful as he was when she knew him fifty years before, she chose to bring him and his poet lover back to life within the pages of Blood Too Bright. Admirers of Edna Millay—as well as literary and political history buffs, Bohemian Village enthusiasts, and readers interested in writers who famously influenced social norms—are sure to enjoy this eyewitness account of a fascinating woman and exceptional poet.

On Wednesday, April 26, Jerri Dell will discuss and read from her new book in the Newberry Library's Ruggles Hall as part of its Meet the Author series. The event starts at 6:30, and afterward Jerri will sign copies of the book in the Newberry lobby. Blood Too Bright will be available for purchase in the Newberry Bookstore. Your purchase helps support the Newberry Library and this program’s featured author.

This program, which is co-sponsored by the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, is free and open to the public; no registration required.

The fabulous private club, Cliff Dwellers, whose mission for more than a century has been to support Chicago’s cultural life, welcomes Chicago Literary Hall of Fame supporters for The Stories We Tell Ourselves: A Salon with Scott Turow.