Past Events

Nighthawks

Sunday, August 1, 2021
6 p.m.

Oak Park Brewing Company
155 S. Oak Park Ave.
Oak Park, IL 60302

Edward Hopper’s painting Nighthawks, which hangs in the Art Institute, has been the subject of much literary exploration. Stuart Dybek and Joyce Carol Oates are among the authors who’ve used the painting in their own fictional explorations. Hopper himself was inspired, according to some reliable accounts, to create the masterpiece after…

Chicago Voices: Summer Fiction Workshop

Thursday, June 24 to Thursday, July 22
4-5 p.m. CST

Via Zoom
Registration Required

Jerakah Greene, recent recipient of the Pen America 2021 Emerging Voices Fellowships, will lead this summer's Chicago Literary Hall of Fame virtual creative writing workshop for high school students. "Chicago Voices" is free, but registration is required. Throughout this one-month workshop, high school-aged students from across…

“The Lookout”

Saturday, June 12, 2021
7 p.m. CDT

via Zoom

Cyrus Colter’s 1970 short story “The Lookout,” in which aspiring socialite Mildred stalks a Woodlawn street to witness the goings on at a party to which she was not invited, was dramatized in a special theatrical reading. Mardra Thomas directed and starred in a staged reading of Sandra Seaton’s adaptation. Eric May…

Summer (2021) Fit/Lit

Friday, June 4 through Saturday, September 4
Evenings and Weekends, Mostly

Discord Channel Link
Registration is free and open to the public; donations to help fund the program are welcome.

Chicago Literary Hall of Fame Fit/Lit returns for the summer, and the new session is open to all ages. What It Is: A community of Chicago book lovers reading Chicago literature and plotting excursions based upon local writers and their books. The idea is to read about and see more of Chicago to deepen our appreciation of our city’s…

Inside for Indies: Live on Independent Bookstore Day

Saturday, April 24, 2021
7 p.m.

via Zoom

Independent Bookstore Day, a national celebration that usually features scavenger hunts, giveaways, frosted goodies, and so forth and so on, will, like everything else, be subdued in 2021 because of the corona virus. Although many stores are open, there are severe limits on the number of people that can gather safely, and hours of operation.…

Chicago (Baseball) Classics

Thursday, April 1, 2021
7-8 p.m.

Zoom
Free and Open to the Public
Advanced Registration Required

Our themed series of Chicago Classics continues, with a proper celebration of the start (hopefully) of a new baseball season. Our beloved baseball teams have inspired a whole canon of great literature, from memoirs to short stories to detective novels to plays like Bleacher Bums. An all-star lineup of readers will share some of their favorite…

Live — Fuller Award Presentation to Sandra Cisneros

March 13, 2021
7pm CST

Live Event

Renowned writer Sandra Cisneros receives the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame's Fuller Award for lifetime achievement.

Sandra Cisneros, the poet, short story writer, novelist, essayist, performer, and artist whose work beautifully and profoundly explores working class lives and landscapes, will receive the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame’s Fuller Award for lifetime achievement. If the Zoom webinar reaches capacity and you cannot join, you can view the full program on YouTube here.

View or Download program pdf. Carlos Cumpián will serve as the master of ceremonies for the evening, and a lineup of speakers that includes Jorge Valdivia and Richard Bray, will give short tributes. Donna Seaman will interview Sandra after her acceptance speech, with audience members invited to submit questions. More speakers and details…

Fuller Award: Sandra Cisneros

Saturday, March 13, 2021
7-8:15 p.m.

Via Zoom
Free and Open to the Public
Register in Advance

Sandra Cisneros, the poet, short story writer, novelist, essayist, performer, and artist whose work beautifully and profoundly explores working class lives and landscapes, will receive the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame’s Fuller Award for lifetime achievement. The event is free and open to the public, but you must register in advance. A native…

Chicago (Love) Classics

Saturday, February 13, 2021
7-8 p.m.

Zoom
Register in advance.

In the first of several themed Chicago Classics this year, a group of extraordinary writers will read to us about love. Chicago natives Jacquelyn Mitchard, Peter Orner, and Dipika Mukherjee lead a lineup filled with authors with much to say on the subject. Each will treat us to a sampling of one of her or his own books as well as a favorite Chicago…

Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder: A Chicago Literary Cocktails Fundraiser

Friday, January 29, 2021
7-9 p.m.

Zoom

This interactive seminar is open to the public, with a suggested donation of $25 for those who want to contribute. We want you to attend whether you decide to donate or not. Register through Eventbrite. For Sterling North and Carl Kroch's recipe collection, So Red the Nose, Oak Park native Ernest Hemingway contributed a cocktail named for his…