Past Events

Part of the larger Chicago Black Renaissance, the literary movement started in the 1930s and continued to foster important African-America authors through the 1950s. On this bus tour, we’ll visit some of the foundational cultural institutions of the movement (George Cleveland Hall Branch of the Chicago Public Library, South Side Community Art Center, The Chicago Defender) as well as the homes of iconic authors (Richard Wright, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lorraine Hansberry). Along the way, we’ll explore how these and other authors used their personal experiences and observations of the city to create literature that…

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The Caxton Club's newly-released Chicago By the Book maps out a history of our city through some of its most important literature. For this panel discussion, which includes moderator Donald G. Evans, author Sandi Wisenberg, Newberry Library's Director of Chicago Studies Liesl Olson, University of Chicago scholar Kenneth Warren, and Nelson Algren biographer Mary Wisniewski, we're going to focus on entry #61: Illinois: A Descriptive and Historical Guide. The Illinois unit of the Federal Writers Project's employed some of Chicago's finest literary minds, most before they were known to the general public. Richard…

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The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame invites middle school students to attend a poetry workshop led by Jerikah Greene at Little Black Pearl's Carver 47 Cafe. Inspired by the life and work of Gwendolyn Brooks, this workshop provides a unique opportunity for students to express themselves through poetry. It is the first in a series of three youth writing workshops this spring, but the only available to middle schoolers. Registration is required, and will be limited to 15 students. Register early to secure a place in the workshop.

Students will:

• Compose their own poems.

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Our Great Chicago Books Club on Sunday, March 10, will feature Rosellen Brown’s The Lake on Fire, the author’s first fictional foray into the Chicago landscape after nearly a quarter century living in the city. We'll have the event at Ronne Hartfield’s beautiful Hyde Park condominium, not far from the setting of Rosellen’s story, which takes place around the Columbian Exposition.

The evening begins with a cocktails at five p.m., followed by a sit-down dinner from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Dessert will be served during the book discussion, which begins at 6:30 p.m.

Registration is limited to ten for…

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The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, The Phantom Collective, Snickersnee Press, and the Newberry Library’s program in Chicago Studies, in collaboration with the Shakespeare Project of Chicago, present a morning devoted to playwright Kenneth Goodman (1883-1918) and his legacy.

Florice Whyte Kovan will introduce Goodman and his importance to the Chicago literary scene of the early twentieth century. The Shakespeare Project of Chicago, directed by Peter Garino, and featuring actors Deborah Clifton, John Kishline, Daniel Millhouse, Grace Smith, and Randy Steinmeyer, will stage a theatrical reading…

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The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame will induct Henry Blake Fuller, Marita Bonner, and Robert Sengstacke Abbott as its newest class on Nov. 16. In large part because of Fuller's importance to the club, which got its name from his novel The Cliff-Dwellers, this event will be held at Cliff Dwellers. Though this is a private club, the event is open to the public. Reservations are required. Cost of dinner is $30; to reseve a seat for the program only costs $10. There is a cash bar beginning at 4:30 p.m.; dinner is served at…

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Almost right from that moment--the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month--when the shooting stopped, American writers set out to capture the essence of their experiences with that war and that peace. War and peace, along with love and death, constitute the most enduring and important topics of literary exploration, here and across the globe. How American writers have grappled with such profound and disturbing themes speaks much to our national consciousness, and also the diversity of our experiences. War and peace manifest themselves differently to different people. On the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, an extraordinary…

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Stuart Dybek, considered among the best short story writers of his generation and also acclaimed for his poetry, will be honored with a Fuller Award for lifetime achievement at the Poetry Foundation on Tuesday, Oct. 30, from 7--9:30 p.m. Dybek grew up in Chicago’s Little Village and has written extensively about Chicago, particularly in his brilliant short story collections A Childhood and Other Neighborhoods, The Coast of Chicago, Paper Lantern: Love Stories, and Ecstatic Cahoots: Fifty Short Stories. His novel-in-stories, I Sailed with Magellan, as well as his two poetry collections, Brass Knuckles and Streets in their Own…

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It's the twentieth anniversary of Don De Grazia's American Skin, and the novel is at least as relevant today as when it first came out. The story of teenager Alex Verdi's move from a downstate farmhouse to the big city harkens back to great Chicago realists like Theodore Dreiser, Sherwood Anderson, and Floyd Dell. The gritty 80s landscape has, to some extent, left Nelson Algren's Neon Wilderness behind, but in other ways it's updated the clouds in this seemingly glorious skyline. Alex's struggle to find himself, notably in a community of skinheads, leads to a brilliant, inspiring exploration…

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On Sept. 15, 2018, the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame will host a fundraiser in the fabulous penthouse party room of the 1700 Building. All proceeds from the evening will go to fund programming throughout the year, including our end-of-the-year induction ceremony and our next Fuller Award for lifetime achievement.

The main activities for the evening are Trivia and our Silent Auction, but it is also an evening of food, drink, music, conversation, and a spectacular lake view

Teams of five to seven players will compete for prizes and boasting rights. The cost is $30 per person and…

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