Events Wed Feb 22 2012
If you haven't heard of the Association of Writers & Writers Programs (AWP), then you're going to get a big surprise as people from all over flood the city next week for the 2012 AWP annual conference. Celebrating authors, teachers, writing programs, literary centers, and small press publishers, the conference has hundreds of presentations that range from readings and lectures to dances and informal gatherings. Registration for all AWP site events is now closed; however, there are plenty of literary off-site events to attend. Check out the off-site event schedule and start freeing up your calendar!
— Emily Wong /
Events Mon Feb 20 2012
Logan Square coffee house Nothin' Less Cafe hosts an open mic for poets and acoustic musicians, this Wednesday and every Wednesday. Jose Isael Gonzalez and resident poet Luis Tubens host. Nothin' Less Cafe, 2642 N. Milwaukee Ave., February 22, 8:30-10pm. Donations accepted.
— Rebecca Hyland /
Events Mon Feb 20 2012
This Thursday at The Hideout is the Chicago release party for Baratunde Thurston's How To Be Black. Part memoir, part tongue-in-cheek self-help guide, Publisher's Weekly calls it "a hilarious blend of razor-sharp satire and memoir;" Fast Company calls it "an assault on nostalgia - a satirical, biographical attack on the idea that 'blackness' or any label should be derived from historical description." Thurston inhabited many worlds growing up. He attended D.C.'s prestigious Sidwell Friends School (whose alumnae include Chelsea Clinton and the Obama girls) while at home he watched his friends turn from delivering Domino's pizza to dealing drugs almost overnight. He later attended Harvard and is now the Onion's digital director, a standup comedian and the co-founder of Jack and Jill Politics. The Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, Thursday, February 24 at 7pm. $8 cover.
— Rebecca Hyland /
Events Mon Feb 20 2012
On Thursday, February 23rd, the Read/Write Library Chicago is hosting it's first Open Mic Reading (hopefully an ongoing event)! Reader slot will be signed up on a first-come-first-serve basis. Prose, Essays, Poetry and the like are welcome. Time per reader is 7 minutes. The event begins at 7pm and will go through 9:30pm, depending on how many readers come out (that means you!). Light refreshments will be provided. The event is free so stop by the Read/Write Library's new space at 914 N. California.
— John Wawrzaszek /
Events Mon Feb 20 2012
Photo by Juliana Sohn
On Monday, Feb. 27 at 6pm, Nathan Englander (internationally acclaimed author of The Ministry of Special Cases) will discusses his latest collection of short stories, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, at the Harold Washington Library Center (400 S. State St.).
"These eight stories display Englander grappling with the great questions of modern life, with a command of language and the imagination that place him at the forefront of contemporary American fiction."
The event is free and no registration is required, but keep in mind that seating is on a first come, first served basis.
— Megan E. Doherty /
Events Fri Feb 17 2012
It's been in the making for a year, and you'll probably want to see it. And hear it.
FJORDS, a multi-media collaboration between a poet, a composer, musicians and puppet artists, will premiere at Chicago's Poetry Foundation (61 W. Superior St.) on Thursday, Feb. 23 at 7pm — and tickets are only $10. The show will only be here four nights, so don't wait too long.
Kyle Vegter, the composer, tells the story of how this meeting of the minds — and mediums — came to be.
"It was basically a series of things all coming together at exactly the right time." Vegter happened to pick up a copy of one of Portland transplant, poet Zach Schomburg's, books: From the Fjords. "His poems really resonated with me. They are emotionally devastating in a beautiful and nuanced way, he fits so much into a paragraph of poetry. I couldn't put his book down."
It was already in his mind to do something with these poems when he was contacted by Ellen McSweeney, a violinist for the Chicago Q Ensemble, about collaborating with him and Manual Cinema — who, if you haven't heard, are the masterminds behind last summer's ADA/AVA, a shadow puppet show unlike anything you've ever seen.
That is, of course, until now.
The path to the finished FJORDS project turned out to be a reverse of how Vegter and Manual Cinema have collaborated in the past. This time, instead of crafting the music to accompany an already-made visual performance, the puppets came last.
Vegter wrote a series of short musical pieces for the Q Ensemble, each inspired by one of Schomburg's poems — 15 all told. The recorded music was then passed along to the puppeteers, who, on the basis of both the poems and the music based on them, created "the visual world."
By "picking out motifs and creating character maps," the puppeteers — through overhead projectors, human silhouette and manipulated video — tell the story of "a young man through haunting surrealist landscapes as he struggles with work, family, love, and what would kill him."
Each show will begin with Schomburg, who will read through the adapted poems before the cinematic shadow puppetry begins — not your standard poetry-reading fare. "The visual, musical, and experiential approaches to poetry combined to make something wholly new — something that went far beyond the typical poetry reading," said Stephanie M. Hlywak, media director for the Poetry Foundation. "These kind of creative partnerships — ones in which artists forge bold new interpretations of poetry — reinvigorate the art form and help bring it to new audiences."
If you can't wait to get one at the show, you can pre-order Schomburg's book FJORDS, which won't be officially released until March 1 at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference. Get the hardcover and you'll also get a CD featuring music from the performance.
— Megan E. Doherty /
Tonight! It's the four-year anniversary of The Interview Show at the Hideout with director Greg Scott and WBEZ's Steve Edwards.
Saturday! Bright 'n early, Marty McMorrow discusses his memoir Phoenix to L.A. in a WLUW broadcast from the Heartland Cafe.
Saturday! Author Kimberly Springer (Living for the Revolution: Black Feminist Organiaations, 1968-1980) gives a lecture on "When Identities Collide: Sexuality and Black Feminism" at the Chicago History Museum
Saturday! Naked Girls Reading at the Everleigh Social Club.
Sunday! Author Afternoons at the Beverly Arts Center
featuring Michelle Rodriguez (Opera Macabre).
Sunday! Denese Neu signs Chicago by the Pint: A Craft Beer History of the Windy City at the Lincoln Park Barnes and Noble.
— Rose Lannin /
Events Wed Feb 15 2012
Starting at 10am this Friday, February 17, Chicago high school students who made it to the Regional Poetry Out Loud finals will compete for a chance to go all the way to the National finals in Washington DC in May. The event is free and will be held at the Poetry Foundation (61 W Superior). It is also open to the public, with standby tickets opening up an hour before the start time. Come support the students as they flex their mental memorization and recitation muscles!
— Emily Wong /
Events Tue Feb 14 2012
If your Mr. Darcy let you down this Valentine's Day, take some solace in this Book Cellar's Jane Austen-themed evening this Thursday. The evening will feature Karen Doornebos (Definitely Not Mr. Darcy) and Mona Scheuermann (Reading Jane Austen). The Book Cellar, 4736 N. Lincoln Ave., Thursday, February 16 at 7pm.
— Rebecca Hyland /
Events Tue Feb 14 2012
This Thursday, poets Jessica Savitz (Hunting Is Painting) and Catherine Theis (The Fraud of Good Sleep) read at Women and Children First. Both are Iowa Writers' Workshop alums; Theis' book won the 2011 Cranshaw Prize and Savitz won the Madeleine P. Plonsker Emerging Writer's Residency Prize. Women and Children First, 5233 N. Clark, Thursday, February 16 at 7:30pm.
— Rebecca Hyland /
Author Tue Feb 14 2012
David Ansell author of County: Life, Death and
Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital will be at Revolution Books. David Ansell is on the Board of Directors for the Cook County Health System, and was once training as a doctor at Cook County Hospital where he was exposed to the injustices of racial inequality of the uninsured. Ansell will discuss his novel about what he and other doctors witnessed at Cook County Hospital.
Listen to David Ansell on Thursday, Feb 16 @ 7pm at Revolution Books, 1103 N. Ashland Ave.
— Julie Zarlenga /
Author Tue Feb 14 2012
Activist Jay Michaelson, author of God
vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality will be reading and discussing his novel. Founder of Nehirim: GLBT Jewish Culture and Spirituality, Michaelson was a professor at Yale University, and is an advocate for LGBT equality in religion.
Join Jay Michaelson in a discussion and reading on Thursday, Feb 16 @ 7pm at the Center on Halsted, Hoover-Leppen Theatre, 3656 N. Halsted St. There will be a $5 suggested donation.
— Julie Zarlenga /
Try a heartfelt love poem. These poems range in topic from classic and romantic to erotic and break-up. You're sure to find something to please your Valentine!
— Emily Wong /
Events Sun Feb 12 2012
Wanna spice up your Monday? Check out the annual Erotica Exotica Poetica open mic at Weeds (1555 N. Dayton) tomorrow, February 13, starting at 10pm. Gregorio Gomez hosts as poets bring their "most sexiest, seductive, sensual, and orgasmic poetry" to read to (and turn on) the audience. Admission and parking are free, but it's 21+ only! (IDs will be checked.)
— Emily Wong /
Events Sat Feb 11 2012
Last night at the Women & Children First bookstore, Chinelo Okparanta and Nami Mun read from their work, and conducted a question & answer session afterward. Despite the wintery weather, a good sized crowd made it out to hear the authors read. The authors were reading to promote famed British magazine Granta. Chinelo Okparanta, a graduate from the Iowa Writers Workshop, and a professor at Iowa University, read from her story "America" in Granta's 2012 Winter edition titled "Exit Strategies." Nami Mun, a professor at Columbia College in Chicago, who's story, "The Anniversary" is in Granta's 2011 Spring issue titled, "Aliens." Nami decided to read from her 2008 novel Miles from Nowhere from a chapter called "At the Employment Agency."
Chinelo Okparanta
Nami Mun
Aspiring writers from Columbia College, where Nami Mun is a professor, and a few from Iowa, where Chinelo Okparanta teaches at Iowa University, asked the authors questions pertaining to plot line, inspiration, being put into a category, and how to know where to end a novel. When answering the questions, both authors showed their difference in style, and writing process. Chinelo Okparanta starts with a location first, while Nami Mun starts with the characters. But, the commonality they share is their enjoyment for writing, which is what keeps them writing.
— Julie Zarlenga /
