Folk(tale) Hero: An Interview with Author Edward McClelland
I wish I could describe Edward McClelland in legendary terms—it would be so damned apropos. I’d tell you he’s as tall as a redwood, as strong as a herd […]
Chicago Author’s 2013 Book About U.S. Nazis Makes Him a 2017 Media Expert
In 2013, Chicago author Arnie Bernstein published his fifth book. Swastika Nation: Fritz Kuhn and the Rise and Fall of the German-American Bund is the 1930s history of a small […]
Book Preview: Interview with Tina Schumann
Two Countries: US Daughters & Sons of Immigrant Parents is a new anthology published by Red Hen Press. We sat down with the editor of the collection Tina Schumann to […]
An Interview with Dan Dougherty of Beardo Fame
Our guest author is David Lanzafame. David is a freelance writer from Oak Forest and a graduate of Columbia College’s Journalism Masters program. He’s written for numerous local publications including […]
From Dropout to Director: MIT Media Lab’s Joi Ito on Interest-Driven Learning
Joi Ito often hears the same question: How did a two-time college dropout become the director of MIT’s Media Lab, one of the coolest jobs in media? By jumping from […]
A Three-Part Suite with Philip Glass at the Chicago Humanities Festival
When Philip Glass sat down at the piano bench at the Symphony Center’s Orchestra Hall, he began playing “Metamorphosis II.” His repetitive yet meditative playing placed the audience under his […]
Filmmaker Michel Gondry Discusses His New Movie Microbe & Gasoline
It is all about finding something magical in life, says filmmaker Michel Gondry, when asked to sum up what his films share in common. Gondry, indeed referred to as a […]
An Interview with Jessa Crispin, the Bookslut
Jessa Crispin, world traveler and occasional Chicago resident recently shuttered her website Bookslut, a review and interview publication that’s been running hot since 2002 (full disclosure: I wrote for Bookslut […]
Interview with Elizabeth Gomez: Retired Derby Queen, Storyteller and Comedian
On the morning of April 24, a Gmail notification appeared on my phone: “One new message from Juanna Rumbel.” Juanna Rumbel is the derby name of writer, storyteller, and stand-up comedian, […]
An Interview with Adam Morgan, founder of Chicago Review of Books
I recently had the opportunity to talk to book critic, author, and fellow Gapers Block alumnus, Adam Morgan, about his newly launched site, Chicago Review of Books. As a lit-loving […]
Poetry fest unleashes the political imaginations of Chicago’s youth
A select group of high school-aged Chicago lyricists will take the stage at Roosevelt University’s Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Pkwy., Saturday for the finals of the 2016 Louder Than […]
Beyond the Book Club: Chicago Authored Spotlights Local Lit
He has a book club. She has a book club. Here a book club, there a book club, everywhere a book club! This is only a slight exaggeration, as Chicago […]