Third Coast Review writer Elizabeth Niarchos Neukirch is stepping away from writing the Chicago Is Lit column, though she will continue to contribute to TCR. In the meantime, Lit editor Dan Kelly is taking up the reins. Please send press releases, newsletters, and other information about Chicago area and suburban literary events to dan@mrdankelly.com.
Chicago Literary Hall of Fame Seeking Entries to Its Fourth Annual Randall Albers Young Writers Award
The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame seeks submissions from high school student writers for the Randall Albers Young Writers Award. The award was named after Randall Albers, professor and Chair Emeritus of Fiction Writing at Columbia College Chicago, a long-time mentor to many young Chicago writers. All students in the Chicago area (this includes Cook, Will, DuPage, Kane, Lake, and McHenry counties) currently enrolled in grades 9 through 12, may enter their work for consideration. First ($300), second ($200), third ($150), and fourth ($100) prizes will be awarded in prose and poetry respectively. All winners will receive a certificate, a printed program featuring their winning submissions, and the opportunity to read their offerings at the awards ceremony, April 18, at the Harold Washington Library
Submissions are accepted until 5pm, Wednesday, February 17. Visit the site for more information.
Association of Writers & Writing Programs to Hold 2027 Conference in Chicago
The Association of Writers & Writing Programs will hold its annual conference in Chicago next year, March 17 through 20, 2027. The conference will be held at the McCormick Place Lakeside Center. The event also marks the 60th anniversary of the association, which was founded by “15 writers representing 13 creative writing programs,” making a mission to encourage creation of college-level creative writing programs, employment for writers, and more opportunities for young writers. By their account, AWP “supports creative writing programs at 370 colleges and universities, and over 11,000 individual members.”
Visit the AWP site for more information.
Online Discussion with Dominic A. Pacyga, Historian and Author of Clout City (University of Chicago Press)
On February 19, 12 noon, the Chicago Collections Consortium will host “A Discussion with Dominic A. Pacyga, Author of Clout City”—an online event. In Clout City, recently reviewed by Third Coast Review, Pacyga explores how Chicago’s history, culture, religious elements and melting pot of ethnicities created the city’s well-known political “machine.” A lifelong Chicagoan, Pacyga explains, in TCR reviewer Patrick T. Reardon’s words, “how the Democratic political machine came to be and to dominate the city for nearly a century because of its hyper-local focus as a neighborhood institution and because of its alliance with and similarity to the Catholic Church.”
Register for the online event here.
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