Wednesday, November 19
Poetry and Contratiempo magazines present a bilingual reading featuring the poetry of Roberto Bolaño (introduced and read by Jorge Frisancho), short fiction by Raul Dorantes, and poems by Leila Wilson and Jorge Sánchez
7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Café Efebos
1640 s Blue Island Ave.
(in Pilsen, between 16th & 18th)
admission and magazines are free
Thursday November 20
Playwright Mickle Maher and Adam Rosenberg and Amy Stern, students from the MFA in Writing program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, will read at 7pm at Powell’s Bookstore, located at 2850 N. Lincoln. Call (773) 248-1444
Mickle Maher is a co-founder of Chicago’s Theater Oobleck and the author of numerous plays, including An Apology for the Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening, and The Hunchback Variations. Recent plays include Spirits to Enforce (Theater Oobleck), Cyrano (translator) and The Cabinet (Redmoon Theater), and Lady Madeline (Steppenwolf). His children’s book, Master Stitchum and the Moon, is published by Bollix Books. His plays are published by Hope and Nonthings. He is currently working on a libretto about Don Quixote.
Starting last Friday
Cut to the Quick: Splayed Verbiage (A festival of 10-minute plays with no time to waste! ) The show runs Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 2:00pm November 16 - December 21.
FEATURING
Yes to Everything by Philip Dawkins, directed by Lavina Jadhwani
78 by Laurel Haines, directed by Gina LoPiccolo
The New Lonely by Andrew Hinderaker, directed by Vance Smith
Space by Laura Jacqmin, directed by Megan Schuchman
One Lucky Duck by Matthew Swaye, directed by Gina LoPiccolo
The Best Christmas Ever by Amy Whittenberger, directed by Kyra Lewandowski
Not That (But Something Else) by Brian Golden, directed by Chelsea Marcantel
Agony in the Garden by Crystal Skillman, directed by Dan Foss
O’Dark Thirty by Aaron Carter, directed by Daniel Caffrey
Ethnic Cleansing Day by Brett Neveu, directed by Eric Ziegenhagen
Slave Day by Wilderness Sarchild, directed by Mignon McPherson-Nance
Black and White by Mark Young, directed by Anna C. Bahow
Click here for more information.
Saturday, November 22
The first Illinois statewide write-in meet up will be from 1-4pm. Information on the location can be found here.
Sandwiches and chips will be available starting at 12:15. It’s a chance to chat before the write-in starts. You can find more information and RSVP here.
Also Saturday, November 22
Green Lantern Press will be holding it’s first ever fundraiser from noon until 1am. The event features a silent auction, crepe breakfast (noon until 1:30pm, cocktail hour (6-9pm, and live music (9pm until1am) with Joan of Arc, The Lanterns, and Lowland.
Sunday, November 25th
Come join the School of the Art Institute’s Text Off the Page class on from 12-1 at MC 118 for a free lunch. This will be an opportunity to see the work to be shown at the Sullivan Galleries and potentially respond in a reading/performance event. For more information, see the school’s website
This is a very exciting week.
First off, writer or no, Hallowe’en is this Friday. Dress up and candy? It’s every writer’s dream. Hallowe’en events continue all weekend long.
I probably won’t be trick or treating this year because if the fates align, I’m going to be indulging my recent obsession with rocking out by seeing Million Dollar Quartet, which has closed at the Goodman Theatre and opens Friday at the Apollo Theatre. Readers of the Trib are giving the show rave reviews.
Saturday, I’m back on the job. Anne Carson, whose Eros The Bittersweet just confused and disturbed my freshman comp students, is reading at the Harold Washington Library as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival. I just learned that tickets are free to students and educators (with a $5 total processing fee), so I stocked up.
Saturday evening, I’m back to being music-obsessed. Blackheart Record’s Girl in a Coma is playing at the Bottom Lounge. They’re my new favorite band since I saw them open for Tegan and Sarah on October 9th.
Of course, there’s one really important event this week that I haven’t mentioned. Perhaps you’ve heard: Tuesday is election day. Spend it glued to your TV, at a rally or party, or ignore all of the hub-bub, but for the love of my 401(k), please vote.
Get all of your spazziness worked out this weekend, because next month is going to be a beast. Stay tuned for Friday’s story starter!
Mark your calendars for Friday, November 14 – it’s Graduate Open Studio Night at the School of the Art Institute.
Every fall semester, the school opens up the graduate studios to the public. You’re invited to check out some of the work being produced at the school. The writing department is also hosting a reading of its students on the 15th floor of the MacLean Center (with an excellent view of the lake), and Ice Box Press, the new chapbook press housed within the MFAW program, will be launching its first two editions, featuring work by poets Kristiana Colon and Ryan Pendell.
The MacLean Center is located at 112 S. Michigan. Stop by between 5:00 and 9:30 p.m. on the 14th.
For the week October 14-21
This Sunday, on October 19th at 4 p.m., Allison Nichol will be reading from her wonderful debut novel Contents Under Pressure at the Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, 1127 W. Granville, in the lovely Edgewater neighborhood.
On Monday, October 20th poet Li-Young Lee10/20 6:30 will be reading at the SAIC Ballroom at 112 S. Michigan, courtesy of the School of the Art Institute and the Poetry Center of Chicago.
The 20th also marks the beginning of Creative Nonfiction Week at Columbia College Chicago which runs through the 25th. Highlights include readings by Johnathan Kozol, Julia Keller, & Phillip Lopate. Details at the event website.
Also on Monday at 6pm, a free, hour-long author interview with Egyptian Alaa Al Aswany, the biggest-selling author in the Arabic language, will be conducted by Victoria Lautman about Al Aswany’s highly anticipated new book, Chicago: A Novel. The interview will be taped for WFMT in the Cindy Pritzker Auditorium (Lower Level) at the Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State Street.
Finally, On Tuesday, October 21st, poet laureate Louise Gluck will read at 6pm, also at the Harold Washington Library. Read more about Gluck here.
StoryStudio student Jenene Ravesloot has just published her first books of poetry. “Loot: Stolen Memories & Tales Out of School” features dream-like memories of childhood, poignant observations, and a layering of images that immerse readers into the work.
Jenene has been working with StoryStudio instructor Paige Warren on many of the poems in the collection; Paige describes Jenene’s work as “at once familiar and foreign.”
“Loot” is available to buy through the Book Cellar in Lincoln Square. Here’s one of the poems to whet your curiosity:
1
It suits you
to be arbitrary
to paint the day
with inky fingers
make a blank
of things.
2
Has the moon
taught you Mandarin?
Now you speak in
lacquered tones
fold the night around you
like a Coromandel screen.
3
Your eyes are wild cranes.
Your arms reach out
and feather
hesitate and fly
silently you glide
into sky.
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