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If you’re in or around Chicago, be advised that the Chicago Underground Library has, ahem, gone . . . overground (“Library of obcure Chicago literature opens,” by Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune): Underground Library co-founder and director Nell Taylor describes some of the collection’s more esoteric items: Poetry: Gwendolyn Brooks chapbooks ? “It’s a group of [...]

Though I try to keep an eye on the poetry beat, my efforts are woefully inadequate. Today I’ll do better. In Donna Seaman’s review of Kevin Coval’s Everyday People in the December 1 issue of Booklist, it caught my eye when Donna noted that the white, Jewish, suburban-raised hip-hop poet’s works contain “beef jerky and sandalwood incense.” And if [...]

  Since I’m surrounded by crime fiction writers, I guess the moment is right to reveal that a piece of my own crime fiction, the short story, “Untitled,” was the second runner-up in Time Out Chicago‘s “Chicago Crime Writers Competition.” The first round was judged by Random House/Vintage Books editorial staff, and Michael Harvey (The Fifth Floor, [...]

There are a lot of crap book trailers out there, but this one works really well. Yes, I may be partial because it’s set in Chicago, but no, I don’t know the author, even though I’ve just discovered that I’ll be reading with him at the Book Cellar on Wednesday, September 17. I had mixed [...]

Well, this is cool. I’m pleased to find myself in very good company–alongside Booklist associate editor Donna Seaman and Booklist reviewer Mark Eleveld, to name two–in the NewCity Lit 50, published to coincide with the Chicago Tribune Printers Row Book Fair. And speaking of Printers Row, if you’re in Chicago and you’re planning to attend, you can [...]

Tax Increment Financing sounds like a guaranteed sleep aid–but once most taxpayers learn what it is, they’re likely to be awake all night, burning with rage at both ends. (It’s a particularly contentious topic here in Chicago.) In an interview on Fresh Air, Free Lunch author David Cay Johnson explains “How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense [...]

Say hello to The Long Goodbye, Chicago (“Crime thriller ‘The Long Goodbye’ selected for ‘One Book, One Chicago,’ by Deanese Williams-Harris, Chicago Tribune): “The Long Goodbye” by crime-genre master Raymond Chandler is the 14th and latest book selected for the Chicago Public Library’s “One Book, One Chicago” program. Twice a year, in the spring and [...]

The radio show of Booklist‘s own Donna Seaman, Open Books, is now airing on Chicago’s NPR affiliate, WBEZ, on select Sunday nights. Be sure to tune in this Sunday, February 17, at 9 p.m. (Central) as she talks with author Nancy Goldstein about her book Jackie Ormes: The First African American Woman Cartoonist–just reviewed in [...]

When we read in public, we give passersby a glimpse into our souls. (Knowing that, of course, many among us choose their public reading accordingly–don’t tell me you’re enduring the wrist strain of reading Russian classics on the 144 bus because you never read anything lighter.) But for those of us who don’t always choose [...]

Check out the critical conversation in the new Time Out Chicago (“Critical Condition,” by Kris Vire), featuring Booklist‘s very own “books critic,” Donna Seaman (the accidental title makes it seem as if we also have food, TV, and automotive critics). An excerpt: Kris Vire: Is passion more important than education? Donna Seaman: Initially, but passion [...]