Kevin Coval: Chicago’s unofficial poet laureate makes no small plans

He’s been called Chicago’s poet laureate and for twenty years, Kevin Coval has been one of the loudest and most distinct voices in Chicago — through…

Michael Bloomfield: The Rise and Fall of an American Guitar Hero

  A book review by James Clarke.   “Chicago musicians played the blues and all the other cats were imitators.” Michael Bloomfield       I…

Chicago Blues Odyssey: Alan Harper’s Waiting for Buddy Guy

In 1979, twenty year old Alan Harper packed his bags, hopped a transatlantic flight from London to the US and by way of Newark, Manhattan and…

Reporter Mary Wisniewski continues the revival of Nelson Algren with a new biography

Chicago Tribune reporter Mary Wisniewski first discovered Nelson Algren when she was in college in search of a book about the seedy side of life. A…

37 years later, a new book tries to set the record straight on Disco Demolition

On July 12, 1979, an event billed as “Teen Night” took place in between two games of a double-header at Comiskey Park, home of the Chicago…

Alex Kotlowitz, Chicago’s most important storyteller

Alex Kotlowitz may be the most important storyteller in Chicago today. Best known for his 1991 best-selling There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two…

Magpies, Accordions and Outlaw Pianos: James Fearnley’s Memoir of a Pogue

For nearly thirty years, an unlikely candidate has appeared amongst favorite and greatest Christmas song lists.  Pristine and profane, The Pogues’ classic ballad “Fairytale of New…

Renee Rosen – one of Chicago’s finest novelists

Born and raised in Ohio, Renee Rosen has been a resident of Chicago for the last 30 years. If that wasn’t enough to convince someone that…

Assassination Theater Kills It!

        A review by Bob Chiarito.  The assassination of President John F. Kennedy may be the most studied crime in American history. Yet 52…

Awards and acclaim ensure Cristina Henríquez’s ‘Unknown Americans’ is forever known

Chicago-area writer Cristina Henríquez is a busy woman. The mother of two young children, she has been actively promoting her critically acclaimed novel “The Book of Unknown…