Did you hear? This weekend the Printers Row Lit Fest is taking over Dearborn from Congress to Polk streets. Chicago’s annual literary festival includes panel discussions, booths, author discussions and signings, events for kids, cooking demonstrations, and tons of other programming. Kind of surprisingly, a slew of other literary events are happening this weekend and aren’t happening at the Lit Fest. Here are our recommended picks: more ›

A number of the most important figures in the world graphic novels (a more artsy and less-juvenile way of saying “comic books”) are hometown boys. Dan Clowes – author of the Eightball series and the Ghost World comic and screenplay – and Chris Ware – who has a weekly strip in the Reader and just edited McSweeney’s comics-only issue (oh, Dave Eggers, you so crazy!) – are two of the most prominent examples. And while their contemporary Adrian Tomine doesn’t hail from the shores of Lake Michigan – he foolishly spends his time on the coasts instead – at least he’ll be in town tonight promoting his latest collection, the odds-and-ends anthology Scrapbook. more ›