We told you Tuesday about local author Stuart Dybek's genius grant. Yesterday, he received the 2007 Rea Award for Short Story, which carries with it an extra $30,000 in change to add to his $500,000 MacArthur grant. The Rea Award, sponsored by the Dungannon Foundation, was started by Michael M. Rea in 1986 to be awarded to a living American or Canadian author who, according to their website, has made a "significant contribution in... more ›

One of our favorite things about the end of the year, besides pretty lights on houses, presents and actually having a date for New Years, is all the end of the year “best of” lists. Yesterday, the Tribune named the best books of 2006. You can check these out after the jump. There were a couple of books we agreed with and a couple we didn’t. We loved Sarah Gruen's Water for Elephants, even with... more ›