National Poetry Month is coming to a close, but there are still some choice events left for the poetry enthusiast to enjoy. On Wednesday, April 25: Gregg Shapiro will read from his latest chap book, and will be joined by writers David Trinidad and Eva Marguerite Olsgard at Women & Children First Bookstore. more ›

While we eagerly await Stacey Waite's next release we'll have to make do with satisfying ourselves with her contributions to the latest Columbia Poetry Review. more ›

While there are plenty of memoirs, wannabe epic love stories, and bildungsromans emerging with the craze of spring fever, there are some books here to stave us away from the puff pieces, or at least to keep our sarcasm in tact. more ›

Whether you're in a relationship or not, here are a few events leading up to Valentine's Day you might want to keep your eye on. more ›

Patton Oswalt's comedy possesses a sharp, incisive grasp of language that shows he's spent a lot of time between the pages. Whether it's dubbing the KFC Famous Bowl "a failure pile in a sadness bowl", or entertaining hyperbolic murder fantasies involving George Lucas, Oswalt's gift for inventive invective is without question. His latest outlet for his thoughts is his first book, Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, a collection of essays. Oswalt's going to be reading excerpts from Wasteland in March at Reckless Records in Wicker Park. more ›

If your coffee table needs some fresh reading material but your bank balance doesn't comply, head to the Art Institute of Chicago tomorrow for the inaugural Art Book Swap. Hand over any art books in good condition (monographs, artist's books, art history texts exhibition catalogs, etc.) and walk away with the same number of new-to-you books of the same sort. more ›

Have a hankering to hear a reading from a popular This American Life contributor? Eager to get a book signed by a best-selling author? Consider this your reminder to head over to the Harold Washington Library tonight to hear Sarah Vowell read from her latest book, The Wordy Shipmates. And what better primer is there than our interview with her from earlier this week? more ›

Often local events featuring unknown local authors are a snooze unless you actually know the authors personally and enjoy picking out the bits of your shared history out of their pieces. However the folks behind the first installment of The Sunday Night Sex Show handily solves that problem by insisting that their readers only deliver "creative non-fiction" about sex. Who doesn't enjoy reveling in the sexy? more ›

covers his transformation from tying rope tricks to tying neckties (he purposefully never learned), and how to become a lawyer without giving away his soul. Peppered with fake rejection letters informing Lax the board had a good laugh at his application, and real legal jargon that will make your head spin, Lax weaves a funny, meandering story of an underachiever in an overachiever's world. more ›

is a sort of Arabian Nights, set when a European traveler captures the court of Emperor Akbar, lord of the Mughal Empire, with a story about a beautiful and mysterious woman's travel to far off Florence. more ›

Terri Bollinger, the principal at Ridge Central Elementary School in Chicago Ridge, promised back in October that she would kiss a cow if her students read over 10,000 books by the end of the school year. Naturally, then, her students managed to tally a total of 11,014 books read, and she found herself actually kissing a cow yesterday afternoon. The cow, named Stella, is owned by Bollinger’s cousin. more ›

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Often, the readings and events we post are for your consumption, and while all attendees are participant of sorts, it's rare that a direct contribution of yours actually becomes a permanent part of the piece. more ›

We've always wanted to have a Russian Writers Party, wherein everyone has a typewriter, a shot glass, and a bottle of vodka. We still think it's a good idea, but have decided it's best left unrealized. more ›

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A 14-year-old Illinois girl was on a cruise off the coast of California with her family when her appendix burst. The USS Ronald Reagan was dispatched to rescue her, and they did--including a helicopter transport between the ships. [Trib] more ›

Five observations about The Siddhartha Project, Collaboraction’s premiere adaptation of Herman Hesse’s coming-of-age classic, reinterpreted by 5 writers in 5 acts. 1 Staging Hesse’s tale of a gifted boy's self-discovery and spiritual enlightenment in Lumen, a fun, not terribly pretentious nightclub and creative space, seems stranger than locating said club down the block from a meatpacking plant. Commissioning five writers to reinterpret the tale in five eras is as risky as it is ambitious, as... more ›

But Northwestern Writer-in-Residence Stuart Dybek isn't. The lucky Pilsen native received "the call" yesterday informing him that he was named a 2007 MacArthur Fellow, aka "genius grant" recipient; the fellowship comes with a $500,000 prize that Dybek can use for whatever he likes, no strings attached. "I think 'stunned' is not too strong a word to use. It came so out of the blue," Dybek told the Trib. "They do this stuff with such perfect... more ›

A love for reading, at least for us, comes with a love of writing. But if you're not still in college or involved in a writing community, how do you find a way to channel and hone your craft? StoryStudio Chicago is here to help. With a writing cafe every month, and classes ranging from beginning writers to portfolio and novel editing, the program, four years old, is like a mini-college unto itself. Jill... more ›

Four years ago, Rich Seng was a former seminary student making low-budget TV ads for local businesses when a friend took him to a hip hop open mic at Subterranean. One thing led to another that night, and before anyone knew what hit ‘em two renowned local emcees were freestyle battling each other. An idea was born, and Seng started organizing the first Rhyme Spitters rap battle tournament. He relied on word of mouth and... more ›

The dropping temperature and pouring rain didn't stop us from getting excited when we read that three new frozen yogurt places will be opening up in Chicago in the near future. Frozen yogurt? Like TCBY? Yes, but better. This isn't just any fro-yo, as Chicagoist likes to call it. We're talking about Pinkberry (A.K.A Crackberry), which is either the best thing since sliced bread, or a huge crock of marketing shit. Our coastal friends... more ›

A mountain of peanut butter and banana sandwiches were waiting for runners as they completed the 10th Annual Elvis Is Alive 5K Fleet Feet race yesterday in Lincoln Park, which benefit Rock for Reading, a non-profit group fighting the trend of illiteracy and working to renew interest in reading. more ›

members, New Jersey skate shop owner, and writer for several alt publications, Chris just released his first book, Skinema, a mash-up of previously published porno reviews that have little or nothing to do with the films themselves. Instead, Chris uses the space to relate perhaps even dirtier stories involving hookers, transvestites and/or vomit in exploitative, hilarious articulation. more ›

Your theme this week, in honor of Earth Day/Week/Month: "Being Green." This is the song that Kermit the Frog made famous, but Ray Charles did a knockout version of it, and our favorite take on the song has to be Van Morrison's version from 1973's Hard Nose the Highway. It's so good, we insist on this song being played while our casket's being lowered to the ground. Let's dive in, shall we? Moo Moo, I... more ›

There are a few ways to know for sure that spring is coming. One way is to watch the people of Chicago come out from their interiors — eyes blink in the sunlight, unsure of how to handle pristine sunshine. Pasty, sallow faces look carefully upwards, fearful that the sun might suddenly hide again. They step tentatively forward, holding tightly to the remnants of winter: a glove that has lost its mate, or a threadbare Bears hat that refuses to be lost. They stretch and croon, and tears of relief splash and combine with the salty white marble pattern left by owners of condos, but not of dogs. Their tears will wash away with the first summer rain. Wow, pardon our waxing poetic, we can't help it, it's in the air. We should move on before we start writing haiku.... more ›

As if the gorgeous weather wasn't enough reason to call out sick for the week, Columbia College give you another with its 11th annual Story Week: Cities of Words. Sunday kicked off the week of words with an alumni reading, and Monday's reading by Anchee Min about Maoist China was tender, raw and funny. With fifteen events over five days, you can't go to everything, but here's where Chicagoist will be: Tuesday: the Graduate Student... more ›

Hey! Remember how we're reading Mark Danielewski's "House of Leaves" for our Convince Us this month? more ›

When the tubes of the Interwebs stretch all over this planet, it’s sometimes a bit odd to see some local ‘Net news. more ›

Man, what a crazy night at Madison Square Garden for the NBA Draft. As we predicted, there were a flurry of trades -- although mostly just draft picks moving around, along with throw-in future 2nd round picks and the like. The Bulls were among the early traders, drafting Texas' LaMarcus Aldridge, then shipping him to the Portland Trailblazers in return for Tyrus Thomas (picked 4th) and third year player Viktor Khryapa. Later in the... more ›