Upcoming Events For Literary Folk

By Betsy Mikel in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 18, 2010 4:30PM

Tonight: The title was enough to intrigue us: "Making Books in the Rainforest: The Shapono School in Alto Orinoco." The Shapono School is located deep in the Amazon and works to promote the Yonomami culture by teaching its students papermaking and bookmaking. Professor Alvaro Gonzalez Bastidas, who works to preserve disappearing Amazonian cultures, and Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe, Yanomami project leader, will discuss how the handmade books will record and preserve stories and teachings heretofore transmitted only in the oral tradition.
Columbia College, 916 South Wabash Building, room 150, 7 p.m., free

Tonight: Issue 9 of MAKE: A Chicago Literary Magazine launches at the Hideout. The semi-annual magazine includes fiction, poetry, essays, art, and reviews from writers from Chicago and beyond. Each issue has a different theme and aims to match how Chicago is living, working, playing and thinking. The spring issue revolves around myth, magic and ritual and includes an in-depth essay on the myth of Bruce Springsteen by Michael Kobre and a magical realist short story from a Chilean author Luis Sepúlveda translated to English by Paul Grens. For more info, listen to the 848 interview with co-founder Ramsin Canon.
Hideout, 1354 W Wabansia, 8 p.m. $8

Tomorrow and Saturday: Our friends at Open Books are welcoming Phil Yeh, Geoff Bevington, and Matt Lorentz for the release of their new children's book Steve the Dog and the Winged Tiger. The book is set in Chicago, includes kaleidoscopic illustrations from some of the city's most iconic scenes and tells the story of a couch-potato dog and how the winged tiger saved his life. The artists will be selling and signing copies of their book and will also be painting a mural on the Open Books store.
Open Books, 213 W Institute Pl, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., free

Saturday: If you've been meaning to sit down and finish (or start) that short story, but you're lacking a quiet space and the focus, head to the StoryStudio Write-a-Thon. StoryStudio opens its doors and provides wifi, outlets and snacks, so that writers can escape distractions, hunker down behind their laptops, and tap away to their delight. Writers are welcome to stay for as long as they like throughout the day.
StoryStudio Chicago, 4043 N Ravenswood, #222, 9 a.m. - 9 p.m., $12