Chicago Literary CliffsNotes
By Betsy Mikel in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 27, 2010 5:20PM
Chicago Underground Library is helping collect donations and volunteers for the Whitier sit-in. Photo by Sarah Jane Rhee via Anne Elizabeth Moore
- In honor of Banned Books Week, City Lit Theater Company is partnering with the American Library Association to present Books on the Chopping Block, a program featuring readings and short performances from works that faced expulsion from the high school curriculum in suburban Cook County earlier this year. See Books on the Chopping Block at Gallery Mornea in Evanston on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evening. View more details here.
- The Moth Chicago StorySLAM theme this month is "backfired." On Tuesday night at Martyr's, you can listen to crazy good stories and/or tell your own five-minute true story about a foolproof plan gone awry. Arrive early (like two hours early), it sells out fast.
- Funny lady and author Claire Zulkey is once again bringing Funny Ha-Ha, her literary humor reading series, back to the Hideout on Tuesday. Some very funny people will be reading — including ones who act in "Curb Your Enthusiasm," direct 2nd Story, and write books about what it's like to live like Laura Ingalls Wilder. Get more info about Funny Ha-Ha here.
- The Encyclopedia Show, which can most accurately be described as an off-the-wall themed variety show is teaming up with Columbia College's Silver Tongue reading series on Wednesday. Columbia faculty and students will be performing based on the theme BEARS. Find more info here.
- On Friday, Third Coast Listening Room ("like a little book club for radio") will premiere the winners from their Book Odds challenge. The challenge was to submit a short audio story inspired by song titles from a The Books and include two samples from their library of musical bits, strange phrases and sonic doodads. If that doesn't make any sense, read more about it here, and then stop by Chicago Urban Art Society and check it out.
- As the Whittier Elementary sit-in continues in Pilsen, Chicago Underground Library has taken charge of gathering and organizing volunteers and the growing pile of book and media donations. The school's field house is slated for demolition to be replaced by athletic fields, but parents want it renovated into a library.
- This weekend's Poetry Foundation "Poetry Off the Shelf" series will feature Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Franz Wright. Read some of his poems here, here and here.
- Challengers Comics will be hosting local artists all day long for 24 Hour Comics Day, in which Artists from all over take on the challenge of trying to create a complete 24-page comic book in 24 straight hours. Challengers will also be uploading pages as they are finished to their website and posting short video interviews with the artists as they work through the day. Get more details here.
- The Reader will publish their tenth annual Pure Fiction issue this December, and they are now accepting submissions until November 3. Check the fiction issue archive and read the submission guidelines here.