Chicago Literary CliffsNotes
By Betsy Mikel in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 18, 2010 8:20PM
Toni Morrison is in town for a couple One Book, One Chicago events. Her book A Mercy was the fall selection.
- The monthly Essay Fiesta reading series is at the Book Cellar tonight. Comedians and writers Keith Ecker and Alyson Lyon, who produce and host the series, welcome five readers tonight, including one of Second City’s instructors and a former Neo-Futurist member.
- Columbia College is celebrating Creative Nonfiction Week with a long list of readings and panels. Tonight, the AV Club staff (Josh Modell, Keith Phipps, Tasha Robinson, Kyle Ryan, and Nathan Rabin) will talk about their collaboration and the individual projects that have grown out of it. They’re up at 6:30 p.m.
- There’s a book swap every Monday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Rainbo Club.
- Chicago Public Library is revving up for two very huge One Book, One Chicago events. The keynote lecture by Toni Morrison is tomorrow night at the Symphony Center. Morrison will talk about her life, work and A Mercy. Tickets are sold out, so if you have any, consider passing them along to a friend. And on Wednesday, Morrison will be accepting the Carl Sandburg Literary Award and will be speaking with Oprah at the awards dinner. The 21st Century Award, honoring recent achievement in writing by an author with ties to Chicago, will go to writer Eula Biss. It looks like you can still get tickets (they're $1,000 each).
- Larry-bob Roberts will read from The International Homosexual Conspiracy, in which he offers humorous insights into the absurdities of modern life and queer culture, at Quimby’s on Wedneday.
- Tony Romano, author of If You Eat, You Never Die: Chicago Tales and who has been featured in our Chicago Author Spotlight series, will be reading at the CPL Albany Park Branch on Thursday.
- Remember Interactive Fiction? If you’re interested in learning more about text adventures, stop by a free event at Chicago’s Google on Thursday to view a screening of Get Lamp, a documentary about the history of text-based adventure games in the ‘80s.
- Adam Levin, author of The Instructions, which is on our fall reading list, will be reading both at Quimby’s and 826CHI on Thursday.
- There’s an 826CHI fundraising event this weekend. Scrabble for Cheaters brings together word-lovin', dirty-cheatin', student-supportin’ two-person teams. The more money a team raises for 826CHI's free student programming prior to the tournament date, the more that team can cheat during the match.