Victoria Lautman seemed upbeat during the final broadcast of
her successful radio show Writers on Record, stating that it
was her choice to end the program so she could pursue new
ventures in her life.
he popular literary radio program Writers on Record, hosted by Victoria Lautman and aired on 98.7WFMT, is coming to a close this Thursday evening, June 10th. You can view the final broadcast at the Harold Washington Library Center’s Pritzker Auditorium at 6:00 pm. The final broadcast will feature prominent Chicago writer and publisher Jonathan Messinger, owner of Featherproof Books and senior editor of Time Out Chicago’s book section. Also featured will be Chicago Tribune book editor Elizabeth Taylor. The evening will include a discussion of summer reading suggestions, big books for fall, and the future of publishing. Audience participation will be encouraged. Be sure to arrive early!
How to Hold a Woman, published by Chicago publisher OV Books and written by Chicago author Billy Lombardo is reviewed at the Chicago Tribune. “How to Hold a Woman is beautifully written, replete with small, perfect details of family life in the wake of tragedy.”
just stumbled across a rather interesting article by Julia Keller over at the Tribune about location in literature. In her estimation, location plays a key role in shaping a body of literature and in attracting readers. We Chicagoans, she says, love to see our city as the central location of a novel.
oe Meno, Dave Reidy, and Aleksandar Hemon have all had reviews of their books in newspapers or blogs this week. The Great Perhaps by Joe Meno received a glowing review from the Chicago Tribune in last Sunday’s book section (which is woefully not available online) and a mention in this week’s New York Times Book Review. Dave Reidy’s new book Captive Audience was featured in the Chicago Sun-Times book section. Interested readers should check out his book release party on June 27th at The Darkroom. Finally, Aleksandar Hemon’s debut novel was reviewed over at Gaper’s Block. I find the review refreshing–it’s more critical than celebretory, though not overly negative. Gaper’s Block is often quite good at walking that line.
orgive me for posting about Printer’s Row again, but the Tribune’s review of the event screams to be shared. Phil Vettel seems to have enjoyed the event, praising its success despite the weather. His review is mostly a list of highlights. There are authors, there are booksellers, and there are “picture perfect moments.” He writes:
“Picture-perfect moment: A strikingly attractive woman in jeans leaned up against a building, taking occasional photos of the goings-on, while a fellow in a baseball cap, as discreetly as possible, lined up his camera to capture the good-looking girl leaning up against the building. Had I brought my camera …”
What is this stalkery creepiness doing in a Tribune article? Go to Printer’s Row, you might buy some books, but you might also get to take pictures of cute, unsuspecting girls? It’s sad to me that women can be turned into objects even in the middle of a Tribune article on a book fair. I expect a higher level of journalism from them.
In other news, if you’re interested, the Tribune also has an article praising Dalkey Archive Press that is thankfully free of information about how many attractive women work there and the author’s, or anyone else’s desire to take pictures of them.
et’s start with the bad:
Though we don’t usually cover newspapers here at Publish Chicago, it’s worth mentioning that the industry just took a huge hit: the Chicago Tribune just laid off 53 employees. Yikes. The Chicago Reader has a full list of everyone who lost their job.
On to the good:
The Chicago Reader’s Bookswap is this coming Wednesday, the 26th, from 6-9 at the Bottom Lounge. You can bring up to fifteen used books for swapping. Whee!
Finally, this Saturday is Poetry Fest at the Public Library. Date: April 25, 2009. Place: Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State Street. Time: 10:00-4:30.
n light of the current, rather boring title of ex-Governor Blagojevich’s new book, tentatively titled “The Governor”, the Chicago Tribune asked readers to propose their own titles for the book, and then vote on them. Some interesting proposals included “Lonesome Gov”, “God is My Comb Pilot”, and “Rod and the Giant Impeach.”
Also, the article mentions that we already should start giving credit to the book’s ghost writer, with which I can agree. “No discussion of a hot, salacious, turgidly written political tell-all would be complete without mention of the ghostwriter because Blago can’t write his way out of a wet paper bag. I’m betting he’s already hired author Anne Rice, who has already interviewed several vampires, and one more with big hair won’t bother her.”
Well said, Mr. Kass.
recently stumbled upon an interesting little article over at the Chicago Tribune about the best five books by Chicago Authors in 2008. Interestingly, only one of the books was published by a publisher based in Chicago, and two of the books selected were written by men who are (or were) professors at Chicago universities. Astaire sounds the most interesting to me, though this is probably because the book description is so cryptically mystifying.
Check out the article here.