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This Sunday’s installment of the Myopic Poetry Series features experimental poet and artist Jennifer Karmin,of the Red Rover Series and Anti Gravity Surprise. Karmin’s adventurous work has included 2008′s “4000 Words 4000 Dead” project, a massive anti-war poem for which she took submissions. In her poetry, Karmin has a way of comforting you so much that you don’t even realize how much she’s experimenting with the text. Her power as an artist sometimes hits you long after she’s finished performing. Prolific and multi-talented, Karmin’s become a Chicago fixture in the literary scene. Joining her tonight are poets James Bellflower and Tom Orange. (Tom Lynch)

August 9 at Myopic Books, 1564 N. Milwaukee, (773)862-4482, at 7pm. Free.

By Brian Costello

I’ve been doing readings in, out, and around Chicago for nine years now. Thax Douglas, who ain’t dead yet, contrary to what the blogosphere was eager to tell you, helped out with my first reading. It was in the basement of Myopic Books. The story I read, an endless, meandering tale of two Peoria dads observing their sons’ Little League game in the thickest of “El-a-noy” accents, bombed, but the Schlitz and Swiss Cake Rolls I brought with me were a big hit among the transients who attended.

My next reading went a little bit better. I had befriended 2ndHand editor Todd Dills—a steadfast champion of this city’s literary scene if there ever was one—who published an essay I had written, a comparative study of crates vs. barrels. I read this at the Empty Bottle while setting off a squirt gun in the pocket of my khaki pants to make it look like I was pissing myself as I read. Read the rest of this entry »

Is it wrong to feel optimistic? You couldn’t be blamed if you didn’t. Yet while the country’s economy crumbles around us and less and less funds are available for the producers of the printed word, those in the literary world are finding new and inventive ways to stay afloat. We will not go down without a fight, and progress, of course, is key. So is awareness—in order to get the word out more efficiently (and, likely, to untether itself from the uncertain future of the paper form), Printers Row Book Fair changed its name from “Book Fair” to “Lit Fest” to have a title that better fully represents the weekend’s events, in time for its twenty-fifth anniversary edition. As is our custom, we time our annual Lit 50 list to the weekend’s events; this year’s list of local behind-the-scenes literati—no straight-up authors or poets this time—covers a large spectrum of Chicago’s world of words. As with past years we sought out those behind the smaller presses as well as the monumental figures. Some new names have emerged and many staples appear again, but all tirelessly labor to bring this ancient art to the community at large. Read the rest of this entry »