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Sherman Alexie’s last novel, “The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian,” which won the 2007 National Book Award in the young-adult lit category, was the culmination of all of the author’s work up until that point, a documentation of the struggle to maintain balance between the Native American and white worlds. Alexie’s 14-year-old protagonist was the courier for much of Alexie’s own story and the novel’s beauty relied heavily on that ingrained knowledge. He follows up his best work with a quiet whisper, “War Dances,” a collection of short stories that search for what it is to be human. The title could tell the tale—Alexie’s work here is as intense as a war and as tender as a dance.

A vintage-clothing-store owner suffers a failing marriage but courts another in different airports across the country. An obituary writer finds meaning through his work. A film editor goes face-to-face with a young intruder who’s determined to steal his collection of DVDs. Of course, Alexie’s oddball detail makes this even more enjoyable—the airport seductress wears “glorious” red Pumas. (He later writes: “There was a rule book…when a man wants revenge he must whistle the soundtrack of ‘The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.’”) When he wants, Alexie can be very funny. Read the rest of this entry »

By Tom Lynch

Early Sunday evening and Logan Square’s hipster hotspot The Whistler is sprinkled with patrons, some sipping the bar’s unique summertime cocktails, others just a PBR, please. The Orange Alert Reading Series takes place here roughly every third Sunday of the month and tonight’s lineup consists of “How to Hold a Woman” author Billy Lombardo, plus Andrew Farkas, Tim Hall and West Virginian Scott McClanahan. Founder and emcee Jason Behrends takes to the stage and thanks the modest crowd for coming. “I know it’s hard to come out to a bar at six on a Sunday,” he admits into the microphone. A handful of uninterested drinkers respectfully head out to the patio as to not disrupt the reading with their conversation. For the next hour, the only sounds you can hear are the author’s expressive voices and the air conditioner kicking on and off. Even the bartenders mix the drinks quietly.

“I’m definitely optimistic about the landscape in general,” Behrends says of the current place of literary events in Chicago, a day later over the phone. Behrends began his Orange Alert venture in 2006 with a Web site, orangealert.net, featuring interviews with writers, musicians and artists, then launched Orange Alert Press in March of 2008. The reading series began last November. “There are a lot of reading series in town,” he says, “but even though there are ten or twelve that I know of, I felt that there still could be one more.” Read the rest of this entry »

Roughly 300 members of the publishing world and general public fill the seats of the Chicago Cultural Center’s Preston Bradley Hall to hear Jacob Weisberg, editor-in-chief of the online publishing company Slate Group, and author Aleksandar Hemon speak with Victoria Lautman about the future of print. The three sit facing the audience in separate leather library chairs on a small stage as they start off discussing the cause for fears of the possible “dumbing down” of writing and literacy.

“Do you connect new forms of delivery with literacy and apprehension?” Lautman asks the two. Teaching writing is extensive, Weisberg says. A few years ago, he recalls to the audience, it seemed people came out of college not quite understanding it. Now things like blogging and text messaging have allowed people to practice how to write and show their personality in fewer words. 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 »