Newcity Lit

Books, poetry, comics and the literary world of Chicago

Lit 50: Who Really Books in Chicago 2011

By

by Brian Hieggelke
Filed under:

31
Matti Bunzl
Artistic Director, Chicago Humanities Festival
They may be the most unsung of the disciplines, but thanks in large part to Matti Bunzl, the humanities are getting their Midwestern due. As the Artistic Director of the Chicago Humanities Festival, he’s the visionary behind the framework of the festival. The UIUC anthropology prof is a relatively new edition to the CHF team—he’s only been on board since January of 2010—so it remains to be seen exactly what mark he’ll make on the series, which nowadays presents a year-round calendar of high-profile performances, talks and readings.

32
Sharon Woodhouse
Publisher, Lake Claremont Press/Everything Goes Media
Sharon Woodhouse’s idea for a Chicago native’s budget-conscious guide to the city began in 1993 as an attempt to finance a return to graduate school. A year later it was morphing into the Lake Claremont Press, the Chicago-centric independent publishing firm she is still running today. While focusing on publicity for the company’s two newest books, “Oldest Chicago” and “The Beat Cop’s Guide to Chicago Eats,” Woodhouse is also in the process of folding Lake Claremont Press into her new company, Everything Goes Media, in an attempt to spread beyond the city limits to do consulting for smaller publishers and branch out into other multimedia ventures.

33
Amanda Delheimer and Megan Stielstra
Artistic Director and Literary Director, 2nd Story
Birthed in 2003 during an upstairs performance by the Serendipity Theatre Collective at Webster’s Wine Bar in Lincoln Park, 2nd Story has since earned a reputation in Chicago for, quite literally, bringing personal stories to life. Finding themselves frustrated and bored at literary readings, Amanda Delheimer and Megan Stielstra of 2nd Story have for nearly a decade worked with writers and performers alike to craft autobiographical narratives they perform on stage—turning writers into performers and performers into writers. In what has proven to be a brilliant experiment in developing a literature-theater hybrid, they continue to push the already wide boundaries of creative nonfiction. Once an annual festival, 2nd Story has expanded to performing three to six times a month, and now has a stable of more than a hundred active performers.

Zach Dodson

34
Zach Dodson and Jonathan Messinger
Co-Founders, Featherproof Books
It’s not every indie press that can boast an ever-growing audience, but then Featherproof Books is no ordinary venture. Under the direction of co-founders Zach Dodson (an author in his own right) and Jonathan Messinger (the books editor of Time Out Chicago), the quirky publishing house has developed a reputation for releasing offbeat titles in gorgeous packages. This fall, Patrick Somerville’s “The Universe in Miniature in Miniature” garnered rave reviews, and Chicago music vet Tim Kinsella’s debut novel, “The Karaoke Singer’s Guide to Self-Defense” is slated to hit the shelves in the fall. And while the (hard-copy) hits keep coming, you can’t say these guys are afraid of the digital age—on the contrary, the pair are turning internet publishing into an aesthetic experience. Most recently, the duo is reshaping the possibilities of literature online with “Storigami,” a series of downloadable books that come with DIY assembly instructions designed, says Dodson, “so the story can unfold”—literally.

 

35
Jane Bunker
Director, Northwestern University Press
Though she’s only recently taken up the reigns, Bunker’s got big plans: as the newly instated director of the press—she’s been at her post just under a year—she’s aiming to “lead things into the twenty-first century.” Phase one of her digital initiative? Subject-based collections of scholarly books intended for research libraries. “Phases two and three will be rolled out shortly,” she says, slyly. “Stay tuned.” Meanwhile, though, Bunker isn’t taking NUP’s notable strengths for granted. The goal, as she frames it, is to “refocus the [book] list, getting back into alignment with what we’ve always done really well” while simultaneously building up new strengths. That means capitalizing on the press’ already-established niches while increasing their presence in local interest topics and poetry. So far, so good—Bunker considers their just-released “Millennium Park Chicago” coffee-table tome to be among the “hottest regional books yet.”

36
Quraysh Ali Lansana
Director, Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing at Chicago State University
Lansana stepped into the spot unpleasantly vacated by Haki Madhubuti as director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing at Chicago State University, where he is also a professor of English and Creative Writing. Lansana first came to Chicago when he discovered Gwendolyn Brooks’ poetry soon after losing a job in broadcast journalism in Oklahoma, where he’s from. In 1999, Gwendolyn Brooks herself presented Lansana with the Henry Blakely Award. The author of two books of poetry, including “They Shall Run,” a collection of poems about Harriet Tubman, Lansana is also the author of a children’s book “The Big World” and editor of the African American Literature Reader, published by McGraw-Hill.

37
Eric Kirsammer
Owner, Chicago Comics & Quimby’s
Despite Julie Taymor’s worst efforts, comics’ cultural stock continues to rise. That’s nowhere more true than in Chicago, and for many, the source for comic books is Eric Kirsammer’s Chicago Comics. For twenty years, Kirsammer’s award-winning store has weathered the ups and downs of the comic book market even as other North Side retailers like Halley’s Comix and Moondog’s have closed their doors. An early champion of Dave Eggers and Chris Ware, Kirsammer is also the owner of Quimby’s, the largest carrier of zines in the country and a mecca for readers of self-published and small press publications.

38
Gina Frangello
Executive editor and co-founder, Other Voices Books
Frangello’s second book, “Slut Lullabies,” was published last year, but the book is just the cherry on top, so to speak, of Frangello’s massive smorgasbord of writing, editing and teaching. Frangello, who lives in Chicago with her husband, son and twin daughters, is the executive editor and co-founder of the publishing house Other Voices Books, editor of the fiction section for the online literary site The Nervous Breakdown, and a teacher at Columbia College and Northwestern. Frangello, was a therapist for three years before turning to writing, and in her charged, edgy writing she dissects the psychology behind the sex lives and sexuality of her characters.

39
J.C. Gabel
Founding Editor and Publisher, Stop Smiling
J.C. Gabel started Stop Smiling as a low-fi zine and built it into one of the nation’s most acclaimed small (in circulation) magazines, a throwback to the glory era of New Journalism, with long articles untied to current cultural product marketing and lush, classic graphics. But in 2009, facing the increasingly unappealing economics of print periodical publishing, he shut down the magazine and transformed it into Stop Smiling Books, an imprint in partnership with Melville House in Brooklyn. After issuing the handsome and well-received “How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop” by Dave Tompkins and “Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews” by Sam Weller in 2010, SSB has, in the works, “A Stanley Kubrick Compendium,” the mystery of the Mountain of the Dead incident and a book version of the video essay “Los Angeles Plays Itself.” The Stop Smiling Storefront is the go-to venue for cool literary events, and Gabel’s at work on reviving the long-dormant Chicagoan magazine.

40
Fred Sasaki
Founding Organizer, Printers Ball and “Conspirator,” Dil Pickle Club and Homeroom
By day, Fred Sasaki comports respectably as the associate editor of Poetry magazine, where he figures to be quite involved in programming at the new building. That’s a smart move by the Foundation, since Sasaki’s shown a particular gift for creating slightly askew but immensely popular events, most notably the hugely successful Printers Ball, which he created under the Poetry umbrella. Of late, he’s spread his after-hours wings a bit, serving as editor-at-large for the in-the-works revival of the Chicagoan, as well as programming the “101 Lecture Show” with Seth Vanek at Homeroom and “causing mischief” with his cohorts at the newly reformed Dil Pickle Club.

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  • Dear Chicago Poetry Scene,

    Once again (days before the Printers Row Lit Fest) it is that one time of the year that anyone I know cares about what that little free magazine that you line your bird cages with, New City, has to say. I’m sure everyone on the “Lit 50: Who Really Books in Chicago 2011” list is fully deserving in their own way, and I’m not trying to take anything away from them, but my criticism will upset some of them regardless and they will continue to treat my work as being trivial. Who cares; what else is new?

    This year’s Lit 50 is simply a generic list of just about every editor, publisher, bookstore owner, academic chair and organizational head that the folks at New City could think of. It is a list of 47 Caucasians, two African Americans (and if you guessed the obvious, Haki Madhubuti and Quraysh Ali Lansana, you’re right), and one single Latino / Hispanic (Moira Pujols of Contratiempo). I find it especially shocking that Erika Hilton of Poetry Center of Chicago–an organization that has barely hosted a half dozen events in the last three years–is included on this list, but Kimberly Dixon of Guild Complex–an organization that for decades has consistently sponsored lit programming, including a monthly bilingual poetry series–is not included on the list. It couldn’t be that a few years back, the previous chair of the Guild criticized the very same list for not being inclusive, could it? Of course it could! And the fact that I’ve never been included on the list couldn’t date back some eighteen years to when the publication I worked for, Letter eX criticized New City, could it? Well, let me stop there unless Ray Bianchi accuses me of being nothing but a self promoting hack again. Instead, let’s look at what is on the list.

    The New City list is a clear representation of how Chicago’s lit scene has been gentrified and whitewashed. It is truly a racist list that concentrates entirely on an “industry” and ignores Chicago’s neighborhoods and grassroots scene. It’s not surprising that, in the opening statement, The Poetry Foundation is hailed in a paragraph that begins with the word “power.” “Not only can we claim Poetry magazine, the premier publication of its kind anywhere, but its wealthy sibling the Poetry Foundation will open a whole building dedicated to the form later this month,” New City says. As an afterthought, it continues, “Plus, this is the town that created the Poetry Slam as well as Louder Than a Bomb, the largest teen slam anywhere.”

    The new “power players” in today’s lit scene love to throw the poetry slam a bone once in a while, because they recognize the “power” that the slam has, but if you want to know what the “powers that be” truly think of the slam, just look at their list. Out of 50 people who “really book” in Chicago, two of them might be looked at as representing the slam (if you guessed the obvious, Kevin Coval and Robbie Q. Telfter, you’re right). In the year that the Poetry Slam is celebrating its 25th anniversary, even Marc Smith himself is not worthy of being on that list. The opening paragraph to this list can be translated as follows: we have a two hundred million dollar foundation now that supports the academic, downtown Chicago scene, so we don’t need the rest of you jerks and we won’t even pretend to be diverse or inclusive anymore. In case you didn’t get it the first time, to shove that message home, who is number one on the list of people who really book in Chicago? An author of a bestselling title? Someone who has worked diligently and selflessly as a volunteer for decades? Why, no, of course not, it’s John Barr, ex-Wall Street mogul who once did work for Enron, who was hired to manage the Poetry Foundation not because he “books” (in fact one of his books of poetry was even criticized as being racist) but because he knows how to manage large sums of money (and probably spends quite a bit of it buying advertising from publications like New City). And if two nods to the Poetry Foundation weren’t enough, Christian Wiman (Barr’s editor) and Fred Sazaki (Barr’s Printer’s Ball man) are both on the list as well!

    Look. I tried to warn the poetry community about how the Poetry Foundation as well as the recent City’s “Chicago Publishes” (presently planning to showcase the “new Chicago style” of poetry at the Cultural Center) were threatening to whitewash the poetry scene. And instead of working together to keep the grassroots poetry scene alive, a lot of poets were simply played and were convinced to attack me for speaking my mind. And look at what we have now. Do you see the Guild Complex on the list? Do you see the Neighborhood Writers’ Alliance on the list? Proyecta Latina? How about you big shots from Waiting 4 The Bus or the Poets Club of Chicago or even Puddin’head Press–are any of you guys on the list? Where’s the gay/lesbian presses on the list for that matter? Where is anyone that represents the world of online publishing (other than Dan Sinker’s fictional twitter handle @MayorEmanuel). But, gee, Donald G. Evans, who last year compared the Chicago Poetry Fest to “a backyard barbecue” when I told him I couldn’t afford to pay $45 to attend the Lit Hall of Fame–he made it on the list. And Dominique Raccah, who runs a publishing house located in Naperville, she’s even on Chicago’s list.

    So, I hate to say I told you so, but I TOLD YOU SO!

    Never silent,

    CJ Laity

  • From the grave of Nelson Algren

    Don’t be such a whiny bitch, CJ.

  • Anonymous

    Hey CJ, remember when you got pissed at a mostly black college performance poetry organization for not being inclusive enough of white people poets in 2010? Congrats on being consistently the most butthurt and hypocritical writer in Chicago. No wonder you don’t get on these lists — you do a fantastic job at isolating everybody, from “grassroots” communities to “white people” poets.

  • Mike Z

    CJ Laity,

    On one hand…?”Planning kills literature too – the formation of cliques, the guild system, in-house criticism which writes ‘a few warm lines’ about the in-house sacred cow.” Kornél Esti by Kosztolányi Dezs?

    On the other…Of course, it is clear that you were trying to address the issue that business often determines the arch of publishing and that minority writers, organizers, and publishers are often underrepresented. As a latino, but not a “latino” educator or writer, I think it’s a valid and necessary point; however, instead of truly addressing the issue in a meaningful way, you spent quite some word space falling for old-school identity politics and handing out personalized disses to people on a non-authoritative and non-canonical list – people who are generally working hard to entertain and/or promote literature in Chicago, something the city needs since the publishing industry here went flat decades ago and since Chicago is a model that many, many cities look to.

    A lesson could be learned here by the great Latin American writers Ernesto Sabato and Roberto Bolaño, writers who for the majority of their lives were never silent but still stood outside of any lists or mentions (in societies, by the way, that promoted literature through fascists organizations and through a fascist statehood, literally). They continually assaulted the status quo and literary organizations, but they did so thoughtfully and with near perfect aim. There is no need to point fingers at specific people when you have the entire world of literature at your disposal.

    I

  • I have no idea what ‘black college performance’ anonymous is talking about and suggest that anonymous person should stop making shit up that isn’t true. Here’s a link to a slightly rewritten version of the editorial, every word of which I stand by whole-heartedly.

    http://chicagopoetry.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1470

  • Esteban

    In days when the world at large doesn’t seem to care about poetry, I’m happy that Newcity took the time to put this story together. I’m also glad that there’s so much going on in Chicago that it is impossible to capture the richness and diversity of publishers, editors and organizational leaders, and poets here in a Lit 50 list.

    I also think that if there are others you believe should be on this list but aren’t, then it is your responsibility to do everything within your power to promote or otherwise help them make a loud enough roar that leaving them off a list like this would be insane.

    This is a poetry city. It should always be about the poetry.

  • When you care about writing, you care about getting quotes right. Please check you copy of Carl Sandburg’s poems. It is “City of THE Big Shoulders,” not “City of Big Shoulders.”

  • sharon

    hey, where’s Becky Anderson?

  • Charles Wilson

    How could you include Reginald Gibbons on your list? Everyone knows that he was largely responsible for the destruction of Northwestern’s TriQuarterly literary magazine – one of the premier literary magazines in the country – and replacing it with a student run website under his control, to the DETRIMENT of the literary community.

  • I´m very proud of your work and results. Keep it coming Moira Pujols!

  • Pingback: Newcity Lit50: Some familiar faces | MAKE Literary Productions, NFP()

  • Jeremy

    Oh, it’s another CJ Laity crybaby action. keep doing what you’re doing, New City and ignore Laity, who believes he is king of all poetry.