Lit Top 5: June 2018
Comics, book fair, Printers Row and CAKE.
Hoops, Handguns, Hope: Rus Bradburd talks about Shawn Harrington and “All the Dreams We’ve Dreamed”
Guns, basketball, friendship and heroism on Chicago’s West Side
Writer of the Moment: Rebecca Makkai
Her ambitious new novel is an epic that cements Makkai’s reputation as one of our significant writers.
Reclaiming the City: A Review of “The End of Chiraq”
“Chiraq” unpacked by young Chicago literary artists and activists—”a vexed term and a space of possibility.”
Claiming Your Gift: A Review of “Defying the Verdict” by Charita Cole Brown
Brown writes with remarkable clarity and insight about her rollercoaster of mania and depression.
Modern Tragedy and Fake News: Nick Drnaso discusses “Sabrina”
A story of grief and loss, it follows what happens after a young woman disappears.
Lit Top 5: May 2018
Selected literary events for May
Unique Blossoms: Reviews of Jenny Boully’s “Betwixt-and-Between: Essays on the Writing Life” and Del and Sofia Samatar’s “Monster Portraits”
“There will be a heavenly castle; there is a holy grail; there did fall golden apples.”
Data-Driven: Review of “Beyond Measure” by Rachel Z. Arndt
“When the numbers change, so does the woman.”
So Easy to Love: Mahogany L. Browne discusses “Black Girl Magic”
Poems published in journals today have double work to do. Because the gatekeepers are changing and the landscape is changing and the idea that social status and pedigree holding space for mediocrity is no longer accepted. So yeah, good luck on reading that incredibly tight and creatively dead piece of art—we’ll see whose soul it saves.
