Chicago Public Library - Harold Washington Library Center

Please call (312) 745-3941 to pre-register.

"Susan Jacoby's The Age of American Unreason is a fascinating examination of contemporary American history and culture. It is Jacoby's contention that major factions of modern American society tend toward a rejection of America’s heritage of Enlightenment reason and even go so far as to reject modern ... (more)science and knowledge."

Columbia College Chicago : Story Week 2008 Reading and Conversation: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, The Palace of Illusions with Booklist associate editor and Open Books WLUW-FM radio host, Donna Seaman. Book signing to follow. Presented in conjunction with Columbia College Chicago’s Conversations ... (more) in the Arts: Up Close with...series. Harold Washington Library Cindy Pritzker Auditorium

Columbia College Chicago : Story Week 2008 Panel: New American Voices, Poverty & Privilege with Junot Diaz, Drown; ZZ Packer, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere; Colin Channer, Waiting in Vain; Alexis Pride, Where the River Ends; Don De Grazia, American Skin Host: Ian Jack, columnist, The Guardian, author, ... (more)and former editor, Granta Harold Washington Library Cindy Pritzker Auditorium 400 S. State St., Chicago

Discussion is hosted by Ann Hemenway. Book signing to follow.

Hosted by Patricia Ann McNair. Book signing to follow.

Location: Auditorium Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and James Cain all had an indelible influence on Hollywood films of their era. Join scholar James Naremore, professor emeritus of film studies at Indiana University-Bloomington and author of the acclaimed More Than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts, ... (more)as he explores how the work of these authors was adapted by Hollywood.

Join CBS2 reporter Derrick Blakley as he moderates this symposium featuring keynote speaker Gary Rivlin, author of Fire on the Prairie: Chicago's Harold Washington and the Politics of Race. April 12th marks the 25th anniversary of Harold Washington's election as Mayor.

The Chicago Public Library is pleased to present CityVerse, a series of free poetry events held throughout Chicago in celebration of National Poetry Month.

Location: Auditorium Before Raymond Chandler died in 1959, he burned all correspondence with his wife Cissy, who was eighteen years his senior. Los Angeles-based novelist Judith Freeman (Red Water) pieces together his unconventional marriage in an attempt to learn more about this mysterious man ... (more)of letters. The result is the critically-acclaimed The Long Embrace, named one of the best books of 2007 by Salon.com, Newsweek and The Los Angeles Times.

Location: HWLC - Auditorium About this event: He created some of the most vibrant settings, most memorable characters, and sharpest dialogue in 20th century fiction. Join a panel of writers as they talk about why no one does it quite like Raymond Chandler. Moderated by Peter Sagal, host of Wait, ... (more)Wait… Don’t Tell Me! and author of The Book of Vice, panelists include author Judith Freeman (The Long Embrace), Chicago journalist, fiction writer and poet Achy Obejas (Havana Noir), and travel writer and frequent contributor to Time and Harper’s, Pico Iyer (The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama).

Location: Auditorium In his latest book, The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Pico Iyer gives us the first serious consideration of the Dalai Lama’s ideas and work as a politician, scientist, and philosopher. Iyer, one of the most acclaimed observers of Asia and Buddhism ... (more)and a frequent contributor to Harper’s Magazine, Time, and The New York Review of Books, has been engaged in conversation with the Dalai Lama for the last three decades. The Open Road illuminates the hidden life and the daily challenges of a global icon.

What's the Chicago high school experience like? Author and artist Elisha Cooper spent a year interviewing, sketching and observing high school student's from Chicago's Payton College Preparatory High School in preparation for his new illustrated young adult novel, ridiculous/hilarious/terrible/cool: ... (more)A Year in an American High School.

Attend a discussion of The Long Goodbye in April at your local Chicago Public Library location. Free and open to the public. No reservations are required.

Attend a discussion of The Long Goodbye in April at your local Chicago Public Library location. Free and open to the public. No reservations are required.

Location: Auditorium Poet Laureate of the United States since 2007, Charles Simic is an award-winning poet, essayist, editor and translator. The author of 18 books of poetry, he will read from and discuss his newest collection, That Little Something: Poems. A book sale and signing will follow. Co-sponsored ... (more)with the Poetry Foundation.

This event is held in cooperation with Interfaith Worker Justice Acclaimed New York Times journalist, Steven Greenhouse will discuss and sign his new book, The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, which takes a fresh, probing, and often shocking look at the stresses and ... (more)strains faced by tens of millions of American workers as wages have stagnated, health and pension benefits have grown stingier, and job security has shriveled.

KEVIN PHILIPS, writer and commentator, speaks about his new book, Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism.

Admission is free, but advance registration is required. Register at (312) 747-4780 or story@chipublib.org. Location: Auditorium Award-winning children's author and illustrator, Mordicai Gerstein, will present the 26th Sutherland Lecture, entitled, “Writing What I Don’t Know.” The Sutherland ... (more)Lecture is sponsored by the Chicago Public Library and the Sutherland Committee in cooperation with the University of Chicago. A reception will follow. Mordicai Gerstein’s books have received considerable recognition. He was awarded the 2004 Caldecott Medal recognizing The Man Who Walked Between The Towers as the most distinguished American picture book for children. The lecture honors the late Zena Sutherland, Professor Emeritus and retired editor of the “Bulletin of the Center of Children’s Books.”

Free, but reservations are required. For reservations, contact marketing@chicagofilmfestival.com or 312-683-0121, x130. A screening of the film of The Thief Lord will be followed by a reading from Funke with translator Anthea Bell and questions from the audience. A book signing will immediately ... (more)follow.

"The late Donna G. Humphrey grew up on a Kansas farm and came to adulthood during the Great Depression. I Speak of Simple Things, a collection of her poems, has been published by her daughters, Joan Lefkow and Judy Smith. The poems evoke images of life on the prairie at mid-20th century and portray ... (more)an ordinary woman’s dreams, those realized and those doomed to impossibility. Selections will be presented in a dramatic reading by noted Chicago actresses Rebecca Spence and Michelle Roberts. "