Chicago Public Library - Harold Washington Library Center

"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

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

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

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. "

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

"Join us at Green City Market, Chicago's only sustainable market, for a special appearance by author and beekeeper Holley Bishop. Bishop will read from and discuss her acclaimed book that celebrates the fascinating world and sweet work of the honeybee."

Join us as we discuss From the Bottom Up: One Man's Crusade to Clean America's Rivers by Chad Pregracke with Jeff Barrow.

These book discussions, presented in conjunction with Read Green, Live Green: Summer Reads for Adults are designed to get people talking about the fundamental ways we are connected ... (more)through our shared resources and to examine proposals to tackle the environmental problems facing our growing region.

Award-winning journalist Alan Weisman will discuss and sign his stunning bestseller, The World Without Us. In this provocative book, Weisman offers an utterly original approach to questions of humanity's impact on the planet and explains how our massive infrastructure would quickly collapse and vanish ... (more)without human presence.

Author Junot Diaz will talk with Victoia Lautman about his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao. Spanning three generations and six decades, it chronicles the ill-fated quest for love by Oscar de Leon an the struggle of his family to escape the curse known as the fuku. ... (more)

This program will be recorded for later broadcast on 98.7/WFMT Radio.

Ben Taylor will interview Philip Roth about his new book, Indignation. This interview will take place in New York City and will be broadcast live at select locations around the country, including the Chicago Public Library. Mr. Roth will not be in Chicago in person.

Please note: 48 first edition ... (more)signed coped of Indignation will be available for purchase at the event on a first come, first served basis. The first 48 attendees will receive a ticket which will entitle them to purchase ONE copy of the book. Additional copies my be available after the first 48 guest have had their opportunity.

Legendary travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux will discuss and sign his new book, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: On the Tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar. Thirty years after the epic journey chronicled in his clasic work, The Great Railway Bazaar. Theroux re-creates his 25,000-mile journey through ... (more)eastern Europe, central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, China, Japan and Siberia. In the three decades since, that world has undergone phenomenal change. And no one is better able to capture the texture, sights, smells and sounds of that changing landscape than Theroux.

(Location: Talking Book Center, 5th Floor)

Join us as we discuss The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe, our fall 2008 One Book, One Chicago Selection.

(FREE but RESERVATIONS REQUIRED)

Join renowned Chicago journalist Carol Marin as she engages The Right Stuff author Tom Wolfe in conversation about his legendary career as a journalist and novelist.

Registration:
Call (312) 747-1194 to make a reservation. Reservations for this event will only ... (more)be held until 5:45 p.m. on October 16.

(Location: Room 3-N6.)

Join us as we discuss The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe, our fall 2008 One Book, One Chicago Selection.

(Location: Talking Book Center, 5th Floor)

Join us as we discuss The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe, our fall 2008 One Book, One Chicago Selection.

(Registration: Please call 312-747-4450 for more information and/or to register.)

Esteemed author and Caldecott-award winning illustrator, David Macaulay will discuss his new book, The Way We Work. Macaulay, who is also a recipient of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and is a MacArthur Fellow, will ... (more)talk about the science of the human bodies in this author visit for kids ages 5 and up.

Families will be amazed to see how exciting it can be to put together the annual science fair project. Using cool resources and little known facts, these science demonstrations will have everybody on their feet and joining in!

(NOTE: Tickets $5.00 EA / FREE for Educators & Students)

DESCRIPTION: A new novel from the perceptive, award-winning author of Blue Angel, A Changed Man, and Hunters and Gatherers, among others, is always cause for celebration. Her latest is a story of the heart—an exploration of tragedy and redemption ... (more)as seen through the eyes of a 13-year-old girl who, during the course of one haunted summer, gets pitched headlong into adulthood. Prose is the current president of PEN American Center.

(NOTE: Tickets $5.00 EA / FREE for Educators & Students) DESCRIPTION: Lambda Literary Award–winning authors Doty and Obejas will read from and discuss their latest work. Doty, the celebrated poet and memoirist, has written movingly on love and loss in modern gay life. Obejas, an esteemed Chicago-based ... (more)journalist, novelist, and translator, writes about the tension between public identity and private experience in the United States and her native Cuba.

Both will address the question: how do writers grapple with questions of social, political, and cultural resonance surrounding the LGBTQ experience? C. C. Carter, Lambda Literary Finalist for Best Lesbian Poetry and director of community and culture for the Center on Halsted, will moderate.

Generously sponsored by The Poetry Foundation and presented in partnership with the Center on Halsted

(NOTE: Tickets $5.00 EA / FREE for Educators & Students) DESCRIPTION: An exclusive treat for readers and writers alike: the brilliant author of such fictional dazzlers as The Intuitionist, John Henry Days, and Apex Hides the Hurt will read from two current works-in-progress—a parodic how-to anthology ... (more)entitled How to Write and the Art of Writing: Writers Write About Writing and his upcoming (2009) novel, “a love story set on the cusp of the Russian Revolution.”

(NOTE: Tickets $5.00 EA / FREE for Educators & Students)

DESCRIPTION: Chicago has been identified with the Great Books movement ever since Robert Hutchins and Mortimer Adler shook up the Midway in the 1930s. Three contemporary writers will assess where the movement has been, how it has changed, and ... (more)where it’s going.

Participants include Alex Beam, Boston Globe columnist and author of the forthcoming book A Great Idea at the Time: The Rise, Fall, and Curious Afterlife of the Great Books; Eva Brann, former dean and the longest-serving tutor at St. John’s College, Annapolis, known for its distinctive Great Books curriculum; and Earl Shorris, contributing editor to Harper’s and the author of numerous books, including Riches for the Poor: The Clemente Course in the Humanities. The session will be chaired by Daniel Born, editor of the Great Books Foundation’s quarterly magazine, The Common Review.

Presented in partnership with the Great Books Foundation

You are invited to join a discussion of The Lazarus Project, a multifaceted novel by Aleksandar Hemon, based on a tragic footnote to Chicago’s history. A limited number of book discussion copies will be available to check out on your Chicago Public Library card starting Saturday, December 20, at the ... (more)Harold Washington Library Center 7th floor, Literature and World Language Information Desk. Kirkus Reviews has called Hemon’s new novel “profoundly moving” for its parallel stories of two immigrants to Chicago from Eastern Europe, separated by 100 years yet joined by common roots and the search for identity. Visit http://www.aleksandarhemon.com for a fascinating look at The Lazarus Project.

(LOCATION: Cindy Pritzker Auditorium) Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman presents acclaimed British author Barry Unsworth, winner of the Booker Prize, in conversation about his new historical novel. Land of Marvels unfolds in 1914 during the death throes of the Ottoman Empire, in present-day ... (more)Iraq. While Western nations struggle unscrupulously for a slice of Mesopotamia, a British archeologist tries desperately to preserve the fantastic treasures he's unearthed, even as an encroaching railroad - and the search for oil - threaten to destroy his life's work. Part thriller, part historical fiction, part compelling melodrama, Land of Marvels is a fascinating novel that opens a timely window onto the past. Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman is a partnership with the Chicago Public Library and 98.7WFMT Radio. The interview will be broadcast on Sunday, January 25th.

(Registration is required. Space is limited. Please call 312-747-4200 to register.) Join us to talk about Alcatraz Vesus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson, while hanging out with friends, playing games and snacking at our pre-teen book club meeting. For children ages 9 to 12 years old. This program ... (more)will take place in the Children's Program Room of the Thomas Hughes Children's Library.

(LOCATION: Authors Room) Bobo, Founder & Executive Director of Interfaith Worker Justice, will discuss her hard-hitting new book, Wage Theft in America: Why Millions of Working Americans Are Not Getting Paid—And What We Can Do About It. Bobo offers a sweeping analysis of the crisis, citing hard-hitting ... (more)statistics and first person accounts of exploitation at the hands of employers. She then offers concrete solutions, with special attention to what the Obama administration can do to address one of the issues.

About this event: With the generous support of the Chicago Public Library Foundation, the Chicago Public Library is offering engaging book discussions for teens in high school, ages 14-19 throughout the city. The book Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah will be discussed. Registration: ... (more)Please be sure to call your local branch library to sign up in advance for each discussion; confirm the dates and times; and reserve a copy of the book to be discussed.

(LOCATION: Cindy Pritzker Auditorium) Author T.C. Boyle will read from and sign The Women, his highly anticipated new novel based on the colorful and outlandish life of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Boyle's account of Wright's life, as told through the experiences of the four women who loved him, exudes ... (more)his trademark wit and invention. Wright's dramatic triumphs and defeats were always tied to the women he loved. Boyle's voice captures these very different women and, in doing so, creates a masterful ode to the complexity of a creative life.

You are invited to join a discussion of Haitian-American author Edwidge Danticat's, Brother I'm Dying, the true story surrounding the tragic deaths of her beloved father and uncle in the same year as the birth of her daughter. How does one deal with the complicated emotions brought on by two such divergent ... (more)events? For more information, hear a 2007 interview with Edwidge Danticat and read an excerpt from the book at this National Public Radio website: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st... Brother, I'm Dying is available to check out on your Chicago Public Library card. Bring a friend with you to the discussion and enjoy a lively hour listening and talking at the Adult Book Club.

(Registration is required. Space is limited. Please call 312-747-4200 to register.) Join us to talk about Savvy by Ingrid Law, while hanging out with friends, playing games and snacking at our pre-teen book club meeting. For children ages 9 to 12 years old. This program will take place in the Children's ... (more)Program Room of the Thomas Hughes Children's Library.

With the generous support of the Chicago Public Library Foundation, the Chicago Public Library is offering engaging book discussions for teens in high school, ages 14-19 throughout the city. The book The Brothers Torres by Coert Voorhees will be discussed. (REGISTRATION: Please be sure to call your local ... (more)branch library to sign up in advance for each discussion; confirm the dates and times; and reserve a copy of the book to be discussed.)

(LOCATION: Authors Room) What does environmentalism mean to Black women? When and where does their envirnomental consciousness begin? This program will highlight Black women's environmentalism through video, literature and music by activists, artists and authors. Although women from around the globe ... (more)will be discussed, special attention will be given to the work of the women in the Chicagoland area. Kimberly N. Ruffin is an Assistant Professor of English in the Department of Literature and Languages at Roosevelt University and the author of the forthcoming book Black on Earth: African Americans and Ecological Insights.

(LOCATION: Cindy Pritzker Auditorium) Radio pioneer Herb Kent will discuss and sign his new book, The Cool Gent: The Nine Lives of Radio Legend Herb Kent. Known as the Cool Gent, the King of the Dusties, and the Mayor of Bronzeville, Herb Kent is one of radio’s most illustrious and legendary stars. ... (more)This fascinating autobiography details both the high and low points of Herb's life while providing a vivid picture of black music, culture, and personalities from the 1950s to today.

(LOCATION: Cindy Pritzker Auditorium) Neal Bascomb, the award-winning author of The Perfect Mile, will discuss and sign his new book, Hunting Eichmann: How a Band of Survivors and a Young Spy Agency Chased Down the World's Most Notorious Nazi. In this first complete narrative of the pursuit and capture ... (more)of Adolf Eichmann, Bascomb tracked down former Nazi soldiers and right-wing radicals in Buenos Aires, traveled to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to meet with legendary Mossad operatives, uncovered an old memoir by Eichmann on his escape from Germany, and interviewed members of the El Al flight crew involved in Eichmann’s transport to Israel, a story that has never been told. He also made numerous archival discoveries, most notably unearthing the passport that Eichmann used to escape Europe, a discovery that made international headlines.

(LOCATION: Cindy Pritzker Auditorium) The author of Reading Like a Writer, A Changed Man and Blue Angel, will discuss her writing and process in an informal Q & A with host Ann Hemenway.

(LOCATION: Cindy Pritzker Auditorium) Author Francine Prose will read from and discuss her work with host Donna Seaman, Booklist associate editor, Open Books host, and WBEZ 848 book contributor.

(LOCATION: Cindy Pritzker Auditorium) Nelson Algren Award-winner Joe Meno will host an evening of readings by authors J. Adams Oaks, Bayo Ojikutu, Stephanie Kuehnert and Billy Lombardo. The evening will also include photos by Art Shay, renowned photographer and friend of Nelson Algren, a film clip from ... (more)the upcoming documentary Algren by Michael Caplan, and a conversation between these two artists.

May T. Watts (1893-1975), founder of the Education Program at The Morton Arboretum, was a renowned teacher, writer, naturalist, artist and also a leader in the early rails-to-trails movement. In her book Reading the Landscape, Watts gracefully taught us how to interpret the clues that we find in our ... (more)American landscape. Attend this presentation to discover more about Mrs. Watts, an Illinois classic! Presented by Rita Hassert, Librarian from the Sterling Morton Library at the Morton Arboretum. Call 312-747-4800 for more information.

(LOCATION: Authors Room) Explore Chicago's rich horticultural heritage-from early orchards to grand estates. Discover how Chicago earned the sobriquit 'the Garden City' as author Cathy Jean Maloney describes the designs, traditions, and plants from yesterday's gardens. Maloney will also highlight some ... (more)of the interesting women who helped shape Chicago's gardens from 1833 through 1933. The author will be available afterwards to sign copies of her recently released book, Chicago Gardens: The Early History (University of Chicago Press, 2008). Call 312-747-4700 for more information.

(LOCATION: Authors Room) With the generous support of the Chicago Public Library Foundation, the Chicago Public Library is offering engaging book discussions for teens in high school, ages 14-19 throughout the city. The book The Fold by An Na will be discussed. (REGISTRATION: Please be sure to call your ... (more)local branch library to sign up in advance for each discussion; confirm the dates and times; and reserve a copy of the book to be discussed.)

(LOCATION: Cindy Pritzker Auditorium) Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman presents a conversation with author Mary Gaitskill about her new collection of stories, Don't Cry. The book follows up on the extraordinary success of her 2005 novel, Veronica, with the same masterful intensity. Psychologically ... (more)and erotically taut, these ten tales unfurl around universal themes: war, sex, despair, love in many forms, the pain accrued by living. Gaitskill's powerful, unique perspective is always electrifying. Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman is a partnership with the Chicago Public Library and 98.7 WFMT Radio. The recording of this interview will be broadcast on Sunday, March 29 at noon.

Join us to talk about The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott, while hanging out with friends, playing games and snacking at our pre-teen book club meeting. For children ages 9 to 12 years old. This program will take place in the Children's Program Room of the Thomas ... (more)Hughes Children's Library. (REGISTRATION: Required. Space is limited. Please call 312-747-4200 to register.)

(LOCATION: Authors Room) Join Steven Payne, author of Grailpages: Original Comic Book Art and the Collectors as he discusses his book. Grailpages brings to light the burgeoning hobby of collecting the original, hand-drawn art that was used to create comic books. Beginning more as a novelty, the hobby ... (more)of collecting original comic art has expanded to a point where some of the seminal pages commonly run more than $10,000 each. Steven Payne has interviewed collectors around the world, as well as industry pros. Fans of comic art, comic books, and pop culture will find in Grailpages an appreciation for a uniquely American form of art.

(LOCATION: Cindy Pritzker Auditorium) The House on Mango Street is the Spring 2009 One Book, One Chicago selection! Join Sandra Cisneros as she reflects on her prestigious career 25 years after the initial publication of her groundbreaking work, The House on Mango Street. A book signing will follow, ... (more)with books available for purchase by Barbara’s Bookstore. Free program, no reservations required. (Groups of over 20 should call (312) 747-8191 to inquire about space.) For more information, including all the One Book, One Chicago events taking place in April, go here: http://www.chipublib.org/eventsprog/p... or Phone: 312-747-8191

(LOCATION: Children's Program Room of the Thomas Hughes Children's Library) Celebrate National Poetry Month and join us for a visit with children's author and poet Heidi Bee Roemer. Ms. Roemer is the author of Come to My Party and Other Shape Poems, What Kinds of Seeds are These? and Whose Nest is This? ... (more)This program is sure to help your students develop a love and appreciation for poetry. For children ages 6 to 9 years old. (REGISTRATION: Required for groups of six or more. Space is limited. Please call 312-747-4200 to register.)

(LOCATION: Cindy Pritzker Auditorium) Jay McInerney's 25 year literary trajectory has chronicled the manic social flux of contemporary society, starting with his seminal Bright Lights, Big City in 1984. Now there's How it Ended, a collection of 22 short stories, old and new, that trace McInerney's career ... (more)while capturing a melange of adult situations. Join host Victoria Lautman as she engages McInerney in a lively conversation about his latest book. Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman is a partnership with the Chicago Public Library and 98.7 WFMT Radio. The interview will be broadcast on Sunday, April 19th at noon. Phone: 312-747-4050

(LOCATION: Talking Book Center, 5th Floor) This Spring, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros has been selected for One Book, One Chicago. Join in a book discussion of this unique and captivating work at your branch library.

(LOCATION: Authors Room) Celebrate Earth Day with Donna Seaman, Booklist associate editor, Open Books host and WBEZ 848 book contributor, as she discusses, reads from and signs the book, Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape. This book brings together 45 poets and writers to create more than ... (more)850 original definitions for words that describe our lands and waters. The writers, including Barbara Kingsolver, Luis Alberto Urrea, Jon Krakauer, Charles Frazier and Antonya Nelson, draw from careful research as well as on their own distinctive personal and regional diversity to portray in vivid prose the striking complexity of the landscapes we inhabit, from Missouri’s woody draws to Virginia’s runs, from California’s bajadas to Alaska’s pingos and Hawaii’s shield volcanoes. At the heart of Home Ground is a community of writers reviving a language that exemplifies the variety and vastness of the American landscape.

(LOCATION: Talking Book Center, 5th Floor) This Spring, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros has been selected for One Book, One Chicago. Join in a book discussion of this unique and captivating work at your branch library.

(LOCATION: Cindy Pritzker Auditorium) Rita Dove served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1993 to 1995, the youngest person to hold the title and the first African-American. Dove's lyrical and accessible poetry reflects the author's interest in music and drama, as well as her commitment to social ... (more)justice and her sensitivity to women's issues. Among her many honors are the Pulitzer Prize in poetry, the Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities, the National Humanities Medal, and the 2006 Common Wealth Award. Among her many collections are Thomas and Beulah (1986), Mother Love (1995), On the Bus with Rosa Parks (1999), and American Smooth (2004). Dove is Commonwealth Professor of English at the University of Virginia, where she has been teaching since 1989. She was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2006.Her new book, due out this month, is Sonata Mulattica. A book sale and signing will follow the reading.

Join us to talk about Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz, while hanging out with friends, playing games and snacking at our pre-teen book club meeting. For children ages 9 to 12 years old. This program will take place in the Children's Program Room of the Thomas Hughes Children's Library. (REGISTRATION: ... (more)Required. Space is limited. Please call 312-747-4200 to register.)

(LOCATION: Authors Room) With the generous support of the Chicago Public Library Foundation, the Chicago Public Library is offering engaging book discussions for teens in high school, ages 14-19 throughout the city. The book He Forgot to Say Goodbye by Benjamin Alire Saenz will be discussed. (REGISTRATION: ... (more)Please be sure to call your ... (more)local branch library to sign up in advance for each discussion; confirm the dates and times; and reserve a copy of the book to be discussed.)

Bradford Morrow presents My Willa Cather, the keynote program of the 2009 International Cather Seminar: Cather, Chicago & Modernism.