By Steve Rhodes

I’m not opposed to fiction – I get it, it’s a world of imagination that can teach us “larger truths” – but the world of non-fiction is endlessly more fascinating because it’s actually true! Give or take whatever arguments we can have over interpretation, framing, theory, etc.
Just take a look at the winners announced today by The Society of Midland Authors in the non-fiction and biography categories of the society’s annual awards for Midwest authors, as well as the finalists: from the violent history of poker to eccentric evolutionists to the “Gambler King of Clark Street” to the civil war general who later worked as a Great Lakes engineer, the stories of our lives are far more mind-blowing – and meaningful – than anything fiction writers can dream up. Fiction writing is a craft – an art form – no doubt. But I’m still trying to get over the tales told by books like these.
ADULT NONFICTION
WINNER: James McManus, Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker, Farrar, Straus and Giroux. (Author lives in Kenilworth, Illinois.)
Review excerpt, New York Times:
“This time around, instead of the poker-related murder trial that frames his earlier book, and his personal adventure, McManus undertakes the story of the game itself, as his subtitle promises. ‘Poker’ apparently derives from German pochen, meaning to beat or beat up or pulverize. Aggression is at the heart of the game, which has a rich history of violence. Every duffer knows that two pairs, aces and eights, is called ‘The Dead Man’s Hand’ because those were the cards Wild Bill Hickok was holding when shot from behind by an assassin named Crooked Nose Jack McCall.”

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Posted on April 28, 2010

1. Tyler Kepner Dirk Hayhurst
Prohibition Seminar – The Way We Drank
Tuesday, May 4, 2010 @ 7:00 p.m.
Those who did drink during Prohibition had no trouble finding what they wanted. The speakeasy changed American drinking habits, and it also permanently altered the nature of urban social life, particularly in relationships between men and women. Former New York Times public editor Dan Okrent and author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, discusses this exploration of America’s wet oases during the dry years.
Venue
Chicago History Museum
1601 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60614
Presenter
Chicago History Museum
312-642-4600
Tickets
$10
$8 Members
3. George Will Men at Work Cubs quote.

Posted on April 27, 2010

By The Beachwood BookNotes Division

1. “After my partner showed up and informed me I would be driving the wagon in downtown rush-hour traffic, he directed me to a cafe for his coffee, obviously in no hurry to reach our assignment,” Chicago cop Martin Prieb writes in The Wagon. The brief narrative on the computer explained that a woman was dead, and removal meant we must take her to the morgue. The narrative stated she was in her fifties. That was it. My partner did not speak about the task ahead, though I could not stop thinking about it. The service entrance to the address of our assignment, a high-rise building on Michigan Avenue, was below in the labyrinth of alleys and parking lots off Lower Wacker Drive.”

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Posted on April 23, 2010

By The Poetry Foundation

At the end of National Poetry Month, 53 students who emerge from a field of nearly 325,000 competitors nationwide will gather in Washington, DC, to vie for the title of Poetry Out Loud National Champion and $50,000 in awards.
On April 26 and 27, champions from every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands will showcase their skills in poetry memorization and recitation at the Poetry Out Loud National Finals at the Lisner Auditorium in Washington, DC. The roster of judges for the National Finals will feature author Garrison Keillor, actress and activist Alfre Woodard, poets Valerie Martinez and Jane Shore, poet and critic Adam Kirsch, and the 2009 Poetry Out Loud National Champion, William Farley.
Poetry Out Loud is a partnership between the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts that encourages the study of great poetry by offering educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition to high schools across the country. Poetry Out Loud gives students an opportunity to master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage. Now in its fifth year of national competition, Poetry Out Loud has been embraced by thousands of students, teachers, schools, and communities as a dynamic way to discover classic and contemporary poetry, from Walt Whitman to Natasha Trethewey.
“Arts education is essential to raising America’s next generation of creative thinkers,” said NEA chairman Rocco Landesman. “The NEA is proud to provide leadership in arts education through high-quality national education programs like Poetry Out Loud.”
“To learn a great poem by heart is to make a friend for life,” said John Barr, president of the Poetry Foundation. “The national recitation program brings fresh energy to an ancient art form by returning it to the classrooms of America.”

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Posted on April 15, 2010

By The Poetry Foundation

Eleanor Ross Taylor Awarded 2010 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize Award recognizes lifetime accomplishment with $100,000 prize
The Poetry Foundation is pleased to announce that poet Eleanor Ross Taylor has won the 2010 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.
Presented annually to a living U.S. poet whose lifetime accomplishments warrant extraordinary recognition, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize is one of the most prestigious awards given to American poets. At $100,000, it is also one of the nation’s largest literary prizes. The prize will be presented at the Pegasus Awards ceremony at the Arts Club of Chicago on Tuesday, May 18.
In making the announcement, Christian Wiman, editor of Poetry magazine, cited the strong reserve in Taylor’s poems and praised their “sober and clear-eyed serenity” and authority:

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Posted on April 13, 2010

By The Beachwood Rhymes & Crimes Affairs Desk

1. Poetry Foundation Celebrates National Poetry Month.
Programming includes Poetry magazine, poetry films, iPhone app, multimedia poetry tours, recitation contest, readings, online educational resources, and more.
CHICAGO – The Poetry Foundation is pleased to announce an exciting array of literary events and programs in celebration of National Poetry Month, April 2010.
Poetry
For its April issue, Poetry has dispensed with the usual prose section in order to make room for extensive Q&As with the poets. Designed to enable readers to have a deeper experience with the poems in the issue, and also to give some insight into the questions that editors ask when considering submissions, the Q&As are probing, surprising, sometimes testy, and often funny.
Poets featured in the issue include Rae Armantrout, Todd Boss, H.L. Hix, Cathy Park Hong, Devin Johnston, Adam Kirsch, Randall Mann, Spencer Reece Donald Revell, and Robyn Schiff.
The Q&As are also available online at here.

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Posted on April 6, 2010