By SIU Press

Fashioning Lives: Black Queers and the Politics of Literacy analyzes the life stories of 60 Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people along with archival documents, literature, and film.
Author Eric Darnell Pritchard provides a theoretical framework for studying the literacy work of Black LGBTQ people, who do not fit into the traditional categories imposed on their language practices and identities.
Examining the myriad ways literacy is used to inflict harm, Pritchard discusses how these harmful events prompt Black LGBTQ people to ensure their own survival by repurposing literacy through literacy performances fueled by accountability to self and communal love towards social and political change, a process the author calls “restorative literacies.”

Read More

Posted on December 3, 2016

By Tim Atkins/The Conversation

For actors, “never work with children or animals” is excellent advice. For poets, “never write a poem about Christmas” should carry equal weight.
In the same way that, come the festive season, one’s most unhappy colleague or relative gets pressured into a Santa Claus outfit, December is the time when the most desperate of poets squeeze their talents into festive verse. These poems – like the Christmas pudding sweater or Santa Claus pair of pants – are gifts that really should never have been given.

Read More

Posted on December 1, 2016

By SIU Press

Near the dawn of the 20th century, more than a million Americans had subscriptions to popular magazines, and many who did not subscribe read the periodicals.
Far more men and women were learning advanced literacy through reading these magazines than by attending college.
Yet this form of popular literacy has been relatively ignored by scholars, who have focused mainly on academic institutions and formal educational experiences.
In Circulating Literacy: Writing Instruction in American Periodicals, 1880-1910, author Alicia Brazeau concentrates on the format, circulation, and function of popular and influential periodicals published between 1880 and 1910, including the farming magazines Michigan Farmer, Ohio Farmer, and Maine Farmer, which catered to rural residents, and two women’s magazines, Harper’s Bazar and the Ladies’ Home Journal, that catered to very different populations of women.

Read More

Posted on November 28, 2016

By The Society Of Midland Authors

The Society of Midland Authors is accepting submissions for its annual literary awards, which will honor books by Midwestern authors published in 2016.
Each winner will receive $500 and a recognition award. The judges in each category may also deem one or two honorees as worthy of recognition, and each finalist will receive a commemorative award. These honors will be given out at the awards banquet the second Tuesday in May.

Read More

Posted on November 22, 2016

Sick, Sad World

“Forty-nine years after the publication of his first book, Mr. Wideman has forged Writing to Save a Life: The Louis Till File, perhaps his most impressive armament so far,” Norman Conti writes for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
“Like so many of Mr. Wideman’s books, it opens on the streets of Homewood before leading the reader on a tour of cities and nations all situated in the heart of the author.
“The journey begins with Emmett Till, as he travels from Chicago to the Mississippi scene of his gruesome murder and the exoneration of his killers. Then, Mr. Wideman takes us deeper into this nation’s heart of darkness with an examination of the case of Louis Till, Emmett’s father.
“Louis Till, a soldier in WWII, was executed by the U.S. Army; his case file was eventually exhumed to discredit the Till family, in order to prevent a retrial of Emmett’s killers for kidnapping – charges they had admitted to during their murder trial. Decades later, Mr. Wideman obtained his own copy of the Louis Till file – poring over it, internalizing content and blending it with the striking parallels between the Tills and his own family. Mr. Wideman combines the official record with his own experiences and imagination to produce a discourse on truth, power as well as the lie of race and its consequences.”

Read More

Posted on November 14, 2016

By The Chicago Book Expo

The Chicago Book Expo, Chicago’s biggest fall literary event, featuring more than 70 exhibitors from Chicago-area publishers and literary organizations, plus 20 events with local authors on a wide range of topics, will be held this Sunday from noon to 5 pm. at Columbia College, 1104 S. Wabash Ave. in Chicago. The event is free and open to the public.
This year’s Chicago Book Expo features 20 different programs, including a tribute to Roger Ebert as a writer (with Chaz Ebert emceeing a conversation and reading with Michael Phillips, Laura Emerick, and more about Roger’s work), a panel on books about Chicago music moderated by Jim DeRogatis (with Steve Krakow, Sally Timms, and John Dugan), and other sessions about mysteries, poetry & protest, comics, Chicago history, diversity in publishing, Chicago novels, translation, drinking in Chicago, and much more.

Read More

Posted on November 10, 2016

Meadows, Woods, Hedges And Fields

Outdoorsman Scott Shalaway includes three nature books from the University of Chicago Press in his holiday reading gift guide. Let’s take a look.
Shalaway:
“Voracious Science & Vulnerable Animals: A Primate Scientist’s Ethical Journey by John Gluck (2016, University of Chicago Press, $17.50) traces the evolution of one researcher’s path from research scientist to ethicist. If you’ve ever had concerns about how captive primates are used in psychological research, you’ll find this a compelling read. Many primates can live for decades, and their care extends far beyond their utility as research subjects.”

Read More

Posted on November 5, 2016

By Chris Lamb/The Conversation

W.P. Kinsella is probably best known for his 1982 novel Shoeless Joe, the inspiration for the film Field of Dreams. But the following year, Kinsella wrote a lesser-known short story titled The Last Pennant Before Armageddon, in which Al Tiller, the manager of the Chicago Cubs, is haunted by a prophetic dream that the world will end if the Cubs defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the National League pennant. This puts Tiller in a bind: He must choose between momentary glory or the end of the world.
Those familiar with the short story may have braced themselves on Oct. 22, when the Cubs vanquished the Los Angeles Dodgers to win their first pennant since 1945. The world didn’t end. Not yet anyway.

Read More

Posted on October 28, 2016

The Politics Behind Waste Management In Chicago

“In Garbage Wars, the sociologist David Pellow describes the politics of garbage in Chicago.”

Read More

Posted on October 24, 2016

By Julia Harte/Reuters

A retired U.S. Marine Corps general who last served as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff pleaded guilty on Monday in a federal court to making false statements to the FBI during an investigation into leaks of classified information.
Four-star General James Cartwright was questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2012 over a book written by New York Times reporter David Sanger, which exposed a malicious computer software program known as “Stuxnet” designed to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program.

Read More

Posted on October 18, 2016