The Printers Row Lit Fest is from 10 AM to 10 PM on Saturday, June 8, and from 10 AM to 6 PM on Sunday, June 9, in the Printers Row district—Dearborn between Congress and Polk—and a couple off-site spots, like the library. We’ve pulled a few favorites from the more than 200 author readings, discussions, and sundry other events; everything’s free, though some talks require advance reservations. And of course there’s the fair—what organizers bill as the largest outdoor two-day book fair in the midwest. See chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/printersrowlitfest for details and the full schedule.
Audrey Petty and Hallie Gordon
Evanston-based novelist Sharon Fiffer (the subject of a 2008 Reader profile) writes about life in her hometown of Kankakee through her protagonist, an antique collector and amateur detective named Jane Wheel, who searches garage sales for treasures and occasionally discovers bodies along the way. She’ll be joined here by Gillian Royes (The Man Who Turned Both Cheeks) and Libby Fischer Hellmann (A Bitter Veil) on a panel moderated by Jamie Freveletti (the “Emma Caldridge” series). —JT
2:45 PM, University Center, tickets required
Sunday
Hot Doug’s Doug Sohn
Activist Haki Madhubuti founded Third World Press on the south side in the 60s, and since then it’s been a polestar for African-American literature. Madhubuti’s own poetry is recognized for militarizing black vernacular against racial injustice; his contemporary Sterling Plumpp, a poet and editor at TWP, relies on black everyday life, instead of politics, drawing from the reservoir of black collective identity he believes is best articulated in good blues songs, jazz, and gospel. Plumpp’s most recent work, Home/Bass (forthcoming from TWP), is a study of the blues musician Willie Kent and the backdrop for this panel on the intersections of music and poetry. Plumpp will be joined by Africana studies scholar Fred Lee Hord and black arts movement poet Eugene B. Redmond. —JC
