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Reading Rebels

Life isn't easy for rule-breakers. Just ask the folks at the Unit for Contemporary Literature and Fiction Collective Two.

Housed at the Illinois State University campus in Normal since the mid-90s, the Unit for Contemporary Literature published innovative and challenging works for almost a decade. Though the Unit closed down in 2004, the presses at ISU are still churning out adventurous fiction.

One purveyor of prose that inked the sheets at ISU is Fiction Collective Two. Founded in Colorado in 1973 and roaming from college campus to college campus (FC2 is now edited in Florida, printed in Normal, and distributed by Northwestern University Press), the collective advocates for experimental authors whom it feels are ignored by the publishing establishment.

Bonus Material

Excerpt from "Customs in a Developing Country: a prefatory story"

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Be sure to check out LitLine, to find out about the great writers of Illinois and the larger world of literature.

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Take a tour of the printing facilities at Illinois State University and learn more about the fine words coming out of Normal, such as the renowned Spoon River Poetry Review and American Book Review.

 

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The cover of Lucy Corin's Everyday Psychokillers: A History for Girls which tells the story of a young woman growing up in "a culture of girl-killers."

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Christopher Grimes' Public Works brings together short pieces that are part stream-of-consciousness fiction, part cultural essays. Read an excerpt below.

 

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