Books

Nella Larsen existed in disparate worlds, never quite finding her place: born to a Danish mother and West Indian father in a Chicago vice district, she eventually became a part of the Harlem Renaissance and Black professional class, producing a neglected classic novel. 

The Chicagoland author and illustrator of the children's book Exquisite: The Life and Poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks give a live reading and discuss the process of creating the book as well as their admiration of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet.

“You can make a strong case for saying the American writing experience is the immigrant writing experience,” says the author Juan Martinez, and that's exactly what the American Writers Museum's "My America" exhibit, newly made digital, does.

Beginning April 20, Michelle Obama will join PBS KIDS to read a children's book live on Facebook and YouTube in order to encourage reading while children are at home, in Mondays with Michelle Obama.

Since the Chicago area is not a publishing hub, Agate Publishing is easy to overlook. But its location outside a hub of the industry lets it find overlooked talent: it published the debut novels of Jesmyn Ward and Kiese Laymon, and has a current National Book Award contender in Burn the Place.

Pearl Hart spent much of her career as a lawyer defending people from the infringement of their rights, from Communists caught up in the Red Scare to lesbians and gay people. Her late-in-life partner Valerie Taylor advocated for LGBT rights through her writing, speaking, and novels.

Did your favorite novel come out first in The Great American Read's search for America's best-loved book? Find the top ten books by voting here, and learn insights from the results.

The author of Roots and The Autobiography of Malcolm X explains the origins of Roots and his difficulty in capturing the experience of being on a slave-ship in a 1976 interview. "The absence of pride changes to a presence of pride" when you know your history, he says.

The American Library Assocation's Office for Intellectual Freedom is currently hosting Banned Books Week. What kinds of books were most frequently challenged in 2017, and what books from The Great America Read's list of America's favorite novels have been banned?

One in six adults, or 35 million people, read below a fourth-grade level in the United States. The Chicago Literacy Alliance is working to change that, by bringing together organizations with similar goals and fostering collaboration amongst them.

Discover the stories behind more of Chicago's favorite indie bookstores on the South Side, including a legendary, long-lived one that counts Barack and Michelle Obama amongst its fans.

Independent bookstores remain an irreplaceable asset, with their staff recommendations and sense of community. We've already featured three Chicago stalwarts, but here are the stories of a few more of the city's beloved indie bookstores.

Last year, Illinois spent less than $300 on prison libraries, and access is often very limited. So Chicago Books to Women in Prison does exactly what its name says.  “By helping women have a better quality of life while in prison, that's just better for their family and the community they'll be returning to," says a volunteer.

If you love books, you probably also love bookstores, and independent bookstores remain irreplaceable gems, with their staff recommendations, unusual selections, and sense of community. Discover the stories behind a few of Chicago's beloved indie bookstores.

"Nobody needs a book much, do they?" It's a surprising sentiment to hear coming from a writer, but in this 1981 interview with WTTW's John Callaway, John Updike discusses his impressively humble views on literature, his existential anxieties, and his goals as a writer.