Welcome

Welcome to the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame’s new blog.

Think of this as a party, the kind of literary party nobody in this town hardly ever throws, a party with no partially tax exempt cover charge, a party with nobody reading from their book, a party with opinions that would not be said out loud if we weren’t all a little drunk.

The purpose of the blog is of course to create awareness for the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame and all that we’re doing. But more so, it’s another way to fulfill our mission of keeping conversation alive about our great literary heritage--past, present and future.

I will write many of the blog entries, and in so doing try in earnest to perpetuate conversation about Chicago as a proud literary city and the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame as a proud organization promoting our proud literary city.

CLHOF induction statues.

I will also invite others to contribute, from across the Chicago literary spectrum.

Like any party, we’ll have our share of carnival barkers—I’ll wear that hat from time to time myself. But mostly we’ll encourage thoughtful artists to provoke, inform and celebrate various aspects of Chicago’s writing life and history.

I've been discussing the blog launch with Natalia Nebel, local author, editor and translator who also co-directs Sunday Salon Chicago. She will be part of a stable of authors contributing to the blog. In our discussions, we've imagined a variety of voices tackling issues relevant to Chicago's readers and writers, everything from the reality of the publishing landscape to the true wages of adjunct teachers to lesser known writers doing substantial work. We've envisioned a forum in which we explore Chicago's impact on our literary lives. We've proposed informing our community about notable events involving our great authors, especially CLHOF inductees.  And we've hoped to enlist our dedicated readers as occasional contributors.

So that's what this is, though I'm guessing the blog's shape will develop somewhat more organically over time.

Want to join the party? Send me an email (donaldgevans@hotmail.com) pitching your proposed contribution. I want commentary about Chicago’s literary life. I want reporting about our literary events. I want reflections about our great writers. I want reviews (or maybe just thoughts) about books we should definitely read or read again.

It's not exactly a more-the-merrier situation, but we will post reasonable bouncers at the door.

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Donald G. Evans is the founder and executive director of the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. He is the author of the novel Good Money After Bad and short story collection An Off-White Christmas, as well as the editor of the anthology Cubbie Blues: 100 Years of Waiting Till Next Year. He is the Chicago editor of the Great Lakes Cultural Review. He serves on the American Writers Museum's Chicago Literary Council and the committee that selects the Harold Washington Literary Award.

donaldgevans@hotmail.com