Spring 2010

Thursday, January 14 - Sunday, February 14

The Court Theatre at U of Chicago

Author Joan Didion adapts her own acclaimed memoir to the stage--"The Year of Magical Thinking." A fiercely intelligent, courageous, and witty exploration of loss, this monumental one-woman journey will be performed by Mary Beth Fisher in its Chicago premiere. See www.courttheatre.org/ for information and tickets.

Monday, February 1

6:00pm, Harold Washington Library (Cindy Pritzker Aud.)

T.C. Boyle, one of the most acclaimed American writers of today, will read from and sign his new collection of stories, Wild Child. The fourteen stories gathered here display both Boyle’s astonishing range and his imaginative storytelling. Nature is the dominant player in many of the stories and all are incisive and entertaining with his trademark wit and socially conscious sensibility.

Wednesday, February 3

6:00pm, Harold Washington Library (Authors Room)

Chicago author Jerald Walker reads from and signs his new memoir, Street Shadows: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion, and Redemption. In this moving and masterfully told story, Walker reveals his own struggles growing up in Chicago housing projects, a boy of great promise, his descent into the 'thug life' and the wakeup call that led to him finding himself again. It is an eloquent account of how the past shadows but need not determine the present.

Thursday, February 4

6-7pm, Fullerton Hall at the Art Institute of Chicago

"Disturb the Universe" - Avant Garde and Modernism: From Guillaume Apolinaire and Gertrude Stein to Bertolt Brecht and Samuel Beckett, avant-garde writers, in sync with artists, including Picasso, charted the future of Modernism as it set off in myriad directions. Excerpts of prose, plays, and poetry presented by Goodman Theatre mainstage actors Barbara Robertson and Larry Yando. Presented by Poetry Foundation and the Art Institute of Chicago. Admission free.

Thursday, February 11

6:00pm, Harold Washington Library (Cindy Pritzker Aud.)

Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman presents best-selling author Wells Tower for a discussion of his writing and his book Ravaged, Everything Burned. When Tower published his first story collection last year, the response was frenzied: Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned sold out within weeks, garnering intense praise and a vast fan-base. Tower's characters experience humiliation, anger, and loneliness, but told with astounding wit and tenderness. Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman is a partnership with the Chicago Public Library and 98.7WFMT Radio. The interview will be broadcast on Sunday, February 14th, at noon.

Wednesday, February 17

5:00pm, Gage Gallery

Oyez Staffers and visiting authors read from Issue 37 of Roosevelt's literary magazine, Oyez Review.

Sunday, February 21

2:00pm, Harold Washington Library (Cindy Pritzker Aud.)

Patti Smith, the world renowned writer, musician and visual artist, discusses and signs her new book, Just Kids, a memoir of her time in New York with Robert Mapplethorpe. It was the summer Coltrane died, the summer of love and riots, and the summer when a chance encounter in Brooklyn led two young people on a path of art, devotion and initiation. Smith would evolve as a poet and performer and Mapplethorpe would direct his highly provocative style toward photography. Just Kids begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. It is a fascinating look at New York City in the late sixties and seventies and a beautiful portrait of two young artists’ prelude to fame. Cosponsored by Borders Books and Music. Please note: Seating is very limited and provided on a first come, first served basis. The Library opens at 1 p.m. and the Cindy Pritzker Auditorium doors open at 1:30 p.m.

Friday, February 26

7:00pm, Quimby's Bookstore (Wicker Park)

Oyez Staffers and visiting authors read from Issue 37 of Roosevelt's literary magazine, Oyez Review.

Friday, February 26

8:00pm, Double Door (Wicker Park)

It’s that time of year again! Time for the 2nd Annual Windy City Story Slam All-City Championships from the Double Door (1572 N. Milwaukee). We’ll be hearing from our finalists Alex Bonner, Fernando Hernandez, Nicolette Kittinger, Maggie Ritchie, and Alexis Thomas. We’ll also have some special guests joining us: 2009 National Book Award finalist Bonnie Jo Campbell, John Patrick Hemingway, John Schultz, and Ben Evans. The night’s musical guest is White Mystery. $7 cover, or $25 for a VIP ticket (admit it, you are a very important person). Read more here.

*RU Visiting Author Series*

Monday, March 1

5:00pm, Gage Gallery

Adam Levin, professor at Columbia College and The Art Institute and also a visiting professor at Roosevelt (teaching Fiction III), will read from his work. He has two books--a novel and a collection of short stories--forthcoming from McSweeney's.

Wednesday, March 3

5:30pm, Columbia College, Hokin Hall

Alan Michael Parker and Matthew Shindell to read from their poetry at this event sponsored by the English Department at Columbia College.

Thursday, March 4
Time T.B.A., DePaul University
Hattie Fletcher, managing editor of literary journal Creative Nonfiction will visit DePaul University for an informal Q&A with any interested students.

*RU Visiting Author Series*

Tuesday, March 9

5:00pm, Gage Gallery

Roosevelt poetry professor Frank Rogaczewski's book release party and reading of The Fate of Humanity in Verse. Dr. Rogaczewski received his Ph.D. in Creative Writing (Poetry) at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Thursday, March 11

6:00pm, Harold Washington Library (Cindy Pritzker Aud.)

American-born writer Lionel Shriver has lived in the UK for two decades, and wrote seven novels before achieving international successes with We Have To Talk About Kevin and The Post-Birthday World. She joins host Victoria Lautman to discuss her anticipated tenth novel, So Much For That, which presents a crumbling marriage resurrected in the face of illness, and one family's struggle to survive the odds. Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman is a partnership with the Chicago Public Library and 98.7WFMT Radio. The interview will be broadcast on Sunday, March 14th, at noon.

Friday, March 12

7:00pm, Book Cellar Bookstore (Lincoln Square)

Oyez Staffers and visiting authors read from Issue 37 of Roosevelt's literary magazine, Oyez Review.

Thursday, April 1

6-7pm, Fullerton Hall at the Art Institute of Chicago

Nobel prize winner Derek Walcott considers origins and inevitabilities in reading selections from landmark and recent works, most notably Omeros, his book-length epic about a modern-day Odysseus on St. Lucia, the island of his birth. A booksigning follows. Presented by Poetry Foundation and the Art Institute of Chicago. Admission is free.

*RU Visiting Author Series*

Wednesday, April 14

5:00pm, Gage Gallery

Creative nonfiction editor of Another Chicago Magazine and co-director of Northwestern's MA/MFA creative writing program, Sandi Wisenberg, will visit Roosevelt University to read from her newest creative nonfiction book Cancer Bitch--which started out as a blog. She has two other creative nonfiction books, both collections of essays: The Sweetheart Is In, and Holocaust Girls: History, Memory, and Other Obsessions.

*RU Visiting Author Series*

Tuesday, April 27

5:00pm, Gage Gallery

A reading by Mary Jo Bang, author of six collections of poems, including Elegy, which won the 2007 National Book Circle Award. She will read from her newest collection The Bride of E, and participate in a Q&A at the end of her reading. She teaches at Washington University in St. Louis.

Thursday, May 13

6-7pm, Fullerton Hall at the Art Institute of Chicago

"Disturb the Universe" - American Moderns Abroad and At Home: American artists, such as Marsden Hartley and Georgia O'Keeffe, echoed writers who were responding to European innovations by crafting their own landmark contributions to Modernism. This reading, presented by Goodman Theatre actors and dancers from HS2, features T. S. Eliot, Mina Loy, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, e.e.cummings, William Carlos Williams, and Langston Hughes. Presented by Poetry Foundation and the Art Institute of Chicago. Admission is free.