Tom Lynch

Desaulniers' book of short stories--"What You've Been Missing," a tragic set of ten stories in which each character demands unconditional affection--won this year's John Simmons Short Fiction Award, another nod to the Evanston author, who's already won numerous awards for her fiction in the past. Most of these stories previously appeared in other publications--three in the New Yorker, one in "TriQuarterly," and one in Glimmer Train--but that doesn't disrupt the overall current that connects her characters and the pain they are willing to endure for the people they love. Desaulniers, who teaches in the MFA writing program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, truly cares for her creations and makes the reader do the same. Her stories reflect a deep bruise of Midwestern sentiment, but never heavy-handed, and always subtle in dialogue and narration. It's compelling work.

Janet Desaulniers reads from "What You've Been Missing" on December 28 at the Red Lion Pub, 2446 North Lincoln, (773)348-2695, at 7:30pm.

(2004-12-21)

Also by Tom Lynch

Tip of the Week
For all the city's improv lovers who also happen to have insomnia: This Tuesday, The Second City e.t.c. hosts its third annual "Letters to Santa" benefit, a twenty-four-hour excursion in improv that helps get children Christmas presents
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Tip of the Week
Four of the best local graphic novelists unite this week--Jeffrey Brown ("Unlikely"), John Hankiewicz (the "Tepid" series), Paul Hornshemeier ("Forlorn Funnies") and Anders Nilsen ("Dogs and Water")--for their second annual "Win, Lose, or Draw" competition, in which the novelists, thankfully, do the drawing and audience members have guessing detail
(2004-12-14)

Down with cream
A few dozen gather outside the Wicker Park/Bucktown Chamber of Commerce on Milwaukee Avenue. Down the block, a storefront window has been tagged by an unfixable white substance, a glass etching cream that can be found at most art-supply stores, sort of a liquid sandpaper
(2004-12-07)

Tip of the Week
Victor Skrebneski, the Art Institute graduate and acclaimed photographer, appears this week to discuss and sign copies of "Moving Pictures!," his photo anthology documenting forty years of the Chicago International Film Festival.
(2004-11-30)

Packer Green
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Tip of the Week
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Tip of the Week
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Back to School
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Tip of the Week
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Hungry heart
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Thong song
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Tip of the Week
(2004-11-09)

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