Words Archives
Click here to visit Words (literary) archives up to January 20, 2009. Click here to visit more recent material.
Newcity has migrated to a new suite of web sites
(2009-02-11)
more >

Slam Dunk
The Windy City Story Slam comes together at Metro
“I think a lot of people are storytellers but they just don’t know it,” says Bill Hillmann, founder of the Windy City Story Slam. The only event of its kind in Chicago, the Slam operates under the assumption that “everybody’s got a story” by hosting monthly competitions where four-to-six participants take the stage to share their unique narratives and one walks away, by audience approval, with the night’s honors and a $50 door prize
(2009-01-20)
more >

Newcity's Top 5 of Everything 2008: Books

Chris Adrian, Raja Shehadeh, Aleksandar Hemon, Philip Roth and more
(2008-12-30)
more >

Hot Girls and Monsters
Local comic creator Tim Seeley on the verge
Tim Seeley knows how to succeed as a comic book creator. “There’s a general rule in comics,” the writer/artist says. “You have to be at least two of three things. You have to be nice, really fast, or really good—I think I’ve got fast and nice.” And actually, he’s got good down, too
(2008-12-02)
more >

Wrap the Words
Ten books that would make fine gifts
Not long ago publishing’s wise old heads bet we would be so preoccupied with defibrillating the American dream at the polls in 2008 we wouldn’t have time to dream in fiction
(2008-11-24)
more >

POETRY REVIEW
Weather Patterns
In “The Tempest,” Shakespeare sings to his muse, writing of how “graves at my command/Have waked their sleepers, oped and let ‘em forth/By my so potent art.” Four centuries later, American writers continue to ply their own literary spades at the undead ghosts of Katrina. In her new volume, “Blood Dazzler,” a finalist for the National Book Award for poetry, Chicago native Patricia Smith brings an incantatory brilliance to the horror of that hurricane and our nation’s shameful response to it
(2008-11-18)
more >

The Future of Words
How Barack Obama’s Presidency Will Change Literature in America
Will Obama’s election have some impact on literary culture? The bare-bone facts bode well. Obama does not just respect language: he is an accomplished writer. His two memoirs are remarkable for their craft and complexity. More importantly, Obama’s story—the biracial son of an immigrant raised partly in Indonesia, educated at Harvard, proposing social reform—will, briefly, but triumphantly, become the nation's own. He could radically return the country's narrative back to possibility and promise, and away from punishment and division
(2008-11-11)
more >

NONFICTION REVIEW
Days of Wine and Notebooks
The pillars of his life, as Charles Bukowski saw it, were elemental: “Poetry, paint, sand, whores,” he writes in the title polemic of his new volume of uncollected writings, “Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook,” adding, for good measure; “food, fire, death, bullshit…the turning of the fan…the bottle.”
(2008-11-04)
more >

Burying Batman
Tony Daniel pencils D.C.’s current caped crusade
With wildly popular comics madman Grant Morrison (“The Invisibles,” “New X-Men,” “Animal Man”) on board as “R.I.P.” scribe, every page has been peppered with out-there developments, overcomplicated complications and a surprising concept that plays off a forgotten “Batman” comic from fifty years ago. Meanwhile, and not getting anywhere near as much attention as “R.I.P.”s plot developments, is the career-best artwork being offered up by Chicago-area talent Tony Daniel
(2008-10-28)
more >

Tip of the Week
Chicago Humanities Festival 2008
The nineteenth annual Chicago Humanities Festival kicks into full gear this week with a long list of panel discussions, lectures, readings, performances and screenings, all of which fall under this year’s theme, “Thinking Big,” and all of which are more or less equally worthy of your time
(2008-10-28)
more >

about Newcitychicago | about Newcity magazine | advertising | privacy policy | FAQ | employment