LIT 50
Who really books in Chicago

THEY BRING YOU THE BOOKS
If not for Ira Glass trumpeting David Sedaris, or Bob Bryant of Barbara’s Bookstore keeping us abreast of all the latest writers making waves, Chicago wouldn’t be half as enlightened about books as it is. These people bring important and worthwhile authors to the forefront.

Oprah Winfrey
It’s a phenomenon that’s as predictable as death and taxes. When Oprah Winfrey chooses a book for her Oprah Book Club, said title immediately becomes a best-seller, prompting publishers to order rush prints and the author to beam at their wonderful luck. And now that she’s extended her talk- show contract until 2004, we can count on three more years of watching books get “Oprah-ized.” The big O’s picks don’t just get a day in the sun either; selections like Joyce Carol Oates’ “We Were the Mulvaneys” and “House of Sand and Fog” by Andre Dubus III have enjoyed double-digit tenures on the weekly bestseller charts, while “Drowning Ruth” by first-time author Christina Schwarz and Robert Morgan’s “Gap Creek” each sold around 650,000 copies by last year’s close. In 2000, her paperback book club selections comprised about 21 percent of Publishers Weekly trade paperback best-sellers. If you count in the best-sellers whose authors made appearances on her show, such as “Life Stratagies,” “The Four Agreements” and “Talking Dirty with the Queen Clean,” her share gets a bump up to 32 percent. And don’t forget O magazine, Oprah’s newsstand presence, which gives books a similar push into the limelight. When O selected “The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment” by Eckhart Tolle as one of a “few things I think are just great” on her “O List,” the small California-based press, New World Library, found themselves racing back to the press to accommodate the onslaught of demand for the book, printing an extra 50,000 copies.
Ranking: 1

Elizabeth Taylor
The Chicago Tribune’s Elizabeth Taylor must power-nap. That’s it. ‘Cause there’s no way in hell this woman is getting a full, restful eight hours. She is the editor of the Tribune’s Books section — the behemoth of Chicago book coverage. In 2000, she was elected the president of the National Book Critics Circle. And if that wasn’t enough, she continues to captain the newspaper’s Sunday mag. Both sections, incidentally, underwent Zsa Zsa-caliber face-lifts this year to coincide with the overall redesign of the "World’s Greatest Newspaper." But it was Taylor’s own book, the Mayor Richard M. Daley bio, “American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley, His Battle for Chicago and the Nation” (Little Brown), co-authored with Time magazine scribe, Adam Cohen, that catapulted her star into the upper echelon of Chicago lit power brokers. “American Pharaoh” enjoyed huge critical and commercial success. And when George W. Bush and his far-right band of picaroons walked off with the 2000 presidential election, Taylor and Cohen were besieged with media phone calls on how elections were stolen in the days of yore. “American Pharaoh” nabbed the Society for Midland Authors Award for Biography and was named to The New York Times Best Books of 2000 list.
Ranking: 3

Ira Glass
It’s been a quiet but spectacular revolution. Ira Glass and his colleagues have made storytelling cool again. Bored with hip culture’s knee-jerk penchant for irony, Glass’s "This American Life" public radio magazine tells simple stories, and allows listeners to stumble on the unpredictable pockets of joy and mystery in each of them. Forget Oprah–credit “TAL” with reinvigorating the contemporary literature scene by featuring writers like David Sedaris, Russell Banks, Dave Eggers and Sarah Vowell each week. Glass and company concentrate on small, mostly first-person stories, arranged in combination and juxtaposition and the result is "a perspective on this country you can’t hear elsewhere," something, he says, that communicates "enough of a sense of pleasure and discovery to portray the world at its full size." This season, Glass is especially pleased with the ways the show itself is playing with story form. "We did a show about Cicero, before their recent elections," he says, pointing to a recent favorite. "It was an experiment in storytelling, with lots of little stories adding up to one big portrait of a place and a time."
Ranking: 21

Milt J. Rosenberg
In the wasteland of Chicago AM radio the only quality salvation from idiots talking about sports is Milt J. Rosenberg. In nearly thirty years as host of WGN 720-AM's "Extension 720" (weeknights, 9-11pm), Rosenberg has weathered the vicissitudes of the local airwaves (the shift to FM, the explosion of 24-hour talk) and has come out on the intellectual top. His combination of politics, books and general smarts make his show a must-stop spot for most authors on their way through town. And over the years he's hosted a Who's Who of the nation's literate: Ron Rosenbaum, Laurie Garrett, Peter Hitchins, Julia Barret, Ken Auletta, Diane Ravitch, as well as local institutions like Garry Wills, Studs Terkel and Art Shay. Organizing roundtables on everything from sports and race relations to travel and finance, not to mention offering on-air review groups featuring local critics, Rosenberg offers something hard to find on AM radio: in-depth discussions of books, writings and ideas.
Ranking: 23

Bill Ott
Moving through his second decade as the editor of Booklist—the nationally distributed book-review bible for librarians everywhere—Bill Ott stands poised to help the lauded publication throw its largest celebration ever. In 2005, Booklist reaches its 100th anniversary, and though Ott isn’t exactly sure how the magazine’s centennial will be honored, chances are the event(s) will be tied to the American Library Association’s annual conference, scheduled for Chicago that year. Additionally, Booklist Publications (Booklist’s books and pamphlet publishing arm) will release what Ott calls “some sort of Greatest Hits anthology,” and a coffee-table book of Booklist’s art is on its way. Keeping its feet in ebbing waters, Booklist’s Website is presently undergoing a major renovation, and is gearing up for a subscription-based version through the Internet, which Ott hopes is up and going “long before the 2005 centennial.”
Ranking: 33

Matthew Coyne
Borders’ appeal comes from its uncanny ability to tweak all the things we love about independent stores (savvy booksellers, informal atmosphere) and blow them up into convenient, super-sized portions. Even the chaotic, tourist-heavy Michigan Avenue location, with its knowledgeable staff and impressive selection, is a favorite for book lovers who enjoy people-watching almost as much as they do browsing the new title shelves. “Our stores are fun,” says district manager Matthew Coyne. “And our customers feel that the moment they walk in the door. But they also get very excited about the potential they have before them for learning something new.” With eighteen locations in the Chicago area and two additional stores planned for 2002, Borders plans to continue offering their customers a chance to broaden their horizons–and to have fun while they’re at it.
Ranking: 18

Tenny Ahn
Tenny Ahn, the district manager of the central Chicago Barnes & Noble locations, likes to describe Barnes & Noble as a “cathedral of literature,” a fitting description for a bookstore that prides itself on its library-quiet sales floor. According to Ahn, the typical Barnes & Noble customer has more of an interest in “serious” literature and education than the rest of the general population. “We appeal to the serious book buyer,” says Ahn. Of the twenty-five B&Ns in the Chicago area, the Webster Place location boasts the area’s highest volume in sales. In addition to rolling out three new B&N stores by this time next year, Ahn says the chain will soon offer customers the chance to design a personalized dedication page–processed on-site–from a computerized menu of popular titles.
Ranking: 19

Bob Bryant
“We brought in all our favorite books and hugged and loved every customer that came into the store,” says Bob Bryant, general manager of Barbara’s Bookstores, explaining how his Oak Park location responded to the opening of a nearby Borders last year. “And it actually turned out OK. May is the first anniversary of Borders moving in and this is the first time that a superstore has not hurt our sales. We owe it all to the people of Oak Park for being so smart and savvy and loyal.” Of the ten Barbara’s Bookstore locations, the Oak Park store is, in fact, the chain’s busiest location. “All of our locations are thriving because we feature readings by both national and local authors and because we have a dedicated and talented staff. We are the most important resource a reader can have.”
Ranking: 17

Brad Jonas
Few people in Chicago have ever gone to such lengths to succeed on the business side of the book world. Not only does Brad Jonas co-own the independent bookseller (rapidly a dinosaur concept in and of itself) Powell’s, offering more than 200,000 titles in three stores throughout the city, he is—more importantly—the co-founder and constant mover behind the Chicago International Remainder and Overstock Book Exhibition. Entering its eleventh year, what started as an outlet for forty or so small vendors to move their overstock, has ballooned to more than 180 vendors, and has become one of the book retail world’s most anticipated events. And regarding the health of his event, Jonas notes that CIROBE has “become part of a yearly routine for independents, nationwide.”
Ranking: 24

Henry Kisor
As guru of the Chicago Sun-Times Books section, Henry Kisor offers a more egalitarian selection than his cross-river counterparts, leaping best-sellers and biographies in a single bound. By taking on the popular with the intellectual, Kisor has built 300,000 in readership, and though you'll rarely see his name, has established the Sun-Times as goldmine for back-of-the-book, advertising quotes. Even with the media biz in financial turmoil, Kisor says they're holding their "heads above water" and haven’t been hit too hard, "despite cutbacks in newspaper book review space nationally." He remains hard at work on his own book (he’s got three others to his credit), this time about Michigan's Upper Peninsula, as well as developing a cadre of young reviewers for the Books section. And, in March, Kisor's contributions to the local scene scored him high honors: Induction into the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame.
Ranking: 22

Christie Hefner
While Hugh Hefner, at the ripe age of 75, has suddenly re-emerged as some sort of frat-boy deity, it is daughter Christie who has turned tricks with the family business. As chairman and chief executive of Playboy Enterprises Inc., Christie Hefner has guided her father’s media empire with a super-successful, no-nonsense approach. Ironically, in the process, she has become a symbol of female might, muscle and savvy. But even with its added grrl power and continued literary excellence, make no mistake: Playboy is still all about the pictorials. Last November’s issue featuring wrestling diva Chyna in the buff was the bestselling single issue of the magazine in more than a decade. And one more sure sign of success: even after nearly a half-century of publishing, the Playboy Empire continues to grow. Overall revenue in 2000 increased $2 million to $139 million. That should keep Hugh deep in Viagra for many years to—ahem—come.
Ranking: 7

LIT 50
Who really books in Chicago

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