LIT 50
Who really books in Chicago

PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES
These are people swimming against the tide—with grace and aplomb. Thomas Frank muckrakes without a care to the mainstream; Chris Ware has become the boy wonder of graphic novelists; and Haki Madhubuti ensures challenging work from black authors isn’t neglected.

Neal Pollack
Though a recent move to Philadelphia uprooted him, Neal Pollack, author of “The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature” (McSweeney’s), is still a Chicagoan at heart: “[Chicago] is all I know—it’s more a part of me than any other place.” Pollack garnered a healthy amount of attention with “TNPAAL,” the first book published on the McSweeney’s imprint. Pollack recently “opened up” for They Might Be Giants (who provided a companion CD for the latest issue of McSweeney’s) in New York, and will soon read at Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Says Pollack, “It’s a rock ‘n’ roll dream with a book attached.” The soon-to-be-released paperback edition of TNPAAL features a slew of extras, including about ten new pieces, raised gold letters on its cover, congratulatory notes, a family tree, “hopefully” a map of Israel, and, of course, a study guide for book clubs. Pollack points out, “It’s a whole different set of bells and whistles… not any better, just a different set-up from mainstream corporate publishing.” Pollack continues to be a busy writer; his next work features “parodies of spoken word poetry.”
Ranking: 31

Thomas Frank
Thomas Frank is a good old-fashioned muckraker in the very best and coolest sense of the word—why else would it-boy Dave Eggers refer to him as a “brilliant pain in the ass”? Probably best known locally as a co-founder of the well-respected culture-criticizing journal The Baffler (which is, regrettably, best known lately due to a recent fire at Baffler headquarters: “We’re going to bounce back,” he assures, and the next issue was not damaged and will have a print run of 20,000). Frank’s 2000 book, “One Market Under God: Extreme Capitalism, Market Populism, and the End of Economic Democracy” (Doubleday), a critique of the New Economy, registered on national bestseller lists—though it may have pissed off as many people as it won over. “One Market” comes out in paperback this fall with a new afterward by Frank reacting to the recent fallout, and he will continue contributing to Harper’s, The Nation and England’s The Guardian.
Ranking: 35

Barry Sileski
There’s something fundamentally elegant and heroic about this quarterly independent literary magazine. Born of a UIC poetry workshop in the seventies, Another Chicago Magazine’s been dedicated to publishing quality poetry, fiction, reviews and creative nonfiction for nearly twenty-five years. From the start, the mission has been shaped by a simple respect for language and for the artists who make it sing. ACM publishes some of the best contemporary work going—poems by Nin Andrews and Noelle Kocot will be featured in “Best American Poetry 2001”—and their staff also produces great original stuff—S.L. Wisenberg’s “The Sweetheart Is In” and Simone Muench’s “Air Lost in Breathing” recently won critical acclaim. To hear Editor Barry Silesky put it, the magazine is fueled by an old-school motivation to change the world: “We all want to have some impact and leave in our tracks something better than what we found. If you’re privileged enough to be in a position to do so, it seems to me the enterprise most worth pursuing.”
Ranking: 40

Haki R. Madhubuti
Third World Press emerged from Chicago’s late-sixties renaissance of art and politics, and is now one of the leading independent African-American publishers in the country. They deliver the goods with little regard for mass-market popularity, seeking out projects that, as Editor Gwendolyn Mitchell puts it, “will challenge the contemporary fiction reading audience.” Last year, the press launched the TWP Fiction Series with “In the Shadow of the Son,” by Michael Simanga. This summer, the series continues with Chicagoan Chris Benson’s “Special Interest.” The upcoming calendar is stocked, including new poetry from Mitchell, an anthology of social and political black literature, and “My Long Journey Home,” an autobiographical work by Russian-born black woman Lily Golden. Founder and Publisher Haki R. Madhubuti says small houses have to work overtime to hold off the rising tide of commercialism in publishing: “Independent book publishers have a gigantic fight in front of them if they are to maintain their integrity and publish writers, poets and authors who are about telling the truth.”
Ranking: 26

John O’Brien
Here’s a novel idea: consider literature a vital part of the culture and help ensure its survival. That’s the ambition at the Center For Book Culture, the umbrella that covers Dalkey Archive Press, the newsletter Context and the literary journal Review of Contemporary Fiction. Headed by Director/Publisher John O’Brien, CBC concentrates on top-flight writers off-the-beaten-path, publishing, promoting and recovering great books. With their free newsletter, Context: A Forum for Literary Arts and Culture, the Center brings literary news to universities and bookstores throughout Chicago and the country. A non-profit organization, the Center organizes book donation programs, reprints the work of writers like Gertrude Stein, Ishmael Reed and Flann O’Brien, and publishes original works from previously neglected authors. With works like these, the CBC insists that cultural value be about more than money. As assistant director Martin Riker puts it: “We protect a certain key part of the literary culture, a part that needs protection and would not survive if it were reduced to its marketplace value.”
Ranking: 46

Lynda Barry
Whether you call them illustrators, graphic novelists or comix artists, Chicago is home to an impressive collection of people who draw for a living. Having started her career more than two decades ago, Evanston resident Lynda Barry is a trailblazing pioneer for women in comics. Her work, like “Ernie Pook’s Comeek”—an offbeat, intelligent and wildly amusing serial of growing up freaky—is available in alt-weeklies across the country and more than two dozen collections and anthologies, including last year’s “The! Greatest! Of! Marlys!” (Sasquatch Books). Barry took a detour in 1999 with “Cruddy,” a dark and darkly funny novel of youth gone wrong (complete with illustration, of course), which Entertainment Weekly named as one of that year’s best; you can check it out for yourself now in paperback.
Ranking: 38

Chris Ware
With the release and widespread critical acclaim of Chris Ware’s “Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid in the World” (Pantheon Books), Ware moved from the ranks of cult-favorite comic-book artist to internationally known comic-book artist with a profile in the haughty pages of The New York Times. Alas, one massive success does not an artist make, and Ware wasted little time in getting into gear for his next full-length comic adventure, which will follow the travails of another Ware familiar, Rusty Brown. Don’t expect that anytime soon, however; Ware just put the finishing touches on the fourteenth edition of the “Acme Novelty” comic book and, in his words, the Rusty Brown full-length should be “done by the time the last of my hair falls out.” (Chris Ware’s comics appear regularly in Newcity.)
Ranking: 15

Alex Ross
When it comes to capes and cod pieces, spandex and superpowers, Wilmette resident Alex Ross is the Master of the Universe. Ross, a graduate of Chicago’s American Academy of Art, has made a huge name in the comic-book field with his singular style. His books are meticulously painted, as if Norman Rockwell had an affair with Stan Lee. Ross churns out the work—Marvels, Kingdom Come, Earth X—faster than the Flash can zip across the continent. But it’s his philanthropic streak that sets him apart from the pack. With his last three DC Comics books, all in large format, “Superman, Peace on Earth”; “Batman, War on Crime” and “Shazam! Power of Hope,” Ross auctioned off the original artwork and handed the dough to charity. A recent auction of the Shazam! art on his own website (www.alexrossart.com), raked in more than $130,000 for The Make A Wish Foundation. Next up for Ross: “Wonder Woman: Quest for Truth.”
Ranking: 20

Scott Rettberg
The inception of electronic literature was inevitable. Just what exactly electronic literature is or will be is an entirely different story. Scott Rettberg, co-founder and executive director of the Electronic Literature Organization (www.eliterature.org), describes electronic literature as “forms of literature that do things you can’t do in print using the computer.” That entails a grand variety of works revolving around words, design, programming, performance and more. Having been around for only about fifteen years, electronic literature continues to both create itself and evolve. Rettberg was inspired to create the ELO “to establish a prize as substantial as the National Book Award to award writers and bring attention to the field. [Electronic literature] is a great new art form but lacking in infrastructure other forms of literature have.” The ELO website offers a variety of resources including a Yahoo-like directory featuring more than 800 works of electronic literature. ELO also hosts “GIG,” a major e-literature event in Chicago as well as provides two $10,000 prizes for the Electronic Literature Awards in New York.
Ranking: 50

Lit 50 was written by Dave Chamberlain, Joshua Fischer, Jonathan Mahalak, Eric Neel, Tony Peregrin, Elaine Richardson, Shelly Ridenour, Margaret Wappler and Sam Weller. With additional items by Ray Pride.

LIT 50
Who really books in Chicago

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