For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] Palestinian-American poet, novelist, and clinical psychologist Hala Alyan always has a way of replicating the unreliability of time and delivering one-line monumental truths. Her latest poetry collection, The Moon That Turns You Back, experiments with form and represents the disjointedness of what the in-between looks and feels like. Alyan often writes about diaspora and … Read more
[ad_1] “Checking out Historical Chicago” is a feature series devoted to the work of historical worldbuilding. The world each featured writer builds is Chicago. And yet, each writer brings Chicago to life differently, with different hammers and bricks, brushes and hands. This series approaches Chicago as a city constantly under construction: a story that is, … Read more
[ad_1] A bachelorette party got Rowan Beaird interested in divorce—her own party, actually. “I got back from my bachelorette party in Vegas, and my husband was like, ‘uh, you’ve been researching divorce a lot,’” Beaird said with a laugh. “And I was like ‘we’re fine! Just don’t look at my Google [search] history!’” Though Beaird’s … Read more
[ad_1] I first fell in love with Katya Apekina’s writing a decade ago, when I read her short story about a girl who loses her best friend to the convent. It was humorous and immersive, yet despite the humor, it elicited a depth of feeling that has stayed with me for many years. I have … Read more
[ad_1] When Laura Chow Reeve and I first met in 2022, we were students at the same low-residency MFA program, Randolph College. We workshopped pieces of novels in progress and learned from many brilliant faculty mentors. Now, in 2024, Laura is a graduate of the program and is celebrating the publication of her debut short … Read more
[ad_1] Chicagoans love St. Patrick’s Day—we dye our river green, throw parades, set out on pub crawls, and showcase our Irish-American heritage with pride. General American interest in Irish culture has also been broadening in recent years as more Irish celebrities become household names in film and music, including Cillian Murphy, Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal, … Read more
[ad_1] When journalist Pierce Egan coined “the sweet science” back in 1813 to describe boxing, he probably didn’t realize that he was making the sport catnip to writers for centuries to come. Popularized by A.J. Liebling, who used it as a novel title in 1949, the phrase’s conception of boxing as a craft, requiring both … Read more
[ad_1] Looking for a new Thriller to add to your TBR List? Four Letter Word by @gretchen_mcneil is available now! Izzy and her family welcome a foreign exchange student into their home. But after a series of mishaps and coincidences, and with a serial killer on the loose, Izzy begins to expect the man is … Read more
[ad_1] The publication of Until August, a new novella by Gabriel García Márquez (translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean), ten years after his death could be seen as a betrayal. His sons acknowledge as much. They admit in the book’s preface that Márquez himself, after working on this manuscript through memory loss near the … Read more
[ad_1] Here’s an awkward secret: I began writing criticism only five years ago. Only five years prior, after a significant life change, I fully committed to in-depth study of American poetry, not through traditional academia, but via a popular massive open online course called Modern & Contemporary American Poetry. In short, I’m an imposter. I’m … Read more