For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] A two-person crew embark on a mind-bending deep space mission inside a living wormship capable of burrowing through space. What lies on the other end is unknown—as is what they will do once they get there. The job comes with an implant, punched into the fleshiest part of Chimezie’s thigh. It’s still … Read more
[ad_1] The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century by Olga Ravn, translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken, is a meditation on living, conveyed fragmentally, through a series of numbered statements given by workers—some of whom are human while others are humanoid artificial intelligence—on a space vessel called the Six Thousand Ship. While … Read more
[ad_1] While Gayle Brandeis was writing her best-known book, The Art of Misdiagnosis, she attended a retreat at St. Mary’s Art Center in Virginia City, Nevada. Settling into her Victoriana room for the weekend, she prepared to transcribe her mother’s documentary, the last artwork her mother produced before hanging herself. Brandeis didn’t believe in the … Read more
[ad_1] How many of us appreciate the miracle that is our breath? Appreciate our bodies—our whole bodies, including our curves, our folds, our very flesh? What do breath, the body, and our feelings about both, have to do with writing anyway? If you were to ask Gayle Brandeis what breath and the body have to … Read more
[ad_1] In September 2022 in Iran, Jina Mahsa Amini was arrested for wearing her hijab incorrectly; that is, the fabric did not cover her head completely. Three days later, she died while in police custody from severe head trauma, which the Iranian government denies. Her head, the object that caused her arrest, was beaten, the … Read more
[ad_1] When disaster strikes, we’re confronted with our own mortality, however close we are to the loss. The pandemic, for one, uprooted and interrogated our sense of normalcy—what our daily lives meant to us, our relationships, our age, our sense of time. We realized that the structures we’d always depended on were quicksand. That whatever … Read more
[ad_1] A grieving mother wakes up to find all traces of her lost son have been erased as if he had never existed. Only in the hallway mirror is she able to see a glimpse of the reality she remembers having lived—the reality she wants back. Content warning for fictional depictions of childhood death and … Read more
[ad_1] February is here, which means love is in the air and a whole host of new books are on the horizon! There’s so much to look forward to this month, including a number of exciting memoirs, debuts, and at least seven books from Chicago authors. Add that the days are slowly beginning to get … Read more
[ad_1] We’re excited to introduce The Chicago Writers Podcast, a Stories Matter Foundation podcast series about the latest Chicago literary news, releases, and recommendations! Check back every month as host Dan Finnen interviews authors, storytellers, literary professionals, and more about the craft and business of writing. In this episode, Dan talks with Rebecca George, co-owner … Read more
[ad_1] The tale of separation of true self from true home, the tragic story of the immigrant divided not only in terms of geography and culture but also of perception and identity, has long served literature’s appetite for conflict. One only has to think of lost Odysseus to realize that terrestrial dislocation functions supremely as … Read more