Daniel Kraus’s Whalefall, which comes out on August 8, is a scientifically accurate thriller about a teenage boy swallowed by a whale—an idea that originated on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago. In November 2020, Kraus and two friends met for a socially distanced hangout at the Jarvis Avenue beach, where they discussed a […]
Author Archives: Janet Potter
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A murder mystery is revisited in the #MeToo era
Rebecca Makkai lives at a boarding school where no one has ever been murdered. She wants to be clear on this point because her new novel is set at one where someone has. I Have Some Questions for You is about murder and memory and reconciling your past self with your adult one. A native […]
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How an Evanston writer’s boyhood idea inspired ‘Shape of Water’
Guillermo del Toro tapped Daniel Kraus to help write the story behind the Oscar-nominated blockbuster.
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Chicago author Daniel Kraus to finish George A. Romero’s final zombie novel
“My next book is my wildest dream come true,” Kraus says.
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A new exhibit is Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s moving, elaborate farewell
The late Chicago author and filmmaker’s life is on display in “A Beauty Salon.”
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How a DePaul English professor became an art-history sleuth
Kathleen Rooney wondered why she couldn’t find an English translation of Magritte’s writings, so she figured out how to release one on her own.
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Drawn & Quarterly reintroduces Marlys Mullen
A book-length collection of Lynda Barry’s acclaimed comic strip is reissued.
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Behold! The off-the-wall, always-growing world of Hello From the Magic Tavern
Gather around and read the tale of how three improv comedians created the most insane fake-fantasy podcast to hit the airwaves.
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In the graphic novel Beverly, a gesture’s worth 1,000 words
Nick Drnaso’s stories aren’t as simple as they look.
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In the novel The Voiceover Artist, a silent boy has a big dream
Dave Reidy’s first novel shows the struggle of projecting oneself into the world.
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Joe Meno finds Marvel and a Wonder in an old-school midwestern white man
It’s also the first novel about the crisis of American masculinity that this reviewer has actually enjoyed.
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Joe Meno’s new novel is a Marvel and a Wonder
Chicago novelist and playwright Joe Meno has published his most ambitious work to date. The Nelson Algren Literary Award and Pushcart Prize winner and author of books such as Hairstyles of the Damned and Office Girl now offers up Marvel and a Wonder, which he describes as “a contemporary epic set in the midwest.” The […]
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Gloria Steinem talks to Roxane Gay about her new memoir, My Life on the Road
Gloria Steinem never stops moving. Over the course of her decades-long career, the mother of second-wave feminism and Ms. Magazine cofounder has advocated for women’s rights around the world, whether by posing as a Playboy bunny in Hugh Hefner’s New York club or protecting prostitutes in India. She also put in time on Adlai Stevenson’s […]
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History buff Sarah Vowell looks at the Revolutionary War through the eyes of a young French marquis who fought in it
You can’t beat Sarah Vowell for quirky chronicles of American history’s dark side. Her previous books include Assassination Vacation, in which she road trips to places where U.S. presidents were offed while in office. Her radio stories for This American Life include a retracing of the Trail of Tears. Now the contributor to Salon, McSweeney’s, […]
Posted inBlogs
Chicago actors’ sitcom pilot a finalist in NBC’s Comedy Playground contest
Bobby & Iza, a pilot by Chicagoans Bobby Richards and Avery Lee, is i