Lily Be Archives - Chicago Reader

Readings from Remaking the Exceptional, Interrobang Theatre Project, and more

by Kerry Reid and Salem Collo-Julin November 15, 2022November 15, 2022

This summer, DePaul Art Museum hosted “Remaking the Exceptional,” a group exhibition curated by artist and activists Aaron Hughes and Amber Ginsburg that explored the similarities between survivors of torture at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp and survivors of police torture in Chicago. This evening, Ginsburg and fellow activists celebrate the release of Remaking the […]

Cover of the book Riding Jane Crow features a sepia-toned photo of a Black woman in 1920s-era clothing hanging on the side of a freight train. To the right of the book cover is a black-and-white photo of Miriam Thaggert, wearing glasses and a dark turtleneck sweater.

On Culture

Sun, surf, summer: time to head to the library

by Deanna Isaacs June 22, 2022June 22, 2022

There’s a whole lot of story in history. And so much depends on the perspective of the storyteller. What, for example, will the future think it knows of our fraught time? What will be included? What will be omitted? What will be the spin on events like the war in Ukraine or the 2020 presidential […]

Anu Bhatt (left) and Cris Blak perform in the 2021 Fillet of Solo festival.

Arts & Culture

Fillet of Solo reminds us that no one is alone

by Catey Sullivan February 18, 2021August 18, 2021

The annual festival of storytelling offers the freshest catches for COVID days.

Arts & Culture

Live lit keeps the story circles unbroken

by Ian Belknap September 11, 2019August 18, 2021

As Write Club turns ten, founder Ian Belknap looks at the current state of the art in Chicago.

Arts & Culture

How Lily Be made the local storytelling scene look more like Chicago

by Catey Sullivan March 28, 2019August 18, 2021

“Am I the only Latinx sharing stories right now? Where are the rest of us?”

Arts & Culture

Here are five theater festivals to help you survive January

by Catey Sullivan January 10, 2019August 18, 2021

Puppets! Storytelling! Social consciousness! Brilliant teens! Rhinofest weirdness!

Music

The Growing Concerns Poetry Collective ask all races to fight racism

by Lee V. Gaines September 20, 2017August 18, 2021

Mykele Deville, McKenzie Chinn, and Jeffrey Michael Austin—aka the Growing Concerns Poetry Collective—tell stories for black folks that aim to reach everyone.