Literary LicenseAugust/September, 2019

Flint Taylor, Ed Bachrach and Austin Berg will discuss ’s torturous Nonfiction master discusses past and opportunities for reform at 6 p.m. Sept. 10 at the Harold Washington Library Center. See Pages 3, 10. The Ghosts of Eden Park

BY GREG BORZO Biblio File t might be hard to imagine Gail Lukasik’s memoir/social history, that Chicago, home to the White Like Her: My Family’s Story of Iworld's most infamous gang- Race and Racial Passing, was recently ster, took second place to any- optioned for a TV dra- where during . matic series by FGW Nevertheless, was Productions. Also, home to the “King of Gail appeared in the Bootleggers,” George Remus, documentary film who in 1921 owned 35% of all “History of Memory.” the liquor that flowed in the The film received an . He was so wealthy X Award at the 2019 that he lit cigars with $100 bills Gail Lukasik Tribeca film festival (worth $1,433 today) and gave for best short film away hundreds of new automo- series. Her segment of the film, “The biles as party favors. Remus was Secret Album,” relates Gail’s discovery so sophisticated and flamboyant of her mother’s racial secret. “History of that he inspired the main charac- Memory” is about the significance of ter of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The photographs in a per- Great Gatsby. son’s life. ... Lesley So said Karen Abbott, author Nneka Arimah won of the new book The Ghosts of the 2019 Caine Prize Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the for African Writing Women Who Pursued Him, and for her short story the Murder That Shocked Jazz- “Skinned.” ... Age America, during a special Christine Rice was Midland Authors program Saturday, Aug. 10, at The Book named one of the Lesley Nneka Cellar, a marvelous independent Karen Abbott discusses her new book, The Ghosts of Guild Complex’s “30 Arimah Eden Park, at the Midland Authors’ monthly meet- bookstore in Lincoln Square. Writers to Watch” in ing at The Book Cellar in Chicago. That's bootlegger 2019 and was included on New City’s Lit Ironically, Remus got his start George Remus, the subject of her book, on the TV 50: Who Really Books in Chicago. ... in Chicago as a pharmacist and screen -- behind bars. (Greg Borzo photo) David L. Harrison writes to say, “Oct. 1 then extremely successful crimi- will mark the 50th anniversary since my nal defense attorney. But after Cincinnati – closer than Chicago to the first book for children, The Boy with a noticing in 1920 that a growing number center of the whiskey business – and Drum, was published and changed my of his clients spent lavishly to defend quickly made an enormous fortune. But life forever. In May this year, I held my themselves from charges of violating the what if Remus had stayed in the Windy , Remus decided to get into City and built his empire here? Turn to Page 2 the racket himself. He moved to Turn to Page 2

Literary Landscape Literary Life Literary Latest Literary Lore with Ed Bachrach Richard Lindberg New Books Robert Loerzel and Austin Berg PAGE 3PAGE 5 PAGES 6-7 PAGE 9 Biblio File  Ghosts Continued from Page 1 Continued from Page 1 “There might never have been 96th book, And the Bullfrogs Sing, and I an ,” Abbott speculated, was happy, but there can never be another noting that Remus was less violent thrill like the one I had that day in 1969.” than Scarface and much more Congratulations, David. ... Robert intelligent and levelheaded. “He Loerzel wrote “In their own words: The was more of a gentleman than a 1919 race riots,” for Chicago Magazine. thug.” ... Jerry Apps wrote “Telling your story Abbott is no stranger to the at any age” July 29 for Chicago crime scene, having writ- the Wisconsin State ten, among other books, Sin in The Farmer. ... Richard Second City: Madams, Ministers, Babcock reviewed Playboys and The Battle for Ron Rappaport’s Let’s America's Soul, a New York Times Play Two for the April bestseller about the Everleigh 19 Wall Street Journal. Club, an opulent bordello in ... Ann Bausum’s Chicago's Levee that operated from 1900 to 1911. Ray Boomhower Viral: The Fight Against AIDS in Abbott came across the story America was included July 8 in the behind The Ghosts of Eden Park Washington Post’s “Three books to help in a surprising way: watching kids – and their parents – talk about diffi- cable television. She first encoun- cult subjects.” ... Ray Boomhower tweets tered the character of Remus while to say he is “making good progress on watching an episode of my manuscript on WWII correspondent “,” an HBO Karen Abbott and Arnie Bernstein celebrate the Richard Tregaskis. Have him on the series in which Remus has a three- release of Abbott's "The Ghosts of Eden Park" at cruiser USS Northhampton in early April minute chat with Johnny Torio and The Book Cellar in Lincoln Square Aug. 10. (Greg 1942 as part of the Navy task force taking Al Capone. Despite the shortness Borzo photo) Lt. Col Jimmy Doolittle’s air crews and of that scene, Abbott was intrigued by the Remus character. A bit of research Abbott said she wanted to tell this true- Turn to Page 4 revealed not only bootlegging and bribery crime story as a “whodunit,” and the book in his past, but also rivalry and deceit, truly is a page turner. At the same time, adultery and murder. She jumped at the the piece of narrative nonfiction is also an idea of telling the story of this surprising- important work of history, detailing legal ly obscure Prohibition crime figure, espe- landmarks and major cultural develop- cially given his astonishing achievements, ments, such as the changing role of C 2019, Society however short-lived they were. “I just women in the 1920s and just how it was of Midland Authors couldn't pass it up,” Abbott said. established that criminals are required to P.O. Box 10419, Chicago IL 60610 pay income tax on their illegal earnings. lthough the idea came to her in a "In addition, Remus was probably the Editor: Thomas Frisbie casual way, the book took a first person to defend himself in court [email protected] Atremendous amount of detailed after pleading insanity," Abbott said. Copy Editor: Beverly Offen and painstaking research, including work- "This is a colorful and significant ing her way through thousands of pages story," she said, all the while being care- www.midlandauthors.com of court documents, correspondence and ful not to reveal any outcomes to the Follow the Society on newspaper articles. standing room only crowd at The Book Twitter@midlandauthors At the Midland Authors event, Abbott Cellar. The good turnout and attentive laid out the characters of her book, audience may encourage Midland Authors Society of Midland Authors members including Remus and his two wives; fel- to hold more such events (in addition to can now pay their membership dues, low conspirators and crooked coppers; its regular monthly public meetings at the buy tickets to the annual dinner and Clarence Darrow; J. Edgar Hoover, and Cliff Dwellers and the Harold Washington make donations on our website with Fiorello LaGuardia. Library Center). PayPal (there is a $1 fee to help cover , the pioneer- When asked what she was working on PayPal’s fee). To make a donation, visit ing prosecutor who brought Remus down, next, Abbott confessed to being in that our home page at www.midlandau- was assistant attorney general – at that “painful, uncertain space between books.” thors.com and click on the "Donate" Perhaps she will find another good topic button in the upper right corner. time, the most powerful woman in the United States. by watching cable television.

2 LITERARY LICENSE, AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 How ‘disastrous decisions’ led to book about Chicago government he Sept. 10 Midland Authors panel program will include Austin Berg Sept. 10, 2019, program Tand Ed Bachrach, authors of The Harold Washington Library New Chicago Way, and Flint Taylor, Center, 400 S. State, Chicago author of The Torture Machine. Here’s 6 p.m. - Social Hour what they tell Literary License: 7 p.m. - Program Literary License: What gave you the idea for your book, The New Chicago Free - donations accepted Way: Lessons from Other Big Cities? Ed Bachrach and Austin Berg: technicality is traced to the city charter. Starting in 2008, I saw a series of disas- Go find the charter, and see when it was trous decisions that were made by the created and what it says. Strength and mayor of Chicago. The manner in which weakness are on a spectrum – it is not these decisions were made without any binary.The distinction between strong and deliberation took my breath away. I start- weak mayor is as anachronistic as ed digging into how decisions are made Chicago's government. and then looked at how other cities make Literary License: What system did you similar decisions. Every stone I turned use to make co-authoring a book work? over found a stark differ- Ed Bachrach and ence underneath. Literary Landscape Austin Berg: We divided Literary License: the chapter assignments What has been the between us and relied on response to your book from people in gov- non-writing partners to critique and chal- ernment and civic life? lenge the written drafts. Ed Bachrach and Austin Berg: Some Literary License: Are you planning segments of the media and civil society another book, either together or separate- have been profoundly indifferent or antag- ly? onistic toward the book. And there is no Ed Bachrach and Austin Berg: Not shortage of apathy and cynicism whenever currently, but who knows? one discusses solutions for Chicago. But a (The following questions and answers number of civil servants in Chicago city from Flint Taylor appeared in the March government have reached out in apprecia- 2019 Literary License.) tion. And at each event there has been an Literary License: With so many injus- "aha" moment in the crowd: Chicagoans tices to write about, what techniques did know our government is not normal, but you use to pull them together into a single have never been told exactly how or why. narrative? Literary License: Were there any spe- Flint Taylor: It seemed like a daunting cial challenges in researching this book? task when I first started out, but I realized Ed Bachrach and Austin Berg: that my office and I had been intimately Finding individuals with expertise in involved in so many of the legal and other cities who would talk about govern- political struggles against racist law ment took a lot of work. Many were enforcement violence over the previous reluctant to talk and had to be cultivated. half a century that needed to be chroni- This took the most time in writing the cled that I embarked on telling that story, book, but was worthwhile in authenticat- chapter by chapter, as it unfolded over the ing our book learning. decades. Literary License: Technically, Chicago Literary License: How long did it take has a weak-mayor form of government, you to write this book? but you say many of the city's problems Flint Taylor: Two time periods come to are due to a strongman political system. mind – the three years that I took to write How did that happen? and edit it, and the 50 years that it took to Ed Bachrach and Austin Berg: That live it. Flint Taylor

LITERARY LICENSE, AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 3 Biblio File Continued from Page 2 their B-25B Mitchells to bomb Toyko. ... Edward E. Gordon and his Imperial Consulting Corp. received the American Association for Career Education’s 2019 Citation of Excellence and Innovation for Career Education Initiatives. ... David W. Blight wrote, “Lincoln would not recog- nize his own party” for the July 23 New York Times. ... Roger Biles talked about his book Mayor Harold Washington, Champion of Race and Reform in Chicago June 28 on Roger Biles Chicago’s WGN-TV. ... Dan Dinello reports he has a new book coming out in September. ... Sam Weller has a new book of short stories coming out next year to mark the centennial of Ray Bradbury’s The wrap-around cover of Unfinished and Unbroken. birthday. “The book is done,” Sam writes, “but I now want to add one more tale to Robert K. Elder emails to say, “I've Fortunately, Wilson's art archive was it.” ... Cyndee Schaffer was scheduled to spent the last few years curating an edi- rescued from a barn just be the featured speaker for Women’s tion of Moby-Dick, illustrated by for- before his death and sadly, Wilson's Equality Day at the Skokie Library on gotten artist Gilbert Wilson. As a part biography was lost for almost 20 years Aug. 26. She was to discuss The Journey of that project, I also edited Edward when his biographer died suddenly. to Mollie's War about her mother's experi- Spann's amazing, previously unpub- When we release both books in ences as a WAC (Women's Army Corps) lished biography of Wilson, which October, Moby-Dick will be $60 and during World War II. ... Mary Barr con- we've titled: Unfinished and Unbroken: the biography will be $25. tributed a chapter to a new anthology, The The Life of Artist Gilbert Wilson. If you buy them today, the bundle is Strange Careers of the Jim Crow North: Both men passed away before their $60. Segregation and Struggle Outside the work was properly celebrated, so please I'll be posting more images and testi- South (New York University Press, 2019). help me resurrect their legacies and monials through social media, through- Her essay, “Segregation without support these worthy books. out the next few weeks or so. Segregationists: How a White Community Avoided Integration,” highlights music and attractive illustrated book were and Stories, is forthcoming from Orison Chicago’s northern suburbs as a critical released on Aug. 9.” ... Christoph Books in May 2020. ... Carol Fisher site of not only racial oppression but also Irmscher tweets to say, “Very excited to Saller’s The Subversive Copy Editor is civil rights protests and activism. ... announce the new now an audiobook available from Robert Marovich wrote to say, “I am a edition of my Politics Vibrance Press, narrated by Pamela panelist at the Mississippi Book Festival of Natural History by Almand. Also, she will be the featured on Aug. 17, where I will be discussing Rutgers University speaker for Chicago Women in “The Gospel According to Malaco,” the Press with gorgeous Publishing's Fall Kickoff event on Sept. eight-CD set for which I wrote the liner new photographs and 20. ... Janet and former Midland Authors notes. The festival is being held in down- a preface by the inim- Vice President Gerry Souter have a new town Jackson, Mississippi. In the presen- itable Rosamond book out, Ghost Army: Conning the Third ter goodie bag was a clothbound book and Purcell, as well as Reich. ... In August, it was announced a small bottle of 90 proof whiskey – talk Christoph new color pics, print- David Quammen’s Tangled Tree: A about feeling welcome! I also provided Irmscher ed on wonderfully Radical New History of Life was a finalist the liner notes for the gospel segment of heavy paper.” ... in the Medicine and Science category of Earwig Music’s new box set, “Cadillac Maggie Kast’s new collection, Side by this year’s High Plains Book Awards. The Baby’s Bea and Baby Records.” The Side But Never Face to Face: A Novella Turn to Page 7

4 LITERARY LICENSE, AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 Publishers, book parties and Amazon This is the second part of a series we are appreciative. Good, constructive reflecting on writing. criticism is always welcome. It is this other kind of criticism that makes their ver the years, I've knocked on the whole process dubious. doors of a lot of publishing hous- Amazon reviewers can often be mean- Oes seeking employment as an edi- spirited. Some reviews are posted as per- tor with about as much luck as I had try- sonal attacks for reasons that have noth- ing to land an editorial job with one of ing to do with the quality of your book our great newspapers. and come from individuals with underly- In 1989 I thought I had struck gold ing resentments. Or if you have the mis- when I went to work on a set of books for fortune as I did, of bringing out a book a suburban publisher. Loved the job. about a particular subject at the exact Envisioned a 20-year career with them same moment as another author writing of full of hope and promise and security. the same topic, it is not uncommon for But a funny thing happened on the way I found my Ragtime book positioned on anonymous, one-star reviewers from the to the forum. The set of books got pub- a book shelf in his office. I opened it up, rival author's inner circle step forward and lished of course. The publisher won an and heard the unmistakable cracking of blast your book on Amazon. The ques- Edgar Award and then promptly laid off the glue in the spine. The hardcover book tion is why must they do this? Insecurity, two-thirds of the editorial staff because had never once been opened. The corners I presume. the production money had run out. of the pages were as crisp and virginal as My advice is not to take it to heart. At I was asked to stay on, being told with the day I had inscribed it, and only the least they paid money to acquire your great solemnity how indispensable I was passage of time had dried out the glue. I book or had to walk to a library to to the operation and something was sure was crestfallen and mortified by the sud- retrieve it. Better yet, don't give the pur- to turn up soon. den realization that by my actions I had veyors of negativity the satisfaction of “Hang in there, and inadvertently compelled this person to reading their comments. Bypass the be patient my boy. buy a book he had no Amazon reviews for the sake of preserv- Someday I will make Literary interest in reading. ing your peace of mind. you a company execu- Cautionary note: I have been solicited many times to tive vice president!” I Life by Think twice about praise the work of other authors on was promised. And I throwing a book party. Amazon, "like them" on Facebook, or fol- believed him. And I Richard If selling books is the low them on Twitter whether I have read paid for it. After six main driver and you the book or not. While I am always months of no salary, Lindberg are impervious to read- pleased to provide a favorable endorse- increasing desperation er apathy or forcing ment if it has merit, I would never ask and fading hope, I left your friends and rela- anyone to post a flattering Amazon and never received any of my back pay tives to shuck out their hard-earned cash review for me just because of friendship totaling $28,000 following the inevitable to buy your book, then by all means or family ties. I trust they would do only bankruptcy filing. reserve the hall, pop the champagne corks if they really meant it, and in turn I would His bankruptcy lawyer laughed in my and summon the cheese tray servers. agree to provide one only after carefully face when I told him I had been promised Amazon.com and Amazon.com screening the book and finding it worthy. a vice presidency. To be sure, no tears or book reviewers Authors that take personal pride in their sympathy. On the one hand, we as authors express work and are secure in the belief that they Book publication parties: our gratitude to Amazon.com for estab- have produced a fine manuscript, will gar- Celebrate the birth of a new volume? lishing a forum of book discussion as an ner honest and legitimate, unsolicited Hardened by experience, I have come to important means of promoting our work. praise without having to ask for it. believe that an author's book publication On the other hand, Amazon is choking the reception can be narrowly viewed as akin life out of many brick-and-mortar book to the much-maligned Tupperware party. sellers. So I'm very torn on this subject. I would never ask Your invited guests show up out of What I do not like about Amazon is the anyone to post a respect and a sense of duty and obligation one thing most authors seem to value and “ to the friendship, but are they really inter- appreciate the most: the chance to receive flattering Amazon review ested in the “product?” Are they? I book reviews submitted by readers. for me just because of learned that painful lesson early on after I Amazon has turned everyone in the entire applied the "spine cracking test" to a copy world into overnight critics. friendship or family of my book purchased by a lawyer friend, Some reviews are generous in praise years earlier. and genuinely supportive and as authors ties. LITERARY LICENSE, AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 ” 5 Literary Latest

nationalism, motivated my analysis of the film. Topical at the time, Children of Men now feels torn from today’s headlines. The caging of immigrants and mass deportations seemed like a fictional exag- geration in 2006, but now is reality. The shock of Brexit, the lawless and corrupt administration of nationalistic fear-mon- ger Donald Trump, the decline of liberal democracy, and the poisonous spread of ‘send them back’ xenophobia in reaction to the global immigration crisis — all make it feel like we’re living in a real- world, autocratic dystopia as imagined in LOVE FOR A MOVIE INSPIRED BOOK Children of Men. Abyssinian cat. “In the midst of xenophobia and power Craft writes, "When I set out a year ago Dan Dinello’s new book, Children of abuses, ‘Children of Men’ also manages to introduce the reading world to Mister Men, will be published in September by to inspire with story of hope and political Puss in FlabberGassed, I had no idea Columbia University Press in the United resistance. I examine the film from an whether the notion of a 'gay cat mystery' States and Auteur Press in Europe. ideological, psychological and philosoph- would fly or not. Somehow, though, the Dinello sends along this description, “A ical perspective while exploring the film’s seeming absurdity of that premise proved mirror of tomorrow, Alfonso Cuarón’s connection to post-9/11 apocalyptic nar- to be the very aspect of the story that visionary film Children of Men (2006) is ratives, its evolutionary twist to the nativ- drew so many readers to the book. And regarded as a 21st century masterpiece. ity story, its prescient warning about the their ringing enthusi- My love for the movie inspired this book. rise of neo-fascism, and its visual unique- asm is what gave me The film’s propulsive ness as science fiction. While delving into the confidence to pro- story dramatizes a the film’s gritty hyper-realistic visual ceed with this unlike- dystopian future style whose stunning verisimilitude sug- ly series." when an infertile gests war zone footage, I’m especially Kirkus Reviews humanity hurtles interested in investigating Children of said, “ChoirMaster is toward extinction and Men’s dramatization of a rebellious egali- “Compellingly odd an inexplicably preg- tarian force that resists injustice, oppres- … This cozy setting nant African refugee sion, despair, and tyranny. Unlike most with its nosy inhabi- holds the key to its other films that promote authority figures Michael Craft tants makes for a Dan Dinello survival. Director as heroes, Children of Men urges emo- lovely place to spend Cuarón — whose tional identification with rebels, outcasts, a few hours trying to figure out whodunit Roma won the 2018 Academy Award for and racial and ethnic outsiders.” and why. A satisfying mystery, pleasantly best picture — creates a documentary of told.” the near future when Britain’s totalitarian 'COMPELLINGLY ODD' ‘REMARKABLE CHARACTERS’ government hunts down and cages refugees like animals as the world Michael Craft returns with the second descends into violent chaos. Plagues, installment of his Mister Puss mystery James Plath is among the contributors environmental degradation, violent rebel- series, ChoirMaster (Questover Press, to The 100 Greatest Literary Characters lion, and war have shattered the globe Oct. 10, 2019), in which a small-town (Rowman and Littlefield, July 15, 2019) into a battleground of military rule, ethnic gay architect in Wisconsin steps in as From the publisher: “Huckleberry Finn, tribalism, high security Green Zones, and sidekick to the local sheriff when the Anna Karenina, Harry Potter. There are internment camp Red Zones. choir director at St. Alban's Episcopal just a handful of remarkable characters “The movie’s politically progressive Church dies under bizarre circumstances. found in literature, but of course the list significance, especially in the context of Along the way, helpful clues are doled is virtually endless. Why ponder which of today’s rise of authoritarianism and white out by a wealthy widow's chatty Turn to Page 7

6 LITERARY LICENSE, AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 Literary Latest Biblio File Neighborhood Guidebook (Sept. 10, 2019). Megan writes about her 20 years Continued from Page 6 Continued from Page 4 working in Chicago’s South Loop, how it winner will be announced in October. … is changed and how she has changed. ... these creations is the greatest? More than Kathleen M. McElligott writes to say, Katherine Zoepf wrote in the Aug. 27 just a topic to debate with friends, the “TallGrass Writers, of which I’m a long- New York Times Parenting newsletter greatest characters from fiction help read- time member, is having a publishing party about the shame around financial insecu- ers comprehend history, culture, politics for its 25th annual anthology, Loon Magic rity for people who are parents. ... and even their own place in today's and Other Night Sounds,” at Sulzer Patricia McNair will teach a writing world. Despite our reliance on television, Library on Oct. 5 at 1 p.m. The event is workshop in October at Interlochen, free, and all are invited. ... On Aug. 18, Michigan. ... On Aug. 28, Elizabeth Barbara Gregorich was named to the Fama tweeted to say, “I am SO looking Brookfield (Ohio) High School Hall of forward to being on that stage at my Fame. The induction will be on Sept 20. beloved indie (Kepler’s Books in Menlo ... Midland Authors President Dick Park, California).” The date is Sept. 18, Simpson was quoted Aug. 29 on CBS-TV and she will appear with Megan Whalen about new Chicago mayor Lori Turner and Rebecca Kim Wells. ... The Lightfoot’s budget. He also was quoted July 23 Forest Park (Illinois) Review pro- on Aug. 22 on WLS-TV about former filed Emily Clark Victorson, publisher U.S. Rep Joe Walsh’s primary challenge of Allium Press. In the interview, Emily to President Donald Trump. ... John said, “The books have sold well for a Wasik was quoted in the Aug. 21 Daily small press, the numbers have been good Herald urging that records of Lake for a small press, we've gotten really good County, Illinois, dating back to the 1830s reviews in national be protected and digitized. ... Patricia reviews and journals, film, and technology, it is literature's Skalka was the featured author at the and several of the great characters that create and reinforce Totally Criminal Cocktail Hour in books have won popular culture, informing us again and Stillwater, Minnesota, on Aug. 7. In awards.” … Anne again about society and ourselves. Wisconsin, she spoke at the Sun Prairie Calgano wrote “In The 100 Greatest Literary Public Library on Aug. 21 and at Boswell “Rome’s seven hills Characters, James Plath, Gail Sinclair, Books in Milwaukee on Aug 22. That offer seven green and Kirk Curnutt same month she also appeared at the New respites from sum- identify the most sig- Richmond Public Library, the Balsam mer’s crowds” for the David W. Blight nificant figures in fic- Lake Public Library and Yardstick July 12 Washington tion published over Bookstore in Algoma. ... Richard Post. … Claire Hartfield talked Aug. 3 at the past several cen- Lindberg was quoted on the back page of the Henderson County (North Carolina) turies. The characters the June 27 sports sec- Public Library about her book, A Few Red profiled here repre- tion about the White Sox decision in Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919. sent a wide array of 1968-69 to play some of their home … InsiderNJ.com on Aug. 28 urged its storytelling, and the games in Milwaukee. Tampa Bay is followers to read David W. Blight’s biog- authors explore the James Plath threatening to do something similar in raphy of Frederick Douglass. Also, the significance of the Montreal, and the Trib wanted Rich’s per- Aug. 15 The Presbyterian Outlook wrote: figures at the time they were created as spective. Also, Rich’s 2011 book “A great life deserves a great biographer. well as their relevance today. Heartland Serial Killers has been picked In Yale historian David Blight, Frederick up by Redwood Audio Books and will be Douglass has one. ... Art Cullen wrote reissued on CD early next year. Actor “America today exists in a state of anxi- Bob Dio will do the voice over. ... Iliana ety over the threat of immigration raids” Rocha contributed to Bodies Built for the for The Guardian on Aug. 14. … Game: The Prairie Schooner Anthology Dominic Pacyga was quoted in the Aug. of Contemporary Sports Writing 20 story in the Columbia Chronicle about (University of Nebraska Press, October the termination of the last of the 2019). ... Scott Turow is scheduled to Alexandroff family from Columbia headline a November literary luncheon in College Chicago. ... Don Rose was quot- Naples, Florida. ... Megan Stielstra is ed in an Aug. 27 WLS story about among the authors whose work is featured Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot’s first 100 in Belt Publishing’s The Chicago days in office.

LITERARY LICENSE, AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 7 New Members Richard Reeder is the author of In 2018, she was the featured author for Chicago Sketches and 1001 Train Rides in the poetry month presentation at Sulzer Floyd Sullivan is the author of a novel, Chicago (Eckhartz Press). Regional Library in Chicago. Called Out: A Novel of Base Ball and He moderates the Chicago-themed book She was nominated by R.J. Nelson. America in 1908 (Amika Press, 2017) and group at the historic Cliff Dwellers Club. a nonfiction book, He established and Margaret Davis Ghielmetti is the Waiting for the Cubs: presently facilitates a author of the forthcoming memoir The 2008 Season, the long-running Chicago BRAVEish (She Writes Press). The book Hundred-Year Slump area literary series explores the theme that it's never too late and One Fan's Lifelong devoted to Jewish to live our own lives – if we dare. Vigil (McFarland, authors. He teaches lit- As a Live Lit story- 2008), He also is editor erature courses at the teller, Ghielmetti has of Old Comiskey Oakton Community told stories in Park: Essays and College Emeritus pro- Singapore, Memories of the gram and at the Switzerland, and at Richard Floyd Sullivan Historic Home of the Newberry Library. numerous venues in Reeder Chicago White Sox, Reeder was the mov- Chicago, including two 1910-1991 (McFarland, 2018). ing force in the GrandSLAMs with He worked in marketing, graphics arts, Chicago celebration of the Saul Bellow The Moth. copywriting, photography, media buying Centennial in 2015. He served as an In 2017, she wrote Margaret Davis and public relations for over 30 years and adult fiction judge for the 2019 SMA and performed a solo Ghielmetti now is a freelance writer and photogra- awards. show, “Fierce,” pro- pher in Chicago. He recently retired as He was nominated by Craig Sautter. duced by Three Cat board member of the Chicago Literary Productions, about rediscovering her Hall of Fame, but remains active as an Novelist Kathleen M. McElligott is emotional expression and her creative associate board member. the author of Mommy Machine voice. He blogs about baseball at (Heliotrope Press, 2008) and 638 East Her photograph of an old-fashioned Waiting4Cubs on ChicagoNow.com. Palace. (Adelaide Books). typewriter is on the cover of The Write He was born in Chicago and grew up in She also contributed to Embers and City Review released this summer. Oak Park, Illinois. He graduated from the Flames (Outrider Press), edited by She and her Swiss hotelier husband University of Illinois at Chicago with a Whitney Scott. have lived on four continents, have visit- degree in history. Born and raised Chicago South Side, ed almost 50 countries, and are always He was nominated by Patrick she was a school nurse administrator for excited to explore Chicago and the world. Reardon. seven Cook County schools. She was nominated by Michelle Cox.

Literary Largess Banash, Richard P. Bessette, Thomas Reiff Miller, Jeannie Morris, Robert J. Benz, Charles Billington, Marlene Targ Nelson, Dominic Pacyga, David Dues cover mailings and other organi- Brill, Greg Borzo, Michael Ebner, Radavich, Cynthia Rademacher, zational expenses, but the Society always Thomas Frisbie, Linda Gartz, Frank Carol Fisher Saller, Jim Schwab, needs additional money for programs Gonzalez-Crussi, Robert J.R. Follett, Lynn Sloan, Sharon Solwitz, Donna such as the awards at the annual May Linda Nemec Foster, Edward Gordon, Solecka Urbikas, John Wasik and book awards banquet. Eldon Ham, D. Leigh Henson, Michael Margaret Willey, who made recent con- Thanks to Theresa Amato, Stan “Tex” Craft Johnson, Charles Masters, Peggy tributions.

8 LITERARY LICENSE, AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 Six past Midland Authors presidents This is Part 33 of the history of the Midland Authors.

Louis Ellsworth Laflin Jr. (1898- 1976) wrote 77 full-length plays and 40 one-acts. As a student at Princeton University in 1920, the Chicago native started the Theatre Intime, which still exists today. He lectured on the history of drama in ancient Egypt and Greece and led a group called the Lake Forest Play- readers. Theodore Berland has written popular science books, including The Scientific Life (1962) and The Fight for Quiet (1970). A 2010 report by a National Research Council committee gives Berland credit for affecting the public debate over noise pollution: "The Fight for Quiet is believed to have greatly influenced public policy, especially the passage of the Noise Former Midland Authors President Leon Forrest won acclaim for his novels. Control Act of 1972 and a decade of EPA involvement in noise issues." Leon Forrest (1937-97) won critical poet and essayist Ronne Hartfield said at Joanne Koch has written or co-written acclaim for his novels, set in a mythical an SMA tribute to Forrest in March 2014 16 plays and musicals, including Forrest County that closely resembles at the Cliff Dwellers. "Leon writes with American Klezmer, Stardust, Safe Harbor, Chicago. At an SMA event in 2003, poet narrative abandon. ... It's an amazing Sophie, Totie & Belle, Henrietta Szold: Sterling Plumpp called him "the James accomplishment of how encompassing a Woman of Valor, and Haymarket: foot- Joyce of black writers." Forrest's third writer can be in a short space of narra- note to a bombing. She novel, Two Wings to tive." is also the author of co- Veil My Face, won the Forrest once remarked: "This blend of author of 10 nonfiction Literary SMA's award for adult the sacred and the profane seems to me to books, many of them fiction. be so much a part of the Northern experi- about parenting, includ- Lore His fourth book, ence, particularly a city like Chicago with ing the college text- Divine Days, won the its great possibilities of going for broke. book Children: Robert Chicago Sun-Times It's a hustler's town. You can make a Development Through Book of the Year comeback after falling, and people will let Adolescence and Loerzel Award for local fic- you up." Marriage and the tion, and the newspa- Bernard Brommel was the author of Family. She is a profes- per called it the War Eugene V. Debs: Spokesman for Labor sor of English and director of the graduate and Peace of African American literature. and Socialism, which won the SMA's writing program at National-Louis "I was out to write the great American biography award in 1979. In his 46 years University in Chicago. novel. Not the great black American as a professor, he taught speech and per- Richard Dunlop (c. 1921-87) served novel," he said in a 1993 interview. forming arts at Indiana State University with the Office of Strategic Services, a Forrest grew up on the South Side and and Northeastern Illinois University. U.S. spy agency, in Burma during World wrote and edited for several South Side NEIU's Bernard J. Brommel Hall is War. Decades later, he wrote the books community newspapers. Saul Bellow's named in his honor, and the National Behind Japanese Lines: With the OSS in praise helped him to get his fiction pub- Communication Association gives out a Burma and Donovan: America's Master lished, and Toni Morrison edited three of prize named for him, the Bernard J. Spy, a biography of William Donovan, his novels. Forrest, who was a professor Brommel Distinguished Research Award. who led the OSS during the war. Dunlop of English and African American studies Similarly, the Midland Authors gives out wrote travel articles and other books, at Northwestern University for 24 years, the annual Bernard J. Brommel Award for including Doctors of the American was inducted into the Chicago Literary Biography & Memoir. He helped to estab- Frontier, Great Trails of the West, and Hall of Fame in 2013. lish the Eugene V. Debs Collection at Wheels West. "Attend to the cadence of this work," Indiana State University.

LITERARY LICENSE, AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 9 Note from the SMA Board of Directors: Members of the Midland Authors are encouraged to nominate authors from our 12- state region who have published with a recognized publisher. The nominations will be considered by the SMA board at its next meet- ing. The 12 states are Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin. The nomination form is below. Send it to Society of Midland Authors, P.O. Box 10419, Chicago, IL 60610. You can also email it as a PDF to Membership Secretary Thomas Frisbie at [email protected].

10 LITERARY LICENSE, AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 LITERARY LICENSE, AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 11

Address Service Requested Service Address

Chicago IL 60610 IL Chicago

P.O. Box 10419 Box P.O. Society of Midland Authors Midland of Society