October, 2012

Biblio File Between and a hard place: Former Society of Midland Authors President Craig Sautter and his brother, Chris, (who run Sautter Communications) Author’s tale of writing in made two 21/2-minute videos shown at the BY THOMAS FRISBIE beautifully written story, so I praise Democratic National f you want to be a successful author in Mahmoud for his original writing and Convention in Iraq, you need to avoid three topics: Allen for the work he did on translating in Charlotte, S.C. One Isex, politics and religion. English.” was on President That’s what Iraqi author Mahmoud Saeed has written more than 20 novels Barack Obama and Saeed, who now teaches Arabic language and short story collections. After Iraq’s education policy; the courses, Arab culture and Iraqi political 1963 coup, the government destroyed other was on Obama history at DePaul University in , manuscripts of two of his two novel man- and energy policy. (If told authors Oct. 9 at the monthly Society uscripts – The Old Case and The Strike. the videos put Barack of Midland Authors program at the Cliff The government banned all his books Craig Sautter over the top, the Dwellers club in Chicago. written after 1963, including Rhythm and Obama campaign has Saeed, who was imprisoned six times Obsession in 1968 and Rue Ben Barka in promised to buy up the remaining stock and whose books were banned in Iraq, 1970 (it was published 15 years later in of SMA mugs.) Craig also appeared on admitted he wasn’t exactly an example of ). Saeed fled Iraq in 1985. public radio station WBEZ-FM with how to succeed as an Of Saeed’s other Walter Podrazik for an hour discussion author in the Arab lit- novel to be translated on conventions past and present with erary world. Saeed into English, Saddam Steve Edwards on Edwards’ “Afternoon was accompanied by City, a New Yorker Shift” program. (Steve has since traded in Allen Salter, who reviewer said, “For all his job at WBEZ for a position at the helped to translate one the horror it details, University of Chicago’s new Institute of of Saeed’s books, The this is a startlingly Politics, and Rick Kogan is doing World Through the warm and humane “Afternoon Shift.”) This summer, Craig Eyes of Angels book.” was twice on Bruce Dumont’s syndicated (Syracuse University Saddam City, trans- Mahmoud Saeed Allen Salter “Beyond the Beltway,” talking about the Press). It was the sec- lated by Lake Forest 2012 election. Now he is back to three ond of Saeed’s novels College professor campaigns, and DePaul University, teach- to be translated into English. Ahmad Sadri, tells of the fear and despair ing two sessions of “Chicago Politics: Saeed’s story, Salter said, is a “mar- of a Baghdad schoolteacher as he is shut- Bosses & Reformers” and his “Creative velous tale, his odyssey, a young Iraqi tled from prison to prison. It is based on Ink” creative writing class. ... Amina boy who fell in love with books, began to Saeed’s own experiences. Gautier took third place in the 2012 write books and embarked on what has to Saeed and Salter’s collaboration began Glimmer Train be the least rewarding career path in the about six years ago, when a friend of Fiction Open and word, that of a novelist and intellectual in Salter’s who happened to be teaching won the 2012 the Arab world.” English to Saeed asked Salter – who Crazyhorse Fiction SMA President Robert Loerzel, who works as a translator – to help Saeed Prize. ... Remember introduced the speakers, said of Saeed’s “negotiate the shoals ... of the American Sherlock Holmes’ work, “This is a book that I had the pleas- publishing industry.” “curious incident of ure of reading this summer. It is a really Turn to Page 2 the dog in the night As Holmes would time” – curious, say, game was afoot because the dog did nothing? In August, SMA Recording Literary Landscape New Literary Life Secretary Anastasia Royal’s dog also did Gregory Harms Books Nicholas Kokonis nothing – and she was glad of it. While PAGE 3 PAGES 4-5 PAGE 7 Turn to Page 2 Biblio File n Author’s tale Continued from Page 1 Continued from Page 1 “I went down to Belmont, where Mah- on a walk in Chicago’s north suburb of moud lives, and we got together and went I work washing Wilmette, the two encountered an unex- out for a drink and hit it off and became dishes only to get some pectedly outsized feline peering out of a fast friends immediately,” Salter said. “ row of bushes. “I saw a mountain lion in “The more I talked to Mahmoud, the money to live and Wilmette up close and personal!” more I became amazed at his experiences, write. Anastasia e-mailed. “I was so shocked his biography, the things that he had when this happened. Luckily and unchar- undergone, sacrificed for his writing,” ministry, which has strict guidelines, acteristically, my little dog, Moxie, didn’t Salter added. “And he started giving me including” no sex, religion or politics, bark as she strained on the leash.” In non- things of his to read in Arabic, and I read Saeed said. mountain-lion-related news, Anastasia a novel of his called The Daughters of To get by financially after coming to won the “Why My Mom Is No. 1” essay Jacob, which has regrettably not yet been the , Saeed took on such contest in Wilmette. And the new book translated into English [and] which I jobs as driving a delivery truck. she helped her sister, veterinarian Barbara thought was very, very good. At some “I work washing dishes, only to get Royal, write: Royal Treatment: A Natural point he asked me: would you finish some money to live and write,” he said. Approach to Wildly Healthy Pets translating this novel of mine?, and I fool- Another of Saeed’s books, Rue Ben (Atria/Emily Bestler Books) came out ishly said yes.” Barka, which is is set during his years of Sept. 18. ... Former SMA president Unable to find a publisher, Saeed had exile in Tunisia and was banned in Iraq, James Merriner delivered a paper to a hired translators to start the project, but soon will be published in English by conference of “goo goos” Sept. 28 in he couldn’t afford to finish it. Interlink Books. which he argued that campaign financial “Mahmoud had never had the good for- &&& reform is little more than a fraud and a tune to sell a lot of copies in Arabic, part- Upcoming Society of Midland Authors hoax (because it hasn’t worked). Goo ly because the Arabic market is very programs are: goos, as you may remember from one of small,” Salter said. Nov. 13: Gregory Harms, author of It's Jim’s book titles, are good-government Salter completed work on the untrans- Not About Religion. See Literary types. Jim e-mailed to say, “I said it was lated portion, edited “the whole thing into Landscape, Page 3. a coherent whole” and sent it to an agent. Turn to Page 3 Jan. 8: Peter Nolan, author of Campaign! Meanwhile, Saeed entered the manu- The 1983 Election that Rocked Chicago. script into the King Fahd Middle Eastern Location: Harold Washington Library, not Studies Award for Arabic Literary the usual Cliff Dwellers. (See story below). Translation, which is run by the Feb. 13: Gillian Flynn, author of Gone University of Arkansas and is one of the Girl” (currently No. 1 on The New York leading prizes in the field of Arabic-to- Times fiction best-seller list). Note: 2012, Society English literary translation. The award, Because of a scheduling conflict, this is a of Midland Authors which Saeed’s book won in 2010, Wednesday, not our normal Tuesday night P.O. Box 10419, Chicago IL 60610 includes publication of the winning book program. Harold Washington Library. by the Syracuse University Press. March 12: Gerry Souter, American Editor: Thomas Frisbie The novel tells the story of a sensitive Shooter. Harold Washington Library. [email protected] and loving boy assailed by the cruelty of April 16: Edward Hirsch, Cliff life as he grows up in Mosul, Iraq, in the Dwellers. www.midlandauthors.com 1940s. Saeed was born in Mosul, where he lived until 1985. The Society of Midland Authors’ 2012- Follow the Society on Life as an author was difficult in Iraq 2013 programs may be heard in their Twitter@midlandauthors because to be published an author must entirety at www.chicagopublicradio.org/ submit a manuscript to a government amplified. Society of Midland Authors members can now pay their membership dues, buy tickets to the annual dinner and Program location changes Because the library is closed on make donations on our website with Lincoln's Birthday, the February program PayPal (there is a $1 fee to help cover Our normal space for our monthly pro- will be held on a Wednesday instead of PayPal’s fee). To make a donation, visit grams will change from January through the normal Tuesday. And while at the our home page at www.midlandau- March because the Cliff Dwellers is shut- library, the talks will begin at 6 p.m. thors.com and click on the "Donate" ting down for remodeling. instead of the usual 7 p.m. button in the upper right corner. So we will hold our programs instead Normally, we have a social hour at 6 at the Harold Washington Library. and the program at 7.

2 LITERARY LICENSE, OCTOBER 2012 A broader Mideast perspective Biblio File regory Harms, an independent Continued from Page 2 scholar specializing in American November 13, 2012, program Gforeign policy and the Middle Cliff Dwellers time to shoot the sacred cow of campaign East, will speak at the November Society 200 S. Michigan Ave., 22nd floor financial limits, and then some of the of Midland Authors program. Here’s what reformers wanted to shoot me instead.” he tells Literary License: 6 p.m. - Social Hour Dick Simpson also was at the confer- 7 p.m. - Program ence, speaking on “Chicago and , Literary License: The title of your Free - donations accepted Leading the Pack in Corruption.” most recent book is It’s Not About Jim also reports he “has started writing Religion. What are the chief factors peo- poetry for the first time since he was a ple tend to overlook in the Middle East? ly well. Doing work that examines these lovesick fool in college.” Jim will read a Gregory Harms: When Americans look issues more honestly and precisely makes couple of his poems onstage at the at the Middle East, they see what they’re one less welcome in general, because the Viaduct Theater, 3111 shown on the news. Over the decades this facts are uncomfortable. If instead you act N. Western, as part of has created a very narrow perspective, one as a cheerleader for power, or play on a Poetry Cram on devoid of historical context. As a result, people's angers and fears, it is easier to Wednesday, Oct. 24. when we see constant instability and vio- gain exposure. So it isn't necessarily the A reception starts at lence, it is assumed that the region’s woes volume of literature out there as much as 6; he will be up are an expression of its it is what one is report- between 7:30 and 8. cultures. This is not on- ing. That said, I'm a Itala Langmar of ly an inappropriate gen- Literary smaller voice; but I try Kenilworth, Ill., will eralization, but it also Landscape: to make a contribution read her poetry for removes the enormous, anyway. Those uncom- Joanne Koch the third straight year. manipulative role fortable facts have ... Former SMA Western Europe and Gregory staying power, and President Joanne Koch’s play “Soul the United States have over time push aside Sisters” opens Oct. 19 and runs weekends played in the Middle Harms the ideological rhetoric. (Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m., East for 90 years. Literary License: Is Sundays at 3 p.m.) through Nov. 11 at the Literary License: You’ve written exten- America evolving toward a better under- Clockwise Theatre in downtown sively about the Middle East. What standing of the Middle East? Waukegan, 221 N. Genesee St. The play’s sparked your interest in this region? Gregory Harms: That has been my characters – one African American, one Gregory Harms: I was initially just observation. The country has evolved in a Jewish – help each other through public frustrated with my own ignorance on the number of areas concerning race, gender, success, personal tragedy and a rediscov- subject. The Middle East was constantly and so on, and I think views of the ery of their roots. ... Upon getting an in the news, but I had no sense of what Middle East are improving. What has errant check returned to her, Alzina was what. And I had heard so often that made a difference is better information. Stone Dale wrote to say, “The nicest part “those people have been at it forever” that News programs like Democracy Now and is I think I may spend it buying myself a I started to suspect that wasn’t the case. I foreign channels such as Al Jazeera are couple of my UK pals’ mysteries. I’ve quickly learned the opposite was true, that doing good journalism. I think independ- been very lucky to get the various conflicts were very much ent films are helping. Also, the Arab to know Anne Perry modern phenomena based on modern, Spring has made an impact on our per- and the Keatings – all nonreligious problems. spective; here were people across North of whom have visited Literary License: The Middle East is Africa and the Middle East demanding us here. In the case of the focus of numerous books and constant freedom and political change. The lan- Anne Perry our dog news reports. How does an author writing guage was secular and liberal, and it was went bananas about about this region keep from being coming from the populations, not a hand- her, and I literally had drowned out by all the other voices? ful of militants or extremists. to grab her to let Anne Gregory Harms: I probably am drowned Literary License: What book are you get out our front door out. There are people doing excellent work working on next? on her own.” ... Frances on the subject, and there are people doing Gregory Harms: At present, I have been Frances McNamara McNamara not-so-excellent work on the subject. But promoting this new one as well as writing and David J. Walker even the more well-known people in the articles. So there's no fourth book in the were at the Centuries & Sleuths former group only reach so many works. However, watching the 2012 presi- Bookstore Sept. 16 to launch their new Americans. Some people in the latter dential campaign, I would like to produce titles (see New Books in the group, on the other hand, can have enor- a book titled America is Not Divided, or mous reach, and their books sell extreme- maybe We Need a Second Viable Party. Turn to Page 4 LITERARY LICENSE, OCTOBER 2012 3 Biblio File New Books the family and faith. The story is a paean to the essential goodness and strength of Continued from Page 3 the common man. August/September issue). David reports: WEIGHING ANCHORS: SMA member Sue Harrison wrote: “Eloquently written, fascinating…an “We had a nice crowd, many of whom WHEN NETWORK were in book-buying mode.” Also, on incredible piece of work.” NEWSCASTERS DON’T KNOW Oct. 23 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Frances will be at 57th Street Books in Chicago. WRITE FROM WRONG ... On Nov. 11, Rick Kogan will inter- MONSTROUS BEAUTY view Emily Victorson and David J. Walker on his radio Literary License is exclusively learning In Elizabeth Fama’s new book (Sept. show. ... At 7 p.m. on more tonight about Mervin Block’s 4, Farrar, Straus and Giroux) – for which Nov. 14 Gail Lukasik major compelling never-before-seen new she did a six-city tour last month – the and Frances book (Marion Street Press). fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls McNamara will In the book, Block, a broadcast writing in love with the young naturalist Ezra, a appear at the Cook coach, spotlights some of the common romance that has unexpected and deadly Memorial Library, flaws in network newswriting: “words consequences. Almost 140 years later, Libertyville, Ill. Gail misused, language confused, facts seventeen-year-old Hester meets a myste- e-mails to say: “We abused.” rious stranger named Ezra and feels inex- decided to join forces “Too many newsrooms lack [an] essen- plicably drawn to him. For generations, Julie Hyzy because the majority tial, one needed to ensure a first-rate love has resulted in death for the women of Frances’ series is set in 19th century broadcast: a sharp copy editor,” Block in her family. Is it an undiagnosed genetic Chicago, and a major story line in my lat- writes in this volume first discovered defect . . . or a curse? With Ezra’s help, est book, The Lost Artist, is also set in the moments ago by Literary License. Hester investigates. The answers she 19th century. This is our first outing Media critic Robert Feder writes, seeks are in the graveyard, the crypt and together and we’re hoping to do more “When network anchors murder the lan- the bottom of the ocean — but powerful presentations focused on writing myster- guage – as they do night after night – forces will do anything to keep her from ies set in the 19th century.” ... Buffalo thank goodness there’s Merv Block to uncovering her connection to Syrenka West Wing by Julie Hyzy was named perform the autopsy.” Best Paperback Original at the Oct. 6 and to the long-past tragedy. Anthony Awards at Bouchercon 2012. ... Booklist said, “Fama does not shy away from the big issues: Love, death, Richard Lindberg (Whiskey Breakfast), OUT OF ARCADIA Libby Fischer Hellmann (A Bitter Veil) longing, lust, fear, and revenge all play and Patricia McNair (The Temple of Air) out through her complex and multidimen- are finalists in the Chicago Writers sional characters.” Nicholas Kokonis’s second novel, Out Association’s second-annual book of the This is Elizabeth Fama’s second YA of Arcadia (St. Basil's Publishers, Oct. Overboard year awards. Winners will be announced novel. Her first, , was pub- 16) will be launched at 6:30 p.m. Oct 16 on or before Dec. 1. ... Ted Landphair lished in 2002. at the National Hellenic Museum of wrote on his Voice of America blog on Chicago (Van Buren and Halsted). Sept. 7 about Stephen Bloom’s Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland A sequel to Arcadia, My Arcadia, it ESSAYS IN BIOGRAPHY America. ... Sherill Bodine is among tells the story of Angelo Vlahos, a poor those authors and oth- but audacious country boy finally arrives ers for whom in America. [See Literary Life, Page 7.] Joseph Epstein's latest book, Essays TalksChic, launched in With all his possessions in a bundle, in Biography, will be published this July, arranges speech- $30 in his pocket, and a registration at a month by Axios Press. es. ... Ted McClelland phony technical college, Angelo forges The book contains 39 essays about var- asks: “Has any candi- with hope toward his two goals: to get a ious current and historical figures, includ- date who said, ‘The college education while working and to ing George Washington, Adlai Stevenson, only poll that counts is reunite with the love of his childhood, Saul Bellow, Xenophon, George on Election Day’ ever Antigone. But unexpected obstacles Gershwin, Alfred Kinsey and Gore Vidal. won the poll on Kent Meyers throw him painfully off course. Will he Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Election Day?” ... ever overcome them and get out of his Carl Rollyson said, “Joseph Epstein is Elizabeth Cook-Lynn and Kent Meyers harrowing quandary before his family one of the best essayists in contemporary were scheduled to be among the presen- vanishes back home? While the crushing American letters.” ters at this year’s South Dakota Festival realities of his new world become quickly Turn to Page 6 apparent, so does the indomitable spirit of Turn to Page 5 4 LITERARY LICENSE, OCTOBER 2012 New Books emotional “deep waters” are some of the many subjects encompassed in this col- Continued from Page 4 AGAINST FAIRNESS lection of poetry, fiction, essays and memoirs. Late last year, Scott also co-authored a Stephen Asma will have a new book THREE PSYCHEDELIC two-woman literary presentation - out next month, Against Fairness NOVELLAS “LASER” - with Catherine Underhill (University of Chicago Press, Nov. 5, Fitzpatrick that was performed at 2012). Chicago’s Sulzer Regional Library and Here’s the publisher’s summation: “The other venues. very symbol of American ethics – Lady Justice – wears a blindfold as she weighs SYLVIA the law on her impartial scale. In our THE CONJUROR’S BOY zealous pursuit of fairness, we have ban- ished our urges to like one person more Here’s the story on Three Psychedelic Michael Raleigh’s new novel, his than another, one thing over another, hid- Novellas (Enigmatic Ink, July 6, 2012). ing them away as dirty When Eckhard Gerdes’ first published eighth book, appears Nov. 1 as both a trade paperback and an e-book, published secrets of our humani- book, a chapbook of the novella ty.” Projections, was published in 1986 in a by Harvard Square Editions. It is the saga of Thomas Faye, a father- In Against Fairness, limited edition of 200 copies, Factsheet polymath philosopher Five stated, “This less boy who enters a junk shop on a gray Chicago day in 1962 and is forever Stephen T. Asma drags work lies somewhere them triumphantly on the borderland changed by the two men he meets there. Arthur Farrell the proprietor, is a some- back into the light. between poetry and Through playful, witty, dream, in an area that time-magician, raconteur, wanderer, a wounded veteran of the carnage at the Stephen Asma but always serious I seldom enter with- arguments and exam- out chemical aid.” Somme, who can heal – and perhaps far more – with the mere touch of his hand. ples, he vindicates our unspoken and Now this collec- undeniable instinct to favor, making the tor’s item has been His belligerent friend Meyer, a seemingly indestructible survivor of the fall of the case that we would all be better off if we reissued with two showed our unfair tendencies a little more Eckhard Warsaw Ghetto, lives on the street, a other novellas from kindness – indeed, if we favored favoritism. Gerdes Eckhard Gerdes’ psy- magnet for trouble and violence. Under ... “Asma makes his point by synthesizing chedelic period, a startling array of scientific findings, his- Systems of Flux, and the never-before- the influence of these two mysterious men torical philosophies, cultural practices, published Aspic Interregencies. analytic arguments, and a variety of per- The Sylvia Plath Cookbook: A Satire Thomas comes to see the world in ways he sonal and literary narratives to give a (lulu.com, July 3, 2012) is the second in remarkably nuanced and thorough under- Sugar Glider Press’ series of smaller could never have imagined. As his standing of how fairness and favoritism works. It is the story of a writer toying fit within our moral architecture.” with the idea of putting together a piece own travels take him on the tragic poet. As his obsession seems to Vietnam and the Michael Raleigh on the verge of permanently distracting far corners of ON THE DAY I DIED him, it is Sylvia herself who emerges America, he adopts from her doom to set him free. one persona after another: drifter, soldier, carny worker, detective, until he begins to understand his place in the world and his Candace Fleming’s new book fate. (Schwartz & Wade Books) tells the story DEEP WATERS: Sam Reaves (Allen Salter) writes: of a boy who tries to return a stranger’s RIVERS, LAKES AND SEAS "Like Raleigh himself, this book is shoes, only to be led to a graveyard deeply rooted in Chicago, but offers a where nine teenage ghosts tell their sto- vision of a much vaster world. Raleigh's ries. The Oct 14 New York Times Book Deep Waters: Rivers, Lakes and Seas, tale of outsiders looking for a way in Review said, “Acclaimed for her biogra- edited by Whitney Scott, is the 16th title examines the resilience of the soul by phies Amelia Lost and The Lincolns, in Outrider Press’ “Black-and-White” way of a tour through the catastrophes of Fleming has a real facility with historical Series of annual anthologies. the twentieth century.” fiction, which is evident here. She is at Quiet ponds, naval warfare, creatures of Raleigh says, “My own take is that the her best when recounting the rise and fall the deep, river rafting, wilderness water book is James T. Farrell meets Rod of or the Midway Plaisance of adventures, indoor pools and all kinds of Serling.” the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893.

LITERARY LICENSE, OCTOBER 2012 5 Authors’ new book celebrates Biblio File Continued from Page 4 photographer’s ‘hungry eye’ of Books Sept. 28-30 in Sioux Falls. ... Roger Ebert announced via Twitter in ivian Maier, photojournalist? Side, Gloria Swanson returning to September that his 2011 memoir, Life The woman who was known as Chicago for a film festival and performers Itself, will become a documentary pro- V“the nanny photographer” has at Ravinia. duced by Martin Scorsese. ... Gunter been classified many ways since her Her most compelling “photo-journal- Nitsch says his next book will about his photo negatives were discovered just ism” forms part of our book, including 10 years in New York, leading up to his before her death in 2009. She was first photographs she took around the 1968 marriage to his wife, Mary. ... Wesley considered a street photographer because Democratic Convention. People who Adamczyk’s When God Looked the of her gritty, city portraits of New Yorkers knew Maier then say she went downtown Other Way (2004) was also published in from the 1950s. Decades later, The New most every day or night during the tumul- Poland where it became a best-seller. York Times called her a fashion photogra- tuous week. The photographs we found in Wesley writes to say, “In the last few pher because of her docu- her collection are very years, I have been very busy writing mentation of midcentury different from the iconic another book and doing a variety of other street dress. Literary Legwork photos from those days: projects. ... The title of my new book is Lynn Becker, who writes night-stick-wielding The Power of Identity. At this point in ArchitectureChicago, Chicago policemen, time it will be written in Polish as I have thinks she was something bashed heads, bloody the best possible material to write on this of an architectural pho- noses, overturned park subject that one can ever find. Hopefully tographer. “The built benches. Maier’s photos after its publication I will see if it can be environment is so strong- that we saw show young translated into English without doing ly integrated that it's as if men in polo shirts and much in modifications.” ... On Oct. 9, the she's captured in a bottle gym shoes relaxing in Baltimore Sun listed Jaimy Gordon’s the visceral essence of a Grant Park, reading news- Lord of Misrule on its list of required city and its architecture at Michael Williams papers and passing the reading for the Baltimore Orioles’ play- a set moment in time,” he days during lulls between offs. ... Joseph Epstein [See New Books, recently wrote. & Richard Cahan confrontation. Few hippie Page 4] wrote a Sept. 12 Wall Street After looking through radicals here. The photos Journal op-ed on almost 18,000 of her negatives in writing are quite different – no better, no worse – Chicago’s striking the book Vivian Maier: Out of the than the photo reality we have been pre- teachers. Two days Shadows, we were surprised to learn that sented in newspapers and other books. later he asked in The she fancied herself as a photojournalist, too. Perhaps our favorite pictures from that Weekly Standard : Maier was never given an assignment. year are her images of the April riots on “Who killed the liberal She photographed exactly what she want- Chicago’s West Side that broke out days arts?” ... Edward ed. Most of her photographs form a diary after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassina- Burke discussed the of her life, but her life was anything but tion. Maier, who did not drive, arrived a Chicago City Council unintentional. She had, as they have said few days after the riots started, but smoke Sept. 25 at the Ted McClelland about photographer Walker Evans, a still smoldered and National Guards University of Illinois “hungry eye,” and was determined to see troops still patrolled the streets with bayo- at Chicago’s Future of Chicago series. and photograph things that were not part nets. She arrived by the Madison Avenue Later that day, Ted McClelland and of her everyday life as a domestic caring bus – photographing at first out the win- John Wilson discussed “Why Obama for children. dow of the bus, and then taking a long Will Win” at Uncharted Books in So she often assigned herself photo walk through what looked like a war Chicago. ... On Oct. 5, Thomas Frisbie projects that can only be classified as zone. was one of three Chicago Sun-Times edi- photojournalist. That ranged from what For a time, Maier worked for a woman torial writers to win the Sarah Boyden we would consider community journalism who was in charge of the photographers Award for editorial writing from the – local speakers, car crashes, the local at the Pioneer Press newspapers. She also Chicago Journalists Association. ... beach scene – to major events such as the worked for Curt and Linda Matthews, Reginald Gibbons, professor of English presidential campaigns of John F. who run Chicago Review Press, and talk at Northwestern University, was quoted Kennedy, Richard Nixon and Lyndon B. show host Phil Donohue. But she never Oct. 4 in Medill Reports Chicago saying Johnson in Chicago. She even fancied shared her work with any of them. e-books are “wonderfully convenient for herself as a paparazzi: taking pictures of Why? There are no easy answers here. readers but devastating to writers.” Zsa Zsa Gabor and Shirley Temple Black One other thing we learned: Vivian Maier Turn to Page 7 visiting the Ivanhoe Theater on the North enjoyed her role as the mystery woman.

6 LITERARY LICENSE, OCTOBER 2012 Writing from heart’s quiet center Biblio File ere’s what Nicholas Kokonis tells Varvogli (University of Dundee, Scotland): Continued from Page 6 Literary License about his new “The Greek voice has for a long time been Hbook (See New Books, Page 4). absent from imaginative, fictional accounts Gibbons warns that publishers are being of immigration. Kokonis makes a signifi- squeezed, and the compensation for Literary License: Your main character, cant contribution to this hugely important authors is disappointing. ... Bruce Angelo Vlahos, is from Arcadia. So were chapter in the histories of both countries, Guernsey read his poetry Oct 5. at you. Is there an autobiographical element and through the story of Angelo helps us Sedgwick Estate at Long Hill, to this book? to imagine all those other lives built on Massachsetts. Ellery Sedgwick was the Nicholas Kokonis: Yes, a strong one. hope, but hope always mixed with sad- owner and editor of The Atlantic Monthly Some of the incidents I experienced in my ness of leaving our Arcadias behind. for over three decades and, Bruce points life actually happened very nearly the LL: Dedicated teachers in Greece were out, was the first to way it’s turned out in print. I couldn’t part of the story of your first book, publish Hemingway's have invented them had I tried. Yet, the Arcadia, My Arcadia. But your new book work in the United story isn’t a transcription of includes a phony tech- States and also pub- my life’s experiences, only nical college in the U.S. lished a lot of Frost’s a transformation of real-life Literary Is there a lesson here? best poems. The estate occurrences into fiction. Life NK: The lesson will is 114 acres in The truth wasn’t plausible be quite clear when one Manchester-by-the-Sea enough to have been fiction. reads the book. Angelo (north of Boston). LL: Many books have Nicholas is fortunate enough to Bruce Guernsey Bruce e-mailed to say, told the story of a poor have great teachers at “It’s an extraordinary immigrant coming to Kokonis Roosevelt University, site, and I was very America, trying to make it. some of them remind- honored to have been asked to read from Was it a challenge to find a fresh way to ing him of his best teachers back home. my new book there. (Sold a whole bunch tell this story? However, the phony institute was only a of copies, too!).” ... Ann Durkin NK: Yes and no, especially when I means, a clever way by which Angelo Keating spoke about the War of 1812 remembered that someone had published could get a visa to America. And further- Oct. 11 at the Mitchell Museum of the The Fortunate Pilgrim (a title I wanted more, its owner turns out to be an un- American Indian in Evanston, Ill. ... for my own book but found I could not scrupulous man, quite a contrast to hum- David Wojahn, who won the 1988 SMA have). But I knew no one had written ble, hard-working Arcadian Sam Sianis Poetry Award, was scheduled to read from my (Greek) perspective. Nicholas (of the Billy Goat fame) where Angelo from his work Oct. 10 at The College of Gage’s Eleni had a very political subtext, works as busboy. It’s the choice between William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. ... mine only poverty and an overwhelming virtue and vice Angelo himself must always Anya Achtenberg will read from her need to get out of its grip. To my knowl- make in his new world, like Hercules new novel Blue Earth (Modern History edge, no Greek or Greek American himself in the eponymous Carracci mas- Press) from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.at the author, including Harry Mark Petrakis, terpiece: The Choice of Hercules. New York University Book Store, 726 had written about a Greek who wanted to LL: What do you like best about your Broadway, N.Y. It’s her fourth book, but immigrate because he wanted to enjoy the new book? first full-length novel. ...Wilbert American Dream. My story is bathed in NK: The second book incorporates a Hasbrouck was scheduled to be on an authenticity. I had experienced what I few new characters that have been singled Oct. 14 roundtable dis- wrote. I know Angelo Vlahos intimately, out quite favorably by reviewers and has cussion on John Van down to his only pair of shoes. given me the chance to delineate the Bergen’s contributions As author José de Piérola (University of father-son theme that has always interest- to Prairie School Texas at El Paso) writes: “Angelo arrives ed me, and makes it more clear why I architecture. ... Writing in America still imagining a New York wrote both books: I wrote them from my in the Sept. 27 glimmering with the last sparkles of the heart’s quiet center to address the single Chicago Tribune, Gilded Age. But he is also escaping the lack large concern that has always stirred me: James Klise told how of opportunities in his hometown. This how one achieves a personal identity and he was dis-invited familiar double force, which makes immi- earns a place in the world. Both books are from participating in a Wilbert grants risk even their lives, is the driving authentic and appeal to the heart as much program called “The Hasbrouck force behind this compelling story. The as the mind of the reader. Right to Read” because immigration experience has been told LL: Out of Arcadia is a sequel. Will there his first young-adult novel, called Love from the point of view of the second gen- be a third in the series? Drugged, about a closeted gay teen, might eration. This novel takes us one step back, NK: The structure of the books is such be too edgy for some parents in Kansas (a giving us a wider, fresher perspective.” that a third one is only a natural progres- Midland Authors state!). “The irony And also, in the words of Dr. Aliki sion, Act III in a three-act play. Turn to Page 8

LITERARY LICENSE, OCTOBER 2012 7 Biblio File Tired of online bottlenecks? Continued from Page 7 seemed like something out of – well, Bottlenose may be answer exactly, like something out of Catch-22,” f you want to want to keep track of wrote Klise who also manages a library social media, news, and online media, The bottom line is to in a Chicago high school. ...The Oct. 14 try Bottlenose. New York Times Book Review says I be organized, and you What is it? A dashboard that unifies “ Louise Erdrich in her new book, The your social media networks, news, videos, will see your publicity Round House (Harper/HarperCollins), pictures, and trends. “has come back once again to her own How can you use it? efforts pay off. indelible Yokna- Add your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, A few days before: send a reminder to patawpha, a fictional Google Reader, and Buffer accounts, then people who would really” be interested in North Dakota Indian link them up so that they're in a stream. attending. reservation and its sur- You can view them in a list or newspaper After the speech: send a thank you card rounding towns with format, then you can choose what to read or e-mail to the hosts of the conference their intricately inter- from those streams, and create filters for and offer your services for future opportu- connected populations. certain kinds of content. You can also do nities. ... David J. Walker a search for any phrase or topic that Enter interested attendees' contact offers these tips in the you're interested in, and the results will information in your newsletter and con- September Love Is show up in various kinds of media. tact list. David J. Walker Murder newsletter: “1) If you don't want to read text, you can Upload the slides to Slideshare.com, or Read everything view your network's photos and videos, another sharing site you use, and share Elmore Leonard ever wrote; 2) Take all and see what the lat- the link with people of the dialogue you write, and read it out est trends are for in your social net- loud (to yourself or, better, to your cri- those, too. Literary work. tique group) and then rewrite it and punc- One interesting fea- Add the Slideshare tuate it the way it ought to sound; and 3), ture that Bottlenose Loudspeaker link or any related forget the way people talk in real life, which has is Sonar, which link to your email is usually dull and boring and wordy, and gives you a galaxy- signature. write the way people talk in Elmore Tom type map of trending Post any video or Leonard books, which is always cool and content online that audio from the pres- exciting and brief.” (And what was Elmore Ciesielka you can view at vari- entation online to Leonard’s advice to authors? “Write like ous levels and YouTube, Vimeo, Biblio File.”) ... On Oct. 6, Wayne Klatt through "rules" that you define for filtered SoundCloud.com, or other media sites discussed his 2011 information. you use. book King of the Gold There are a lot of great features that you Post any photos on Facebook, Twitter, Coast: Capn Streeter, can read more about at their site. It's still Tumblr, Pinterest, Flickr, Instagram, or the Millionaires and in the beta stage now, so here's your wherever you share photos online. the Story of Lake chance to get in early before they go pro. Update your website and blog with pho- Shore Drive at The tos and links to your slides, video, audio, Museums at Lisle &&& etc. Station Park in Lisle, Create a bulleted list with important Ill. ... On Oct. 3, the If you have a lecture, article, or media ideas from your presentation, and share it Lansing (Ind.) Public appearance coming up, create a share as a special "paper" in LinkedIn groups or Library discussed The Paula McLain plan. A share plan is a checklist of where wherever you want to share your helpful Paris Wife by Paula you will be sharing the information about information. McLain. ... Kevin Mattson wrote Oct. your activity. It will boost your publicity You can modify the above list for other on Salon, “Obama needs to drop the ‘pro- and keep you organized. things you do, and add tasks to what I've fessorial’ bit, or he'll wind up like Adlai Your share plan can be just a simple listed. If you have other ideas, let me Stevenson in 1950.” ... Donald Ray list, such as this: know. The bottom line is to be organized, Pollock has received “le Grand prix de Date of speaking engagement: Oct. 5. and you'll see your publicity efforts pay littérature policière 2012” for his novel One week before: send out an e-mail to off even more. The Devil All the Time. ... Reuters quoted your contact list and mention it on Robert McClory on Oct. 12 saying the LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or other E-mail Tom Ciesielka at [email protected] or Turn to Page 9 social media you use. call (312) 422-1333.

8 LITERARY LICENSE, OCTOBER 2012 An academic struggle to revive Biblio File publishing house in e-book world Continued from Page 8 stance of U.S. bishops on issues such as Graeme Newman, Ph.D., a professor of Literary License: Do you plan to pub- same-sex marriage and contraception is criminology at the State University of lish on e-book platforms other than the partly to blame for the continuing exodus New York at Albany, is owner of Harrow Kindle? of non-immigrant Catholics from the and Heston, which had been out of busi- Graeme R. Newman: For the moment, Church. ... Republicans may call the presi- ness for several years. It is coming back I am staying with Kindle because it is dent a typical Chicago politician but Rick to life as a digital publisher and is repub- much cheaper to use their platform. They Perlstein argues in the November issue lishing some back titles for the Kindle. have made it very easy to do, and it saves of Chicago magazine that Obama isn’t Harrow and Heston establishing and Chicago enough – and that’s why he iterary License: Is this part of a maintaining its own website. Savvy users faces such a tough contest on Nov. 6. ... trend, bringing former publishing can also very easily convert e- Alexander Polikoff argued before the Lhouses and out-of-print books back books into any other e-book format. The Illinois Supreme Court in September in a to life in digital form? free e-reader software Calibre does that. case about how Illinois funds public Graeme R. Newman: I’m not sure. Literary License: Your niche is books schools. ... Jim McGarrah was among Academic publishing houses went out of about criminal justice. As a category, is the poets at a poetry reading Sept. 21 at A business (and this continues at a rapid this static or trending one way or another? Reader’s Corner in Louisville, Ky. ... At a pace) basically because they could not Graeme R. Newman: The number of panel of publishing industry leaders at make money on short run books. They criminal justice books has grown expo- last month’s annual meeting of the Book would typically print only 200 to 1,000 nentially commensurate with the growth Industry Study Group, Dominque copies, depending on their guess as to of the field. When I first entered the field Raccah said, “I expect there to be more how many they could sell. The response as an academic in the 1970s there were just dramatic, disruptive change ahead [for in the industry has been for larger pub- two graduate programs in criminal justice. the publishing industry].” ... Joseph C. lishing houses to gobble up smaller ones. Now there are close to 40, and possibly Morton wrote in the Oct. 8 Northwest But even the larger ones have difficulty more. And as we all know, criminal justice (Ill.) Herald that “the few accomplish- staying afloat these days. They used to be has become a very popular undergraduate ments of Franklin Pierce’s ill-fated presi- able to depend on libraries, especially major. However, the field is still very tiny dency would include the sending of university and public libraries, for a pre- compared with the mainstream disciplines Matthew Perry in 1853 to open up Japan dictable market, but the digital world has such as sociology and psychology. to world trade and the signing of the shaken all that up. Literary License: What changes do Gadsden Purchase Act of 1853, which Literary License: In republishing a you see in coming years in the e-book added 29,000 square miles to the country book as an electronic title, what value world? for $10 million. The biggest single nega- does a publisher add that authors of those Graeme R. Newman: I do not like to tive act was Pierce’s signing of the infa- books couldn’t add on their own? make predictions in the IT world. What mous 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, which, Graeme R. Newman: In the case of changes do occur come rapidly and take with its pro-slavery provisions concerning Harrow and Heston, I have to admit that turns that one simply would not have “popular sovereignty,” probably hastened my business model, if you could call it expected. In the academic field that I and made almost inevitable the tragic that, is “not for profit”! I became dis- know best, I think that the days of big Civil War.” mayed when I saw that one of our old text books are numbered, and the big pub- titles, Discovering Criminology, was sell- lishers know this, having already shifted ing for over $100 on Amazon and various toward the online platforms. They are SMA Support second hand dealers. The original print going to have a hard time, because the run of that book was 200 copies, so I sup- web being what it is, will produce a lot of Dues cover mailings and other organi- pose that over the years, it is technically a free information on every topic imagina- zational expenses, but the Society always “rare book.” (The author and editors were ble. The Wikis have done that, and have, needs additional money for programs spread across the U.S. from New York, contrary to the critics, become a reason- such as the awards at the annual May Florida and Wisconsin. Academics tend to ably accepted source of information banquet. Thanks to these members who move around a lot, so there is usually not (depending on the topic). Academia will made contributions since the last newslet- much of a regional focus, especially in hold out for as long as it can and try to ter: the criminology field.) So, I guess the control the information by classifying cer- Michael Argetsinger, Fran Baker, value I am adding for the authors is to tain types of information and platforms as Steve Bogira, Michael Ebner, Elizabeth ensure that their book will remain easily “acceptable” for, say, a professor who is Fama, Carol Felsenthal, Beverly accessible – possibly forever – to anyone trying to boost his or her resume with the Friend, Jeffrey Gusfield, Shirley Haas, who has a couple of dollars to spare, and necessary publications. Must say, I don’t Cynthia Rademacher, Darwin McBeth in some cases I can make them free. know where it will end up. Walton and John Wasik. LITERARY LICENSE, OCTOBER 2012 9 New Members Final Chapters Mr. Fradin was born in Chicago and grew up in the city’s Rogers Park neigh- Jeffrey Gusfield, author of Deadly Dennis Brindell Fradin, borhood and the north suburb of Valentines: The Story of Capone’s Wilmette. Henchman “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn 1945-2012 Mr. Fradin, who wanted become an and Louise (Chicago When Dennis Brindell Fradin was author since the first grade, attended the Review Press, 2012) teaching second grade, his inner city Field and Armstrong Elementary Chicago was born in Peoria, Ill., Chicago school had plenty of boisterous public schools until sixth grade and later grew up in Highland students but few books. said most of what he needed to learn as a Park, Ill., earned his So Mr. Fradin made up stories about writer he learned from his experience as a MLS at Lake Forest such things as crayons in distress and Chicago public school student. (Ill.) College and got a birds with broken wings to hold his stu- He particularly cited teacher “Mrs. BFA from Drake dents’ attention, and it turned out he was Domer,” whom he had for both fourth and University in Iowa, good at it. sixth grades, for teaching her students Jeffrey where he says he At the time, he also was a free-lance how to work hard on projects from begin- Gusfield learned from his men- writer, and he got an assignment to write ning to end and made them take note tor, Dr. W.S.E. “Doc” a children’s book about Illinois. That led cards and make outlines for our projects Coleman, that history is the best theater. to a contract to write books about all 50 He graduated from New Trier High He says his obsessive interest in the states. School in Winnetka, Ill., and got his bach- Capone area began when he was 5. That’s His wife of 44 years, Judith Bloom elor’s degree in English in 1967 from when famed Chicago photographer Fradin – whose job had evaporated Northwestern University in Evanston. Anthony Berardi showed him a picture teaching English in a program After he graduated, he began Berardi took of the 1929 Saint Valentine’s for “problem kids who had teaching second-graders at Day Massacre. already been kicked out of other Faraday Elementary School on Gusfield researched the history of Jack programs for problem kids” – Chicago’s West Side. McGurn, Louise Rolfe, and the Al pitched in to help. As co-authors, the Fradins Capone era for more than four decades. The two, working both collab- were noted for extensive He also has been a fine arts dealer for 35 oratively and individually, went research. When writing about years. on to write nearly 300 fiction historical figures, they often and nonfiction titles for children tracked down descendants and Dennis Sven Nordin, a retired faculty and young adults. Their book dug up new details about the Dennis Brindell member at Mississippi State University, is Jane Addams: Champion of lives the the people they were Fradin author of From Edward Brooke to Barack Democracy (Houghton Mifflin writing about. Obama: African American Political Co., Clarion Books) won the On one of his research expedi- Success, 1966-2008 (University of 2007 Society of Midland Authors tions, Mr. Fradin unearthed a letter writ- Missouri Press, 2012); A Swedish Children’s Nonfiction Award. Bound for ten by Jane Addams. In it, Ms. Addams Dilemma: A Liberal European Nation's the North Star: True Stories of Fugitive was urging a procrastinating Society of Struggle with Racism and Xenophobia, Slaves (Houghton Mifflin Co., Clarion Midland Authors member to get current 1990-2000 (2005); The New Deal’s Black Books) won the Society’s 2001 Children’s with dues. Congressman: A Life of Arthur Wergs Nonfiction Award. Ida B. Wells: Mother The pair even drafted their children to Mitchell (University of Missouri Press, of the Civil Rights Movement (Houghton help out with research. 1997); Rich Harvest: A History of the Mifflin Co., Clarion Books) was a finalist “We paid them twice what they could Grange, 1867-1900 (University Press of in that category the same year. earn at McDonald’s, but they hated it,” Mississippi, 2007); and Mississippi Mr. Fradin, 66, a longtime member of Judith Fradin told SMA members at a Community College Football, 1922-2009: the Society of Midland Authors, died March 11, 2008, monthly program. The Best Kept Secret of Collegiate Aug. 29 after a yearlong struggle with The children were grateful later on, Athletics. bone cancer. though, when they got to college and saw He also is co-author author of From “Dennis was a brilliant thinker, a vivid other students struggling with research Prairie Farmer to Entrepreneur: The storyteller and a lovely human being,” assignments that they found to be “a piece Transformation of Midwestern Nancy Feresten, senior vice president of of cake,” she said. Agriculture (Indiana University Press, Kids’ Publishing and Media at National Their slogan was “Research is our mid- 2005). Geographic Society told the Chicago dle name,” the pair said on one website. Nordin was born in Chicago, and grew Tribune. “He brought all of these qualities Mr. Fradin was especially known for up in Morton Grove, Ill. He taught at to his nonfiction for children, which was his books about the American Chicago State from 1968 to 1971 and crisp, informative, and, most important of Revolutionary period, African-American returned to live in Evanston, Ill. from all, moving. It’s been a joy and a privilege history and biography, and scientific dis- 1979-1989. He also has lived in Sweden. to work with him.” coveries. 10 LITERARY LICENSE, OCTOBER 2012