sign in sign up
<<
Home , Book packaging, Chicago literature

March Literary License 2021

Biblio File Author elevates discussion Susan Croce Kelly has given three Zoom talks during the shut-down, one for Columbia, Missouri’s Boone County with talk about L History & Culture BY THOMAS FRISBIE Center, a second at uthor Patrick Reardon took Sentieri Italian Zoom viewers for a spin on Language School in AChicago’s Loop L on Feb. 9 dur- Chicago which had an ing the Midland Authors’ monthly pro- international audience, gram, which was conducted via Zoom. and a third, on Feb. 25 Reardon, author of The Loop: The “L” for the University of Tracks That Shaped and Saved Chicago, Oklahoma . ... Susan Croce the latest of his nine , said the Helen Frost’s in Kelly ’s main argument is the L is the most poems, All He Knew important structure in Chicago’s history. (See Literary License, May 2020), has Because of the L and its downtown won the 2021 Scott O’Dell Award for loop, “Chicagoans could come from one Historical Fiction. Past winners of the end of Chicago to the other very easily,” award include Louise Erdrich and said Reardon, who was a Harriette Gillem reporter, feature writer and editor for AJAK Robinet. Also, Helen’s more than three decades. Z novel, Blue Daisy (See Before the Loop was constructed, ICHAEL Literary License, May Chicagoans could take an L train down- M 2020), a mix of poems town, but then they had to get out and Patrick Reardon and prose, won the take a cable car, a “horse car” or walk to 2020 Best Dog Book the center of the city or to another train the trend toward suburbanization in the Medal. ... David station to go elsewhere in the city, he 1960s and 1970s, he said. Radavich’s essay, Harriette Gillem said. Many members of the Midland Authors “ ‘Elegy for Jane’: The Robinet “This was a very awkward situation,” make appearances in his book, Reardon Nature of Grief,” he said. said. For example: Hobart Chatfield- appears in A Field Guide to the Poetry of The Loop L also created a central Taylor, the first president of the society. Theodore Roethke (Swallow Press, Dec. downtown that “was everybody’s second Chatfield-Taylor published a book in 29, 2020), edited by William Barillas, neighborhood,” he said. “The downtown 1917 titled Chicago, in which he with a forward by Edward Hirsch, who is owned by all Chicagoans. When I say expressed his love for the elevated Loop, presented the Midland Authors’ April, owned, I mean the feeling of ownership.” which shows that in 1917 it was already 2013 program. The provides a The L also was important for Chicago’s being called the Loop. rich diversity of interpretations of this economic strength because “it marked off Some historians set the date for using major poet of the Midwest. David will and anchored the richest property in the that name as far back 1882 or there- moderate the Midland Authors’ March 9 city, and the deep investment in the abouts, Reardon said. Some writers said program. ... David L. Harrison writes to downtown made the people who owned it the Loop got its name from cable car say, “I wanted to tell you about an event want to find ways to make the downtown loops that served the central business dis- that took place on Feb. 9 when I per- work.” trict. But, using illustrations, Reardon formed with Sandy Asher a of That helped the city’s center ride out Turn to Page 2 our novel in verse, Jesse and Grace, A Best Friend Story. Sandy’s play version of our story about life in fourth grade was Literary Landscape Literary Latest Final Chapters published more than a decade ago and with New Books Harry Mark Petrakis she went to Chicago to receive the David Radavich PAGE 3 PAGE 9-11 PAGE 7 Turn to Page 2 Biblio File  Chicago L Continued from Page 1 Continued from Page 1 showed the six small cable car loops did Distinguished Play of the Year award not ring the central city the way the L from Alliance of American Theatre and later did. Education. This time we were chosen to When you look at “many, many” 1890s be one of the events in the Philadelphia , including three by Theodore Online: DG Footlights™, a project spon- Dreiser based on Charles Yerkes, who sored by Dramatists Guild of America. basically built the Loop, none of them We were especially pleased because ours refer to Chicago’s downtown as the Loop, was the first reading of a children’s story Reardon said. in this program and we drew the greatest “The interesting thing is The Jungle and attendance they’ve had. The link to the The Pit: A Story of Chicago are from the reading is free: https://bit.ly/2M0utQG. In first decade of the 1900s,” Reardon said. other news, I just had a 4,000-word arti- “So this is even after the elevated Loop cle accepted in Missouri Reading, the was built [but] these books are not men- online journal published by Missouri tioning it as the downtown. If they talk Literacy Association, about ways to cele- about downtown at all, they talk about it as brate National Poetry Month in April. downtown, often spelled as down-town.” Also, I granted reprint rights to an educa- Two other Midland Authors members, tional publisher in South Africa for Clarence Darrow and Edgar Lee “Mystery Lunch,” a poem from Mouse Masters, were in Chicago in the 1890s, was Out at Recess, Reardon said. In their memoirs, they talk published in 2003 by about walking in the downtown area in Boyds Mills Press. ... the 1890s that was “later” called the Loop, but could you draw the edges of The long list of books Loop, Reardon said. The two-mile-long the subway? You can’t visualize it the for the 2021 loop was built in 1897. way you can with the Loop.” PEN/Faulkner Award “The L was not only a “looming pres- Moreover, the Loop minimized the phe- for Fiction announced ence on the streetscape,” but it also nomenon of “wandering downtowns” that on Feb. 2 included anchored the downtown, Reardon said. occurred in other cities,” he said. Scattered Lights by Steve Wiegenstein In some cities, new construction on the Steve Wiegenstein If there is a [subway] edge of a downtown might attract more (See Literary License, October, 2020). ... train going by ... you activity at the expense of an older area on W. Nikola-Lisa’s 2000 book Hallelujah! the opposite side of the downtown. Over A Christmas Celebration was included on “ don’t see it and you time, the recognized center of the city can Dec. 2 in PBS SoCal’s “Beyond shift or “wander.” Christmas: A December Holiday Book don’t feel it. That happened in Chicago in its early List for Little Ones.” ... Robert Starks The city’s subways don’t have the same days when the downtown shifted from was quoted on Feb. 5 in the Chicago effect, he said. ” South Water Street to and Crusader in an obit “If there is a train going by, there may then to . about hotel pioneer be a whoosh in the grate, but you don’t But once the circle of elevated tracks Herman Roberts. ... see it and you don’t feel it,” he said. “A was constructed, that rooted Chicago’s Vicki Quade’s “Late lot of us have taken the subway to the downtown, Reardon said. Nite Catechism” was nominated for the Chicago Reader’s best www.midlandauthors.com of 2020. ... Mary Follow the Society on Wisniewski wrote the Robert Starks Twitter@midlandauthors op-ed “The case against dibs – a lousy ‘tradition’ ” for the C 2021, Society Society of Midland Authors members can Feb 4. Chicago Tribune. ... On Feb. 9, of Midland Authors now pay their membership dues, buy tickets Rebecca Johns tweeted to say, P.O. Box 10419, Chicago IL 60610 to the annual dinner and make donations on “I’m wanting to start on the next novel our website with PayPal (there is a $1 fee to Editor: Thomas Frisbie already, please talk me out of it.” ... help cover PayPal’s fee). To make a dona- [email protected] Previously out of print, Megan tion, visit our home page at www.midlan- dauthors.com and click on the "Donate" Stielstra’s newly re-edited Everyone button in the upper right corner. Turn to Page 3

2 LITERARY LICENSE, MARCH 2021 ‘I have seen resurgence Biblio File Continued from Page 2 of interest in poetry’ Remain Calm and Once I Was Cool will avid Radavich will moderate the be published by March 9 Midland Authors panel March 9, 2021, program Press in August, with new covers. ... Don poetry. The panelists will be Presentation: 7 p.m. - 8 p.m. Midland Authors award winner Samira Angela Jackson, Grace Bauer and Lisa (Central Time). Followed by time Ahmed tweets to say: “Authors, what’s Fay Coutley. Here is what Radavich tells to socialize: 8 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. your favorite revision tool. Like do you Literary License about trends in poetry: make a spreadsheet (but whyyyy) for Join the meeting via Zoom: edits? Use note Literary License: Do you see a resur- https://bit.ly/3qvYTcK cards, perhaps? gence of interest in poetry, especially Details on Page 9 Or do you use a among young people? bizarre “sys- tem” of post-its, David Radavich: With the advent of ancient times, modern poetry are different color poetry slams and a huge range of poetry often accompanied by choric effects or pens, and punc- readings in all sorts of venues, I have seen musical instruments. tuation without a resurgence of interest in poetry in recent a legend so later decades. During the Iraq War years, Literary License: Has the technologi- it makes no beginning around 2003 or 2004, a real cal ability to publish books without insti- sense? And fluorescence of war poetry occurred tutional or commercial support connected maybe there's worldwide, thanks in readers of poetry in a crying?” ... huge part to the rise of new way? Christine the Internet. That peri- Literary Sneed tweets to say, “Starting April 12, od resulted in the Landscape David Radavich: I'll be teaching a four-week online #fic- greatest outpouring of options like tion #workshop for @CatamaranLit (a war poetry since World self-publication and perennially beautiful literature and arts War I. David distribution through magazine based in Santa Cruz) with an Radavich Amazon and other ven- especial focus on crafting strong charac- Literary License: dors has democratized ters.” ... Patricia Skalka was the Novel Has the way that audi- writing of all kinds. Bay Booksellers’ 2020 best seller. ... ences access poetry changed as readings That has obviously led to wide disparities Bonnie Jo Campbell has this to say – live or transmitted electronically – join in quality, but it has also broadened poet- about Patricia Ann print? Has that shaped the poetry that is ry beyond the academic centers, where lit- McNair’s new book, being created today? erary activity was heavily concentrated in Responsible Adults the late 20th century. (Cornerstone Press, David Radavich: Poetry as a genre is December 2020): ideally suited to the Internet. Literary License: Who are the poets “Responsible Adults is Lyric poetry, at least, is highly portable you read or listen to? devastating, in the best and rather easy to read (if not to absorb) possible way. McNair online. Longer poetic forms like verse David Radavich: I must admit, I am a guides us through Patricia Skalka satires and epics may have suffered some- lover of the classics – Torquato Tasso, domestic worlds where what, but overall, more people seem to be Rainer Maria Rilke, Czeslaw Milosz – but we might fear to tread alone, revealing sharing poems over electronic media than I am just now reading Patricia Hooper’s truths and exposing worlds peopled with ever. The enormous rise in the popularity marvelous Wild Persistence (2019), and at want, kitchens with empty refrigerators of live readings has resulted in greater least a dozen of this year’s entries into the and strange men. Children eat grape jelly interest in the speaking and hearing of SMA poetry book contest exhibit abun- with a spoon and long for ordinary lives poems, their aural qualities. And as in dant talent and creativity. as they negotiate adult problems as best they can. Readers are wiser and more compassionate for knowing these sto- ries.” ... Patricia Hruby Powell reviewed Literary Largess for programs such as the monthly pro- King and the Dragonflies for the Feb. 21 grams and the awards at the annual May Champaign-Urbana (Illinois) News- Dues cover mailings and other organi- book awards banquet. Gazette. ... Rick Perlstein was inter- zational expenses, but the Midland Thanks to Christine Rice, who made a Authors always needs additional money recent contribution. Turn to Page 4

LITERARY LICENSE, MARCH 2021 3 Biblio File Continued from Page 3 viewed about Rush Limbaugh for the Feb. 17 Washington Post. ... Patrick Hicks is among the upcoming writers in the Sierra Nevada University’s Writers in the Woods. ... On Jan. 25, WBEZ- Chicago said Rita Woods’ Remembrance is “an ambitious, absorbing novel.” ... Scott Turow was interviewed in early February on KUOW. ... Aljazeera.com quot- ed former Midland Authors President Robert Loerzel on Feb. 18. ... Ruth Goring’s book Isaiah and the Worry Pack is due out in November Ruth Goring from InterVarsity Columnist Burt Constable interviewed Margery Frisbie about a lost book she Press’ new imprint IVP Kids. It is about a wrote some 40 years ago, Every Third House. boy whose mother helps him create a spiritual practice to set aside his worries. ... The Lost Tribes: Trials (Move Books), Columnist writes about by Christine Taylor-Butler is due out in July. ... Patrick Reardon wrote “Nothing new about America’s cancel culture” for the finding of lost book the Jan 27 Chicago Sun-Times. ... Former Midland Authors Three or four decades ago, Margery Frisbie wrote a book Every Third House President Craig that never got published. Recently it came up in conversation and she expressed a Sautter was quoted in desire to read it, but at 97 her eyesight has made that difficult. Matt Binns, who The DePaulia on Jan posts “Poems in a Time of Plague” (See Literary License, June/July 2020) 14. ... Rebecca Sive recorded Every Third House in chapters via YouTube. You can listen to it at wrote “Karen Lewis https://bit.ly/2LY6r8O. reminded us Chicago’s Binns says, “I would advise you to treat it like an and turn off the institutions need video to save you from my ugly mug.” (Suburban Chicago) Daily Herald columnist Burt Constable got wind of the rebuilding for resi- Robert Pruter dents who rely on project and wrote about it on Jan. 12, and newspapers across the country picked it them” for the Feb. 10 Chicago Sun- up. Frisbie told Constable, “It’s been under a pile of books for 40 years. It really Times. ... Robert Pruter was interviewed is very funny to have something lost turn up.” The title refers to a conversation on WGN Radio in November about “the the main character has with a school counselor, who says, “When you walk down emergence of Chicago soul music out of the street, there is some sort of mental illness in every third house.” the city’s thriving rhythm-and-blues industry from the late 1950s through the late 1970s.” ... Andrea Beaty’s Aaron Patrick McBriarty was quoted on Democracy’s Rebirth: The View from Slater Illustrator is due out Nov. 2 from WTTW News. ... The annual corruption Chicago is in press at the University of Abrams Books report by Midland Authors President Dick Illinois Press to be published by the for Young Simpson, Thomas J. Gradel and Marco spring of 2022. The mayors book is Readers. ... Rosaire Rossi, released on Feb. 22, said expected to publish in 2023. ... Chicago’s Anne Calcagno Chicago remains America’s most corrupt WGN-TV profiled Timuel Black on Feb. was quoted in city, and Illinois the third-most corrupt 15. ... Chris Fink is the fiction judge the Feb. 11 state. Dick is also working on a book with for the 2021 Wisconsin People & Ideas Rolling Stone. ... different authors on different chapters awards. On Dec. 10, called Modern Mayors of Chicago. It cov- Midland Authors ers the mayors from Harold Washington Follow Biblio File on Twitter Board Member to Lori Lightfoot. Also, Dick’s book @BiblioFile_SMA.

4 LITERARY LICENSE, MARCH 2021 LITERARY LICENSE, MARCH 2021 5 Selected Poems

6 LITERARY LICENSE, MARCH 2021 Final chapters Studies at San Francisco State University. He was awarded honorary degrees from Harry Mark Petrakis, 1923-2021 the American College of Greece, the University of Illinois, Roosevelt BY THOMAS FRISBIE University, Hellenic College, Governors n 2000, Harry Mark Petrakis was State University and Indiana University the speaker at the annual Midland Northwest. IAuthors dinner, at the invitation of “Harry was among the most exuberant then-Midland Authors President Richard writers to walk the streets of Chicago,” Lindberg. said Henry Kisor, a retired book editor of “He did not disappoint,” Lindberg the Chicago Sun-Times and author of 10 wrote later. “Harry recounts the mundane books. “He belongs right up there with incidents of childhood in such a way that , , Gwendolyn elevates his listening audience to high Brooks, , levels of anticipation, converging with and others who showed how ordinary inevitable tears and laughter.” Chicagoans could be extraordinary Mr. Petrakis, a Midland Authors mem- Americans. He really should have been ber for decades and author of 24 books better known, although he was hardly a and numerous short stories, died on Feb. neglected author.” Diana and Harry Mark Petrakis 2 at his longtime home near Chesterton, “I view Harry Mark Petrakis as one of Indiana, of what relatives said was old described as “a series of dingy, desolate, the greatest Chicago writers throughout age. He was 97. city apartments which seemed to me built our history,” said Midland Authors “Harry Mark Petrakis was a fantastic to prevent any light or warmth from President Dick Simpson. “He gave a storyteller,” said former Midland Authors entering the cold, shadowed rooms.” unique voice to the Greek community and President Craig Sautter. “Whether in At age 11, he missed two years of to the entire human community.” person or on the page, he kept his audi- school with tuberculosis and couldn’t In his later years, Mr. Petrakis turned to ence mesmerized with vivid details and even go out to play. He filled his time lovable and realistic characters. My reading hundreds of books. He later said He kept his audience favorite book of his was a later one, the authors of those classics gave him a mesmerized with vivid Twilight of the Ice, that memorialized a joy of reading and a “compass for his “ profession I didn't even know existed. His life” that made him a writer. details and lovable and characters worked like acrobatics carrying His first novel, Lion at My Heart, was big blocks of ice across the tops of rail- published in 1959 after Mr. Petrakis had realistic characters. road cars in all sorts of weather, dropping scraped by financially for years. When the writing occasional essays about his recol- them into the interior compartments to first copy arrived at his home, the Petrakis lections for the Sun-Times’ opinion” section, chill perishables like meat, before the day family marched through the house, as Mr. many of them set in the 1930s and 1940s. of refrigeration. He captured and recreat- Petrakis’ older sons, then children, banged Among his topics were a woman with a ed so many lost worlds for his readers. metal pots and Mr. Petrakis held the book disfigured face who finally found her true And, he was a generous, humorous, noble above his head. His best-known book, the love; young men waiting to see when they man and a wonderful writer who Chicago best-selling 1966 novel A Dream of would be called to war; a passionate race- will greatly miss.” Kings, was made into a 1969 movie star- track bettor; a story-telling high-school Mr. Petrakis sold his first story, ring Anthony Quinn. ROTC commander; his thoughts of sui- “Pericles on 31st Street,” in 1956 to the cide when he mistakenly believed he had Atlantic magazine, launching a long r. Petrakis continued to polish ALS; his youthful gambling addition, and career that made him one of Chicago’s his craft over his lifetime, work- his various early jobs. His final Sun- best-known authors. Ming, as he said in a 2009 Times essay appeared in October. He “was a major figure, certainly in Chicago Sun-Times interview, “to hone In one essay, Mr. Petrakis recalled live- 20th century Chicago literature,” said and shape [his writing] and fashion it so ly family discussions in a cramped Midland Authors member . that it strikes harmoniously on the ear.” Depression-era apartment over meals of “He was part of a movement that was He won the annual short story O. Henry rice pilaf, a slice of bread and a glass of national at the time, with Chicago in the Award and the Chicago Public ’s milk. “Only when I, the last of the 10 who forefront, in which America claimed its Carl Sandburg Award. He twice was a sat at that table still alive, only after death identity through its ethnic writers.” finalist for the National Book Award in finally claims me, will those buoyant and Mr. Petrakis, the son of a Greek Fiction. He taught as a visiting lecturer contentious voices fall silent, settling to Orthodox priest, was born in 1923 in St. and as a writer-in-residence in various rest beside me for eternity,” he wrote. Louis and grew up on Chicago’s South universities, and held the Nikos A version of this obituary appeared in Side with five siblings in what he Kazantzakis Chair in Modern Greek the Feb. 4 Chicago Sun-Times.

LITERARY LICENSE, MARCH 2021 7 Note from the SMA Board of Directors: Members of the Society of 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 meeting. 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].

8 LITERARY LICENSE, MARCH 2021 Literary Latest

to work with one of the leading presiden- attention. So my Marie Kent is a reflec- tial candidates, but as campaign offices tion of her values. I’m glad I created that get bombed, white supremacists emerge, character as friends of mine who follow the race is shaken up and it becomes the role and power of women in politics unclear just how involved the current were intrigued to see how she would fare president may be involved, or others. It’s in my book. And of course the young and promising candidate, JoJo Campanella, is modeled to a great degree on Pete Buttigieg, a rising and charismatic presiden- tial star taking the ELEGIAC WORK campaign world by Paul Lisnek storm. Grace Bauer’s latest book is Unholy “The characters reflected reality by Heart (University of Nebraska Press, design, the plot reflects reality by fate I March 1, 2021). suppose. How this story comes out may From the publisher: “Unholy Heart or may not reflect what happened in the includes generous selections from each of real world. My hope and invitation is that Grace Bauer’s previ- my fellow authors will check out the ous books of poetry, a work of fiction that takes on an amaz- book and find out!!” plus a sampling of ing reflection of the environment we have new poems. Bauer has just lived thru in the 2020 election.” long been known for Lisnek tells Literary License: “My first the wide range of both book, Assume Guilt, took a look at the her subject matter and corruption in the Illinois political world, poetic styles, from the something I’ve studied and reported on Grace Bauer biblical persona poems for quite some time. When the publisher of The Women at the asked for a second book in the series, we Well, to the explorations of visual art in were about to get underway into what I Beholding Eye, to the intersections of knew would be a contentious presidential personal history and pop culture in election cycle. I couldn’t have predicted Retreats and Recognitions and Nowhere just how crazy things would become and All At Once, and to the postmodern frag- the sense to which my new book, Assume mentations in MEAN/TIME. Along with Treason, tends to reflect our reality is a these selections, Bauer incorporates her sign of the times, not a reflection of any CASE STUDY most elegiac work yet.” insightful planning on my part. “I wanted the characters to mimic the Here’s what Yvonne Zipter tells REFLECTING OUR REALITY kinds of personalities we were seeing on Literary License about her new book, the campaign trial. Crafting the current Infraction (Rattling Good Yarns Press, Assume Treason (Written Dreams president who I call Mike Toomey (yes, June 1, 2021). Publishing, Jan. 5, 2021) is the latest he is a well-known and popular announc- “During my early years working as a work of fiction by Paul Lisnek. er at WGN-TV who was more than happy manuscript editor at the University of From the publisher: “It puts the charac- to lend his name) is indeed Trump-like in Chicago Press, I edited articles for vari- ters introduced in his first novel, Assume his record. ous journals published by the press. One Guilt, into the presidential election set- “And at the time I started to write, ting. Jury consultant Matt Barlow is hired Elizabeth Warren was capturing a lot of Turn to Page 10

LITERARY LICENSE, MARCH 2021 9 Literary Latest Inspired by a real life account, Infraction not the only ones who think so. Soon, all takes place at a time when women who sorts of animals make their way in, Continued from Page 9 yearn for more find that freedom comes munching on carrots and knocking over at a cost. pots. When Leo and Maxine can’t agree of those journals, Signs: Journal of on a way to deter these unwelcome crit- Women in Culture and Society, published ters, it looks like there’s more on the line archival material as part of their issues. In than saving their garden – they just might 1990, one of the archival features I edited need to save their friendship, too. was Laura Engelstein’s “Lesbian Vignettes: A Russian Triptych from the 1890s” (vol. 15, no. 4 [1990]: 813–31), in which Engelstein pre- sented three case his- tories of lesbians recorded by a Russian Yvonne Zipter gynecologist in the lat- FRIENDSHIP, PERSISTENCE, KINDNESS ter half of the nineteenth-century. One of the case histories particularly captivated Maxine and the Greatest Garden Ever me, and after spending time getting (Dial Books, Feb. 16, 2021) is the follow- myself up to speed on Russian culture up to Made by Maxine, which came out and history at that time, I set about in 2018. The original book was sold at COMPILATION OF EIGHT ESSAYS expanding that 12-page case history into auction in a three-book deal; this is the the novel Infraction. second book in the series. The series fea- Geraldine K. Pirokowski tells us this “Marya Zhukova is a woman of many tures Maxine, a girl who likes to tinker, about her new book, Beyond Pipe passions. Her husband isn’t one of them. hack and code with a goal of making Dreams, and Platitudes: Insights on It’s mathematics and literature that capti- things better. Love, Luck, and Narcissism from a vate her, in part, but her lover, Vera, Author Ruth Spiro tells Literary Longtime Psychologist (Outskirts Press): enthralls her most of all. These are, how- License: “My idea for Maxine and the “My book was pub- ever, all dangerous obsessions in the Greatest Garden Ever came from a chal- lished in October, socially turbulent St. Petersburg of 1875. lenge I experienced in my own garden. 2020 with a 2021 “Marya is the fiery center to a small Like many gardeners, copyright. This is my solar system of characters, each of whom I’ve had my share of third published book; depends on her to light their own lives. frustration when crit- the other two were: There is her aunt Lidia, a spinster who, ters nibbled on the Two Close for Comfort dying of consumption, exacts from her fruits of my beloved Exploring the Risks of niece a promise to marry. There is tomato plants. Nothing Geraldine K. Intimacy (1994) and Piorkowski Grigorii, Marya’s one-time math teacher, seemed to deter them, Adult Children of who longs for his former pupil to achieve until a master gardener Divorce: Confused Love Seekers. the scholarly glory he cannot. There is “Beyond Pipe Dreams, and Platitudes Ruth Spiro gave me some surpris- Vera, a young tutor surprised to find she’s ing advice. She said is a compilation of eight essays that I fallen in love with a woman. There is the animals were taking bites of my wrote upon retirement to answer my own Sergei, an earnest librarian captivated by tomatoes because they were thirsty – they question: What have I learned working Marya and willing to do whatever it takes only wanted to drink the liquid inside. So, with people for over 50 years? to be near her, even if that means a pla- I set out a pan of water for them near the “While I discovered that all people are tonic marriage. But when Sergei is con- vegetable plants. And it worked! fundamentally the same in terms of sumed with desire for Marya, his anguish “Without revealing too much more needs, hopes, dreams, fears and defenses, over the promise he made sets in motion about the story, Maxine and the Greatest there were several counterintuitive and a deadly chain of events. Garden Ever is about friendship, persist- counter-cultural ideas that emerged from “Finally, there is St. Petersburg itself, ence and being kind to one another. There my clinical work that prompted the writ- adding a richness to these characters as are often multiple solutions to a problem, ing of the book. Among my ideas that run they walk and muse along the city’s and sometimes a problem isn’t really a counter to popular culture is the observa- canals or bounce along the rutted streets problem at all, but an opportunity to grow. tion that positive thinking does more behind a hardy droshky driver on their “After sketching and plotting and plant- harm than good at times, especially when way to dine at Privato or Leiner’s Deli or ing, Maxine and Leo know they’ve made it bypasses the normal processing of neg- to watch ballet at the Marinsky Theater. The Greatest Garden Ever! But they’re Turn to Page 11

10 LITERARY LICENSE, MARCH 2021 Literary Latest inspire young readers to stand up for what they believe in, to believe in them- Continued from Page 10 selves, and to fight for justice. “It is perfect for teens finding them- ative events and emotions. Another cul- selves – and tentatively writing poetry – tural misdirection is the overemphasis on during the era of Me Too and Black Lives romantic love as the be-all and end-all of Matter. existence, where unrealistic expectations lead to love’s downfall. Other essays pro- vide an innovative twist to topics such as anger, vulnerability, control of others, luck or chance, healthy vs. unhealthy nar- cissism, empathy, and healthy religion. “The book has received some wonder- ful reviews, the most recent of which is he’ll need all of his mental and physical by Dr. Kimberly Merenkov, selected by skills when the heavy doors of Cook Chicago Magazine in January, 2021 as County Jail slam shut on his father, a one of the top psychiatrists in Chicago. community activist; when his English She wrote: ‘I highly recommend this to teacher catches Cole tagging the school anyone searching for insights about them- with the F word and sentences him to selves, others, finding meaning, and deal- write two poems a week, each on a word ing with our limitations. This book is pithy that starts with F; SWEEPING ACCOUNT – it gets to the point about many issues when his best friend that the general public may wonder about. Felipe Ramirez runs New York, New York, New York: It is refreshing, direct, and honest about for class president Four Decades of Success, Excess, and our potential strengths and struggles in against the girl who Transformation (Simon & Schuster, life, touching upon some of the dilemmas dumped Cole; and March 16, 2021) is Thomas Dyja’s latest in our current culture. It has one of the when the school bully book. best explanations for empathy I have ever prowls the halls look- From the publisher: “New York, New read – beautifully, simply defined.’ ” ing for Cole and the York, New York, Thomas Dyja’s sweeping Barbara principal seems more Gregorich account of this metamorphosis, shows it POWERFUL AND DIVERSE interested in punishing wasn’t the work of a single policy, mas- Cole than the bully. As much as Cole termind, or economic theory, nor was it a Barbara Gregorich’s new book is The wants to win meets, what he wants even morality tale of gentrification or crime. F Words (City of Light Publishing, Sept. 1), more is justice – for his father, for him- Instead, three New Yorks evolved in turn. From the publisher: “Sophomore Cole self, for Felipe, and for his fellow stu- “A lively, immersive history by an Renner knows teamwork inside and out dents. Cole learns that actions matter, but award-winning urbanist of New York from running cross-country at his multi- so do words. City’s transformation, and the lessons it ethnic Chicago public school. He knows “He takes his write words (in both offers for the city’s future.” about braving the elements and not get- Spanish and English) and turns them into Kirkus Reviews wrote: “Morally and ting passed in the chute. the right words to fight for justice. politically charged, an urgent, readable “What Cole doesn’t know is how much “This powerful and diverse book will story of Gotham’s fortunes.”

New Members Excess, and Transformation (See above), He is co-author with Rudy Crew of will be published by Simon & Schuster in Only Connect: The Way to Save Our Thomas Dyja has written three novels, March. Schools. He also has a biography of civil rights pioneer Walter Dyja was born and raised on Chicago's edited four antholo- White and The Third Coast: When Northwest Side. A graduate of Columbia gies. Chicago Built the American Dream University, he worked as a bookseller, on He was nominated (Penguin Press, 2013), a New York Times the agency side at ICM and then at by Dominic Pacyga. Notable book, One Book One Chicago Bantam Books. From there, he became a selection, and winner of the 2013 partner in the book packaging company Eileen Favorite is Heartland Prize for Non-fiction. Balliett & Fitzgerald. the author of The His next book, New York, New York, His novels are Play for a Kingdom; The Eileen Favorite Heroines (Scribner, New York: Four Decades of Success, Moon in Our Hands, and Meet John Trow. Turn to Page 12

LITERARY LICENSE, MARCH 2021 11 New Members named a Notable Essay in the Best Collins, 2020); Questions I Want to Ask American Essays 2020, and it won First You; (HarperCollins, 2018); Pushing Continued from Page 11 Place in the 2019 Midwest Review’s Perfect (HarperCollins, 2016), and 2008), her first novel, which has been Great Midwest Writing Contest. The Playlist for the Dead (HarperCollins 2015). translated into six languages. Her essays, Rocky Mountain News called The Playlist for the Dead was named an stories and poems have appeared in The Heroines one of the best debut novels of NPR Great Read of 2015. Chicago Tribune, The Rumpus, 2008, and the audio version was nominat- Of Packing for the Triquarterly, The Toast, Chicago Reader, ed for best audio recording of 2008 by End of the World, Diagram and others, and her essays and . Booklist said: “One of poems have aired on Chicago Public She was nominated by Christine those rare books you Radio. She teaches writing and literature Sneed. can’t put down. Teens at the School of the Art Institute of looking for a charac- Chicago, where she received her MFA, Michelle Falkoff is a lawyer, fiction ter-driven novel with a and at the Graham School of Continuing writer teacher and director of the touch of mystery can’t Communication and Legal Reasoning do better than this.” Liberal and Professional Studies. Michelle Falkoff She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize program at Northwestern Pritzker School She is a graduate of for her short story “Gangway: The Space of Law. the University of Iowa Writers’ Between Two Houses.” She is the author of the novels How To Workshop. Her essay “On Aerial Views” was Pack for the End of the World (- She was nominated by Kate Hannigan.

12 LITERARY LICENSE, MARCH 2021

Address Service Requested Service Address

Chicago IL 60610 IL Chicago

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