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Keya Trammell Wins $10,000 Grand Prize at 2026 Chicago Made Music Showcase
October 29, 2026
Multidisciplinary artist Keya Trammell won the $10,000 grand prize at the 2026 Chicago Made Music Showcase, held October 24 at the Chicago Cultural Center. The city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events also awarded cash prizes and 2027 performance slots at Lollapalooza and Taste of Chicago to other finalists
Javier Guzman’s Riptide Tells a Story of Failure, Faith, Family and Redemption
October 27, 2026
By Janice O’Brien The public story of Javier Guzman once appeared to have a clear ending. A decorated Tampa narcotics detective who had worked undercover with the DEA was arrested, labeled a dirty cop, convicted, and sent to prison. In Riptide: Cartels, Cocaine, and an Undercover Cop’s Fall from Grace,
How Billy Planer Turned Cross-Country Teen Journeys Into Lessons for Conversations That Matter
October 27, 2026
By: Brenda Myles Long before Billy Planer began writing Conversations That Matter, he was putting its central idea into practice on buses, in meeting rooms, at historic sites, and across communities throughout the United States. His work has taken more than 35,000 people on educational journeys built around listening, identity,
How Far Would You Go to Protect the Ones You Love and What If the Cost Is a Lifetime of Secrets: K.S. Lynn Finally Wrote the Novel That Answers That Question Honestly
October 24, 2026
By: Christopher Miller The question that K.S. Lynn has placed at the beginning of A Thousand More, how far would you go to protect the ones you love, and what if the cost is a lifetime of secrets, is one that the novel takes seriously enough to follow all the
How Far Would You Go to Protect the Ones You Love and What If the Cost Is a Lifetime of Secrets: K.S. Lynn Finally Wrote the Novel That Answers That Question Honestly
October 24, 2026
By: Christopher Miller The question that K.S. Lynn has placed at the beginning of A Thousand More, how far would you go to protect the ones you love, and what if the cost is a lifetime of secrets, is one that the novel takes seriously enough to follow all the
Why the Chicago River Turns Green: How Plumbers Local 130 Has Dyed It for St. Patrick’s Day Since 1962
October 23, 2026
The Chicago River turns green each March because Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local 130 dyes it for St. Patrick’s Day, a tradition the union has carried out nearly every year since 1962. Crews on boats release an orange powder that turns bright green on contact with the water, on the Saturday
National Museum of Mexican Art Celebrates 40 Years of Day of the Dead in Chicago With Xicágo Celebration in Pilsen October 24
October 21, 2026
Day of the Dead in Chicago centers this week on Pilsen, where the National Museum of Mexican Art is marking its 40th annual Día de Muertos exhibition with “Where Memory Lives,” on view through November 29. Its free outdoor celebration, Día de los Muertos Xicágo, takes over Harrison Park on
From Carolina Pines to Chicago Nights, Pam Ross Gets “Lost in Heaven”
October 16, 2026
By: Tessa Morgan Chicago knows how quickly romance can change with the weather. A warm evening can turn cold when the wind moves off Lake Michigan, and a crowded neighborhood can become strangely private after midnight. That tension between exposure and concealment gives Pam Ross’s “Lost in Heaven” an unexpected
How To Attend Open House Chicago 2026: Themed Itineraries, Priority Passes And The New Built On Belief Route
October 16, 2026
Open House Chicago 2026 runs Saturday, October 17, and Sunday, October 18, offering free access to more than 200 sites across 30 neighborhoods with no registration required. Because each site sets its own hours and some open only one day, the Chicago Architecture Center’s themed itineraries are the practical starting
How Carol Mitchell’s A Good Haunting Reimagines Caribbean Myth for a Changing World
October 13, 2026
By Seth Adams In Carol Mitchell’s A Good Haunting: Stories, myth is not decorative background. It is a living structure, one that can preserve history, explain danger, reinforce values and, at times, carry ideas that deserve to be challenged. Across nine speculative stories, Mitchell draws on Caribbean and African traditions
Alison Storry Reflects on Fifty Years of Grief After Her Father’s Murder in Fatherless
October 10, 2026
By: Jax Smith There is a specific quality of courage in memoir writing that has nothing to do with the willingness to share difficult information and everything to do with the willingness to examine that information without the organizational logic that makes it manageable. Most memoir writers impose a narrative
N.E. Carlisle Explores Books, Memory and Legacy in a Cozy Mystery
October 10, 2026
By: Victoria Smith The best cozy mysteries have always understood something that the genre’s detractors miss when they dismiss it as lightweight entertainment: that the pleasures of warmth and community and the satisfaction of a well-solved puzzle are not trivial pleasures but genuine ones, and that a story which delivers
Chris Dobry Opens the Door to the Real Story Behind Rock and Roll
October 1, 2026
Rock and roll has always had two stories. There is the story audiences see: the lights, the stages, the screaming crowds, the recording studios, and the excitement of hearing a song climb the charts. Then there is the story nobody sees. It is the story of what happens when the
Cubs and White Sox Open Postseason on the Same Day for the First Time Since 2020
September 30, 2026
The Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox both begin best-of-three Wild Card Series on Tuesday, September 29, 2026. It is the first time since 2020 that both Chicago teams have made the postseason. Both teams open on the road: the White Sox in Houston against the Astros, and the Cubs
Alex Krawczyk’s Wonders Await Makes a Virtue of Believing Things Can Get Better
September 29, 2026
By: Graham McHenry Hope is easy enough to sing about. Making hope believable is harder. That distinction matters on Wonders Await, the 13-song sophomore album from Canadian singer-songwriter Alex Krawczyk. Its subjects- love, perseverance, mindfulness, kindness, human connection- could easily produce a record so determined to uplift that it floats
Hyde Park Jazz Festival Marks 20th Year by Dedicating the Willie Pickens Stage on the Midway
September 29, 2026
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival celebrated its 20th anniversary September 26–27, 2026, with more than 40 performers across 11 stages in Hyde Park, Kenwood and Washington Park. The free festival opened Saturday by dedicating the Willie Pickens Stage on the Midway Plaisance. It honored a pianist and educator who helped
Cathleen Ireland’s “Do You Care” Exposes the Power Behind Digital Silence
September 25, 2026
By: Will Ellis The breakup song has traditionally depended on confrontation. Someone leaves, someone demands an explanation, and the singer turns private confusion into public testimony. Cathleen Ireland’s “Do You Care” begins after confrontation has become impossible. The other person has blocked her, removed the shared evidence, and disappeared behind
What Happens When Men Learn to Say What They Feel? H.E.R. Makes a Case for Emotional Boldness
September 25, 2026
There is a familiar vocabulary available to men when they talk about love. A woman is attractive. She is beautiful. She is sexy. She is “the one.” He would do anything for her. Then the language often stops. Ask what fear feels like inside the relationship, what tenderness does to
Riot Fest 2026 Wraps 21st Year at Douglass Park With Iggy Pop, Tool, and Up to 50,000 Daily Attendees
September 22, 2026
Riot Fest completed its 21st edition on September 20 at Douglass Park in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood, delivering three days of punk, alternative, metal, and hip-hop across five stages with over 100 bands and an anticipated daily attendance of up to 50,000. Key Takeaways Riot Fest 2026 ran September 18–20
Chicago Celebrates Mexican Independence Day with Overnight Festivities Across Pilsen, Little Village, and Downtown
September 17, 2026
Chicago marked Mexican Independence Day with overnight celebrations across Pilsen, Little Village, and downtown on September 15 and 16, 2026, carrying on a tradition that positions the city alongside Mexico City itself as one of the largest venues for El Grito de Independencia outside of Mexico. The festivities, which extended
Writers Theatre’s “Leopoldstadt” Leads the 58th Annual Equity Jeff Awards With Five Wins as Chicago Theater Celebrates a Record Season
September 16, 2026
Writers Theatre’s Midwest premiere of Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt” took home five awards at the 58th Annual Equity Jeff Awards on Monday evening, September 14, 2026, leading a ceremony that recognized 41 winners across 37 categories and honored 30 producing companies for work staged during the 2025-2026 season. The ceremony at
Robert Ross Makes Old-Fashioned Devotion Sound Defiant on “For You Girl”
September 12, 2026
By Evan Hollister There is almost no emotional camouflage in Robert Ross’s “For You Girl.” No smirk hiding behind the chorus, no narrative reversal waiting in the bridge, no suggestion that the singer might eventually regain his composure. Ross encounters a woman, loses his bearings and spends the remainder of
Deep Roots in the Windy City, Shweta Harve’s “Have You Loved Like a Tree?” Finds Meaning in Chicago
September 10, 2026
By: Claire Donovan Chicago knows something about standing through difficult seasons. This is a city where summer arrives like a celebration, and winter tests everybody’s commitment. Trees that spend July forming green canopies over neighborhood streets can appear skeletal by January, battered by lakefront winds and buried beneath snow. Then
Brett Andrew Strange’s Across Latitudes Trilogy Brings Espionage Fiction Into the Modern World
September 9, 2026
By Matt Wallace Brett Andrew Strange has spent years looking at the world through two related lenses: the practical realities of intelligence work and the imaginative demands of fiction. A former U.S. intelligence officer, Strange is the author of the three novels that form theAcross Latitudes espionage series, as well
The Oprah Winfrey Show Reaches 40th Anniversary of Its National Premiere from Chicago
September 9, 2026
September 8, 2026, marks exactly 40 years since The Oprah Winfrey Show launched into national syndication from WLS-TV in Chicago. The milestone arrives weeks after Oprah Winfrey returned to the city for a Harpo Productions reunion at Navy Pier, and months after Amazon secured a multiyear licensing deal for the
Saving Ferris Butler: The Forgotten Comedy Pioneer Behind a Hollywood Mystery
September 7, 2026
There is a moment in every mystery when the past stops feeling safely buried. A name resurfaces. An old television listing appears. A forgotten sketch flickers back to life. A story that once sounded impossible suddenly feels possible enough to demand another look. What if Ferris Bueller, the charming rule-breaker
Michele Kwasniewski Worked on Independence Day and Big Brother and Then Wrote the YA Novel That Uses Everything She Learned About How Entertainment Really Works
September 5, 2026
By: Roxanne Jeffrey There is a difference between knowing how an industry works from the outside and knowing it from the inside, and that difference shows up in fiction in ways that are immediately legible to anyone who has been in the room. Michele Kwasniewski has been in the room,
From San Antonio to the Second City, Jeremy Parsons’ Life Speaks Chicago’s Language.
September 5, 2026
By: Daniel Whitaker Chicago has never needed Nashville’s permission to understand country music. Long before “Americana” became an industry category, this city understood what happened when rural songs collided with urban lives. Chicago’s country lineage stretches from the National Barn Dance and the transplanted Southern honky-tonks of Uptown to the