

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By: Conor Murray For the better part of a decade, the guitar was eulogized. Streaming algorithms favored trap hi-hats over power chords, and the conventional wisdom held that rock music had aged out of cultural relevance. That consensus is now being dismantled, one distorted riff at a time. Walk into

By: Connor Clarke There is a moment most people never see. It is not the diagnosis. Not the accident. Not even the first time someone sits in a wheelchair and realizes life just shifted permanently. The real moment comes later. Quiet. Uncelebrated. Usually at night. For Eugen Ehrenberg, that moment

In the last twenty years, there has been a growth in the production of films that are produced outside Los Angeles and New York; states such as Georgia and Illinois are creating a positive environment for an overall industry ecosystem. These states’ tax incentives, existing production facilities, and skilled crew

Soldier Field opens its 2026 concert season this weekend with one of the most anticipated tour stops in the city’s spring calendar. Bruno Mars brings The Romantic Tour to the lakefront stadium for two nights, Saturday May 16 and Sunday May 17, with both shows scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and

By: MR Dowling Some novels politely ask for your attention. The Great Dick: And the Dysfunctional Demon kicks open the door smelling like whiskey, grave dirt, bad decisions, and 3 a.m. regret. Barry Maher’s fiction debut is chaotic, vulgar, weirdly intelligent, occasionally unhinged, and far more emotionally aware than it

Chicago’s claim as the birthplace of the modern poetry slam now has a permanent home in one of the city’s most important research institutions. Marc Kelly Smith, the founder of the Uptown Poetry Slam, has formally donated his personal archive of the influential performance poetry event to the Newberry Library,

By: Robert Klein Marsha doesn’t ease into the conversation about faith. She starts at the fracture. Losing her mother didn’t just leave grief behind; it left questions that wouldn’t quiet down. The kind that replays in your head late at night, twisting into something heavier each time. For her, it

By: Sofia Navarro There’s a version of faith that looks steady from the outside. Disciplined. Certain. Consistent. Then there’s the version most people actually live. Uneven, quiet, sometimes absent for long stretches, then suddenly urgent when life tightens its grip. Ginger doesn’t write from the polished version. She writes from

CHICAGO, April 29, 2026 — The Billy Donovan era in Chicago is over. After six seasons, one playoff appearance, and a final year that saw the Bulls gut their roster at the trade deadline, trade away foundational veterans, and finish 31-51, the Hall of Fame head coach informed ownership he

There is no city in America with a stronger claim to May Day than Chicago. The holiday did not originate in a foreign capital or in the pages of a political manifesto. It was born here, on the streets of this city, in May 1886, when tens of thousands of

Bassist, stage performer, and music educator A M M Newaj Sharif, professionally known as Bassman Newaj, is gaining recognition in the United States following a distinguished career in Bangladesh and abroad. Born on January 7, 1994, Sharif has built a reputation as a versatile and accomplished bass guitarist. Known for

The 42nd Chicago Latino Film Festival concludes its 2026 edition on Monday, April 27, capping a 12-day program that brought 51 feature films and 31 shorts from across Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain, Portugal, and the United States to Chicago audiences. Presented by the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago

By: Sarah Wallace Seth Panitch has spent decades telling stories in many forms, from Shakespearean performance and directing to filmmaking and playwriting. After receiving his MFA from the University of Washington’s Professional Actors Training Program, he built a wide-ranging career at Shakespeare festivals across the country, including Colorado, Utah, Texas,

The city of Chicago is currently serving as the official Global Host City for the 15th anniversary of International Jazz Day. This April, the city has transformed into a focal point for the global music community, marking a dual milestone as the world celebrates both the anniversary of this UNESCO

By Adrian Cole In Twinkle of Doubt: A Celestial Bodies Romance, Patricia Leavy takes readers somewhere romance stories do not always linger long enough. Into the fragile territory of doubt. Not dramatic betrayal. Not heartbreak. Something quieter and more familiar. The small, persistent voice that wonders whether we are truly

Where Every Story Begins: Mornings in Silence, Unwritten Pages Wendy Roberts is already at her desk before the whole world has woken up. The sunlight in Vancouver is diffuse at first, welcoming rather than dictatorial. It has coffee to be had, a blank page on the screen, and the inaudible

By Julian Mercer Friendships often begin with excitement. New energy. New possibilities. A feeling that life has suddenly become bigger. But sometimes the same relationship that sparks reinvention slowly turns into something darker. That tension drives A Dangerous Friendship, a psychological novel that blends dark humor, nightlife chaos, and emotional

Chicago’s annual contemporary art fair opens at Navy Pier this Thursday, but the programming has already moved into the neighborhoods — and tonight, the South Side takes center stage. EXPO CHICAGO, the city’s largest annual gathering of contemporary and modern art, returns to Navy Pier’s Festival Hall for its 13th

By: Sarah Gartner Guinness World Records’ oldest working female comedian, D’yan Forest, is bringing her one-woman show, “D’yan Forest: A Gefilte Fish Out of Water,” to Chicago in partnership with the Chicago Jewish Alliance. The show will take place at the Skokie Theatre on June 18th, with doors opening at

Chicago does not need a departure gate to deliver a memorable summer. The city’s neighborhoods, waterfront, food scene, and cultural institutions offer enough to fill weeks of discovery without a checked bag or a boarding pass. For residents who want to slow down, spend intentionally, and actually experience the city