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Category: Biography
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Kalamazoo County Characters by Dianna Higgs Stampfler
This fascinating book, featuring profiles of 50 notable figures in the Kalamazoo area history, will be released by The History Press in January 2025.
Since its founding in the early 1800s, Kalamazoo has welcomed a variety of notable individuals who have shaped the community’s legacy in their own special way. From founding fathers to early innovators, groundbreakers to entrepreneurs, artists to authors and athletes to entertainers, author Dianna Higgs Stampfler celebrates 50 figures in her book Kalamazoo County Characters to be released from The History Press in January 2025 (ISBN: 9781467155922 | IMAGES: 53 | PAGES: 144 | DIMENSIONS: 6
x 9 (h)).
Dianna and her brother with Santa & Mrs. Claus, Darwin & Opal Brown. Individuals like Orville Gibson and Derek Jeter are nationally recognized, while others, such as Sue Hubbell or Donald Bonevich, may be less well known. Abraham Lincoln and Flora Temple briefly passed through town, and Mary Jackson and Gwen Frostic were among those who came here to attend college. Others, like Darwin and Opal Brown (aka Santa and Mrs. Claus) or Gene Rhodes (aka Gene the Pumpkin Man), were lifetime residents who have entertained families for generations.
Stampfler is shown here with her father, stepmom, and kids with the Eagles backstage at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids in 2018. Her father helped launch the band to stardom – as a DJ playing a song that became their first #1 hit. You can google Jim Higgs and Eagles for the full story. “Selecting the 50 individuals for Kalamazoo County Characters was a challenge as I had over 125 to choose from” notes Stampfler, who worked on the book with her father, Jim Higgs, a local genealogist, historian and notable Kalamazoo figure in his own right. The book is dedicated to her father, who passed away in May 2024 at the age of 79. “I was diligent in featuring people from different walks of life, with unique stories to share. Some I have personal connections to, as I spent a lot of time in Kalamazoo growing up in nearby Plainwell, but others I discovered through various other channels or by recommendation of fellow historians and authors.”
This 1987 photo shows Dianna as Miss Plainwell and Narada Michael Walden, who was the grand marshal of the Wine & Harvest Festival Parade in Kalamazoo.
Beginning in January, Stampfler will present Notable Figures in Kalamazoo Area History(Kalamazoo County Characters) at libraries, bookstores, museums, conferences and events. The official book launch will be on Thursday, January 30, 2025 at 6:30pm at the Kalamazoo Public Library downtown branch.
“I expect each presentation to be a little bit different, as I’ll be able to hand-pick the individuals to feature based on the venue,” Stampfler continued. “Plus, I am able to include some of those people who may not have made it in the book, but who also have compelling stories to share! Each profile in the book features just one photograph, and the presentations will also allow me to share more historical images and visual documents.”
Upcoming presentations include:
- Thursday, January 30 (6:30pm) @ Kalamazoo Public Library (Downtown Branch)
- Tuesday, February 4 (7pm) @ Ransom Public Library
- Tuesday, February 11 (6:30pm) @ Parchment Community Library
- Sunday, February 23 (2:00pm) @ Gilmore Car Museum, Hickory Corners, MI
Additional events will be posted on the Promote Michigan Speaker’s Bureau online. Information about booking presentations for this and other themes can also be found on the Speaker’s Bureau page.
Autographed copies of Kalamazoo County Characters are available for $24.99 (plus shipping/handling and tax) at PromoteMichigan.com. Shipping will take place by mid-January.
Dianna Higgs Stampfler About the Author
Dianna Higgs Stampfler has worked in Michigan’s tourism industry for nearly thirty years and is the founder of Promote Michigan, a public relations consulting company specializing in tourism and historical destinations of the Great Lakes region. Her articles have appeared in Michigan Blue Magazine, Lakeland Boating, Michigan Meetings + Events, West Michigan Carefree Travel, and Lake Michigan Circle Tour & Lighthouse Guide, among others.
She is the author of several best-selling books including Michigan’s Haunted Lighthouse, available through The History Press (March 2019), a fun and fascinating compendium of spirited stories about 13 historic lighthouses around the State of Michigan and Death & Lighthouses on the Great Lakes: A History of Murder and Misfortune.
Stampfler holds a bachelor’s degree in English with an emphasis in Community Journalism and Communications with an emphasis in radio broadcasting from Western Michigan University (WMU) in Kalamazoo. She is a member of the Historical Society of Michigan, West Michigan Tourist Association, Michigan Hemingway Society, Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association, and Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society among other historical organizations.
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The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters
“a compelling look at a dynamic trailblazer who broke into a field that was male dominated and leading the way for other women . . .”
“When Dana Walters found her husband ashen-faced and unconscious in their hotel bed, his bottle of sleeping pills emptied, she didn’t call an ambulance,” writes author Susan Page in The Rulebreaker, her biography of Barbara Walters. “She called their daughter.
“‘I can’t wake your father up,’ her mother said, her voice frantic. ‘He just won’t wake up!!’
“Barbara ran to the street and hailed a cab for the Hotel Navarro on Central Park South, a mile away where her parents were staying. When she got there, she tried to shake her unconscious father awake—Daddy, Daddy—she shouted—as her mother and sister watched. Jackie, who as always was living with her parents, didn’t fully understand what was happening, but she knew it was a crisis. Lou didn’t respond. Barbara was the one who called the ambulance.”
Walters was the daughter of a nightclub owner who at times was extremely successful and at other times was broke, his family caught up in a cycle of living high and barely scraping throughout Barbara Walters’s childhood. And though she was a journalist, her father’s showmanship was also part of her genetic make-up; and so when Lou Walters, after having his stomach pumped, was out of danger, she went into public relations mode.
“No one had to warn the daughter of Lou Waters about the perils of bad press. At the hospital once her father’s stomach had been pumped, she recognized the risk to his reputation in his future prospects if word got out he had tried to take his own life. . . . Sometimes bad news required a shiny finish.”
This brief description of a major family emergency succinctly highlights the aspects of Walters ‘s personality, a summation of all the components of what led her to be such an outstanding success. She was the one people turned to in crisis. And even though she was devastated and fearful of losing her father, she kept her cool, she evaluated, and then made her decisions about what was the course of action. But underneath it all, her formative years had instilled a sense of impending doom, an understanding that life could change in a nanosecond. But that anxiety didn’t stop her from breaking through the barriers that had kept women out of the coterie of male reporters who were seen as the only ones capable of relaying news with the gravity and seriousness required.
She was a “rulebreaker,” a woman who managed a somewhat complicated private life (divorces, affairs, and the like) while working toward her goals. Walters is famous for many things and among them are the number of big “gets,” interviews with famous people such as Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon, John Wayne, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Fidel Castro, the Shah of Iran, Monica Lewinsky, Ted Turner, and Betty White.
Not only a rule breaker but a groundbreaker, when Walters was 67—retirement age for many—she created a new television show with The View, the first in what is now known as talk TV.
Page, the author of the New York Times bestselling Madame Chair and the award-winning Washington bureau chief of USA Today, interviewed more than 150 people for her book and did a deep dive in archival research. The result is a compelling look at a dynamic trailblazer who broke into a field that was male dominated and leading the way for other women including Oprah, who announced when she was seventeen that she wanted to be Barbara Walters.
This article previously appeared in the New York Journal of Books.
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C-SPAN’s Book TV is again partnering with the Library of Congress to bring the 2023 National Book Festival to a national television audience, live and on-site.
As an original supporter of the National Book Festival, C-SPAN’s Book TV is contributing the following for this year’s event – held on Saturday, August 12, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center:
• live coverage of author interviews and panel discussions.
• lengthy live call-in interviews with nonfiction authors on location from the grand lobby.
• 20,000 totes promoting both the Library of Congress and C-SPAN’s Book TV available to Festivalgoers.
• public access to its video coverage via C-SPAN’s online archives at C-SPAN.org.
C-SPAN’s Book TV has been providing live, in-depth, uninterrupted coverage of the National Book Festival – and partnering with the Library of Coverage on promotion – since the event began on September 8, 2001.
Book TV’s LIVE coverage has taken C-SPAN’s audience to the Festival’s various venues – U.S. Capitol grounds (2001), a vast tent city on the National Mall (2002-2013), an expo-style event in the Washington Convention Center (2014-2019), a virtual event during the pandemic (2020-2021), and back to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center (2022).
Book TV’s extensive coverage of nonfiction authors appearing at the National Book Festival kicks off the network’s coverage of book fairs held throughout the country in the fall. And the celebration of C-SPAN’s 25 years of Book TV will launch from this year’s festival.
About Book TV:
Book TV – Sundays on C-SPAN2 – is the only television service dedicated to nonfiction books. Book TV features programming on a rich variety of topics, such as history, biography, politics, current events, the media and more. Watch author interviews, book readings and coverage of the nation’s largest book fairs. Every Sunday on C-SPAN2 starting 8 am ET or online anytime at booktv.org. Use that website as well to connect with Book TV via social media and the email newsletter.
About C-SPAN:
C-SPAN, the public affairs network providing Americans with unfiltered access to congressional proceedings, was created in 1979 as a public service by the cable television industry and is now funded through fees paid by cable and satellite companies that provide C-SPAN programming. C-SPAN connects with millions of Americans through its three commercial-free TV networks, C-SPAN Radio, C-SPAN Podcasts, the C-SPAN Now app, C-SPAN.org and various social media platforms.The network’s video-rich website contains over 270,000 hours of searchable and shareable content. Engage with C-SPAN on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, and stay connected through weekly and daily newsletters.
Full 2023 National Book Festival Book TV
Coverage Schedule, Saturday Aug. 12
9amET Interview Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden
9:30am Authors Panel: Accidental Spies
Authors: John Lisle “The Dirty Tricks Department”;
Janet Wallach “Flirting with Danger”
Moderator: CBS’s Jeff Pegues
10:30am Interview Author R.K. Russell, “The Yards Between Us”
10:45am Authors Panel: Environmental Awakening vs. Climate Change
Authors: Douglas Brinkley “Silent Spring Revolution”;
David Lipsky “The Parrot and the Igloo”
Moderator: Jenn White of NPR
11:45 Interview: Charles “Cully” Stimson, senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation
“Rogue Prosecutors: How Radical Soros Lawyers Are Destroying America’s Communities.”
12pm Author Talk: Sports and Culture
Author: R.K. Russell, “Yards Between Us”
Moderator: LZ Granderson of the LA Times
12:45pm Interview, David Rubenstein
1pm Author Panel: Escaping Genocide and Human Trafficking
Authors: Tahir Hamut Izgil, “Waiting to Be Arrested at Night”;
Saket Soni, “The Great Escape”
Moderator: Washington Post’s Jason Rezaian
2:20pm Interview Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden
3:15pm Interview with Chasten Buttigieg, “I Have Something to Tell You”
3:30pm Author Panel – Behind the Scenes with Black Writers
Authors Camille Dungy and Tiphanie Yanique
Moderator: Author Jericho Brown
4:30pm Joan Biskupic, “Nine Black Robes”
4:45pm Author Panel – Dig In: What Food Says About Us
Authors Cheuk Kwan and Anya von Bremzen
Moderator: Wash. Post Food Writer Daniela GalarzaFor more information c-span.org/booktv
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Henry VIII’s Children: Legitimate & Illegitimate Sons & Daughters of the Tudor King
“This book is a compelling read as Angus is a clear, concise, and talented writer who makes even small facets of long ago lives fascinating.”
The irony of Henry VIII is acute. The once dashing heroic young man who succumbed to gluttony, cruelty, and, though it was done in a state-sanctioned manner, the murder of unwanted wives in hopes he could finally sire an heir, had at least one and most likely more illegitimate sons. But Edward, born of his third wife, Jane Seymour, who gained the throne with the beheading of his second wife, Anne Boleyn, was sickly and would die after a short stint as king.
And thus, first Henry’s legitimate daughter Mary, to be soon known as Bloody Mary because of her religious fanaticism, and then Elizabeth would come to rule. There is more irony here as well. Mary was the daughter of Henry and his first wife, Katharine of Aragon, who was cast aside so that he could marry Anne. Elizabeth 1 was born of that short-lived union. Both Mary and Elizabeth’s early childhoods were filled with rejections and loss of status. Things grew more precarious after her mother’s death. Her father was off with his next wife—there would be six all together and Mary, after Edward’s death, saw her half-sister, a Protestant to boot, as a rival for the throne. It was as dysfunctional of a family as any on a Jerry Springer show.
But what went on between these two siblings isn’t the only story regarding Henry’s children. And Caroline Angus, author of Henry VIII’s Children has written an immensely readable history of Henry’s other children, their mothers, and how they fit into Tudor society.
“The tales of King Henry VIII’s illegitimate children are stories made form precious few recorded clues, plus memory, slander, gossip, and conjecture,” writes Angus. “But within the dramatic lives of the Tudor dynasty, almost anything is possible.”
It was while Henry was married to his first wife, Katharine of Aragon, the widow of his brother Arthur, who was pregnant with his child, that he impregnated Bessie Blount. Still in her teens, Blount was in the third tier of Katharine’s ladies-in-waiting, not noble or wealthy enough to be in the first or second ranks but better than the fourth tier. Her job was to fetch and hold items for the queen and deliver messages. For that, she received her own room and servant and was granted permission to keep pets in the royal household.
Bessie wouldn’t be the first of the Queen’s ladies that Henry bedded. He had already had an affair with at least one and would embark relations with several others. Katharine’s lost her child, much to the chagrin of the kin who was tired of his wife’s inability to give him a son. Bessie did much better and Henry was delighted with their son who was called Henry Fitzroy. The term Fitzroy is French word meaning “son of a king” and was used by the English to denote an illegitimate child. Henry bestowed upon titles and lands upon little Henry while Katherine just had to smile and bear it. That’s what women had to put up with in those days.
Angus’ research is so extensive that readers even learn what Fitzroy ate for his afternoon meal. The first course was pottage, boiled beef, mutton, geese, capons, veal, and custard. If that sounds like a lot consider the second course consisted of lamb or kid, rabbits, pigeons, wildfowl, a tart or baked meat, fruits, and four gallons of ale and two pitchers of wine. Now, of course, some of that was probably for those who were dining with him. Fitzroy’s dinner meal was equally heavy and included 12 sweet desserts.
In another touch of irony, after Henry divorced Katharine, he could have made Fitzroy legitimate by marrying Bessie Blount whose husband had just died. But he was so entranced by Anne Boleyn that he married her instead, believing she would give him a son. She didn’t and lost her head.
There were other illegitimate children scattered around, probably more than history reveals. Anne’s sister Mary oldest son and daughter, Catherine and Henry Carey, were said to be Henry’s children. So was Ethelreda Malte, whose mother was a laundress. John Perrot claimed he was the son of Henry. And there were rumors Henry was the father of Thomas Stuckley, Richard Edwardes, and Henry Lee.
This book is a compelling read as Angus is a clear, concise, and talented writer who makes even small facets of long ago lives fascinating.
This article orignally appeared in the New York Journal of Books.
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Printers Row Lit Fest
FULL PROGRAM SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED FOR PRINTERS ROW LIT FEST, THE MIDWEST’S LARGEST LITERARY CELEBRATION, SEPTEMBER 10 & 11
Pulitzer Prize winner and Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey joins over 100 authors including national bestsellers Jamie Ford, Marie Myung-OK Lee, and Danyel Smith in a jam-packed weekend of free programming
This year’s festival highlights Chicago stories and offers fun for all ages, with a poetry tent organized by The Poetry Foundation; a rare presentation from satire writers at The Onion; interactive programs for youth and families; and more
The 37th annual Printers Row Lit Fest, presented by the Near South Planning Board, is pleased to announce the full schedule of participating authors and programs. Printers Row Lit Fest is one of the three largest and oldest literary festivals in the U.S. and stretches across five blocks, along South Dearborn Street from Ida B. Wells Drive to Polk Street and on Polk Street from State to Clark, in Chicago’s historic Printers Row neighborhood. The outdoor event is accessible via public transportation and takes place rain or shine from Saturday – Sunday, September 10 – 11, from 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
The festival kicks off with Evanston-based Pulitzer Prize winner and two-term United States Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey, who will be awarded with this year’s prestigious Harold Washington Literary Award. Chicago authors and stories will be presented during the Printers Row Lit Fest including dozens of new books and anthologies focused on Chicago. From columnist Neil Steinberg’s Every Goddamn Day: A Highly Selective, Definitely Opinionated, and Alternatingly Humorous and Heartbreaking Historical Tour of Chicago and Ray Long’s The House that Madigan Built: The Record Run of Illinois’ Velvet Hammer to fictions set in Chicago neighborhoods such as Toya Wolfe’s Last Summer on State Street, Joe Meno’s Book of Extraordinary Tragedies, and One Book One Chicago author Eric Charles May’s Bedrock Faith, Chicago is a leading character in today’s literary zeitgeist.
Printers Row Lit Fest’s dynamic lineup offers fun for book lovers of all kinds, from poetry and romance to satire and spoken word. Highlights of this year’s festival include a conversation with Danyel Smith, the first Black editor of Billboard magazine, on her recent book Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop; Jamie Ford discussing his current New York Times bestseller The Many Daughters of Afong May; and celebrated author of The Evening Hero, Marie Myung-OK Lee.
Poetry Tent
New to this year’s festival is a dedicated poetry tent curated by The Poetry Foundation with a lineup of award-winning and emerging poets. Also new to the festival is the laugh-out-loud Literary Death Match, whichpits four local authors against each other in front of a panel of all-star judges, and the Chicago-based, national satirical news site The Onion will present a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the article production process of “America’s Finest News Source” with a post-apocalyptic twist. Visitors can participate in a spoken word workshop and open mic led by EmceeSkool, and The Moth will showcase recent winners from their popular StorySLAM live storytelling competition.
The Printers Row Lit Fest will present powerful voices in social and environmental justice and activism with a series of panels hosted by reporters from Chicago Sun-Times and personalities from WBEZ. The fest includes a timely discussion reflecting on two years of the COVID-19 pandemic with a conversation between Dr. David Ansell, author of The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills, and Dr. Thomas Fisher, author of The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago E.R. In addition, the Chicago Public Library will host Voices for Justice: Natalie Moore’s “The Billboard” including a staged reading of excerpts from the award-winning play.
This year marks the return of children and family-focused programming at Printers Row Lit Fest. Programs include Theatre on the Hill’s Choose Your Own Once Upon a Time, an opportunity for children to decide the fates of their favorite fairy tale characters in a live, interactive theatrical event, and Carlos Theatre Productions which will present a Latin American puppet show for children in Spanish and English. Parents can hear Dr. Dana Suskind in conversation with former Chicago Tribune columnist Heidi Stevens about her recent book Parent Nation: Unlocking Every Child’s Potential, Fulfilling Society’s Promise.
Programs are organized by Printers Row Lit Fest Program Director Amy Danzer, assistant director of graduate programs at Northwestern University School of Professional Studies and Board President of the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame.
Including Sandmeyer’s Books and The Book Cellar, Printers Row Lit Fest hosts over 100 booksellers in airy outdoor tents, inviting visitors to peacefully peruse everything from the rare to ‘hot off the press,’ newly published works. All programming, includingfeature presentations by myriad authors, spoken word artists, journalists, comedians, and poets,is 100% free of charge.
Printers Row Lit Fest 2022 Schedule
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10
10:00 a.m.
Center Stage – Children’s Programming – Theatre on the Hill Presents Choose Your Own Once Upon A Time
Poetry Foundation – Children’s Programming – A bilingual reading of Pablo Neruda’s Book of Questions, Selections/Libro de Preguntas, Selecciones (Enchanted Lion Books, 2022) by translator, Sara Lissa Paulson.
Main Stage – Welcome by Near South Planning Board Chairman Steven Smutny, Chicago Public Library Commissioner Chris Brown, and First Lady Amy Eshleman. Program to follow featuring Natasha Trethewey, Harold Washington Literary Award Winner in conversation with Donna Seaman, Booklist. Program introduced by Natalie Moore, Harold Washington Literary Award Selection Committee Chair.
731 S. Plymouth Ct. – The Deep Creativity of Translation: A Reading and Discussion with Izidora Angel, Mary Hawley, and Alta L. Price. Moderated by Irina Ruvinsky. Presented by Another Chicago Magazine and the Third Coast Translators Collective.
Grace Place (2nd Floor) – Big Shoulders Press Presents Virus City: Chicago 2020-2021. Reading and Discussion featuring Amy Do, Robin Hoecker, Emily Richards, Oscar Sanchez, and Frank Tempone. Moderated by Rebecca Johns Trissler.
Grace Place (1st Floor) – Children’s Programming -10:15am – Doors. 10:30am – Miss Friendship Ambassador 2022 Susan Liu to tell the story of the Moon Festival Presented by the Chicago Chinatown Chamber of Commerce. 10:45am – Moon Festival Parade to depart Grace Place.
11:00 a.m.
Center Stage – Welcome by Alderman King One Book One Chicago – Thomas Dyja, The Third Coast and Eric Charles May, Bedrock Faith with Judy Rivera-Van Schage
Poetry Foundation – Children’s Programming – Reading by Julian Randall, Pilar Ramirez and the Escape from Zafa. Emceed by Stefania Gomez.
Main Stage – (11:30 a.m.) WBEZ Presents Adriana Herrera, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris, and Sarah MacLean, Heartbreaker: A Hell’s Belles Novel in conversation with WBEZ’s Greta Johnsen, host of Nerdette
731 S. Plymouth Ct. – Ray Long, The House That Madigan Built: The Record Run of Illinois’ Velvet Hammer in conversation with Joan Esposito
Grace Place (2nd Floor) – Unlocking Memories and Uncovering Stories: Bindy Bitterman, Skiddly Diddly Skat (children’s book) and Sharon Kramer, Time for Bubbe (children’s book) in conversation with Chicago author Beth Finke
Grace Place (1st Floor) – Patricia Carlos Dominguez Presents Yo Luchadora (bilingual children’s book) followed by a workshop
Saturday Afternoon
12:00 p.m.
Center Stage – Erika L. Sanchez, Crying in the Bathroom: A Memoir in conversation with Juan Martinez
Poetry Foundation – – The Chicago Poetry Center – Readings by Mayda del Valle, Aricka Foreman, Tim Stafford, Natasha Mijares, C. Russell Price, and Viola Lee. Emceed by Marty McConnell.
Main Stage – (12:30 p.m) WBEZ Presents Danyel Smith, Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop in Conversation with WBEZ’s Natalie Moore
731 S. Plymouth Ct. – Deborah Cohen, Last Call at the Hotel Imperial: The Reporters Who Took On a World at War in conversation with Peter Slevin
Grace Place (2nd Floor) – Crises: The All Ages Show – Dan Chaon, Sleepwalk and Jean Thompson, The Poet’s House in conversation with Eileen Favorite
Grace Place (1st Floor) – Writing Overwhelming Realities – Readings by Julia Fine, Dionne Irving, Ananda Lima, Jami Nakamura Lin, and Jeffrey Wolf. Emceed by Ananda Lima.
1:00 p.m.
Center Stage – Debut Fiction: Jessamine Chan, The School for Good Mothers and Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures in conversation with Rebecca Makkai
Main Stage – (1:30 p.m.) Chicago Sun-Times Presents The Environmental Justice Exchange: A tribute to Hazel Johnson, the Mother of Environmental Justice. Host: Brett Chase. Guests: Cheryl Johnson, Hazel’s daughter and executive director of People for Community Recovery; Tarnynon Onumonu, poet and author of “Greetings from the Moon, the Sacrificial Side”; Luis Carranza, poet and author of “Viva la Resistencia”.
731 S. Plymouth Ct. – M. Chris Fabricant, Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System in conversation with Rob Warden
Grace Place (2nd Floor) – Sourcebooks Presents – How Books Are Made: Authors Discuss the Publishing Process. Julie Clark, The Last Flight and The Lies I Tell; Ann Dávila Cardinal, The Storyteller’s Death; Iman Hariri-Kia, A Hundred Other Girls. Moderated by Kate Roddy, Associate Editor at Sourcebooks.
2:00 p.m.
Center Stage – Title IX, 50 years later: Women writers, women’s sports – Corin Adams, Tiny Setbacks, Major Comebacks, Julie DiCaro, Sidelined: Sports, Culture, and Being a Woman in America, and Melissa Isaacson, State: A Team, a Triumph, a Transformation in conversation with Jeanie Chung
Poetry Foundation – Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, Wherever I’m At: An Anthology of Chicago Poetry – Readings by Daniel Bortzutzky, Ugochi Nwaogwugwu, Elise Paschen, and Sara Salgado. Emceed by Carlo Rotella.
Main Stage – Chicago Sun-Times Presents Social Justice in Chicago: The Mexican community’s fight to stay in the city. Host: Elvia Malagon. Guest: Mike Amezcua, author of Making Mexican Chicago: From Postwar Settlement to the Age of Gentrification
731 S. Plymouth Ct. – Dr. David Ansell, The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills and Dr. Thomas Fisher, The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago ER with Katherine Davis, Crain’s
Grace Place (2nd Floor) – Elizabeth Crane, This Story Will Change: After the Happily Ever After with Kim Brooks
Grace Place (1st Floor) – The Onion: America’s Finest News Source In The Post-Apocalypse featuring Skyler Higley and Sammi Skolmosk
3:00 p.m.
Center Stage – PHENOM & EmceeSkool (Open Mic)
Main Stage – (3:30 p.m. ) Joe Meno, Book of Extraordinary Tragedies with Gint Aras
731 S. Plymouth Ct. – Beth Macy, Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice, and the Future of America’s Overdose Crisis with Alex McLevy
Grace Place (2nd Floor) – Leslie Bow, Racist Love: Asian Abstraction and the Pleasures of Fantasy with Michelle Huang.
Grace Place (1st Floor) – Rebuilding a Life – Ann McGlinn, Ride On, See You; Alex Poppe, Jinwar and Other Stories; Lynn Sloan, Midstream with Rachel Swearingen
4:00 p.m.
Center Stage – The Chicago Public Library and16th Street Theatre Present The Billboard by Natalie Moore – Staged Reading featuring Ti Nicole Danridge and Felisha McNeal followed by conversation between Natalie Moore, The BillBoard and Kathy Hey, Third Coast Review
Poetry Foundation – RHINO Poetry – Readings by April Gibson, Kathleen Rooney, Jessica Walsh, E. Hughes, Faisal Mohyuddin, Kenyatta Rogers, Jacob Saenz, Maja Teref & Steven Teref. Emceed by Naoko Fujimoto and Elizabeth O-Connell Thompson.
Main Stage – (4:30 p.m.) – Literary Death Match – Presented by StoryStudio Chicago and Near South Planning Board. All-star judges: David Cerda, Julia Morales, and Luis Urrea. Readers: Shannon Cason, Elizabeth Gomez, Mikki Kendall, and Diana Slickman. Emceed by Adrian Todd Zuniga.
731 S. Plymouth Ct. – Resistance, Resilience and Surviving the Sex Trade: – Brenda Myers-Powell, Leaving Breezy Street: A Memoir and Hannah Sward, Strip in conversation with Anne Ream, The Voices and Faces Project
5:00 p.m.
Center Stage – The Guild Complex Presents Exhibit B – Reading by CM Burroughs, Ruth Margraff, and Nami Mun. Emceed by James Stewart III
731 S. Plymouth Ct. – Ramzi Fawaz, Queer Forms in conersation with Chicago LGBT Hall of Famer Owen Keehnen
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11
10:00 a.m.
Center Stage – Representation in Children’s Books: Reading and Conversation featuring Sam Kirk, The Meaning of Pride; Mrs. Yuka Layme, Co-Producer of Drag Queen Story Hour; Katie Schenkel, Cardboard Kingdom with Barbara Egel
Poetry Foundation – A Poetry Reading featuring Jennifer Steele, 826 Chiand Chris Aldana, Luya Poetry
Main Stage – Pirates, Ghosts, and Loss – Sara Connell, Ghost House and Michael Zapata, The Lost Book of Adana Moreau with Paula Carter
731 S. Plymouth Ct. – Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather (authors of), and Rick Kogan (prelude to) He Had It Coming: Four Murderous Women and the Reporter Who Immortalized Their Stories with Mary Wisniewski
11:00 a.m.
Center Stage – Chicago Graphic Novelists – Markisan Naso, By the Horns and Michael Moreci, Wasted Space in conversation with Terry Gant, Third Coast Comics
Poetry Foundation – Chris Abani, Smoking the Bible – Reading followed by conversation with Parneshia Jones
Main Stage – Jamie Ford, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy in conversation with Carey Cranston, President of the American Writers Museum
731 S. Plymouth Ct. – Victor Ray, On Critical Race Theory: Why It Matters & Why You Should Care with Cassandra West, Crain’s
Grace Place (2nd Floor) – – Rev. Amity Carrubba in conversation with Tom Montgomery Fate, The Long Way Home: Detours and Discoveries
Sunday Afternoon
12:00 p.m.
Center Stage – NU Press Reading, Growing Up Chicago – Second to None: Chicago Stories – Readings by Anne Calcagno, Shelley Conner, and Jessie Ann Foley. Emceed by David Schaafsma
Poetry Foundation – Roger Reeves, Best Barbarian – Reading followed by conversation with Simone Muench. Musical accompaniment, Mai Sugimoto.
Main Stage – Girlhood in Chicago – Illinois Poet Laureate Angela Jackson, More Than Meat and Raiment and Debut Novelist Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street in conversation with Amina Gautier
731 S. Plymouth Ct. – Dana Suskind, Parent Nation: Unlocking Every Child’s Potential, Fulfilling Society’s Promise in conversation with Heidi Stevens
1:00 p.m.
Center Stage – City in a Garden of Books: Literary Fellowship Among Independent Publishers and Booksellers – Parneshia Jones, NU Press; Dr. Haki Madhubuti, Third World Press Foundation; Doug Seibold, Agate Publishing with Jeff Deutsch, In Praise of Good Bookstore
Main Stage – Secrets – Bradeigh Godfrey, Imposter and Marie Myung-Ok Lee, The Evening Hero with Kate Wisel
731 S. Plymouth Ct. – Kevin Boyle, The Shattering: America in the 1960s in conversation with Elizabeth Taylor
2:00 p.m.
Center Stage – Adam Levin, Mount Chicago in conversation with Jarrett Neal
Poetry Foundation – Young Chicago Authors – Reading featuring The Roots Crew, hosted by E’mon Lauren
Main Stage – The Moth: 25 Years of Live Storytelling featuring Grace Topinka, Melissa Earley, Archy Jamjun, and Jacoby Cochran
731 S. Plymouth Ct. – Neil Steinberg, Every Goddamn Day: A Highly Selective, Definitely Opinionated, and Alternatingly Humorous and Heartbreaking Historical Tour of Chicago in conversation with Shermann Dilla Thomas (“6figga_dilla”)
3:00 p.m.
Center Stage – Reading and Conversation featuring Ana Castillo, My Book of the Dead: New Poems with Yolanda Nieves
Main Stage – Romance Panel: Legacy and Love – Ali Brady, The Beach Trap and Natalie Caña, A Proposal They Can’t Refuse with Tanya Lane
731 S. Plymouth Ct. – The Insidiousness of Hatred – Adam Langer, Cyclorama and Jerry Stahl, Nein, Nein, Nein!: One Man’s Tale of Depression, Psychic Torment, and a Bus Tour of the Holocaust in conversation with Ben Tanzer
4:00 p.m.
Center Stage – The Crisis in American Democracy – Dick Simpson, Democracy’s Rebirth: The View from Chicago and Michael Dorf, Clear It with Sid!: Sidney R. Yates and Fifty Years of Presidents, Pragmatism, and Public Service with Gerry Plecki, President of The Society of Midland Authors
Poetry Foundation – Reading and Conversation featuring Tara Betts, Refuse to Disappear and Keli Stewart, Small Altars. Moderated by Rachel Jamison Webster
Main Stage – Chloé Cooper Jones, Easy Beauty: A Memoir with Gina Frangello
731 S. Plymouth Ct. – Sarah Kendzior, They Knew: How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent – with Rick Perlstein, Crain’s
5:00 p.m.
Center Stage – Blue Heron Press, Open Heart Chicago: An Anthology of Chicago Writing – Readings by Dorothy Frey, Lorena Ornelas, Joe Peterson, and Sandi Wisenberg. Emceed by Editor Vincent Francone.
Main Stage – Debut YA Fiction – Giano Cromley, The Prince of Infinite Space and Skyler Schrempp, Three Strike Summer with Michelle Falkof
731 S. Plymouth Ct. – A Visual Read of the City – Lee Bey, Chicago Sun-Times architecture critic; Blair Kamin, former Chicago Tribune architect critic; Dennis Rodkin, Crain’s with Gerald Butters\
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Article: The Best Places to Find Free E-Books
The Best Places to Find Free E-Books https://flip.it/sE664l
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Dreaming in French: The Paris Years of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Susan Sontag, and Angela Davis
It reads like the plot of a novel – three women from different backgrounds spend time in the early 20s in Paris, returning to the U.S. transformed. One, raised in an upper crust East Coast society family and named “Deb of the Year,” would become the very polished and popular wife of a handsome president doomed to be assassinated. The middle class girl from a North Hollywood family became, after her Paris sojourn, a well-respected writer. The third, though she was raised as an African American in the segregated south, came from an upper middle class family and spent time in Manhattan studying at a private school. She eventually would be acquitted of murder as a member of a radical fringe group.
“If you reduce them to identity labels, they are the soul of diversity: a Catholic debutante, a Jewish intellectual, an African-American revolutionary, from the East Coast, the West Coast, and the South,” writes Alice Kaplan, a Sterling Professor of French and Director of the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale University in her book, “Dreaming in French: The Paris Years of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Susan Sontag, and Angela Davis” (University of Chicago Press 2013; $26). “They have often been reduced to their images: a sheath dress and a double strand of pearls, a mane of black hair with a white streak, an afro and a raised fist.”
Kaplan explores the time each spent in Paris and how those experiences shaped them, making all three cultural icons and bringing all both fame – for Kennedy and Sontag and controversy – for Davis.
Kaplan, the author of such books as French Lessons, and Looking for “The Stranger,” earned a Ph.D. from Yale University with a major in French and a minor in philosophy and is a recipient of the French Légion d’Honneur as well the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in History (for The Collaborator) and the Henry Adams Prize (for The Interpreter).
“I wanted to find that existential threshold where you start to see what you can do with what you’ve been given,” Kaplan of this examination of a period in each woman’s life. And, Kaplan points out, while the men who spent time in France and came back in some ways different – think Ernest Hemingway and Norman Mailer, women like Kennedy, Sontag and Davis “have not had a place in the great American tradition of expatriate literature.”
Until now.
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Capote’s Women: The Story of the Writers’ Swans
“There are certain women who, though perhaps not born rich, are born to be rich,” author Truman Capote wrote about the beautiful, well-dressed, and style-setting women he called his “swans.”
The ultimate arm candy for the wealthiest and most powerful of men, these women of the mid-20th century were trophy wives before the term existed. And they counted Capote, the author of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and creator of the true crime genre with In Cold Blood, his chilling recounting of the brutal murders of a Kansas family, as their best friend.
In Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era, New York Times best-selling author Laurence Leamer takes us back to a time and a world where jet-setting, making the best-dressed list, attending and giving A-plus list parties, and dining at the most wonderful places whether in New York, Paris, London, or wherever your yacht happened to be moored were what these exalted women excelled at.
Obtaining their lifestyles depended upon a confluence of beauty, wit, moxie, and marrying and knowing when to discard husbands as they worked their way up and up. At times, divorce papers were barely signed before the next wedding was held.
“You have to enter into their lives,” says Leamer, explaining how he so succinctly captured the personalities of the swans: Gloria Guinness, Marella Agnelli, Slim Hayward, Pamela Churchill, C.Z. Guest and Lee Radziwill who constantly seethed because of the attention her older sister, Jackie Kennedy, always received.
“Even though,” Leamer points out, “unlike Jackie she didn’t want to do the hard work that it takes to achieve something.”
These women knew how to climb to higher heights. Gloria Guinness had transitioned from a childhood of constant motion in Mexico and marriage at age 20 to a man 27 years older to marrying a German aristocrat and a romantic involvement with a top Nazi during World War II. Her third marriage was to the grandson of an Egyptian King and her last, the biggest prize, was to a scion of the Guinness beer family who was also a member of Parliament. Other wins were modeling for big time designers and the best of the fashion magazines as well as being on the International Best Dressed List for several years.
But ultimately, she wasn’t happy says Leamer who believes she committed suicide.
There was also Barbara “Babe” Paley whose mother raised her three daughters to marry money. Paley, who had been badly injured in an automobile accident when young, spent her life in considerable pain. Her husband expected perfection in all things and so she never slept in the same bedroom, so she could the loss of her front teeth.
But being the best wasn’t always the answer to happy life. The swans may have had uber-wealthy husbands, but they didn’t have good husbands. Frequently husbands and wives were flagrantly promiscuous, and the swans often led separate lives not only from their spouses but also their children.
“For them, to be a mom was to be hands-off,” says Leamer. “And the children often paid a price. They didn’t necessary learn to do anything because they were going to inherit a lot of money.”
Ornamental to the max, these were women who did nothing but did it extremely well. And Capote, despite his great literary successes, spent a lot of time doing nothing with them. He listened to their secrets and ultimately decided to write a book revealing what he had heard. When an article he penned revealed some of those stories, the swans all turned against him, and he was exiled from the society he craved.
“I went to a family wedding recently,” says Leamer noting the warmth and connectiveness that everyone had. “These women and Capote never had this.”
It’s such a cliché to say money doesn’t buy happiness. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. And it certainly is delicious to read about the lives of women who many thought had it all even though they didn’t.
Online Book Event
Join Laurence Leamer in an online event hosted by the American Writer’s Museum in Chicago when he reads from and discusses his new book.”When: October 13 at 6:30 p.m.
How to Join In: This program will be hosted online via Zoom. To register, visit americanwritersmuseum.org/program-calendar/laurence-leamer-capotes-women/
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Griffin’s Heart: Working Through Loss
It’s been ten years since actress Reagan Pasternak’s beloved cat, Griffin, died and since then, though life has been very busy with her career, marrying, and becoming a mother, she has missed the pet she calls a “soul mate.”
To help with her grieving, Pasternak who starred in Netflix/HULU/HBO’s “Being Erica”, HBO’s “Sharp Objects”, Syfy’s “Wynonna Earp,” and BET’s “Ms. Pat,” began journaling her feelings, incorporating not only the pain she was feeling but also tools and techniques for processing her grief. It took a decade but now Pasternak’s book, “Griffin’s Heart: Mourning Your Pet With No Apologies” (Creatures Align Press $27.99) is available through Amazon.
Pasternak, in a phone call from her home in California, describes the book as an interactive memoir, keepsake, and healing journal that she hopes will provide guidance for others who have lost a pet.
“I feel that animals get so forgotten after giving us so much love,” she says. “I wanted to honor them.”
Pasternak doesn’t consider herself a writer but says she felt compelled to write about all that she has learned while going through her own stages of grief. That includes reading about the brain and how it processes emotions and information, exploring different ways to heal such as music therapy, and taking up meditation to help with anxiety. Doing so helped with the loss of her other pets as well including another dog who just recently passed away.
“Everything began accumulating in my psyche, and one morning my husband said that I needed to finish the book,” she says. “I had started it, put it aside, had a baby, was acting—so I was busy. Every morning when I started writing the book, I’d ask myself to whom am I writing. I wanted readers to have something, so they knew they weren’t alone and to know they could get through. Then it just all came together in a cosmic way. I met an editor who thought it was a great idea and we started working together.”
The book contains exercises, chances to journal, and is a repository for readers to enter their own memories, melding their losses into what Pasternak sees as a keepsake.
Since the book was published, Pasternak has been receiving notes from readers who share their own stories of losing a pet.
“My husband and I read them and cry,” she says. “It’s so touching that these strangers are reaching out. I keep getting photos from people showing how they have placed the book next to the urn containing their pet’s ashes.”
This outreach has inspired Pasternak to stay focused on the book and the stories people share. “I just believe I’m helping change the culture of grief,” she says.
For more information, visit www.griffinsheart.com/
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