Plus: Baseball & Poetry Out Loud
Over the transom.
1. Chicago Malaise.
“The Third Coast: When Chicago Built the American Dream” has an elegant, unflinching, non-nostalgic clarity about Chicago that you rarely see in books about Chicago,” the Tribune’s Christopher Borelli writes.
We haven’t read, so can’t say.
See also: The Publishers Weekly summary.
2. “First Son: The Biography of Richard M. Daley is now available on the Kindle.”
We haven’t read yet, but we’re skeptical that this is the treatment that Daley fils really needs.
3. The Windy City Pulp And Paper Convention Is In The Books.
Here’s a preview in review:
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4. New Books On Baseball.
5. Talkin’ Sterling Plumpp Blues.
“You are cordially invited to our the Guild Literary Complex’s (GLC) fourth annual benefit, ‘Talkin’ Blues,’ honoring Sterling Plumpp, renowned Chicago-based Blues poet, on May 14.
“The Guild Literary Complex will pay tribute to his Plumpp’s decades-long achievement on stage at Rosa’s Blues Lounge in Logan Square (3420 W. Armitage) with a program beginning at 7:30 p.m.
“Plumpp willth be joined on stage by writers Jeffery Renard Allen, Duriel Harris, and Tyehimba Jess, and musician Fernando Jones.
“Plumpp is one of the last original Mississippi Blues artists who came north with his grandparents during the Great Migration. His poetry combines the red-clay roots of his Mississippi youth and his experiences living for years on Chicago’s West Side with the raw, emotional intensity of a life fully lived. Join us for an electric evening of food, music, and poetry as we celebrate the life of Sterling Plumpp. All tickets include food.
MORE ABOUT STERLING PLUMPP
“Sterling D. Plumpp – blues poet and essayist – is the author of fourteen books including Velvet Bebop Kente Cloth, Ornate with Smoke, and Blues Narratives. He is the editor of two anthologies, Somehow We Survive, a collection of South African writing, and Steel Pudding: Writing from the Gary Historical and Cultural Society Writer’s Workshop.
“Plumpp is Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois Chicago where he served on the faculty in the African American Studies and English Departments and most recently served as a visiting professor in the Master of Fine Arts Program at Chicago State University.
“In 2009, Valley Voices produced an entire issue of its journal, The Sterling Plumpp Issue, focused on his poetry, interviews, and critical explorations of his work. He is the recipient of numerous awards as a blues poet and African American cultural storyteller. His most recent book of poems, Home/Bass (forthcoming, Third World Press), was inspired by the life of blues artist Willie Kent.”
See also: Plumpp’s Poetry Foundation Bio.
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The Black Arts Movement In The Broader Civil Rights Movement: Sterling Plumpp Talk.
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6. “Fifty-three students from across the country will converge in Washington, DC, on April 29-30, 2013, at the end of National Poetry Month, to compete in the National Finals of Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest, the nation’s largest youth poetry recitation competition.
“These young competitors advanced from a field of some 375,000 students who tested their skills in poetry recitation in more than 2,000 schools nationwide. The top finalists and their schools will receive $50,000 in awards.”
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Comments welcome.
Posted on April 17, 2013