Notable Chicago: 10/10–10/16
Friday 10/10: Registration for the Chicago Writers Conference is open, but ends today. Writers can attend lectures, writing workshops, and have one-on-ones with editors and agents. Special Guests include Christine Sneed, Rebbeca Makkai, Sara Paretsky, Ben Tanzer, and the Conference’s director, Mare Swallow. Events held at University Center.
Naked Girls Reading is back at the Everleigh Social Club on the theme “Naked Ghouls Reading.” You need to make a reservation if you’d like to attend. 7 p.m.
Women and Children First Books hosts a special evening, featuring two essayists with new books out. Adrianne Kalfopoulou, who is an associate professor of literature and languages in Greece, reads from Ruin: Essays in Exilic Living; and David Lazar, founder of the MFA program in Nonfiction Writing at Columbia College, reads from Occasional Desire. 7:30 p.m.
Saturday 10/11: The Paper Machete is a weekly magazine of live performances from journalists, storytellers, musicians, and comedians, hosted by Christopher Piatt. WBEZ runs the podcast. The Green Mill, 3 p.m.
Sunday 10/12: The Uptown Poetry Slam, hosted by J.W. Basilo, features Bill Hillman, author of The Old Neighborhood. There’ll be great jazz and an open slam competition afterward. You could win ten bucks. 7 p.m.
Monday 10/13: John Lahr, Senior Drama Critic for The New Yorker, is at Steppenwolf in conversation with the theater’s Artistic Director, Martha Lavey. Lahr’s latest book is an authoritative biography of Tennessee Williams. There’ll be a Q & A and a book signing. 7 p.m.
Unabridged Bookstore presents Alan Cumming in conversation with Dick Babcock. Cumming will read from and sign his memoir, Not My Father’s Son. Music Box Theatre, 7 p.m.
Tuesday 10/14: University of Chicago presents its latest installment of Global Voices Author Night at the International House, featuring Emily Parker, author of Now I Know Who My Comrades Are, a collection of stories about dissident bloggers in China, Russia, and Cuba. 6 p.m.
Gallery 400 hosts “Two Poetry Readings” with Franny Choi, author of Homebody and Natalie Shapero, author of Late Sign of Hunger. These poets are highly touted. Co-presented by Poetry Foundation. 6 p.m.
Wednesday 10/15: Jonathan Eig is at The Book Cellar to promote his latest book, The Birth of the Pill, a heavily researched narrative history of the birth control pill 7 p.m.
Thursday 10/16: Poetry Foundation hosts the 60th annual Poetry Day at the Harold Washington Library Center. Award-winning poets Carolyn Forché and Jamaal May read their work. 6 p.m.