The term “Chicago authors” conjures up the image of local writers who share similar styles and themes. In reality, the current group of Chicago-area writers is a thoroughly disparate bunch.
This is most apparent among the local authors featured at next weekend’s Chicago Tribune Printers Row Book Fair. One is a nationally recognized writer-journalist with an unparalleled understanding of the urban poor. Another is a former nurse, with 13 novels under her belt, who specializes in relationship sagas. A third is a poet who ruminates on nature even while living in the middle of one of America’s thriving cities. Yet another is a naturalist who has spent nearly two decades on a book detailing the physical forces that shaped this region.
What this motley group does share is a love for this area. Even the transplants agree: Chicago is home.
“In some ways I feel like an accidental Midwesterner,” says native New Yorker Alex Kotlowitz, who has spent the last 20 years in the Chicago area producing groundbreaking journalism for print and broadcast. “It’s a great place to perch yourself to get an accurate feel for this country. It’s been a home for me.”
“I’m staying,” says novelist Elizabeth Berg, who now lives in Oak Park after spending more than 20 years in Massachusetts. “This city has everything. The people here are the most perfect blend of friendly and sophisticated. If the weather were only better–but if it were, we’d be overrun.”
Jim McManus
For Jim McManus, the book fair will be a victorious homecoming of sorts–not that he ever really left since his family relocated in the area from the Bronx, N.Y., back in 1959. But the novelist and poet, who has four fiction books to his credit, finally made a big splash earlier this year when his first non-fiction work was released: “Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion’s World Series of Poker” (Farrar Straus & Giroux, $26).
The book, which details McManus’ adventures after entering the 2000 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, has received praise for its humor and detailed descriptions of the poker milieu in Las Vegas.
McManus, who was sent to Vegas with a $4,000 advance from Harper’s Magazine to cover the event, ended up spending that money to compete in the tournament. Meanwhile, the happily married writer (who lives with his wife and four children in Kenilworth) developed two personas: Good Jim and Bad Jim.
Good Jim was faithful to his family and concentrated on his Harper’s article. Bad Jim patronized strippers, drank like a fish and won nearly $250,000 at the tourney. Mixed in all of this was a description of the murder trial of Sandy Murphy, a former stripper accused of killing Ted Binion, son of tournament’s founder.
Now McManus is basking in the mostly good reviews and brisk sales. But Bad Jim is wondering why he didn’t get attention before the release of “Positively Fifth Street.”
“I’m thrilled at the reception for `Positively Fifth Street’,” says McManus, who teaches creative writing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. “But Bad Jim says, `What the hell took you so long?’ I didn’t become a better writer at the age of 50, I just hit on a subject that people are interested in.”
Speaking on an immersion journalism panel, he likely will talk about his other novels at the fair, including Chicago-based books such as 1985’s “Chin Music” (not currently available) an off-beat look at Armageddon in the Windy City that occurs during a rare White Sox appearance in the World Series.
A lifelong Sox fan, McManus says he wouldn’t necessarily call himself a Chicago author, even though many of his books and articles somehow include the city. In fact, the novel he’s working on now has Chicago as one of its locales (along with Vegas and Venice).
Alex Kotlowitz
Kotlowitz also wouldn’t call himself just a Chicago writer.
He’s a nationally acclaimed author, most notably of 1991’s “There Are No Children Here” (Anchor Books, $14.95), about two young brothers struggling to make it in the violence-ridden Henry Horner Homes, and 1998’s “The Other Side of the River” (Anchor Books, $14.95), about race relations in the neighboring Michigan river towns of St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, keyed by the mysterious death of a black teen.
He’s also a Peabody Award-winning producer for National Public Radio, most recently working on the series “Speaking of Sex.”
His first love is writing, though, and he’ll get a chance to mingle with many colleagues at the book fair.
“It’s like an affirmation of what I do,” says Kotlowitz, who will be on a panel discussing “narratives from real life.”
He’s working on a collection of non-fiction stories about Chicago and contributing to a collection edited by David Halberstam. The subject matter is the United States and Kotlowitz’s topic is the Midwest.
“I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to do it, and I told David that,” Kotlowitz says. “But in pure Halberstam fashion, he said `I guess that means yes.’ I’m glad I did it–it forced me to re-evaluate my thought about this area.”
Elizabeth Berg
Berg, who lives within walking distance of Ernest Hemingway’s birthplace, is less influenced by Chicago than some of her local colleagues. Nor is she a writer with tangible influences from other writers.
“I had written so long before I started writing professionally that others didn’t register,” says Berg, a nurse for 10 years before becoming a full-time writer. “People had told me all of my life that I should be a writer, so I did.”
Her novels tend to be intimate portraits of relationships, usually with a mix of humor and pathos. Her most recent book, this year’s “Say When” (Pockets Books, $24.95), is told from the point of view of a man whose 10-year marriage is on the rocks after his wife informs him of the affair she’s having.
Berg’s best known book probably is 1994’s “Talk Before Sleep” (Dell Books, $13.95), based on her experience of caring for a friend who had breast cancer.
“My work has to be highly intuitive and subconscious,” says Berg, who will be on a panel judging short stories and talking about her writing in different sessions.
“If I had gone to school to be a writer, I wouldn’t be a writer. I’m not good at following rules.”
Gioia Dilberto (and Dick Babcock)
Nineteenth Century Chicago was the focus for Gioia Diliberto when she tackled the early life of legendary social worker Jane Addams in the 1999 non-fiction work “A Useful Woman” (Simon & Schuster, $26). She continues her exploration of that period in her latest work, “I Am Madame X” (Scribner, $24), a fictional effort based on the life of Virginie Gautreau, the subject of John Singer Sargent’s painting “Madame X.”
“I love the 19th Century and when I worked on both those books, I read a lot of works from that period,” Diliberto says. “When I was working on Jane Addams, I read [Theodore] Dreiser. And I read Flaubert to prepare for `Madame X.’ Both those books are very important.”
Diliberto is married to Dick Babcock–1992’s “Bow’s Boy” (Simon & Schuster, $24)–another local writer and editor in chief of Chicago Magazine who will be featured at the book fair.
The couple will participate in a panel on husband-and-wife writers.
“We’re always talking about each other’s work,” Diliberto says. “And we’ve been married for 20 years, so we’ve obviously rubbed off on each other.”
Esther Hershenhorn
Esther Hershenhorn is the author of four children’s books, most recently “Chicken Soup By Heart” (Simon & Schuster, $16.95).
A former teacher who will be on a panel for children’s writing, she calls Chicago a mecca for books for young readers.
“It’s a vital community due to establishments like the Kraft Education Center, the American Library Association and the Chicago Public Schools and the suburban school districts that support children’s books tremendously,” Hershenhorn says.
Dan Beachy-Quick
Poet Dan Beachy-Quick teaches in the master’s of fine arts program at the School of the Art Institute and also is on the advisory committee for the book fair.
He will read on a poets’ panel.
His latest book, published last month, is “North True South Bright” (Alice James Books, $13.95), an ode to nature in the tradition of 19th Century metaphysical poets Emily Dickinson and Gerald Manley Hopkins.
Beachy-Quick grew up in Colorado, where he cultivated his interest in the great outdoors.
“I was worried that might change when I moved to Chicago, but I’ve found myself feeling very much at home here.”
Joel Greenberg
Joel Greenberg is not as prolific as the other local authors at the book fair.
He spent 20 years working on his look at the development of nature in the region–“A Natural History of the Chicago Region” (University of Chicago Press, $40). He will be appearing on Sunday at the fair, part of a panel discussion titled “Nature Writing: Urban vs. Rural.”
A surprising fact produced by his book is that while many natural resources have been destroyed since Europeans began settling here 300 years ago, many things have survived.
“Just looking at reptiles and amphibians, there were 60 when the Europeans arrived, and we’ve only lost one since then,” Greenberg says.
