The annual conference of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs takes place in Chicago March 24 through 27, and between that and Columbia College’s Story Week Festival, which started March 18, the town is lousy with writers, editors, publishers, and assorted hangers-on. The AWP conference is open to registrants only, but many participants are seizing the opportunity to throw extracurricular readings and parties this week and next. Following is a selective guide to Story Week- and AWP-related proceedings. For more information see the Readings & Lectures listings in Section Two, which include a complete schedule of Story Week events. All are free and all ages unless otherwise noted.
At 6 PM Story Week throws its annual Literary Rock & Roll party at Metro, 3730 N. Clark (773-549-0203). This year’s guests are local literati Elizabeth Crane (When the Messenger Is Hot), Aleksandar Hemon (The Question of Bruno, Nowhere Man), and Shawn Shiflett (see facing page). They’ll read from recently published work and sign books; following the talking, the local funk band Bumpus plays.
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At 9 PM contributors to O Taste and See: Food Poems (Bottom Dog Press), which recently won the American Poetry Anthology Award, will read at Russian Tea Time, 77 E. Adams. Among those delivering odes to blini and brisket will be volume editors Terry Hermsen and David Lee Garrison. The pair will return to the restaurant tomorrow afternoon at 3 (tea time) with a different batch of poets. Call 312-360-0000.
