Story Week - March 14-19, 2010

Story Week 2010

Genre Bending: The Faces of Fiction

March 14-19, 2010

The Columbia College Chicago Fiction Writing Department presents its 14th Annual Story Week Festival of Writers from Sunday, March 14, through Friday, March 20. Affectionately known as the “Lollapalooza of literary events,” Story Week 2010 offers a feast of free readings, conversations with authors, panels, performances, and book signings at venues across the city. Co-sponsored in part by the Chicago Public Library and Metro, this program is made possible in part by a grant from the ILLINOIS ARTS COUNCIL, a state agency.

Our theme for 2010, Genre Bending: The Faces of Fiction, reflects the increasingly porous boundaries between literary and genre fiction. Whether based in truth or pure fiction, this year’s featured authors use myriad fictional forms to shed light on the struggles, trials, and triumphs of the human race.

We are pleased to present literary icon Joyce Carol Oates, who has penned more than a hundred books in every genre imaginable, including Oprah Book Club selection We Were the Mulvaneys, National Book Award finalists Blonde and The Gravedigger’s Daughter, New York Times best seller The Falls, and her latest suspense thriller, A Fair Maiden. Other headliners include award-winning authors Aleksandar Hemon, Love and Obstacles; Bonnie Jo Campbell, American Salvage; Achy Obejas, Ruins; David Morrell, The Shimmer; Maggie Estep, Alice Fantastic; Australian writer John Dale, Leaving Suzie Pye; and local crime novelist Marcus Sakey, The Amateurs. We will also present many other distinguished writers, panelists, artists, and performers throughout this jam-packed week.

Highlights. The Sunday-night kick-off is 2nd Story at Martyrs’—a high-energy show of stories and music. On Monday, we will offer two events featuring Joyce Carol Oates at the Harold Washington Library. Tuesday evening, we’ll present Genres from Afar with readings/conversations with Aleksandar Hemon, Achy Obejas, and John Dale. On Wednesday, we’ll focus on our Genre-Bending theme with an afternoon panel hosted by Joe Meno, The Great Perhaps, and evening readings by Mort Castle, On Writing Horror, Maggie Estep, and David Morrell. Two of Story Week’s most popular events take place on Thursday—a morning publishing panel hosted by Booklist Associate Editor and Chicago Public Radio Book Critic Donna Seaman at the Harold Washington Library, and in the evening, Story Week’s celebratory Literary Rock & Roll at the Metro, featuring readings by Aleksandar Hemon, Bonnie Jo Campbell, and Marcus Sakey, followed by a rousing performance from Vermont’s Bread & Puppet Theater and DJ music from Joe Shanahan and Don De Grazia, American Skin. On Friday night at Smart Bar, the Chicago Tribune’s Rick Kogan hosts a Story Showcase of Columbia College Chicago Fiction Writing Department authors with new books.

For more information on all Story Week events, our featured guests, and sponsors, visit our sidebar links.

The Library has Books by Story Week Authors...
just click on the links below to see titles available in the Columbia College Chicago Library.

Joyce Carol Oates

Michael A. Black

Bonnie Jo Campbell

Mort Castle

Sean Chercover

Phyllis Eisenstein

Maggie Estep

Aleksandar Hemon

Jeff Jacobsen

Stephanie Kuehnert

Laurie Lawlor

Joe Meno

David Morrell

J. Adams Oaks

Achy Obejas

Marcus Sakey