It's here! It's here! The Midwest's largest free outdoor literary event, the Printers Row Book Fair, will be holding its 22nd annual exhibition this weekend, all day on both June 9th and 10th, down on Dearborn Street in the South Loop, basically between Congress and Polk. And it's huge this year, too, the biggest it's ever been, which is already saying a lot -- almost 200 different bookselling organizations are participating, with almost 100 free literary events taking place over the two days as well.

So with all of that taking place, how to decide what to actually attend? Well, a number of online organizations have now published their own recommendations and highlights, including Gapers Block (a CCLaP favorite), the University of Chicago Press, and NewCity; you can also go to the official site to learn more, as well as directly download in PDF form the fair's map and entire schedule. For what it's worth, here's what I'll be trying to catch this Saturday and Sunday, although I don't know how good I'll be at getting them all...

SATURDAY:

--At 10:30 am, EM Press is presenting "The Spoken Word Revolution Redux," hosted by Mark Eleveld, at the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Stage.

--At noon, a talk between Sara Paretsky and Elizabeth Taylor (Trib Books editor, that is, not the actress), at the Harold Washington Library (ticket required).

--At 1 pm, a talk between Lucinda Franks and Julia Keller (Trib cultural columnist, one of my favorite contemporary nonfiction writers), at the Harold Washington Library (ticket required).

--At 3 pm, Chuck Barris (yes, the "Gong Show" Chuck Barris) talks with Maureen Ryan about his new novel The Big Question (which actually isn't that bad -- seriously), at the Heartland Stage.

SUNDAY:

--At 10 am, Young Chicago Authors (another CCLaP favorite) sponsors an hour of student readings, at the Nelson Algren Stage.

--At 11 am, "Murder Most Foul" -- a talk with crime writers Jeffery Deaver and Lori Andrews, moderated by my hero Kevin Guilfoile.

--At 1:45 pm, NewTownWriters presents an hour of readings by local authors, at the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Stage.

--At 4 pm, author Elizabeth Berg appears at the Heartland Stage.

And don't forget, lots and lots of CCLaP's friends and favorites will be running booths at the fair this weekend, including Featherproof Books (booth 333), Lake Claremont Press (DD1), McSweeney's (PP2), Puddin'head Press (229), Twilight Tales (W3,4) and Women & Children First (PP1), all of which I'm sure would appreciate your patronage.

Don't forget, I'll be shooting the first episode of the CCLaP Podcast down at the fair this weekend, and could even be holding the center's first social event -- i.e., I'm thinking of posting a time and place where I'll be having a drink down there on Saturday evening, if any early readers of this blog feel like getting together for a pint or two. If I do such a thing, I'll be posting the info to the site tomorrow (Friday) afternoon; if you're interested, of course, don't hesitate to drop me a line at cclapcenter [at] gmail.com. Hope to see you down there!