This is the archive page for the category [Events]; below you should see headlines and summaries of all entries found here on the subject. Click the appropriate link at each to read the entire entry.

Personal essay: Why 'Harmontown' is the Best Podcast in the US You're Not Listening To. | January 23, 2013
Today at CCLaP, a few thoughts on the recent Chicago stop of Dan Harmon's confessional, hilarious "Harmontown" podcast tour, and what makes this both a technically and conceptually groundbreaking show that is writing some of the rules that future podcasts will forever follow. | Read entire entry

Hey Chicagoans! Come to the 'Hair Lit' release party tomorrow night! | January 11, 2013
Hey, Chicagoans! What are you doing tomorrow night? It's nothing, right? DON'T LIE TO ME! Instead, come out to the release party for the new lit anthology based on '80s metal bands, "Hair Lit," at the Book Cellar in Lincoln Square. Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

Come join us at the Pop-Up Book Fair this Sunday! | December 7, 2012
Hey Chicagoans! If you're not doing anything on Sunday, come join us at the Pop-Up Book Fair at the Empty Bottle! Featuring 25 local presses and a handful of indie-rock bands, this free-with-RSVP event will be a great place to pick up holiday gifts for all your hipster friends. Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

One week left! Just a little money to go! Help us finally have our first successful Kickstarter campaign! | November 15, 2012
Oh, we're so close I can freaking taste it! Just five days left for CCLaP's newest Kickstarter campaign, to raise the funds for our coming deluxe illustrated holiday book, "The Kickstarter Letters" by David David Katzman, and we're only a couple of hundred dollars left from reaching our $2,500 goal. If we miss our goal we don't get a penny, AND WE'VE DONE THAT BEFORE AND IT'S HEARTBREAKING, so click through right now and find out how you can help! | Read entire entry

CCLaP's newest Kickstarter campaign...has begun! | October 22, 2012
CCLaP's newest Kickstarter campaign begins today! It's for our coming deluxe holiday book, "The Kickstarter Letters" by David David Katzman (including 25 new illustrations by Mike Wilgus), and there's a WHOLE LOT to tell you about it. Click through to start your stream-of-consciousness adventure! | Read entire entry

METAPOST: Video from our "Podcast Dreadful" Quimby's event is now online! | October 5, 2012
Sorry this took so long, but the video from CCLaP's recent "Podcast Dreadful" live recording at Quimby's Bookstore is now online, split into five parts over at YouTube. Click through for them all! | Read entire entry

CCLaP's Podcast Dreadful, 4 of 12 | September 24, 2012
Today on the CCLaP Podcast, it's part 4 of "A Podcast Dreadful," the center's 12-part serial-fiction audiobook anthology. This episode was taped in front of a live audience at Quimby's Bookstore, and includes work by Davis Schneiderman, Keith McCleary and Sophia G. Starmack, Jason Fisk, Karl Wolff and Jacob S. Knabb. | Read entire entry

Tonight! Tonight! CCLaP's 'Podcast Dreadful' live taping is tonight! | September 21, 2012
Many thanks to all of you who have been downloading and mentioning CCLaP's "Podcast Dreadful" audiobook anthology this month; and I'm happy to say that tonight finally is our live taping at Quimby's Bookstore! Click through for all the details, and I hope to see you all there! | Read entire entry

The day is here! CCLaP's Podcast Dreadful has begun! | September 3, 2012
Excelsior! CCLaP's new 12-part serial fiction audiobook anthology, "A Podcast Dreadful," begins today! Click through for a lot more about it, as well as info on the episode we'll be doing in front of a live audience, on September 21st at Quimby's Bookstore here in Chicago. | Read entire entry

It's day ten of Mark R. Brand's virtual book tour! | July 31, 2012
It's day ten of Mark R. Brand's virtual tour for the science-fiction novella "Life After Sleep!" Today Mark finishes his busy tour with a visit to our old pal Ben Tanzer, featuring a rare video that you should really stop by and check out when you have a chance. Click through for the link! | Read entire entry

It's day nine of Mark R. Brand's virtual book tour! | July 30, 2012
It's day nine of Mark R. Brand's virtual tour for the science-fiction novella "Life After Sleep!" Today Mark is hanging out with popular blogger Okla Elliott, where he has posted a special excerpt from the book at the website As It Ought To Be. Click through for the link! | Read entire entry

It's day seven of Mark R. Brand's virtual book tour! | July 26, 2012
It's day seven of Mark R. Brand's virtual tour for the science-fiction novella "Life After Sleep!" Today Mark is hanging out with fellow CCLaP author Lauryn Allison Lewis, where he types up some guest thoughts on how he came up with the dialogue and plot details. Click through for the link! | Read entire entry

It's day six (and five) of Mark R. Brand's virtual book tour! | July 25, 2012
It's day six of Mark R. Brand's virtual tour for the science-fiction novella "Life After Sleep!" And as usual, I actually have two links to share with you today, since I missed posting about this yesterday; on that day Mark was hanging out with fellow CCLaP artist Laura Szumowski, while today he has a new MP3 reading from the book posted at Curbside Splendor. Click through for them both! | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast 91: Live from the 'solo/down' release party | July 23, 2012
Today on the CCLaP Podcast: It's a live recording from the recent crowded, drunken release party for Lauryn Allison Lewis's novella "solo/down." Featuring performances from Robyn Pennacchia, James Tadd Adcox, Jac Jemc, Lindsay Hunter, Mason Johnson, Samantha Irby, Matt Rowan, Ben Tanzer and Lauryn herself, and hosted by Curbside Splendor's Victor David Giron. | Read entire entry

It's day four of Mark R. Brand's virtual book tour! | July 23, 2012
It's day four of Mark R. Brand's virtual tour for the science-fiction novella "Life After Sleep!" And I actually have two links to share with you today, since I missed posting about this on Friday; on that day Mark was hanging out with our friends at Another Chicago Magazine, while today he's at the great science-fiction blog Grasping for the Wind. Click through for the links! | Read entire entry

It's day two of Mark R. Brand's virtual author tour! | July 19, 2012
It's day two of Mark R. Brand's virtual tour for the science-fiction novella "Life After Sleep!" Today Mark is hanging out with fellow CCLaP author Jason Fisk, where the two gab about science-fiction versus speculative fiction, where the ideas for this book came from, and more. Click through for the link! | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast 90: CCLaP in NYC - KGB Bar | July 17, 2012
Today on the CCLaP Podcast: It's the fourth of four recent shows we did in New York City, this time at famed lower Manhattan lit hangout KGB Bar. Featuring Kevin Haworth, David David Katzman, Traci Kim, Lauryn Allison Lewis, Sally Weigel, and an infamously riotous performance from Ben Tanzer. Many thanks to Lori Hettler for providing the missing audio you'll hear at the end! | Read entire entry

Welcome to the Mark R. Brand virtual author tour! | July 17, 2012
It's day one of CCLaP's newest "virtual book tour," this time for the day-after-tomorrow sci-fi tale "Life After Sleep" by local author Mark R. Brand. Click through for more about the book and the full schedule of performers, including a link to today's stop at the blog of noted New Weird writer Bella Street. | Read entire entry

It's day twenty-one (and the very last day) of the Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour! | July 13, 2012
It's the very last day of CCLaP's Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour for "The New York Stories!" Today the tour wraps up with a visit by Laura to our old friend and local bizarro author David David Katzman, where the two talk at length about Laura's work, career, and distinctive visual style. Thanks, everyone, for an extra-long and extra-great tour! And don't forget that Mark R. Brand hits the information superhighway starting Monday! | Read entire entry

Hey, Chicagoans! Come out to our show tonight at Women & Children First! | July 12, 2012
We haven't had a chance to promote this much, and we forgot to make a Facebook event page, but I wanted to let all you Chicagoans know that we're doing an all-CCLaP, all-female (or, er, all-non-penis-owning) reading tonight at the great Women & Children First Bookstore at 5233 N. Clark, starting at 7 pm, and featuring Lauryn Allison Lewis, Katherine Scott Nelson and Traci Kim. Hope to see you there! | Read entire entry

It's day nineteen of the Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour! | July 11, 2012
It's day nineteen of the Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour for "The New York Stories!" Today Laura is hanging out with our friend Davis Schneiderman at the blog Big Other, where she has turned in a guest essay (and lots and lots of illustrations) about what it was like as a visual artist to work on this book. Click through for the link! | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast 89: CCLaP in NYC - Vaudeville Park | July 9, 2012
Today on the CCLaP Podcast: It's the third of four hour-long shows that CCLaP's authors recently attended in New York City, this time at the Brooklyn performance space Vaudeville Park, and in this particular case in conjunction with local band Battle Of The Camel. Featuring performances from David David Katzman, Oriana Leckert, Lauryn Allison Lewis, Katherine Scott Nelson, John Reed and Sally Weigel. | Read entire entry

It's day seventeen (and sixteen) of the Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour! | July 9, 2012
It's day seventeen of the Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour for "The New York Stories!" And once again I actually have two links to share today -- both Laura's stop today at Untoward Magazine, and her talk last Friday with fellow CCLaP artist Mark R. Brand. Click through for them both! | Read entire entry

It's day fifteen of the Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour! | July 5, 2012
It's day fifteen of CCLaP's Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour for "The New York Stories!" Today both Ben and Laura are doing a group talk with our friends at Artifice magazine, where they go into all kinds of detail about the process of putting this special illustrated edition together (including lots and lots of image examples). Click through for the link! | Read entire entry

It's day fourteen (and thirteen) of the Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour! | July 4, 2012
It's day fourteen of CCLaP's Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour for "The New York Stories!" And like usual these days, home internet problems kept me from updating yesterday, so today I have four links to share with you - yesterday at Baby Got Books for Laura and Dead End Follies for Ben, and today at WordPlaySound for Ben and Caleb J. Ross for Laura. Click through for all four links! | Read entire entry

It's day twelve of the Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour! | July 2, 2012
It's day twelve of the Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour for "The New York Stories!" And just like on Friday, today Ben and Laura are both being featured at the same place -- Lori Hettler's "The Next Best Book Blog," where both turn in separate videos featuring the places where they work. Click through for them both! | Read entire entry

It's day eleven of the Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour! | June 29, 2012
It's day eleven of CCLaP's Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour for "The New York Stories!" And while we wait for today's link to Ben and Laura's recent podcast talk for Another Chicago Magazine, let me share yesterday's link as well, a guest essay by Ben at the blog of Curt Bledsoe; and for that matter, let me officially announce all the dates for Laura's leg of the tour, starting today and lasting the next two weeks! Click through for it all! | Read entire entry

It's day nine (and eight) of the Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour! | June 27, 2012
It's day nine of the Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour for "The New York Stories!" And in fact once again I didn't get to post a tour update yesterday, so not only am I telling you today about Ben's recent MP3 reading for Curbside Splendor, but also about his recent visit with litblogger Patricia Ann McNair yesterday. Click through for them both! | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast 87: CCLaP in NYC - Book Thug Nation | June 25, 2012
Today on the CCLaP Podcast: It's show two of our recent four-day tour of New York, this time at Brooklyn bookstore Book Thug Nation, and in this case in conjunction with local litmag Moonshot. | Read entire entry

It's day seven of the Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour! | June 25, 2012
It's day seven of the Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour for "The New York Stories!" Today Ben is hanging out with our old buddy Mel Bosworth, so I hope you'll have a chance to stop by later. | Read entire entry

It's day six (and five) of the Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour! | June 22, 2012
It's day six of CCLaP's Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour for 'The New York Stories!' And in fact I missed yesterday's update, so I actually have two links to share today - a video interview between Ben and his son for Baby Got Books, and a guest essay by Ben on 'meta-projects' at Burrow Press Review. Plus photos and a report from last night's insanely packed release party for Lauryn Allison Lewis's CCLaP novella 'solo/down!' | Read entire entry

It's day four of the Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour! | June 20, 2012
It's day four of CCLaP's Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour for "The New York Stories!" Today Ben is hanging out with our old friend Pete Anderson, a fellow Chicago author and the owner of the great blog PeteLit.com. | Read entire entry

It's day three of the Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour! | June 19, 2012
It's day three of CCLaP's Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour for "The New York Stories!" Today Ben is hanging out with our pal Ryan Bradley; and instead of doing an interview, Ben asked Ryan (a full-time graphic designer and the owner of the great Artistically Declined Press) if he might do an alternative cover for the book, just as an interesting intellectual exercise. Click through to see the results! | Read entire entry

Welcome to the Ben Tanzer/Laura Szumowski virtual book tour! | June 18, 2012
Excelsior! Today kicks off CCLaP's latest virtual tour, this time a double one featuring both Ben Tanzer and Laura Szumowski, out promoting their illustrated story-collection collaboration from last Christmas, "The New York Stories." Plus, starting today, a big discount on the deluxe paper edition, and for the first time a free electronic version of the illustrated book! Click through for it all! | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast 86: CCLaP in NYC - Le Poisson Rouge | June 18, 2012
Today on the CCLaP Podcast: It's the first of four one-hour shows that CCLaP's authors recently attended in New York City, this time at the lower Manhattan rock club Le Poisson Rouge. Featuring performances from David David Katzman, Traci Kim, Lauryn Allison Lewis, Katherine Scott Nelson and John Reed. | Read entire entry

Hey, Chicagoans! Come out to the 'solo/down' release party this Thursday! | June 18, 2012
Hey, Chicagoans! I hope you'll have a chance to come out this Thursday for the official release party of Lauryn Allison Lewis's novella for CCLaP, "solo/down," at Cole's Bar in the Logan Square neighborhood (2338 N. Milwaukee) from 7 to 10 pm. Cupcakes! Music! Ten freaking readers! Plus every person who buys a book gets a free drink too! Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

Photo essay: CCLaP New York City tour report | June 8, 2012
CCLaP's back from New York City, safe and sound! And now that I've gotten a little rest, I thought I would devote the entire afternoon to getting a report and over 50 photos from the tour posted to the blog. Click through for the entire extra-long thing! | Read entire entry

It's day eight of Katherine Scott Nelson's virtual author tour! | May 30, 2012
It's day eight (and the final day) of Katherine Scott Nelson's virtual book tour for hir CCLaP novella "Have You Seen Me!" Today Katherine is over at our good friend Lori Hettler's The Next Best Book Blog, where ze is participating in a regular feature there called "Where Writers Write," essays about the locations where authors prefer doing their work. | Read entire entry

It's day seven of Katherine Scott Nelson's virtual author tour! | May 29, 2012
It's day seven of Katherine Scott Nelson's virtual book tour for hir CCLaP novella "Have You Seen Me!" Today Katherine is hanging out with our buddies at Curbside Splendor, another small press here in Chicago, for whom ze recently did a 15-minute MP3 reading of the first two scenes from the book. Click through for the link! | Read entire entry

Books! Parties! Struggling Kickstarter campaigns! Only four days until CCLaP's in New York City! | May 28, 2012
Holy crap! Only four days until CCLaP's big trip to New York City! Today, some photos of all the handmade books that have been made for the tour, shots from the bon voyage party we threw this weekend at Lauryn Allison Lewis's place in Evanston, and the latest from our sadly struggling Kickstarter campaign, and what you can do to help. Click through for it all! | Read entire entry

It's day five (and, uh, four) of Katherine Scott Nelson's virtual author tour! | May 25, 2012
It's day five of Katherine Scott Nelson's virtual book tour for hir CCLaP novella "Have You Seen Me!" Today Katherine is visiting our old pal Jason Behrends at the Orange Alert Podcast. And since we missed yesterday, you can visit today's post as well for day four's stop at the podcast of yet another good friend, Ben Tanzer, as well as photos from Katherine's physical tour stop last night at the Lambda Finalist reading at Chicago's Center On Halsted. Click through for all the images and links! | Read entire entry

It's day three of Katherine Scott Nelson's virtual author tour! | May 23, 2012
It's day three of Katherine Scott Nelson's virtual book tour for hir CCLaP novella "Have You Seen Me!" And today Katherine is at the blog of our old pal and fellow Chicago writer Jason Fisk, himself the author of last year's CCLaP book "Salt Creek Anthology." Click through for the link! | Read entire entry

Holy interrobang! CCLaP's holding a summer writing camp! | May 22, 2012
Well, whaddya know? CCLaP is doing its very first summer writing camp! It's every Tuesday through Friday this August, consists of eight interrelated courses on the storytelling process, was developed and is being taught by local academes, can be taken individually by existing writers to brush up on specific skills, but was designed primarily as a full program for teens looking to add an impressive asset to college applications. Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

It's day two of Katherine Scott Nelson's virtual author tour! | May 22, 2012
It's day two of Katherine Scott Nelson's virtual book tour for hir CCLaP novella "Have You Seen Me!" And today Katherine is at the blog of LGBT performer Sassafras Lowrey, where the two talk in detail about Katherine's writing process, hir thoughts on both YA and "coming out" literature, and a lot more. Click through for the link! | Read entire entry

It's day one of Katherine Scott Nelson's virtual book tour! | May 21, 2012
All right! It's day one of Katherine Scott Nelson's virtual author tour for hir CCLaP novella "Have You Seen Me," double-nominated for this year's Lambda Awards for LGBT literature (and with the awards ceremony just two weeks from today). Click through for the entire tour plans, and a link to today's stop, over at the blog of trans performer Rebecca Kling. | Read entire entry

CCLaP in NYC: We have a Friday lit partner! Now give us money! | May 15, 2012
Yeehaw! Only 16 days until CCLaP's big road trip to New York City! And I'm happy to say that we now have a local literary partner for our Friday show at Book Thug Nation, local litmag Moonshot. Click through for all the details. Oh, and did I mention that we're running our very first Kickstarter campaign right now too? How about donating a few bucks to pay for the $2,500 in plane tickets we all ended up buying? | Read entire entry

CCLaP's first-ever Kickstarter campaign is underway! | May 7, 2012
Have you heard? Six of CCLaP's authors are going on a four-day mini-tour of New York City at the end of this month! And that unfortunately meant that they were all forced to buy airplane tickets on their own dimes ahead of time; so in the hopes of subsidizing the money they've spent, we're running our first-ever Kickstarter campaign, specifically to pre-sell a new anthology featuring never-before-published work from all the authors in question. Click through for a lot more! | Read entire entry

Start spreading the news! CCLaP is going to New York City! | May 1, 2012
A group of us have been secretly working on this for six months, so I'm happy to finally announce publicly today that a half-dozen of CCLaP's authors and myself will be doing a four-day, four-show mini-tour of New York City at the end of this month, including Kevin Haworth, David David Katzman, Traci Kim, Oriana Leckert, Lauryn Allison Lewis, Katherine Scott Nelson, John Reed, Ben Tanzer and Sally Weigel. Click through for lots, lots, LOTS more! | Read entire entry

Good luck on your trip, Lauryn Allison Lewis! | March 15, 2012
Chicago author Lauryn Allison Lewis is leaving today to be a featured guest at Miami University of Ohio this week; and that meant that we worked hard and got a special little chapbook "sneak preview" edition of her coming dark surreal body-horror novella for CCLaP, "solo/down," finished and printed off for her to sell there this week. Click through for a lot more! | Read entire entry

It's the last day of Jason Fisk's virtual author tour! | March 5, 2012
Greetings from day ten of the Jason Fisk virtual author tour, in support of his "hyperfiction" story collection from last summer, "Salt Creek Anthology!" Today Jason finishes up a tiring but successful tour by stopping by the blog of our old pal Ben Tanzer. Click through for the link! | Read entire entry

It's day nine of Jason Fisk's virtual author tour! | March 2, 2012
Greetings from day nine of the Jason Fisk virtual author tour, in support of his "hyperfiction" story collection from last summer, "Salt Creek Anthology!" Today Jason is over at the Lantern Projects blog, an offshoot of Caroline Picard's Green Lantern alternative arts space over in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. Click through for the link! | Read entire entry

It's day eight of Jason Fisk's virtual author tour! | February 29, 2012
Greetings from day eight of the Jason Fisk virtual author tour, in support of his "hyperfiction" story collection from last summer, "Salt Creek Anthology!" Today Jason is hanging out with our old pal Claire Stokes, editor of the marketing-for-creatives blog "Clarity Solutions." Click through for the link! | Read entire entry

It's day seven of Jason Fisk's virtual author tour! | February 28, 2012
Greetings from day seven of the Jason Fisk virtual author tour, in support of his "hyperfiction" story collection from last summer, "Salt Creek Anthology!" Today Jason is hanging out with CCLaP pal and fellow local author Pete Anderson, editor of the great PeteLit.com. Click through for the link! | Read entire entry

It's day six of Jason Fisk's virtual author tour! | February 27, 2012
Greetings from day six of the Jason Fisk virtual author tour, in support of his "hyperfiction" story collection from last summer, "Salt Creek Anthology!" Today we've got a very special treat to start week two of the tour; turns out that Jason recently did a reading from the book for Victor David Giron's Curbside Splendor, which got turned into a professional small film by Garett Holden for the Curbside website. Click through for the link! | Read entire entry

It's day five of Jason Fisk's virtual author tour! | February 24, 2012
Greetings from day five of the Jason Fisk virtual author tour, in support of his "hyperfiction" story collection from last summer, "Salt Creek Anthology!" Today, a very special treat to wrap up week one of the tour -- an actual twenty-minute audio interview between Fisk and Jason Behrends over at his popular indie-rock/spoken-word "Orange Alert" podcast. Click through for the link! | Read entire entry

It's day four of Jason Fisk's virtual author tour! | February 23, 2012
Greetings from day four of the Jason Fisk virtual author tour, in support of his "hyperfiction" story collection from last summer, "Salt Creek Anthology!" Today Jason is hanging out with fellow local author and community maven Amy Guth -- she of the Chicago Tribune, WGN Radio, the Pilcrow Lit Fest, Reading Under the Influence...oh yeah, and who has a new novel coming out with CCLaP in July! Click through for the link! | Read entire entry

It's day three of Jason Fisk's virtual author tour! | February 22, 2012
Greetings from day three of the Jason Fisk virtual author tour, in support of his "hyperfiction" story collection from last summer, "Salt Creek Anthology!" Today Jason is visiting with fellow Chicago writer Katherine Scott Nelson, author of the big CCLaP hit "Have You Seen Me" from last fall. Click through for the link! | Read entire entry

It's day two of Jason Fisk's virtual author tour! | February 21, 2012
Greetings from day two of the Jason Fisk virtual author tour, in support of his CCLaP hyperfiction story collection "Salt Creek Anthology!" Today Jason is hanging out with fellow Chicago author Delphine Pontvieux, who don't forget has short pieces of her own in both of CCLaP's anthologies from 2011, "American Wasteland" and "Amsterdamned If You Do." Click through for the link! | Read entire entry

Announcing the Jason Fisk virtual author tour! | February 20, 2012
Yippee! After a long hiatus, CCLaP's "virtual author tours" are back this year with a vengeance; starting today, it's the tour for Jason Fisk and his experimental "Salt Creek Anthology" from last summer. Click through for more, including the complete list of stops over the next two weeks, and a link to today's kickoff stop at Lori Hettler's "The Next Best Book Blog." | Read entire entry

For your consideration: "Life After Sleep" for the 2012 Hugo | January 18, 2012
It's a long shot, but I wanted to remind everyone that the 2011 CCLaP science-fiction novel "Life After Sleep" by Mark R. Brand is eligible for this year's Hugo Award, the biggest award in the entire industry. They're being given out this year in Chicago, and CCLaP will be attending, so this would be a great feather in our cap if you can help out! | Read entire entry

SHOP Podcast 04: All The Writers I Know | January 17, 2012
Today on the SHOP Podcast, produced by the Southside Hub of Production and with files hosted here at CCLaP: It's the December edition of queer lit showcase "All The Writers I Know," hosted by Patrick Gill. Recorded in the library of the historic Walter William Fenn House in Chicago's Hyde Park. | Read entire entry

Hey, Chicagoans! CCLaP's first major fundraiser is here! | January 9, 2012
Happy day! CCLaP is finally set to hold its first-ever major fundraiser on February 4th, in honor of the recent "New York Stories" deluxe illustrated book by Ben Tanzer with Laura Szumowski. $100 per couple gets you a copy of the book, free food and liquor, and a multimedia performance, all within the confines of a historic Victorian mansion in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. Click through for all the details, and to purchase tickets right this second! | Read entire entry

SHOP Podcast 03: Jumeck Raféal | January 2, 2012
Today on the SHOP Podcast, produced by the Southside Hub of Production but with files hosted here at CCLaP: It's a half-hour reading by local author Jumeck Rafeal from his novel "Calling Queens," in which a modern African-American high-school teacher is transported to the Middle Ages, and inhabits the bodies of the various wives of Henry VIII. Held at the historic William Wallace Fenn House in Chicago's Hyde Park. | Read entire entry

CCLaP's paying some artists on December 18th! Come join us! | December 8, 2011
Hooray! Time for CCLaP to pay some artists again! This time it'll be Jason Fisk of "Salt Creek Anthology" and Katherine Scott Nelson of "Have You Seen Me;" we'll be meeting up at the Swedish pub Simon's in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood on Sunday, December 18th. Click through for all the details, including the Facebook event page! | Read entire entry

SHOP Podcast 02: Robert Beshara | November 28, 2011
Today on the SHOP Podcast, produced by the Southside Hub of Production (southsidehub.org) and whose files are hosted at CCLaP: It's a half-hour reading by Rober Beshara of his "N.A.R.T.ist Manifesto," a new way of thinking about the relationship between artists, researchers and teachers. | Read entire entry

The Chicago Book Expo is this weekend! | November 18, 2011
The Chicago Book Expo is this weekend! CCLaP will have a booth at it, co-manned by the always vivacious Lauryn Allison; plus we'll having signing hours on Saturday from Sally Weigel (12 to 1), Katherine Scott Nelson (2 to 3), and Ben Tanzer (4 to 5). Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

And don't forget the big Chicago party tonight! | November 10, 2011
And don't forget, Chicagoans, tonight's the big release party for Katherine Scott Nelson's book with CCLaP, the runaway coming-of-age novella "Have You Seen Me," at Women & Children First Bookstore in Andersonville, then moving to a nearby wine bar afterwards. Click through for the details! Hope to see you tonight! | Read entire entry

SHOP Podcast 01: All The Writers I Know | November 10, 2011
Today on the SHOP Podcast, produced by the Southside Hub of Production and whose files are hosted and distributed through CCLaP: It's the November edition of the queer literary showcase "All The Writers I Know," held in the library of the historic Fenn House in Chicago's Hyde Park where SHOP is headquartered. | Read entire entry

Just look at all the busy crap coming up with CCLaP soon! | November 4, 2011
Frustrated by the lack of CCLaP blog updates recently? That's because we have a book release party for Katherine Scott Nelson next week we're working on, then a new book by Ben Tanzer and Laura Szumowski the following week, then our first book fair the next week, then our big high-ticket Victorian-mansion Christmas fundraiser the week after that! Whew! Click through for it all! | Read entire entry

Announcing the SHoP Reading Series podcast! | November 3, 2011
Today at CCLaP, I'm happy to announce an official new addition to our podcast -- regular live literary readings from a new Hyde Park arts organization I've gotten involved with, called the Southside Hub of Production or SHoP for short. Click through for the details, and to see photos from last night's inaugural event, a regular queer-lit showcase called "All The Writers I Know." | Read entire entry

We're having a party for "Have You Seen Me!" | October 18, 2011
It's Katherine Scott Nelson Day at CCLaP! And in celebration of her new novella with the center, the runaway coming-of-age tale "Have You Seen Me," we'll be throwing a release party on November 10th at Women & Children First Bookstore in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood. Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast 78: Live from the 'American Wasteland' release party | September 16, 2011
Today on the CCLaP Podcast: It's a special half-hour live-audience edition, recorded at the center's recent book release party for "American Wasteland," last September 9th at Quimby's Bookstore in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. Featuring performances from Delphine Pontvieux, Mark R. Brand and Lawrence Santoro. | Read entire entry

Kickstarter Alert: Eddie Wright | September 16, 2011
Today, the start of a new feature at the blog, pointing out Kickstarter campaigns from people who have been featured at the website before. Today features the latest project by Eddie Wright, whose surrealist drama "Broken Bulbs" I declared one of the best experimental books of the year in 2009. | Read entire entry

Hope to see you at the CCLaP Quimby's party tonight! | September 9, 2011
Just a short reminder about CCLaP's release party at Quimby's Bookstore tonight, for the dark sci-fi 9/11 anthology "American Wasteland." Free beer! Local performances! Sexy nerds! Hope to see you there! | Read entire entry

Don't forget the big CCLaP Quimby's party this Friday! | September 6, 2011
Only four days until CCLaP's big "American Wasteland" release party this coming Friday, at famed Wicker Park destination Quimby's Bookstore! Free beer! Readings from Mark R. Brand, Delphine Pontvieux and Lawrence Santoro! Many, many sexy nerds in funny glasses! Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

CCLaP After Dark 08: The Printers Ball | August 30, 2011
Today in "CCLaP After Dark," the center's new video series on various live Chicago literary events: it's a report from this year's Printers Ball, a massive celebration of print media sponsored by Columbia College, the Poetry Foundation and more, one of the largest of its kind in the entire US. | Read entire entry

You're invited to the "American Wasteland" Quimby's release party! | August 22, 2011
Hot damn! Fresh on the heels of its big quadruple book release party the other week, CCLaP is happy to announce its newest event, a release party at Quimby's in Wicker Park for the new anthology "American Wasteland: Bleak Tales of the Future on the Tenth Anniversary of 9/11." Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

Hey, Jason Fisk, how was Minnesota? | August 18, 2011
Writer Jason Fisk recently became CCLaP's first author to officially travel to another state to attend a bookclub discussion, in this case to Minnesota to discuss his story collection "Salt Creek Anthology." Click through for photos and a field report. | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast 76: Live from the CCLaP Book Party | August 17, 2011
Today on the CCLaP Podcast: It's a special one-hour, live-audience edition, recorded at the center's big book release party at Chicago's Beauty Bar on August 10th. Featuring performances from Jason Fisk, Sally Weigel, Ben Tanzer, Mark R. Brand, Delphine Pontvieux and Robert Duffer. | Read entire entry

CCLaP's book release party was a big success! | August 12, 2011
CCLaP's big quadruple book release party this past Wednesday was a huge success, with 75 people in attendance altogether and a fun drunken (DRUNKEN) time had by all. Click through for a longer recap and lots of photos! | Read entire entry

CCLaP's big book release party is tomorrow! | August 9, 2011
Holy crap! CCLaP's giant quadruple book release party is tomorrow! Here, final details for those who need them, and links to a series of long interviews and profiles about the center that have recently been showing up around the blogosphere. | Read entire entry

Only one week until CCLaP's big book release party! | August 3, 2011
Hey hey! Just one week until CCLaP's big quadruple book release party and performance extravaganza, taking place August 10th at Beauty Bar over at 1444 W. Chicago Avenue. Click through for more details, and to see a new profile of CCLaP published today by Lori Hettler's "The Next Best Book Blog." | Read entire entry

A chat with Sally Weigel | July 18, 2011
It's release day for CCLaP's latest "Hypermodern" paper book, in this case Sally Weigel's youth/war novella "Too Young to Fall Asleep," originally published electronically in 2009. Here I sit and talk with Sally via text chat about all the things that have been going on with her in the two years since the book first came out. | Read entire entry

Announcing the CCLaP Quadruple Book Release Party! | July 11, 2011
It's official -- CCLaP is throwing its next big live event on Wednesday, August 10th, a special group party celebrating all four paper books the center will have out by then, from local authors Ben Tanzer, Sally Weigel, Mark R. Brand and Jason Fisk. It's at Beauty Bar in the Noble Square neighborhood and will feature free food and performances; click through for all the details, including links to its Facebook page and iCal file. | Read entire entry

CCLaP After Dark 07: QUICKIES! | June 24, 2011
Today in "CCLaP After Dark," the center's new video podcast series on the various live literary events I'm attending around Chicago this summer: it's a recap from the latest edition of "QUICKIES!," a popular monthly reading held at Wicker Park's Innertown Pub, in which a large group of performers each get exactly four minutes on stage. Click through for the video! | Read entire entry

CCLaP After Dark 06: Literary Death Match | June 13, 2011
Today on the CCLaP Podcast: It's episode 6 of the center's new video series, "CCLaP After Dark," short recaps of various live lit events across the city this summer. Today's episode features an all-comedy edition of "Literary Death Match," a truly global phenomenon started by Todd Zuniga which is now held in over thirty cities across the planet. | Read entire entry