August 2, 2016
We are excited to welcome Evanston artist Patrick Shiplett as the next to be featured in our ongoing exhibition series Local Art @ EPL. A cartoonist whose work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, NY Times, and Washington Post, Shiplett’s exhibit features nearly three dozen cartoons he presented to the New Yorker’s editorial staff before […]
July 25, 2016
This month for Poetry 365 we’re highlighting the remarkable debut collection from poet Eleanor Chai. In Standing Water, Chai takes readers to a small Paris museum where she encounters a bust of Japaneses dancer Little Hanako by sculptor Auguste Rodin that triggers painfully complex memories of the mother erased from the poet’s life since her […]
July 21, 2016
Donna Wesley Spencer is an Evanston photographer, founding member of Perspective Gallery, and the latest artist to be featured in our ongoing exhibition series Local Art @ EPL. Her exhibit Inside the Frances Willard House is currently on display on the 2nd floor of EPL’s Main Library where you can catch it through July 30th. […]
July 14, 2016
Even though Cyndee Schaffer always knew her mother served during World War II, it was still a little hard to believe. “She was always a very quiet person,” says Schaffer, “and that she found the courage to join the military just amazed me.” In fact, Schaffer’s mother – Mollie Weinstein Schaffer – served as an […]
July 7, 2016
The Soon To Be Famous Illinois Author Project recently announced the 2016 winner of its annual writing competition, and now your list of “must-read” books is officially one title longer. Choosing from the best self-published fiction Illinois writers have to offer, librarians throughout the state selected Geralyn Hesslau Magrady as this year’s winning author for […]
July 1, 2016
Donna Wesley Spencer is an Evanston photographer, founding member of Perspective Gallery, and the next featured artist in our ongoing exhibition series Local Art @ EPL. Her exhibit Inside the Frances Willard House is currently on display on the 2nd floor of EPL’s Main Library where you can catch it through July 31st. Featuring sixteen […]
June 19, 2016
Today is Father’s Day, and here on Off the Shelf we’re celebrating with a special salute to EPL’s favorite TV dads. Enjoy, and to all the dads in both Chicagoland and TV land… Happy Father’s Day! Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, Downton Abbey “He loves his daughters enough to learn from them and see the […]
June 14, 2016
Father’s Day is less than one week away, and that party you’re planning for your dad is really coming together. You’ve already gift wrapped a fashionable necktie, ordered brats for the cookout, and scoured StubHub for tickets to see the Cubs beat those dastardly Pirates. Well, here on Off the Shelf we’re also planning a […]
June 10, 2016
This month for Poetry 365 we’re featuring Nicholas Christopher’s engaging new book On Jupiter Place. Favorably compared to the work of Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Bishop, and James Merrill, this eighth collection of poetry from the Tiger Rag author is perhaps his most personal and autobiographical work to date. Filled with intimate portraits of his grandmother, […]
June 6, 2016
Amina Gautier writes short stories, and her short story collections win awards. It’s about that simple. Back in 2011, for instance, her debut collection At-Risk earned the Flannery O’Connor Award and the First Horizon Award among other honors, and her 2014 follow-up Now We Will Be Happy won the Praire Schooner Book Prize. This past […]
