All library locations are open and fully operational today, Friday, July 5.
March 10, 2014
The first winner of the Folio prize, created in response to “shortcomings of the Man Booker prize”, was awarded today to the short story collection Tenth of December by George Saunders. Judges, including Lavinia Greenlaw, Michael Chabon, Sarah Hall, Nam Le and Pankaj Mishra, praised the stories as “darkly playful” saying: ” they take us […]
March 7, 2014
We are pleased to introduce Chicagoland painter Shalisha Erenberg as the next featured artist in our ongoing exhibition series Local Art @ EPL. Her show – titled Articulated Impressions – is currently on display on the 2nd floor of EPL’s Main library where you can catch it through March 31st. Influenced by her studies with […]
March 6, 2014
George Saunders won $20,000 for his collection of stories Tenth of December. According to the judges of the Story Prize: “George Saunders offers a vision and version of our world that takes into account the serious menace all around us without denying the absurd pleasures that punctuate life.” Runners-up Andrea Barrett for Archangel and Rebecca […]
March 6, 2014
Imagine hearing Will Shakespeare read one of his sonnets to you. How about Dickens regaling listeners with a reading from Oliver Twist? Proust, reciting in French about those madeleines? That would require a time-traveler willing to schlep around a whole lot of not-yet-invented recording equipment. But for some authors of the more recent past, it is […]
March 4, 2014
French filmmaker Alain Resnais died on Saturday in Paris at the age of 91. Most well-known for his films Last Year at Marienbad and Hiroshima Mon Amour, Mr. Resnais was often associated with French New Wave directors Jean-Luc Godard and Francoise Truffaut. “Fascinated by the ability of film editing to take apart and reassemble fragments […]
March 3, 2014
This list of “22 Books You Should Read Now, Based on Your Childhood Favorites” is causing quite the debate here at the Reader’s Services Desk. Some of the recommendations we vehemently disagree with: Swamplandia! for fans of A Wrinkle in Time??! Others are spot-on: Love The Giver? Try Never Let Me Go.
February 28, 2014
This month for Poetry 365 we’re featuring Alex Lemon’s stellar new volume The Wish Book. Tightly coiled, kaleidoscopic, and full of heart, this fourth collection from the author of Happy blends “the energy of a carnival barker with the precise prosody of a master craftsman.” Favorably compared to the work of Lucia Perillo and Laura […]
February 27, 2014
Dr. Huey Copeland is an Associate Professor of Art History at Northwestern University and the author of Bound to Appear: Art, Slavery, and the Site of Blackness in Multicultural America, published just last year by the University of Chicago Press. On Thursday, March 6th, he will discuss his new book project In the Arms of […]
February 24, 2014
For the first time in history, 26 hats from Dr. Seuss’s personal collection, along with his original artwork, will be touring the country, stopping in six states. His sister Marnie said that he collected unique and historic hats using them as a foundation for his book The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, which marked its […]
February 21, 2014
“We’re in a juncture right now where bookstores as we have known them are at risk. Libraries as we’ve known them are at risk, publishers are at risk, American literature is at risk, as we’ve known it, and getting kids reading is at risk. The government has stepped in to help banks, automobiles, anything where […]
