Tag: interview

An Interview with Manvee Vaid

December 13, 2013

Manvee - Dancers

Manvee Vaid is a Chicagoland artist and the curator of the newest exhibit in our ongoing Local Art @ EPL series.  Comprised of over three dozen stunning samples of contemporary Indian folk art, her exhibit features works from the Madhubani, Gond, Warli, and Bengal regions of India done in acrylics, ink, vegetable colors, red mud, charcoal, and gouache.  You can catch her show on the 2nd floor of EPL’s Main Library throughout December, and you can preview additional works by visiting her online gallery Deccan Footprints.  What’s more, you can meet Ms. Vaid in person on Saturday, December 14th at 4 p.m. when she visits our Community Meeting Room to discuss the creative processes behind various exhibited pieces.  In anticipation of her visit, we recently spoke with Ms. Vaid via email about her artistic origins and inspirations, the distinct regional styles of Indian folk art, and her upcoming collaboration with Now Art India.

Continue reading “An Interview with Manvee Vaid” →

An Interview with Marc Perlish

November 27, 2013

perlish

Marc Perlish is an Evanston photographer and the latest artist to be featured in our ongoing exhibition series Local Art @ EPL.  His striking new collection is currently on display on the 2nd floor of EPL’s Main Library where it pays “poetic homage to Bookman’s Alley and the bookstore’s imaginative creator Roger Carlson.”  You can catch his Bookman’s Alley series through the end of November, and after that, you can learn more about Mr. Perlish’s work by visiting his website.  We recently spoke with Mr. Perlish via email about the magic of Bookman’s Alley, his creative process, and his future artistic projects.

Continue reading “An Interview with Marc Perlish” →

An Interview with Paul McComas and Greg Starrett: Men of Monstrous Ambitions

October 19, 2013

FIt For A Frankenstein

Paul McComas wears many hats…as well as the occasional half-head Frankenstein’s Monster mask.  McComas is the author of two novels and two short story collections, and the editor of two short-fiction anthologies.  In addition, the Evanston resident is an award-winning indie filmmaker, a teacher of writing, literature, and film, and a performance artist of no small repute.  His latest project is the novella Fit For A Frankenstein, co-authored with his long-time friend, Greg Starrett.  This is the first book for Starrett, a resident of Munster, Indiana, and the founder of Veidt Radio Theatre.

Fit For A Frankenstein pays homage to Universal Studio’s monster movies of the 1930s and 1940s, as it follows Ygor’s and the Monster’s increasingly zany quest for a size 66 X-X-Long suit. Logan’s Run author William F. Nolan recommends it for any reader with “fond memories of the iconic Monster.”  On Saturday, October 26, McComas and Starrett will perform scenes from the book, answer questions, and sign copies for anyone brave enough to venture to the Community Meeting Room at 3 p.m.  We recently overcame our fears, and sat down to talk with the co-authors about their monstrous collaboration.

Continue reading “An Interview with Paul McComas and Greg Starrett: Men of Monstrous Ambitions” →

An Interview with Sarah Hahne

September 22, 2013

gravity
“Gravity” by Sarah Hahne

Sarah Hahne is a local printmaker, painter, and the latest artist to be featured in our ongoing exhibition series Local Art @ EPL.  Her show – titled A New Practice – is currently on display on the 2nd floor of EPL’s Main Library and reuses carpet tread, plastic, and even window screens to create quilt-like works that explore our “conflicted relationship… with our environment and the resulting disconnect with our core selves.”  You can catch A New Practice through the end of September, and after that, you can learn more about Ms. Hahne’s work by visiting her website.  We recently spoke with Ms. Hahne via email about her “first language,” her creative process, Woman Made Gallery, and public art.

Continue reading “An Interview with Sarah Hahne” →

An Interview with Vincent Brent

August 15, 2013

brent2Vincent Brent is a local painter who was recently featured in our ongoing exhibition series Local Art @ EPL.  His latest collection was on display at EPL’s Main Library throughout July and represented a departure from his typical vibrant colors as he experimented with black and white oils.  If you missed his show, however, don’t fret.  You can view more of Mr. Brent’s work by visiting his website, and he recently spoke with us via email about his artistic awakening following a kite flying contest, his creative process, and art’s unique power to heal.

Continue reading “An Interview with Vincent Brent” →

An Interview with Michael Berns

January 28, 2013

mikeincap2Michael Berns is a local photographer, architect, and the latest artist to be featured in our ongoing exhibition series Local Art @ EPL.  His show – titled From Within – From Without – is currently on display on the 2nd floor of EPL’s Main Branch where you can catch it through Wednesday, January 30th.  Inspired by Henri Cartier-Bresson’s “decisive moment,” the collection presents twenty-four striking black and white images captured everywhere from the Washington D.C. subway to the Texas rodeo circuit.  We recently spoke with Mr. Berns via email about his creative inspirations, photography as poetry, and art as a growth process.

Continue reading “An Interview with Michael Berns” →

An Interview with Dr. Thomas Simpson

January 26, 2013

murder and mediaDr. Thomas Simpson is a Distinguished Senior Lecturer in Italian at Northwestern University and the author of the recent book Murder and Media in the New Rome: The Fadda Affair.  Meticulously researched in the libraries and archives of Italy, his book offers a fascinating exploration of “a sensational crime and trial that took place in Rome in the late 1870’s, when the bloody killing of a war hero triggered a national spectacle.”  On Thursday, January 31st at 7 p.m., you can hear Dr. Simpson discuss and read from Murder and Media in the New Rome when he visits EPL’s 1st Floor Community Meeting Room as part of the Evanston Northwestern Humanities Lecture Series.  In anticipation of his visit, we recently spoke with him via email about how the Fadda Affair fits into the whole of Italian history, how newspapers helped enflame the scandal, the role of Roman women in the spectacle, and the best novels about the “Risorgimento” period.

Continue reading “An Interview with Dr. Thomas Simpson” →

An Interview with Randy Richardson

January 18, 2013

randy richardson
Author Randy Richardson reads at EPL on Jan. 24th at 6:30 p.m.

Randy Richardson is no stranger to Chicago’s literary scene.  A journalist, essayist, and the president of the Chicago Writers Association, his debut novel Lost in the Ivy was named one of 2005’s notable Chicago books by Gapers Block.  Now Richardson is back with his new novel Cheeseland, and the local lit world is buzzing again.  Favorably compared to the work of Dennis Lehane and Nicholas Sparks, Cheeseland tells the tragicomic coming-of-age story of Lance Parker and Daniel McAllister, two Southside teens who embark on a Wisconsin road trip to mend their fractured friendship.  A 2011 Evie Fiction Finalist, Cheeseland has been described by author Christine Sneed as an unforgettable page-turner that “reminds us that adolescence can be a land of thrilling self-discovery and of serious danger.”  On Thursday, January 24th, you can hear Mr. Richardson read from Cheeseland when he visits EPL’s 1st Floor Community Meeting Room at 6:30 p.m. along with local authors Gail Lukasik and Jerry Jaffe.  In anticipation of his visit, we recently spoke with him via email about his real-life inspirations for the book, the destructive nature of secrets, what’s new at CWA, and his favorite reads from 2012.

Continue reading “An Interview with Randy Richardson” →

An Interview with Nick Harkaway

November 21, 2012

Author Nick Harkaway (Photo © Clare Cornwell)

Nick Harkaway is used to answering questions about his dad John le Carré.  “I keep trying to explain that I don’t mind,” the young British novelist wrote in a candid essay for The Telegraph.  “It’s just part of the landscape to me, like my own nose.”  But even if he is willing to talk about his famous father, don’t let your curiosity distract you from the fact that Harkaway is himself one seriously gifted author.  Back in 2009, his sci-fi debut The Gone-Away World earned a Locus nomination for Best First Novel, and now his ambitious follow-up Angelmaker is a shoo-in for 2012 Best Book lists.  A wholly original mix of gangster noir, steampunk, espionage adventure, and picaresque, Angelmaker tells the raucous tale of Joshua Joseph Spork, an antique clock repairman and the son of a legendary London mobster.  Shaken from his quiet life when a 1950’s doomsday machine surfaces in his shop, Spork is forced to embrace his gangster roots as he tangles with an octogenarian super spy, clockwork bees, and an evil South Asian dictator in a mad dash to save the world.  Filled with sharp insights on the nature of truth and free will, Angelmaker has been described by Matt Haig as a book “you finish reading in gape-mouthed awe and breathless admiration, having experienced something very special indeed.”  Mr. Harkaway recently spoke with us via email about Angelmaker and “translit,” the necessity of villains, John Ruskin, the stigma of humor, his nonfiction debut The Blind Giant, and last summer’s Olympic Games.

Continue reading “An Interview with Nick Harkaway” →

Translate »