On the rainy evening of September 27, 1999, Dr. Clark Elliott was en route to DePaul University to deliver a lecture when his car was rear ended at a Morton Grove stoplight. Shaken but seemingly uninjured, Elliott continued on to DePaul’s campus unaware he’d suffered a concussion that would dramatically alter his life. In his remarkable new memoir The Ghost in My Brain: How a Concussion Stole My Life and How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Helped Me Get It Back, Elliott details the harrowing effects of his concussion along with his remarkable recovery almost 10 years later with the help of two cutting-edge Chicago doctors. This Monday, November 7th you can hear Dr. Elliott discuss The Ghost in My Brain when he visits EPL’s 1st Floor Community Meeting Room at 7 p.m. In anticipation of his visit, we recently spoke with him via email about the debilitating concussion symptoms he fought to overcome, brain plasticity, the groundbreaking work of Drs. Donalee Markus and Deboray Zelinsky, and the reasons he wrote his book.
Continue reading “An Interview with 'The Ghost in My Brain' author Clark Elliott”
Donna Wesley Spencer is an Evanston photographer, founding member of 
Abby Geni insists she’s “always been a novelist at heart,” and with her provocative debut thriller 
Marta Mazur is a local painter, poet, and the latest artist to be featured in our ongoing exhibition series Local Art @ EPL. Her exhibit Life in the Rush is currently on display on the 2nd floor of EPL’s Main Library where you can catch it through April 28th. Featuring a striking mix of abstract oils, pencil and charcoal drawings, and original poetry, her show strives “to understand difficult issues and take a hard look at society.” You can see more of Ms. Mazur’s work by visiting 
Ben Nadler believes that “a writer owes a reader a good story,” and with his excellent new novel 
We last talked with author Christine Sneed back in early 2011 shortly after she published her first short story collection