Books Printers Row Lit Fest embraces Chicago’s writers.

ARTS & CULTURE

BOOKS Printers Row Lit Fest embraces Chicago’s writers

The 37th annual festival off ers vendors, networking, and live author events.

By KIMZYN CAMPBELL

Printers Row Lit Fest has been bringing all things literary to the streets of the Printers Row neighborhood for 37 years. The festivities return for the second weekend of September with a packed schedule of events.

The festival is many things to many people: a homage to the publishing industry, a shopping spree for book lovers, a postable feast for Bookstagrammers, and perhaps, above all, a place for publishers, journalists, writers, poets, and agents to hobnob. Specifi cally, it is the place for any writer in the midwest to see and be seen, or, better yet, hear and be heard.

Two days of live events, spoken word, readings, workshops, and panel discussions will wash over the brawny former industrial zone, and over 100 booksellers will line the streets with their tents full of actual paper books as the last cicada chirps of summer fade. Best of all, the programming is free! What could be more inviting than that? Perhaps a mere dash of sweater weather and a nicely positioned co ee truck on Polk Street could tip it into a rom-com paradise?

If you plan to stroll the outdoor festival and take advantage of the book stalls and writers events, take a moment to cast your eyes skyward to see some of the historic architecture as well. Nestled in the South Loop, most of the old printer buildings have been converted into fancy lofts and shops. But you can still see some remnants of Chicago’s printing hub glory days (which peaked in the 1880s) in the architecture. The Franklin building (720 S. Dearborn) features a mural of the Gutenberg Bible being printed and tiles of bookbinders and printers along the building’s facade.

The entire area is so unique that it has landed on the National Register of Historic Places and the “Printing House Row Historic District” is listed as a National Historic Landmark. Stroll over to the Printers Row Park fountain and community garden (0.38 acres of greenery hidden in the Loop at 632 S. Dearborn) and fi nd a moment of rest in this discreet nod to the area’s printing history, featuring concrete benches resembling printers’s blocks and a kaleidoscopic fountain that would make Frank Lloyd Wright blush postmortem. If you need to escape the elements all together, you might wander into Sandmeyer’s Bookstore (714 S. Dearborn) for an authentic vibe and browse the many titles on display (since 1982).

Printers Row Lit Fest juggles over 100 author appearances and coordinates entertainment for all echelons of the publishing industry—from the romance writer to the political activist—while also providing programming for children (including a Latin American-style puppet show in Spanish and English presented by Carlos Theatre Productions). As of this writing, a full schedule of the weekend’s events had not yet been released, but a steady stream of updates is available at the festival’s Instagram (@printersrowfest).

Even without the full timeline to pour over, the established highlights of this year’s Printers Row Lit Fest are enough to entice a crowd. The emphasis on recognizing Chicago writers is strong and also includes diverse voices who focus on social justice and activism. Danyel Smith, the first Black editor of Billboard magazine, will talk about her recent

PRINTERS ROW LIT FEST

Sat 9/10-Sun 9/11, 10 AM-6 PM, S. Dearborn from Ida B. Wells Dr. to Polk and Polk from State to Clark, free, printersrowlitfest.org

The festival provides plenty of book shopping opportunities. KEN CARL

book Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop. Jamie Ford will discuss his current New York Times bestseller The Many Daughters of Afong Moy, and the Emcee Skool organization will lead a spoken word workshop and open mike.

The festival does not give short shrift to Chicago’s journalists or satirists; perhaps the best known amplifi ers of social justice personages and causes in Chicago. The Sun-Times and WBEZ will host a series of panels refl ecting on two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, including a conversation between Dr. David Ansell (author of The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills) and Dr. Thomas Fisher (author of The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago ER).

The Chicago Public Library will host “Voices for Justice: Natalie Moore’s The Billboard,” including a staged reading of excerpts from Moore’s play. The Sun-Times also hosts an in-person episode of their series The Environmental Justice Exchange dedicated to Hazel M. Johnson. Johnson started a movement when she noticed that her neighbors on the south side were suffering from physical ailments associated with pollution, toxins, and poor living conditions, and founded People for Community Recovery in 1979 to advocate for environmental justice. The Sun-Times and Chicago Public Media also host a discussion titled “Social Justice in Chicago: The Mexican Community’s Fight to Stay in the City” hosted by Elvia Malagón (a Sun-Times reporter focusing on social justice topics) with guest Mike Amezcua, author of Making Mexican Chicago: From Postwar Settlement to the Age of Gentrifi cation.

Printers Row Lit Fest is one of Chicago’s core city triumphs. It’s as Chicago as the Bud Billiken parade and as eternal as a zine-fi lled Quimby’s Bookstore. If you attend, you’ll be part of the Chicago literary scene! Welcome to the glitterati. v @kimzyn