Woke up at 6 AM to drive across Pennsylvania, a state that has come to seem endlessly long. I arrived an hour early and found the bookstore from my itinerary in a […]
Category: author commentary
“A Few Notes from North Carolina” by Jane Bernstein
I try to be realistic about bookstore appearances in places where I don’t have friends and family to fill up the chairs and hope that someone shows up;Â maybe even […]
“Strike” by Peter Cole
Peter Cole is an associate professor of history at Western Illinois University and the author of the recently published University of Illinois Press book Wobblies on the Waterfront: Interracial Unionism […]
“Going to Get Myself a Banjo or a White Cowgirl Shirt” by Craig Havighurst
Note to self: don’t schedule any more shared book signings with veteran professional entertainers. Now don’t get me wrong. It was an honor to work the Illinois Press booth at […]
“Breast is Best?” by Jean O’Malley Halley
Jean O’Malley Halley is a sociology professor at Wagner College in New York City. Her book about touching children, breastfeeding, children’s sleep and contemporary childrearing advice, Boundaries of Touch: Parenting […]
“Don West: Let Us Now Praise a Dangerous Poet, Part 2″ by Jeff Biggers
Jeff Biggers is the author of In the Sierra Madre (University of Illinois Press, 2007) and The United States of Appalachia (Shoemaker and Hoard, 2007). The University of Illinois Press […]
“Don West: Let Us Now Praise a Dangerous Poet, Part 1” by Jeff Biggers
Jeff Biggers is the author of In the Sierra Madre (University of Illinois Press, 2007) and The United States of Appalachia (Shoemaker and Hoard, 2007). The University of Illinois Press […]
New Groove by Stephen Cramer
Stephen Cramer is the author of Shiva’s Drum, a National Poetry Series winner. He teaches in the creative writing program at Johnson State College in Johnson, Vermont. His new book, […]
Burl Ives: “Solidarity Forever” by Bucky Halker
Bucky Halker is a songwriter, performer, labor historian, Senior Program Officer of the Illinois Humanities Council, and a Producer of the Folksongs of Illinois CD series that the University of […]
Following a Hunch about Tomatoes by Andrew F. Smith
Andrew F. Smith is a freelance writer who teaches culinary history and professional food writing at the New School in Manhattan. He is the author of many books, including The […]
The Chicago Marathon Water Controversy by Andrew Suozzo
Andrew Suozzo is a professor of Modern Languages at DePaul University and the author of The Chicago Marathon (University of Illinois Press, 2006). Suozzo is currently teaching a course on […]
“Corn: From the Sierra Madre to the American Prairies” by Jeff Biggers
Jeff Biggers has worked as a writer, radio correspondent, and educator across the United States, Europe, Mexico, and India. The paperback edition of his latest book In the Sierra Madre […]