Category Archives: Writing
Praise for Smokestacks & Skyscrapers
In 1999 Loyola University Press’ imprint, Wild Onion Books, published a book David Starkey and I edited. Smokestacks and Skyscrapers was the first major anthology of Chicago writing in nearly 50 years and by far its most comprehensive. It gained … Continue reading
The Black Chicago Renaissance
In the opening line of her introduction to The Black Chicago Renaissance, Darlene Clark Hine writes that “beginning in the 1930’s and lasting into the 1950’s, black Chicago experienced a cultural renaissance that rivaled and, some argue, exceeded the cultural … Continue reading
Sterling Plumpp: Survival Blues
Born in rural Mississippi in 1940, Sterling Plumpp has for thirty years taught at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and produced a body of poetry giving him considerable claim to be one of the country’s most distinguished blues-jazz poets. Somber … Continue reading