The rumors were finally confirmed yesterday by an image posted by Zach Dodson of Featherproof Books. The new project from Lindsay Hunter of Quickies fame is a collection of 20 "Slim Fictions" collected inside a box resembling a cigarette box. It's brilliant and beautiful, and if you have ever read the word on Lindsay Hunter extremely fitting. This is Lindsay's first book, and it will be released by Featherproof this Fall.

William Allegrezza is the founder and curator of Series A, an unique Hyde Park reading series and resource that vows to showcase experimental writing. The twist with this series is the discussion piece. The writers that they invite don't only read their work, but they are also given the opportunity to discuss their work. Furthermore, the space that they hold shop in adds a great deal to the creative nature of the night. It only helps solidify the connection between various art forms with the language arts and provides a space to display/perform the experimental in any incarnation of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, or drama. Tonight, they will bring Kristin Dykstra and Larry O'Dean to the stage. The evening starts at 7:00pm at Hyde Park Art Center (5020 S. Cornell Avenue).

Once again it's time to check in with Jac Jemc and the local shop Women and Children First to see what books are finding good homes this week.

1. Year of Cats & Dogs by Margaret Hawkins
2. Half the Sky - Nicholas Kristof
3. Where We Find Ourselves - Miriam Ben-Yoseph
4. Just Kids - Patti Smith
5. Lazarus Project - Aleksandar Hemon

Life is full of contradictions, but it still caught me off guard when I received the e-vite to Robyn Pennacchia's Sunday Night Sex Show/Haiti Fundraiser. The Sunday Night Sex Show is a monthly reading true, personal stories about sex, sexuality, dating, love, and all that's involved with that. There is also trivia and prizes involved, but the highlight of this months reading is the donation they are asking for this month. also have a merch table with condoms, cds, books, cupcakes, vegan treats, pins, and all sorts of other fun things. All the proceeds that they bring in with go to Doctors Without Borders.

Don't forget about the readers, this month they are featuring Monique Lewis, Tadd Adcox, Brittany DeGroat, Brandon Will, Rudy Palermo and Ian Tobin. So, stop by The Burlington this Sunday (Jan. 31st) at 7:30pm.

The first rule of Write Club is nobody talks about the Write Club. On Jan 29th a group of writers will square off in a series of battles that will result in the audience deciding the champ. Hosted by Ian Belknap, Write Club will feature Jenny Magnus (Curious Theatre Branch); Jonathan Messinger (Featherproof Books, Dollar Store Show); Christopher Piatt (former theater critic, Time Out Chicago, host of Paper Machete); Eric Ziegenhagen (bon vivant extraordinaire), Kristiana Colón (Def poet, Worldwide Poetry Slam). The writers will compose original pieces on opposing topics. The topic will be Sex vs. Death, Light vs. Dark, and Fate vs. Free Will. It will be a exciting, competitive, but above all else and evening of great lit.

Write Club takes place at PROP as part of Rhino Fest on Jan. 29th. From 9 to 10pm.

The Nervous Breakdown is an online magazine featuring the work of published and emerging authors, poets, and other artists from around the world, and they just happen to have a strong presense ins Chicago. A few months ago they had their first reading here and it was a big success. Organized by Gina Frangello and Amy Guth, the reading included a fun game and goodies bags filled with candy. I am not staying they are doing that again, but they are hosting a reading tonight at The Whistler. What I can say is that they have pulled together an awesome line-up.

Featuring authors Claire Bidwell Smith, Greg Boose, Justin Benton and Billy Lombardo, this event will be hosted by Amy Guth. The night begins at 7:30 tonight and ends with music by Tim Seisser. Enjoy the reading and stay for the jazz.

An event that is almost a full year in the making is final going to be a reality as curator Josh Lucas and OHNO!Doom Gallery team up for the first Torn Pages Show. The concept is to combine a handful of the city's best writers and with a selection of the city's brightest young artists. If that wasn't enough they were then asked to create "imaginative, funny, and original children's stories". That's right children's stories. The writer/artist pairings include: Joe Meno and Cody Hudson; Zach Dodson and Allison Burque; Tim Hall and Ryan Young; Jenah Garrett and Stacey Earley; Ben Tanzer and Dominique Holmes; Nancy Khurana and Ruben Aguirre Jr.; Jill Summers and Andrew Thompson; Amy Guth and Pea-Be; Lindsey Markel and Jason Brammer, and Jaime Calder and Joe Call. I asked writer Ben Tanzer about his thoughts on the project and he had this to say. 

There is a discussion taking place tonight at The Book Cellar conducted by Alexander Aciman and Emmitt Rensin University of Chicago students and creatures of Twitterature, a collection of hypothetical "tweets" that reduce classic pieces of literature into an assembly of average-length Twitter updates. There collection is based on humor and almost highlights the absurdity of the format as a literary tool, but there are others that see Twitter as a potential publishing platform.

We all know that Twitter is a suitable micro-blogging format, a way spread the word, and also a way to groof around, but a publishing platform? Well, in the last year I have seen a couple attempts to publish works of fiction through custom twitter accounts, but perhaps none have been as ambitious as Jason Pettus and his Chicago Center for Literature and Photography. Not yet ready to lunch, Pettus is slowly putting the word out about what he is calling "kind of uber-short serial publishing". I see it more as an experiment in new media that is executed properly could be quite affective. Imagine receiving a tweet an hour from CCLaP that contains a new piece of a story that will take you a day or maybe several days to read. What is unique is that Pettus is asking for stories that are a composite of many tweets and not a story chopped up into tweets. Each tweet will stand on its own as well as being a part of something larger. After the story runs through the cycle on twitter it will be complied in to a digital release that will be downloadable as a PDF or EPUB.

So, twitter as a publishing platform? Pettus says yes, and we await his lofty tweets. Don't forget to stop by The Book Cellar tonight at 7:00pm and toss around your 140 charaters.

One of the most inventive writers/playwrights in Chicago, Chris Bower is having two of his one act plays presented the next four Friday nights at Prop Thtr (3502 N. Elston Ave.). "Notes to Molly" is based a short story Bower wrote by the same new and will be performed by Kate Teichman and Matt Test. The second play is "Little Boy Needs Ride" which deals with two ancient monkeys and the invention of soccer. It also features a performance by Chris Bower and is directed by Jill Summers. The first showing is Jan. 22nd and costs $15 or Pay-what-you-can.