Guest post: Danielle Chapman, director of literary arts & events

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a very special guest today! Please welcome Danielle Chapman, who works as Director of Literary Arts and Events at Chicago Dept. of Cultural Affairs the Chicago Cultural Center.

Thanks, Amy, for inviting me to Chicago Subtext!  I must confess to (still) being a blogging novice--apart from occasional, furious bouts of Facebook trolling, I tend to remain somewhat buried under my stacks--but I'm excited to have the chance to tell a bit about what we're doing at Cultural Affairs to promote Chicago's publishers and writers.   

I'm more buried than usual these days, as we're now in the process of expanding the Chicago Publishers Gallery at the Cultural Center--so my cubicle currently must be entered through a person-sized hole in a wall of book-boxes.  It's well worth the contortions, as it means we'll soon be including hundreds more books, and many new and up-and-coming publishers and authors in the gallery.  We'll also be giving the Randolph Café (on the first floor of the Cultural Center) a new look, with four new book-themed nooks and updated furnishings.  If you're a Chicago-area author or publisher who would like your books to be in the gallery, please let me know asap.

Folks should also tell me if they want to be on our industry list, to find out about events that we hold exclusively for those in Chicago's publishing world--which includes publishers, writers, bloggers (of course!), booksellers, and anyone else involved in pushing lit.  At our quarterly series at Maxim's, we bring together literary sorts from the city's far flung and various scenes to meet and form connections.  A precise replica of Maxim's in Paris--and perhaps the reddest, most velvety night-spot in Chicago--Maxim's brings out the inner literary salon-goer in everyone, and it's a great place for new publishing ideas to be born.  

We also host publishing-related events at the Cultural Center, like the conversation between Aleksandar Hemon and Jacob Weisberg on "The Future of the Book" back in June, and the recent kick-off event for GRANTA's All-Chicago Issue earlier this month.  And there's much more in store!  To find out about what we're up to, email me to be added to our list, or check Explore Chicago for new literary events. 

Before I sign off, I have to tell you about the Chicago Artists Resource.  This awesome collection of local and national resources for practicing artists in the visual arts, dance, theatre, and music, will soon include a literary component, devoted entirely to hooking Chicago's writers and publishers up with the services they need.  We expect this to go live in early 2010, but in the meantime, check out the site, which has tons of offerings for artists of all stripes.