Digital Realty Stage (On W. Polk St., at Plymouth Ct.) Sunday 9/13, 12pm Geoff Bennett is co-anchor and co–managing editor of the PBS NewsHour, where he leads coverage of national and international affairs for one of America’s most trusted news programs. A Peabody Award–winning journalist, Bennett has covered six presidential elections and reported from the ... Read more
Grace Place, 2nd Floor (637 S. Dearborn St.) Saturday 9/12, 10am Gerald Butters Jr. is a Professor of History at Aurora University and he teaches in the School of Professional Studies at Northwestern University. He is the author of five books; his latest - Censoring the City: Chicago, Morality, and the Politics of Cinema, 1895-1920 ... Read more
Grace Place, 1st Floor (637 S. Dearborn St.) Saturday 9/12, 2pm Born and raised in Montana, Giano Cromley is the author of the novel American Mythology. He has also written two young adult novels, The Last Good Halloween and The Prince of Infinite Space, and a collection of short stories, What We Build Upon the ... Read more
North Stage (On S. Dearborn St., just south of Ida B. Wells Dr.) Saturday 9/12, 10am Gint Aras (Karolis Gintaras Zukauskas) has been trapped on planet earth since 1973. He’s an award winning writer and lives in Oak Park, IL.
Grace Place, 2nd Floor (637 S. Dearborn St.) Saturday 9/12, 2pm Born and raised in Kenya, East Africa, Gregory Collins is a writer and filmmaker interested in narrative architecture—what narrative is, how it functions, and how stories create meaning. He works with authors and creatives to clarify and refine the narrative design and structure behind ... Read more
Center Stage (On S. Dearborn St. in Printers Row Park between Polk and Harrison Streets, West Side of Dearborn.) Sunday 9/13, 10am Gregory Kontos is the newest member of Broadway Dropouts and is excited to be performing with his wife and daughter. When not performing he works in IT Sales and is active in the ... Read more
Digital Realty Stage (On W. Polk St., at Plymouth Ct.) Saturday 9/12, 11am Raised in Little Village, Gregory Royal Pratt is an investigative reporter. He is the author of The City is Up for Grabs, a book on former Mayor Lori Lightfoot and, in 2026, was part of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize ... Read more
Center Stage (On S. Dearborn St. in Printers Row Park between Polk and Harrison Streets, West Side of Dearborn.) Saturday 9/12, 1pm Hasani Cannon or ANSI is a multi hyphanate artist specializing in African diasporic music, movement, and visual arts. He's a professional percussionist, dancer, and artist across multiple mediums (paint, collage, fashion design, drawings, ... Read more
Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation Stage (On W. Polk St., just east of Clark St.) Saturday 9/12, 11:30am Screenshot Heather Ann Thompson is a Pulitzer Prize and Bancroft-prize winning author whose books include Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and its Legacy and her latest release: Fear and Fury: The Reagan ... Read more
Digital Realty Stage (On W. Polk St., at Plymouth Ct.) Sunday 9/13, 5pm Heather Hendershot is the Cardiss Collins Professor of Communication Studies and Journalism at Northwestern University. Her books include: What's Fair on the Air? Cold War Right Wing Broadcasting and the Public Interest; Open to Debate: How William F. Buckley Put Liberal America ... Read more
Center Stage (On S. Dearborn St. in Printers Row Park between Polk and Harrison Streets, West Side of Dearborn.) Sunday 9/13, 1pm With a nearly 30-year career in our culturally rich city - where she was born and raised - Heather’s experiences have included leadership and management with some of the Chicago’s foremost institutions including ... Read more
Center Stage (On S. Dearborn St. in Printers Row Park between Polk and Harrison Streets, West Side of Dearborn.) Sunday 9/13, 2pm Heidi Stevens is the Director of External Affairs at the University of Chicago’s TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health, a research institute that works to optimize brain development for all children. ... Read more
Center Stage (On S. Dearborn St. in Printers Row Park between Polk and Harrison Streets, West Side of Dearborn.) Saturday 9/12, 11am Homer Bryant’s core mission is to bring the opportunity of excellent dance training to Chicago’s youth. His slogan, ”The fun is in the discipline; the discipline is in the fun” has become a ... Read more
Center Stage (On S. Dearborn St. in Printers Row Park between Polk and Harrison Streets, West Side of Dearborn.) Sunday 9/13, 1pm Photo of author Howard Reich Howard Reich is the Emmy Award-winning author of seven books–including Let Freedom Swing, Portraits in Jazz, and Jelly’s Blues (with William Gaines)–plus three films, a ballet and an ... Read more
Center Stage (On S. Dearborn St. in Printers Row Park between Polk and Harrison Streets, West Side of Dearborn.) Saturday 9/12, 5pm Ignatius Valentine Aloysius earned his MFA in Creative Writing from Northwestern University where he teaches. He is the author of the novel Fishhead. Republic of Want (Tortoise Books); Salt Pruning, a collaborative collection ... Read more
Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation Stage (On W. Polk St., just east of Clark St.) Sunday 9/13, 2pm Izidora Angel is a Bulgarian-born memoirist, essayist and literary translator based in Chicago. Her translation of She Who Remains by Rene Karabash was shortlisted for the 2026 International Booker Prize. Izidora's writing has appeared in A Public ... Read more
Grace Place, 2nd Floor (637 S. Dearborn St.) Saturday 9/12, 3pm Jacoby Cochran is a writer, educator, and storyteller from the south side of Chicago. He is the host of City Cast Chicago, a daily podcast and newsletter.
Center Stage (On S. Dearborn St. in Printers Row Park between Polk and Harrison Streets, West Side of Dearborn.) Sunday 9/13, 12pm James Stewart III is a Black writer and arts organizer from Chicago. His debut novel, Defiant Acts (Acre Books, 2025), is a winner of the 2025 Foreword INDIES Bronze Award for Multicultural Fiction, ... Read more
Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation Stage (On W. Polk St., just east of Clark St.) Saturday 9/12, 12:30pm Jamia Wilson is an award-winning feminist activist, writer, speaker, and podcaster. She is Vice President and Executive Editor at Harmony Rodale Convergent, and the author of books for readers of all ages, including This Book Is Feminist, ... Read more
Digital Realty Stage (On W. Polk St., at Plymouth Ct.) Sunday 9/13, 1pm Jane Hamilton’s novels have won literary prizes, been made into films, have been international best-sellers, and two of them, The Book of Ruth, and A Map of The World, were selections of Oprah’s Book Club. Her nonfiction has appeared in The New ... Read more
Digital Realty Stage (On W. Polk St., at Plymouth Ct.) Saturday 9/12, 5pm Jane Hseu is Professor of English at Dominican University, President of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, and a core organizer for Banyan: Asian American Writers Collective. She has published academic essays on Asian American and Latine ... Read more
North Stage (On S. Dearborn St., just south of Ida B. Wells Dr.) Sunday 9/13, 2pm Janet Burroway is the author of poems, plays, essays, children’s books, a memoir and nine novels including The Buzzards; Raw Silk, Cutting Stone, and the new Simone in Pieces (Nov. 2025), which the New York Times Book Review called ... Read more
Jared Clayton Brown is a sitcom scholar, journalist and huge Golden Girls fan. He wrote his entire master's thesis on his favorite series to earn his Master of Arts degree in Popular Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University. He loves connecting with other fans of the iconic series. He currently works for WOSU, the ... Read more
North Stage (On S. Dearborn St., just south of Ida B. Wells Dr.) Sunday 9/13, 11am Jarrett Dapier is the author of Wake Now in the Fire, a Chicago-set graphic novel about censorship, action, love, and hope, published by Ten Speed Graphic. He has also written three picture books, including Jazz For Lunch! (finalist, Ezra ... Read more
North Stage (On S. Dearborn St., just south of Ida B. Wells Dr.) Saturday 9/12, 3pm Jarrett Neal's first book, What Color Is Your Hoodie?: Essays of Black Gay Identity, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. His next book, Leave Wiser Than Your Came: Stories, will be published in March by the University ... Read more