Each year for StoryBall, we pick one aspect of our work toward building a writing community to fundraise for. This year, to celebrate its 10th birthday, we're raising money to keep @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social free and accessible. Please donate if you're able.

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Theater of the Mind - Goodman Theatre A major new downtown cultural attraction created by David Byrne and Malia, Theater of the Mind is an immersive new theatrical experience.

A couple pals and I caught the David Byrne “Theater of the Mind” show today. Lots going on there — perspective, memory, consciousness, personal identity. Lots to think about. Well worth the ticket.

www.goodmantheatre.org/show/theater...

I’m always like “dammit why dont we do this more often”

I’m always like “dammit why dont we do this more often”

Even if you’ve lived in Chicago a long time, you can still just, like, go downtown.

#chicagorules

Book 24: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This is a soapy, twisty romance set in the glitzy, unscrupulous Hollywood of the 50s and 60s and beyond.

Not bad, but still not Daisy Jones.

Friday night thunderstorm vibes

It's Friday, and the vibes are impeccable! So here's a friendly Friday reminder that on May 7 at StoryBall, we will fête our 2026 Instructor of the Year, the incomparable Juan Martinez (@fulmerford.com).

Get your ticket now to join the celebration of Juan!

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What Dogs See — and What We See in Them Attention, devotion, and the meaning of the canine gaze

So Ron Charles wrote about dogs, and so you don't really need to read anything else today to be happy.

buff.ly/FG2n78y

Oh wow, this piece. 🥹

We dare you to try to read this and not get a little choked up.

I’m taking this class and you should too. Can’t wait!

I've very old and I thought the Harry Styles song Sign of the Times in Project Hail Mary was some sort of remake of David Bowie's Space Oddity.

Absolutely crushed that appendectomy!

Chicago parents! It only feels like summer out there today, but it's getting to be crunch time to sign up the young writer in your life for a youth summer camp. Seven in-person camps to choose from for grades 4-12.

Register now: buff.ly/WiNPVvq

#youthsummercamps

Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir: "The Tiebreaker" is a Win When I first heard Andy Weir's third novel, Project Hail Mary, was imminent, I joked it should be subtitled "The Tiebreaker." The Martian was an unmitigated triumph — just for sheer reading fun, one…

Okay I have now seen Project Hail Mary.

My two-word review: Hooray, science!

(Here’s my slightly longer review of the book, which, yes, is better than the movie: open.substack.com/pub/thenewdo...)

This Is Not About Running, by Mary Cain: Just Don't Do It Support Nike, that is.

Book 23: This Is Not About Running, by Mary Cain (out 4/28)

Another detailed and enraging account of Alberto Salazar's abuse and Nike's full-throated defense of an abuser.

#books
#booksky

thenewdorkreviewofbooks.substack.com/p/this-is-no...

Headed into the weekend like

Update: I was only a little weird.

Isn’t it great when a brilliant writer is also an absolutely delightful human?

This morning, I get to go listen to a Pulitzer-winning novelist talk about a book she wrote that literally changed my life.

Gonna try not to be weird. Will report back.

#books

Today is Local News Day, a national day of action encouraging communities to rally around their local news outlets.

For nearly 8 years, readers like you have kept Block Club going. If you value our work, subscribe today blockclubchi.co/3QdzPbP

Over the moon over this honor! I ❤️ @storystudiochicago.bsky.social & I ❤️ their mission!!!

Juan is the BEST -- and this is so well-deserved!

Chicago Turns All Public School IDs Into Library Cards To Boost Student Access Chicago Public Library and CPS on Tuesday announced the expansion of The 81 Club, a program that looks to remove any barriers to accessing the library system's 6 million-item collection as well as…

Well, this is a pretty incredible idea.

blockclubchi.co/3NTWvNM

What’s the best show streaming right now…and why is it Shrinking?

Mystery-romance bookstore opens in North Center amid rise of specialty shops

Partners in Crime, owned by a married couple, aims to provide something for everyone after opening in February.

Out with the Old: Revisiting Mailer’s “Miami and the Siege of Chicago” - Chicago Review of Books At the end of Miami and the Siege of Chicago, Norman Mailer’s 1968 New Journalism account of that year’s Democratic and Republican National Conventions and the accompanying violence between Yippies an...

"If there’s a saving grace in reading this in 2026, it’s the knowledge that...we are no longer willing to brush this under the rug of 'genius,'" Read @fcoffeen.bsky.social's review of “Miami and the Siege of Chicago” by Norman Mailer (Random House Trade, 2016).
chireviewofbooks.com/2026/04/06/o...

Greg Zimmerman (@thenewdorkreviewofbooks) Book 22: Heroes of the Frontier, by Dave Eggers Who among hasn’t fantasized about cutting all ties, and absconding to the wilderness? Maybe driving a shitty RV around Alaska? Squatting in cabins? The...

Book 22: Heroes of the Frontier, by Dave Eggers

Who among hasn’t fantasized about cutting all ties, and absconding to the wilderness? Maybe driving a shitty RV around Alaska? Squatting in cabins? These days, that sounds pretty good!

#books
#booksky

substack.com/profile/3501...

Writers Write People who use AI to produce text are doing something else, which is fine for them, but it's not writing.

Love @biblioracle.bsky.social's piece today. AI cannot read, and AI does not write.

Support writers who DO write.

biblioracle.substack.com/p/writers-wr...

I’m not religious and neither is my favorite bar.

Word choice is important. We've got to stop equating what AI does to what humans do.

AI pukes out a result. AI art does not exist so don't call it that.

Humans create. Art can only emerge from suffering and joy and pain and elation and sadness and fear and love.