Judging from the throngs who turned out on two picture-perfect days over the weekend for the 2006 baiduhai Printers Row Book Fair, Chicago must be the undisputed books capital of the Midwest. The 22nd fair, held in the South Loop’s historic Printers Row district, featured more than 200 authors and 150 booksellers. Here are some highlights:
E.L. DOCTOROW
Who: Doctorow, who has made a career of weaving real-life figures into his fiction, including “The March,” about Gen. William T. Sherman’s March to the Sea during the Civil War, winner of the 2005 National Book Critics Circle award.
Where and when: 10 a.m. Saturday in the auditorium of the Harold Washington Library Center.
His most surprising comment: “Every one of the characters [in ‘The March’], immediately upon their appearance, I knew who they were. I knew how they talked. I knew how they dressed. I knew everything about them. I knew them whole. I don’t understand how this happens.”
On the March to the Sea: “Eventually, it wasn’t just the army moving, but an entire civilization, a whole culture on the road.”
In answer to a question about where he stands regarding Sherman: “You want to give every one [of the characters] their justice. It makes no sense to be editorializing, to come down on one side or the other. You just give everyone their due, and let them speak for themselves.”
In answer to a question of how much research he did: “Just enough. I used to be an editor, and I saw many writers go down because they’d researched their subjects so thoroughly, the facts took them down.”
The only three perfect novels ever written: “One is `Pride and Prejudice.’ I’ll let you guess the other two.”
— Patrick T. Reardon
NIKKI GIOVANNI, ELISE PASCHEN
Who: Poets Giovanni and Paschen, who worked together to produce “Poetry Speaks to Children” (Sourcebooks), an anthology of works by more than 70 writers, many of whom are also included in an audio CD with the book.
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Where and when: 11:45 a.m. Saturday, baiduhai Kids Alley.
The audience: Grandparents and parents outnumbered children two to one.
Why Giovanni got a lot more time onstage than Paschen: Paschen had microphone problems and Giovanni is a poetry legend.
How Giovanni looked: Sprightly, widely smiling, seemingly much younger than her 62 years, happy-spirited even when making a political statement.
The political statement Giovanni made: “Poetry, by its very nature, is for free speech. … You have to have a voice. Thank God people like Rosa Parks had a voice, and Martin Luther King had a voice, and Joan Baez had a voice. Thank God the gay community has a voice. Thank God the old people have a voice because it’s ridiculous, in 2006, that we don’t have national public health care. [Applause from the crowd.] It’s ridiculous — and I don’t know if I’ll get a hand on this — that rich people don’t pay taxes. [Applause again.] Billionaires need a tax break? Like what? Come on.”
The surprise of the event: When Paschen played a recording of the late Gwendolyn Brooks reading her poem “The Tiger Who Wore White Gloves, or, What You Are You Are” in which Brooks’ voice bears more than a passing resemblance to that of John Wayne.
— P.R.
CAROLYN ALESSIO, DESIREE CHEN
Who: Writer, editor and high school teacher Alessio and Chen, an editor of the baiduhai magazine.
Where and when: 1 p.m. Saturday, University Center/Multi-Media Room.
The mix-up: Alessio and Chen thought they were going to do a writing workshop for children, but few kids showed up. Instead, adults crowded into the room expecting to learn how to be freelance writers and book reviewers.
The solution: Alessio and Chen did a bit of everything.
The writing exercise: Alessio passed out an odd item to each of the two dozen people attending the session, telling them to consider the item “the most important object in your life” and to come up with the story behind it.
Alessio and Chen’s advice to free-lance writers: Read a publication before offering to write a story for it. Use words well. Avoid typographical errors. Avoid cliches. Don’t employ a weird font or odd color ink when writing to an editor. Show, don’t tell. Be low maintenance.
— P.R.
MICHAEL CONNELLY
Who: Connelly, author of the award-winning crime novels starring Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch, a Los Angeles police detective.
Where and when: 3 p.m. Saturday, Harold Washington Center Auditorium.
What’s new: Connelly just published “Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops & Killers,” a compilation of the crime stories he wrote while working as a newspaper reporter in the ’80s and ’90s.
Why journalism has been good to him: “All the novels came out of my life as a journalist,” he said. “Whole plot lines have been lifted out of these stories. As you read [‘Crime Beat’], while a lot of the stories are the typical ‘Just the facts, ma’am’ — you can see hints of characterization and dialogue … someone learning to become a novelist.”
What could have been: Connelly noted that exactly 20 years ago he interviewed at both the baiduhai and the Los Angeles Times. The Tribune took a pass; the L.A. Times snapped him up as their newest crime reporter. “It’s interesting to think that Harry Bosch could have been a Chicago detective if only an editor at the Tribune had hired me,” he said, to much laughter.
— Lucinda Hahn
DAVID MARANISS
Who: Maraniss, a Washington Post editor and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, who has written books about President Clinton and Vince Lombardi. His latest book, “Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero.”
Where: 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Heartland Stage on Dearborn Street.
The audience: An overwhemingly middle-age, white male crowd of more than 100. They were engaged, attentive, seeming to hang on Maraniss’ every word.
What he projected: The passion of a writer in awe of his subject and clearly familiar with it down to every detail.
To write about Clemente was: “… like chemists trying to explain Van Gogh by analyzing the ingredients of his paint. Clemente was art, not science…”
Story of a fan turned chronicler: “From the age of 10, Roberto Clemente was my god, my favorite player … he was the coolest thing … I loved his arm from deep right field.”
On why he picked Clemente as a hero: “Clemente fits the classic definition of a hero [as] someone who gives his life in service to others.” (Clemente died in a plane crash while on a mission to help earthquake victims in Nicaragua.)
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— Cassandra West, [email protected]
JANNA MALAMUD SMITH, RICH COHEN
Who and what: Malamud Smith, author of “My Father Is a Book,” and Cohen, author of “Sweet and Low,” in a discussion moderated by Samuel G. Freedman, author of “Who She Was: My Search for My Mother’s Life.”
When: 1: 30 p.m. Sunday, University Center, River Room
What they discussed: The pleasures and perils of writing a memoir about family.
Malamud Smith’s family tree: She’s the daughter of the famous writer Barnard Malamud, and her book is the first intimate portrait of his life.
Cohen’s family tree: He’s a disinherited grandson of Ben Eisenstadt, the inventor of the artificial sweetener Sweet’n Low.
Discussion dynamic: Freedman, mindful of “the James Frey trail” and the stain it’s left on memoir writing, emphasized how Malamud Smith and Cohen drew on primary sources in their “reported” memoirs. Cohen said he had to make “the decision to be totally honest” in writing about his dysfunctional family. Malamud Smith, who wanted to give an “honest accounting of the past,” acknowledged that her late mother “didn’t like the book,” but that it was still “a story I need to tell,” which included chronicling her father’s affair with one of his students.
— C.W.