Rick Kogan

Chicago author Bill Hillman in his apartment in Little Village in 2014. His latest book is "The Pueblos: My Quest to Run 101 Bull Runs in the Small Towns of Spain."

Running with the bulls in Spain nearly killed this Chicago writer. Here’s why he keeps going back for more.

June 23, 2021 at 8:33 a.m.

There was a time when it was not possible to believe that Bill Hillmann would survive his 20s. "I was a destructive monster," he writes. "Alcoholism fueled my furious spirals...

‘Home Waters’ book by John Maclean is not a memoir but it’s filled with marvelous memories

June 16, 2021 at 9:40 a.m.

You will not discover much about John N. Maclean in his new and graceful and compelling book, "Home Waters: A Chronicle of Family and a River" (Custom House) and that...

Author Jonathan Alter, here in the Couch Place alleyway in the Loop in 2013, grew up in Chicago though he now lives in New Jersey.

Writer Jonathan Alter says he still considers himself a Chicagoan, with good reason

June 9, 2021 at 7:00 a.m.

You can take the boy out of Chicago, but if that boy grows up to be the eminent author and political commentator Jonathan Alter, you quickly realize that Chicago remains...

Chicago writer Michael Sean Comerford with his bike at Buckingham Fountain in Chicago, near the traditional starting point of Route 66, on June 4. He recently cycled across the country via the highway.

A Chicago writer traveled across COVID country USA, following the fabled Route 66. On his bicycle.

June 8, 2021 at 5:18 p.m.

What sort of person decides, standing in a foot of Chicago snow in February, that it would be a good idea to ride a bike from Chicago to the West...

The Big Bus Tours bus on May 30, 2021, in Chicago.

Big Bus Tours are back — giving new life and new stories to this transformed city

June 2, 2021 at 9:43 a.m.

And so it was last weekend that the city was back to normal, yes? People at the beaches and in the parks. Restaurants and taverns jammed, indoors and out. Airports...

Ben Hollis holds a poster for his upcoming movie, "The Treasure: A COVID Life Review," at his home in Evanston. Hollis is the former host of "Wild Chicago."

Remember ‘Wild Chicago’s’ Ben Hollis? He was antic and popular and now he has a new movie — about Ben Hollis

May 25, 2021 at 8:30 a.m.

Today quietly putting the finishing touches on his latest creative endeavor, Ben Hollis was 30 years ago one of the hottest and craziest and most imaginative people on television. In...

Comedian Mort Sahl at Mister Kelly's in 1972.

And now … Mister Kelly’s documentary is ready to take you back to a swinging Chicago era, peppered with stories from Herbie Hancock to Streisand

May 20, 2021 at 7:38 a.m.

It started, as do so many dreams, in a tavern. This was six years ago. I heard from David Marienthal, who I had known since high school but not seen,...

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