Printers Row

It’s back. The giant book fair that takes over downtown’s coolest block returns this year, with loads of book sales happening along Dearborn Avenue between Congress Parkway and Polk Avenue, and then hooks down Polk from Dearborn to Clark Street. Author events pepper the fair, and spread out onto State Street. Here are our picks for events that aren’t just worth stopping in to get out of the sun, but worth planning to attend to get out of the house.

The Poetry Center of Chicago
Saturday 7, 11:30am, Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Stage (Dearborn and Harrison)
The PCC presents John Tipton, director of the Chicago Poetry Project and author of the newly translated Ajax, and Brandi Homan, founder of Switchback Books and author of the forthcoming Hard Reds.

Cartoonists Editing Comics
Saturday 7, 1pm, Heartland Stage (Printers Square, on Dearborn St between Harrison and Polk Sts)
Some of Chicago’s top cartoonists discuss the craft of comic creation, including Chris Ware (Jimmy Corrigan), Ivan Brunetti (Schizo) and Drawn and Quarterly publisher Chris Oliveros.

Lingue Franca
Saturday 7, 2pm, Grace Place Sanctuary, 2nd Floor (637 S Dearborn St)
Trib columnist Mary Schmich talks with writers from around the globe, including Nam Le (The Boat), Uwem Akpan (Say You’re One of Them) and Rabih Alameddine, whose new novel, The Hakawati, we called “astonishingly inventive.”

Andre Dubus III
Saturday 7, 3pm, Harold Washington Library Center (400 S State St at Van Buren St)
House of Sand and Fog author Dubus returns with his fourth novel, The Garden of Last Days, a fictional look at the life of one of the strippers who notoriously danced for the September 11 suicide bombers.

Studs Terkel
Saturday 7, 3pm, Harold Washington Library Center
The elder statesman of Chicago letters sits down with Trib literary editor Elizabeth Taylor and writer Rick Kogan. If you’ve never seen Studs in person, this will be the highlight of your fair.

When Less Is More
Saturday 7, 4pm, University Center, Multimedia Room (525 S State St, between Congress Pkwy and Harrison St)
Michael McColly (The After-Death Room), Mary Anne Mohanraj (Bodies in Motion) and S.L. Wisenberg (The Sweetheart Is In) will read “quick fiction.”

Sloane Crosley
Sunday 8, 12:30pm, University Center, River Room
Crosley famously made the leap from author’s publicist to published author with her book of humorous essays, I Was Told There’d Be Cake.

Augusten Burroughs
Sunday 8, 1:30pm Harold Washington Library Center
Everyone’s favorite memoirist not named David Sedaris reads from his latest, A Wolf at the Table, about his strained relationship with his father.

See printersrowbookfair.org for a complete schedule.