Tonight's Carl Sandburg Literary Awards Dinner honors Don DeLillo, Walter Isaacson and Nami Mun

Author Nami Mun

It's a fancy night for lit in Chicago. With tickets starting at $1,000, tonight's Carl Sandburg Literary Awards (CSLA) dinner at UIC Forum is the only major fundraising event for the Chicago Public Library Foundation. Proceeds go toward funding programs such as One Book, One Chicago; Teachers in the Library; and Cyber Navigator. This year's CSLA honorees, novelist Don DeLillo and Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson, will be in conversation this evening with NPR host Scott Simon. Chicago author Nami Mun, who won this year's 21st Century Award, will also be honored. Notable authors with ties to Chicago are seated at each table, so dinner convo will probably include stuff like "Pass the dinner rolls, Dybek!" and "Pardon my reach, Paretsky!"

If you're not donning a black tie and attending tonight's gala, you can catch DeLillo in conversation with Booklist editor Donna Seaman tomorrow at 6pm at the Harold Washington Library.