For our 10-year anniversary, we're introducing something special: the Chicago Renaissance series. chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/22/i...

This is soooo exciting! Join the @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social as it embarks upon a New Chicago Renaissance! chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/22/i...

We had so much fun at our first annual Chicago Writers Showcase last night!!! Thanks to everyone who came and braved the cold to be there 🥰 You warmed our hearts with your beautiful words and brilliance.

"Just thinking about how this incredible manufacturing center and major U.S. city got to this point, I got interested in Detroit." Stephen Nathans-Kelly's interview with John Sayles on "Crucible” (@melvillehouse.bsky.social) is out now. chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/22/c...

Our next Chicago Writers Showcase reader is Meredith Nnoka reading from their poetry collection LES PORTES @autumnhousepress.org They teach poetry in carceral facilities and have received fellowships from Illinois Humanities, Lambda Literary, and the Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project.

"Filled to the brim with the absurd...difficult to predict from one page to the next." Lina Saleh's review of “The Age of Calamities” by Senaa Ahmad (@henryholtbooks.bsky.social) is out now. chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/21/t...

Very excited to announce I will be discussing my experiences running @tortoisebooks.bsky.social at the @storystudiochicago.bsky.social Pub Crawl! I will now self-censor until then so you can ONLY get my takes at this event...and they will be the hottest and spiciest takes you can imagine.

TOMORROW NIGHT

"Readers who enjoy legal thrillers dense with procedural texture may find much to admire here." Olivia Zimberoff's review of “Anatomy of an Alibi” by Ashley Elston (@pameladormanbooks.bsky.social) is out now. chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/20/c...

At the @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social, I wrote about Nina McConigley's How To Commit A Postcolonial Murder. chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/20/t...

"Will resonate strongly with a specific type of reader who wants to explore the intimacies of sisterhood." @ianmacallen.bsky.social's review of “How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder” by Nina McConigley (@pantheonbooks.bsky.social) is out now. chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/20/t...

📣 Coming soon next month to all bookstores IRL and online is OUR DIARIES, OURSELVES by Chicago author Betsy Rubiner! @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social

Our next Chicago Writers Showcase reader is Naeem Murr reading from his new novel EVERY EXIT BRINGS YOU HOME ( wwnorton.com). forms.gle/H8wKFygqizcx...

"A mesmerizing sci-fi novel reimagining an invasive species infecting humans." Ashley Thompson's review of “Pedro the Vast” by Simón López Trujillo (@algonquinbooks.bsky.social) is out now. chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/19/s...

🤩🤩🤩

I can't make this, but you should go see @storystudiochicago.bsky.social's own Lisa Low and these other brilliant writers at Printers Row Wine this Saturday, 1/24 at 2pm!

Our next Chicago Writers Showcase reader is Sarah Bruni reading from her new novel MASS MOTHERING ( @henryholtbooks.bsky.social). She's a Chicago-based writer and graduate of the MFA program at Washington University in St. Louis and the MA in Latin American Studies at Tulane University.

Really happy that @storystudiochicago.bsky.social is co-sponsoring a fundraiser to support the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights on Saturday, January 24th at 4:30pm 🧵 www.eventbrite.com/e/fundraiser...

"[The book] makes an impression for its refreshing outlook on our increasingly batshit reality." Nick Malone's review of “Lost Lambs” by Madeline Cash (@fsgbooks.bsky.social) is out now. chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/16/l...

What We’re Reading: a roundup of the most engaging recent pieces on the web read by the Pittsburgh Review of Books staff this week, from @reactorsff.bsky.social @smithsonianmag.bsky.social @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social @jacobinmag.bsky.social @lithub.com.web.brid.gy + more! pghrev.com/what-were-re...

"Biggest success of Zijian’s novel is in the spare yet poetic language." Leah von Essen's review of “Last Quarter of the Moon” by Chi Zijian (@milkweededitions.bsky.social) is out now. chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/15/t...

Our next Chicago Writers Showcase reader is @adrianmatejka.bsky.social reading from BE EASY ( @liveright.bsky.social). The Editor-in-Chief of POETRY magazine, Adrian has published several book-length works of poetry and one graphic novel Last On His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century🧵

"The overall tone of the book is hopefully one of joy, and I wanted people to feel the joy that I felt when I was writing it." @angieraney.bsky.social's interview with @jenniferniven.bsky.social on "Meet the Newmans” (@flatironbooks.bsky.social) is out now. chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/14/w...

Go hear our talented Curriculum Coordinator read — Jan 21 at Book Cellar — at the inaugural Chicago Writers Showcase

"Tickled the parts of my brain that have been dormant since I stopped teaching high school English." @christopherofspace.bsky.social's review of “E” by Noa Micaela Fields (Nightboat Books) is out now. chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/13/m...

"Rose has serious trouble staying in her lane. She tries to dictate other people’s actions as well as their thoughts... I think all humans do this." @ansonjtong.com's interview with Sara Levine on "The Hitch” (Roxane Gay Books) is out now. chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/13/d...

Our next Chicago Writers Showcase reader is Lisa Low reading from her new poetry collection REPLICA (@uwiscpress.bsky.social).

"Important, well-researched, and well-written read for anyone who imagines the current climate in the United States might not be so bad." Lori Hall-Araujo's review of “American Reich” by Eric Lichtblau (@littlebrown.bsky.social) is out now. chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/12/b...

“You emerge suddenly hyperaware of the relationality of all things, of our inevitable place in the past and present of existence.” In @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social‬‬, Molly B. Nash reviews Laura Restrepo’s newly translated novel, “Song of Ancient Lovers” - chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/05/r...

2026 looks to be a great year for books. Here are @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social 's picks for the books they're most excited about this year! What's on your list? chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/06/o...

"A compelling balancing act between a more straightforward story of minority treatment in Japan...and an uncanny tale of life as a doppelgänger." Gianni Washington's review of “Jackson Alone” by Jose Ando, translated by Kalau Almony (Soho Crime) is out now. chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/09/t...

Our next Chicago Writers Showcase reader is @danielkraus.com reading from his new novel PARTIALLY DEVOURED (@catapultbooks.bsky.social). forms.gle/H8wKFygqizcx...

A great resolution if we say so ourselves 🤩

Honored to find HOW WE SEE THE GRAY on this list. 👀🩶 Huge thanks to @mbwwelch.bsky.social!

"a vessel within which to understand yourself as a continuation of everything that has happened and everything that *will* happen." - Molly B. Nash on Laura Restrepo's SONG OF ANCIENT LOVERS @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social #booksky chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/05/r...

We love seeing Grace Spulak's forthcoming collection, MAGDALENA IS BRIGHTER THAN YOU THINK on this list!

"Funny, heartfelt, and always charming, Kathleen Rooney’s writing is like a warm hug. [...] The perfect summer read!" Thanks to the @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social for including MAN OVERBOARD!--forthcoming in July--in their list of Most Anticipated Books of 2026! chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/06/o...

So excited to see The Night Parade and Other Stories on this list with all these other books I can't wait to read!

@chicagorevbooks.bsky.social has named @crileysnorton.bsky.social and Darius Bost's A BLACK QUEER HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES as one of their most anticipated books of 2026! Preorder your copy now! @beaconpress.bsky.social chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/06/o...

"Millions of people in the metro area whose lives are essentially divorced from the lake, except it’s vital to their daily survival." Out now: Elisa Shoenberger's interview with Theodore J. Karamanski on "Great Lake: An Unnatural History of Lake Michigan." chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/08/g...

The "most anticipated books" list of big shoulders...

Thank you for including You Know Nothing on this amazing list! @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social

It’s back and bigger than ever!

We're so excited about our Chicago Writers Showcase, we wanted to introduce you to each member of the lineup. First up is Rowan Beaird reading from her new novel TENDERNESS (@flatironbooks.bsky.social). forms.gle/H8wKFygqizcx...

No matter your taste or interest as a reader, you’re sure to find a book by a Chicago author this year to delight you, our EIC @mbwwelch.bsky.social writes. But if you're a Chicago writer and we missed your book, please let us know! We’ll be happy to add it. chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/07/n...

Big ups to @saralippmann.bsky.social for ending up on this @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social list of the most-anticipated books of 2026! (And big thanks to @mbwelch.bsky.social and team for the coverage!) chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/06/o...

The lovely @rachellayown.bsky.social of @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social nominated THE GREAT WHEREVER for this list and I am so, so thankful. There is something so surreal, but also so touching, about knowing some readers really get (and *like*!) what you're trying to do. Thank you, Rachel!!

We love how carefully curated this list is! Such a wide range of writers and publishers and genres!

"I did want to explore a character who believed, truly believed, that her music was the truth, but who wasn’t living very authentically." Elisa Shoenberger's interview with @loriraderday.bsky.social on "Wreck Your Heart” (@minotaurbooks.bsky.social) is out now. chireviewofbooks.com/2026/01/06/c...