Prestigious Literary Evening

It was the first of what promises to be an annual Chicago Literary Hall of Fame.  This first celebration of deceased Chicago authors honored Nelson Algren, Saul Bellow, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lorraine Hansberry, Studs Terkel and Richard Wright.
 
This is the way it played out.  Rick Kogan was the program host.  Rick, himself, had been named Chicago’s Best Reporter in 1999 and inducted in the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame in 2003.  He has a weekly feature in the Chic. Trib, a radio show, and a new book with a collection of his Chicago columns.  I am proud to say I was allotted a page in that book.
 
Kogan introduced a Presenter of the award.  Those Presenting were themselves recognized writers who might well receive this award if living writers are included in the future. The Presenter said wonderful things about his/her assigned author.  Then Kogan introduced the Acceptor who received a statue of a hand holding a quill on behalf of his Hall-of-Famer, and then said wonderful things about this same author.  The person accepting the award was a family member, a son, a daughter, a sister, a niece.  Nelson Algren, alone, had no family member, so his close friend and documenter of a good part of his adult life, Art Shay, was asked to join the ceremony to accept Nelson’s award.
 
Each of the assigned twelve speakers had been asked to limit his speech to five minutes.  Art  practiced reading  his speech out loud until he reduced it to five minutes.  Sara Paretsky hit five minutes, Audrey Niffenegger said she timed hers to three minutes.  Many of the other nine spoke as though the clock were not invented.
 
Oh, yes.  As each honored name was announced, someone either read from the work, or a skit was enacted, or a guitar was played, a song sung.  There were other little performances intermittently.  Someone mentioned that many in the audience of about 300 in this handsome auditorium at Northeastern Illinois U. did not reappear after intermission.  What?  The program was only half-way through?
 
Art Shay delivered his speech about Algren.  I am happy to report he was masterful, entertaining, and it was by far the best speech both in material and delivery.  There was an impromptu interchange between Rick Kogan and Art as Rick recalled a ludicrous event he was involved in:  Art got the Chicago police to stop traffic on the expressway so that Art could take a picture of the air space on this expressway that had been the now demolished building Algren lived in. The audience laughed.  Rick’s delivery is professional – hey, he’s a radio show host.
 
There was finger food before the show, and finger desserts after the show.  The audience mingled while eating the desserts – everything chocolate was gone immediately - and we   talked about important things: someone admired my jacket, I admired someone’s hat and lamented that I look dreadful in hats, and we commented on a stunning ruffley leather purse another person was carrying which she admitted getting at an absolutely fabulous sale.
 
Yes, of course we referred to the program which was slated for 2 hours and ran on for 3 ½ hours.  Everyone said Art was wonderful.  I told someone I was grateful we got out before tomorrow, and he said, “Oh we are grateful we got out before Christmas!”
 
Unless Art is tapped again, I’m not going next year, never mind how exalted the event is.  Besides I already have the statue.  I’ll put it in the book shop.  Nelson Algren would like that.
 
----Florence 

Comments

[Laura]

What great fun! I like how you always include the food offerings when you attend an event.

There's an article on the huffington post about last night complete with a slideshow (bottom of page). Art is pictured in #17 and #18.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/donald-g-evans/chicago-literary-hall-of-_b_789584.html?ir=Books#s194142

[Peter Byrne]

You have to suffer for fame. In Italian "fame" means "hunger". So you folks were nailed down in the "Hall of Hunger". But Art ought to stop teasing us and post the speech he gave on his blog. Please.