“This is pretty amazing, isn’t it?” Patricia Ann McNair beamed at a crowd tucked into every nook and cranny of the Book Cellar in Lincoln Square on January 19, 2013. Summing up the evening succinctly and eloquently, McNair acknowledged her personal supporters and fellow award winners at the Chicago Writer’s Association Book of the Year Awards held nearly two months ago. 

In January, the CWA awarded Patricia Ann McNair, Renee James, Kelly Farley, and Richard Lindberg their Book of the Year awards in a comfortable ceremony at Lincoln Square’s local bookstore, The Book Cellar. Each of the winning authors were awarded a glass trophy celebrating their authorial accomplishment and then given time to read excerpts from their winning books to an audience paying rapt attention. The large gathering to support Chicago’s own creative talent was a proud moment for the 2nd annual Book of the Year Awards, and for the Chicago Writer’s Association. Randy Richardson, president of CWA, presented the awards and served as Master of Ceremonies for the evening. In case you missed it, here are some snapshots from the evening. 

In continuing with the CWA’s goal to further the artistic pursuit of Chicagoland writers and allow aspiring writers insight into the professional community, the CWA is sponsoring The Road to Published: Authors Tell Their Stories, a free panel discussion on Saturday, April 20, 2-4:30 p.m., at the Beverly Library, 1962 W. 95^th St., Chicago. The panel will bring back some authors from this year’s Book of the Year Awards and add some fresh faces to shed some light on their personal roads to publication and experiences along the way. Renee James, the winner of the CWA Book of the Year for Nontraditionally Published Fiction, will speak about the hybrid publishing method she used to put her creative work in the field after many years of traditionally publishing in journalism and trade magazine fields. Fellow Book of the Year winners Farley and McNair will also speak about their traditional and nontraditional experiences. 

The panel, to be moderated by Richardson, will also feature Samantha Hoffman, A.D. Moore, James Finn Garner, Libby Fischer Hellman, and Gracie Hill, whose paths to publication diverge in fashion but unite in a common goal of making their creative endeavors available to the masses. 

Samantha HoffmanTo give a small taste of some of the exciting stories that will be shared on the panel, the CWA caught up with Samantha Hoffman to ask a little about their publishing experience.

Samantha Hoffman’s novel, What More Could You Wish For, was initially self-published. Hoffman worked on her novel for eight years, all the while querying agents, attempting to drum up interest in her story. “I got lots of form letter rejections,” Hoffman recounts, “But I also got a few personal notes with positive comments and suggestions…I took the positive comments to heart and continued the revising process until, finally, I knew I had to be finished once and for all.” Having already attempted contact with several agents to no avail, and wanting to publish while the novel was still hot in hand and mind, Hoffman elected to self publish. “I promoted it all over social media, had some book signings, sent copies to everyone who might have a connection.” For Hoffman, one of those connections turned out to be fruitful. “One of my friends works for St. Martin’s Press and it turned out she loved my book. She sent it to the president/publisher of the company who also loved it. So, I soon got a call and a book deal from an editor at St. Martin’s Press. It was unbelievable.” 

“My advice to all writers is to keep writing. Don’t let rejections get in your way. Everyone gets rejected. If you decide to self-publish, make sure your book is the very best it can be, and then, after you’re sure that it is, hire a professional editor.” 

Hoffman’s pick-up by a major publishing house is unexpected for many who pursue self-publishing, but her perseverance and passion is far from foreign to any writer, and her advice to aspiring artists rings true. “My advice to all writers is to keep writing. Don’t let rejections get in your way. Everyone gets rejected. If you decide to self-publish, make sure your book is the very best it can be, and then, after you’re sure that it is, hire a professional editor.” Hoffman’s insistence on a professional editor comes from the knowledge that authors are often too close to their own work to properly edit it, and relying on a professional is the best way to ensure a publishable product. “Finally,” she mentors, “don’t give up. If you believe in your work, you’ll get there.” Hoffman’s book, What More Could You Wish For, is available through St. Martin’s Press. 

Look forward to some author snapshots of our other panelists in the weeks leading up to the event, and make sure to support your local bookseller with trips to the Book Cellar, and our fellow authors by remembering our Book of the Year winners, The Temple of Air, Whiskey Breakfast, Grieving Dads, and Coming Out Can Be Murder.

Calling All CWA Published Authors! 

Have you published a book recently? Would you like to get a conscientious book review from one of your fellow CWA members? If so, the Windy City Reviews book review service is for you! 

Windy City Reviews is a free benefit of your CWA membership—provided for the members, by the members. Many of your fellow authors have taken advantage of this valuable service and have used their reviews to help promote their books. Will you be our next reviewed author? 

Check out the Windy City Reviews site at www.windycityreviews.org. There you will find completed reviews, biographies of our reviewers, and submission guidelines. Sign up to get your book reviewed today! 

Also, we’re looking for additional volunteer book reviewers. No experience is required—just a love of reading and the desire to help a fellow author. Training and guidance will be provided. If you are interested, please contact me at your earliest convenience. 

Sincerely, 

Dan Burns

Windy City Reviews

Chicago Writers Association

daniel_r_burns@msn.com

CWA authors, here's your chance to showcase yourself on Chicago's biggest literary stage, the 2013 Chicago Tribune Printers Row Lit Fest on June 8 & 9.

We'll once again be under a tent and are making available a total of 32 two-hour slots for author signings (16 on Saturday, June 8, and 16 on Sunday, June 9). There will be 4 authors signing at all times. The time slots for both days will be 10-noon, noon-2, 2-4 and 4-6.

Cost: $25/slot.

Payments must be made online with PayPal here and you may purchase only one time slot. If you purchase more than one time slot, your payments will be refunded and you will lose all time slots.

If we still have time slots open after April 15, we will give authors an opportunity to purchase additional time slots.

Use the drop down box to select your date and time. Dates and time slots are first come, first served. If your first choice is sold out, consider another date and time.

Note: we are not accepting payment by any method other than PayPal. All payments are non-refundable as of May 25, 2013. In the event that we do not get the requested space, all payments will be refunded.

UPDATE: ALL slots are full. Thanks!

As you all know, and as those who participated at Printers Row the last few years have discovered, weather can be unpredictable in Chicago. The tent we're under will give us some protection from the weather. However, participants are encouraged to bring additional protective coverings for their merchandise. You will be responsible for your own books. Neither the CWA nor the Chicago Tribune (sponsors of PRLF) will be held responsible for damage done to books by inclement weather.

Additional information about the Printers Row Lit Fest is available at its website.

The Chicago Writers Association is pleased to honor four wonderful authors for our Book of the Year awards tomorrow, Saturday, January 19, 2013 at 7:00 pm at the Book Cellar in Lincoln Square. Below is a brief summary of each of this year’s winning books. 

Traditionally Published Fiction: The Temple of Air, by Patricia Ann McNair 

This collection of short stories takes place in small town America. New Hope’s residents over several generations collide in significant and cursory ways as Patricia Ann McNair guides readers through emotional journeys involving everything from broken relationships to lasting bonds. Each short story can be read individually as a glimpse into a character’s psyche or the collection can be read as a complex narrative of time. McNair’s blunt, emotional storytelling creates not just a moment, but an experience in a fictional world with all-too-jarring ties to the multifaceted reality of its readers. 

Traditionally Published Nonfiction: Whiskey Breakfast, by Richard C. Lindberg 

This memoir blended with historical account takes its readers from Sweden to Chicago, IL in a mixture of chronicled cultural events and painstakingly honest memories of its author. Richard C. Lindberg introduces his readers to his father, Oscar, as a vehicle for understanding immigrant culture in the United States and as a man neglecting to connect with or care for his son. Lindberg’s journey to adulthood is as harrowing and riveting as Oscar’s journey across the Atlantic. The most recent publication of this prolific author and historian, Whiskey Breakfast represents the centerpiece of Mr. Lindberg’s career. 

Nontraditionally Published Fiction: Coming Out Can Be Murder, by Renee James 

This debut novel of Renee James follows Bobbi, an accomplished hairdresser, living in Chicago as she makes her transition from male to female. Living transgendered in a city struggling to accept and understand her new identity, Bobbi is also coping with the loss of a dear friend, and fellow transgendered woman, at the hands of a brutal murderer. This cat-and-mouse game leads readers in a tale of suspense and terror as they emotionally support Bobbi through her transition and become her partner in the race to solve her friend’s death before it’s too late. 

Nontraditionally Published Nonfiction: Grieving Dads, by Kelly Farley 

Having suffered the loss of his two children, Kelly Farley saw a gap in literature of support for fathers dealing with such tragedy and took it upon himself to begin a project both therapeutic and humanitarian in nature. Grieving Dads is a collection of shared stories of men dealing with grief, anger, and finally hope after witnessing the death of their children. Farley’s no-nonsense prose doesn’t sugarcoat the process, but rather abruptly confronts the gruesome realities of death itself, public perception, and the eventual but daring road to recovery. This first book is an excellent introduction to what is sure to become a full shelf of support regarding the specificity and unique nature of the grieving process for a man.

By Meagan Bowdy 

A writer’s life is filled with fortune and missteps, appreciation and rejection, fantasy and gritty reality. No one intertwines the truth behind authorship, storytelling, and history better than the Chicago Writers Association’s Book of the Year award winner in Traditionally Published Nonfiction: Richard C. Lindberg. 

Mr. Lindberg’s book, Whiskey Breakfast, combines the heartbreaking story of a family torn asunder by alcohol, poverty, and vastly divergent ideologies with a historical account of Swedish immigrants to Chicago. Lindberg’s work is autobiographical in nature and lyrical in prose. 

“Whiskey Breakfast is the centerpiece of my career. It is the most important book I’ve ever done,” said Lindberg, “because it’s so close to home. It’s so personal. So painful.” His career as a writer is filled with fifteen other books, a Society of Midland Authors award for best biography for The Gambler Kind of Clark Street: Michael C. McDonald and the Rise of Chicago’s Democratic Machine, an award from the Illinois State Historical Society, and now the CWA Book of the Year award. By far the most prolific of this year’s award recipients, Lindberg is recognized throughout Chicago as a valued historian who has also contributed to pieces on WBEZ, A&E, The History Channel, and The Travel Channel. 

By Meagan Bowdy 

“Appearance is only the suggestion of reality.” These words in brilliant red ink adorn any signed copy of Coming Out Can Be Murder, CWA’s Book of the Year award winner in Nontraditionally Published Fiction. Renee James graciously accepted the CWA award and then laughed, “That’s the story of my life—nontraditional.” 

After over 30 years as a magazine editor, James began this project as “a sort of recreational, fictional journal.” She was inspired to embark on her path as a fiction writer by a man she worked with who changed careers midlife. She remembered, “It changed him dramatically…he became this person who was full of energy and self-assurance and direction in life. I didn’t completely understand it but I did understand that changing careers successfully in midlife can be a really good thing.” 

By Meagan Bowdy

The CWA awards a nontraditionally published fiction and nonfiction book as part of their Book of the Year Awards. Nontraditional is defined as self- or print-on-demand published. This year’s winner in the Nontraditional Nonfiction category, Grieving Dads, is unconventional in more ways than one. When Kelly Farley set out to write this, his first book, it was not out of a zest to explore creative writing or a lifelong want to be published, but a much more personal desire and emotional need. 

“The death of a child changes who you are as a person. You cannot go back to the old you after your child has died; now you know too much. [You] now know that our lives can change in a second. Once you come out of this very long dark tunnel, you start to realize you actually survived it.” 

It was this recognition of survival that led Farley to seek solace in resources available to parents who had, like him, experienced the indescribable death of their children. In perusing the available options, Farley continued to notice that there was a dearth of options for grieving fathers. He noted, “Having been in the depths of despair, I know how lost and alone this journey can be and I didn’t want another grieving dad to have to go through this alone.” 

By Meagan Bowdy 

Patricia Ann McNairPatricia Ann McNair comes from a family of writers. Rather than fall in line with the rest of the family, McNair said, “I knew I didn’t want to be like anybody else…so I sort of didn’t want to write.” After majoring in Spanish and Theatre for periods of time, McNair made her way to Columbia College in Chicago where she took several writing courses and finally said, “Who am I kidding? This is what I really want to do.” It is fortunate for readers that she did as her short story collection, The Temple of Air, has been selected as a Finalist Awardee in Adult Fiction by the Society of Midland Authors, a Devil’s Kitchen Reading Awardee in Prose, and most recently the Book of the Year in Traditionally Published Fiction from the Chicago Writers Association. James Finn Garner, who judged this category, called McNair’s collection “blunt, unsentimental, touching stories.” McNair graciously accepted the award, saying, “I couldn’t be more honored for him to say that. Particularly to have someone whose work is so different from mine; for him to say that and to find my work moving is an incredible honor. “ 

When asked about the inspiration for this particular collection, McNair remembered previous publications of some of the stories in The Temple of Air, and a common theme she found when beginning to link them together for the collection. “I like to write things that I think will move people. I like the things that kind of make you ache. I’m one of those people who’s really interested in those things that we start to obsess about—those little things that we see that keep running through in our mind over and over again.”