Chicago Amplified

A Screening and Discussion of Fahrenheit 451 with Ray Bradbury

A discussion with Ray Bradbury and Sam Weller, in celebration of the release of Weller's book Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews.

Recorded on 7.10.2010

A Release Party for "Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews"

An interview with author Sam Weller about his definitive collection of interviews with Ray Bradbury, covering his life, faith, friends, politics, and visions of the future.

Recorded on 7.8.2010

Third Coast Listening Room: Stories About Music

Stop Smiling, The Third Coast Festival, and CHIRP Radio present a celebration of the noisy intersection between documentary radio and music culture.

Recorded on 6.24.2010

Q&A with author Martin Preib, author of The Wagon and Other Stories from the City

Inspired by Preib’s daily experiences as a Chicago police officer, The Wagon and Other Stories from the City chronicles the outer and inner lives of both the cop and the city itself.

Recorded on 6.14.2010

Q&A with author Robert K. Elder

Q&A with Robert K. Edler, author of Last Words of the Executed, an oral history of capital punishment in the United States, moderated by veteran journalist Rick Kogan.

Recorded on 6.10.2010

A Release Party for "Slow Trains Overhead: Chicago Stories and Poems"

Make Literary Productions, Stop Smiling and the University of Chicago Press Present: A Party Celebrating the Release of Slow Trains Overhead by Reginald Gibbons.

Recorded on 6.3.2010

Joshua Cohen reads from Witz

Stop Smiling and Dalkey Archive Press present readings by Joshua Cohen, author of Witz and Jesse Ball, author of Samedi the Deafness. Q&A with Joshua Cohen follows.

Recorded on 5.20.2010

Ferlinghetti Chicago Premiere

A post-show discussion of Christopher Felver’s Ferlinghetti, a documentary film about poet and City Lights Bookstore founder Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Recorded on 5.8.2010

The Debut Release from Stop Smiling Books: How To Wreck A Nice Beach

The debut book release from Stop Smiling Books is about how the Pentagon’s speech scrambling weapon (the vocoder) transformed into the robot voice of pop music.

Recorded on 5.6.2010

What’s Sin Got to Do With It? An Even Deadlier Book Launch

Stop Smiling offers tongue-in-cheek lecture on what the seven deadly sins are all about to celebrate Even Deadlier, a sequel to The Seven Deadly Sins Sampler.

Recorded on 12.9.2009

David Lida Presents: Mexico City in the 21st Century

David Lida discussed his book First Stop in the New World, which is establishing itself as the authoritative guide to contemporary Mexico City.

Recorded on 10.1.2009

Book Launch: The Barbaric Heart by Curtis White

Curtis White, author of The Middle Mind: Why Americans Don’t Think for Themselves, presented his newest book, The Barbaric Heart: Faith, Money, and the Crisis of Nature.

Recorded on 9.17.2009

50th Anniversary Celebration of William S. Burroughs' The Naked Lunch

Peter Weller hosted this celebration of the groundbreaking novel The Naked Lunch by legendary Beat author and American icon William S. Burroughs.

Recorded on 8.28.2009

The Printers' Ball: Reading Series

Listen in for this special Chicago Reading Series face-off, hosted by Quickies’ Mary Hamilton and Lindsay Hunter.

Recorded on 7.31.2009

The Printers' Ball: Poetry Cram

Printers’ Pageant: Chicago Poetry Cram hosted by CJ Laity.

Recorded on 7.31.2009