Mr. Kanye West, the great bard of such lines as “You know what this is? / It’s a celebration, bitches!” will soon be collecting more tidbits of wisdom for an “entertaining volume of ‘Kanye-isms’ — the creative, humorous and insightful philosophies and anecdotes used in creating my path to success.” Hoo-boy. What are we in for?

It’s a rough life when your muse is bad-boy poet Arthur Rimbaud. Contemporary Australian painter Sidney Nolan was introduced to Rimbaud’s poetry at 14 and was torn between painting and poetry for years. He eventually turned painter, but modeled his life after the French poet, which, frankly, isn’t very healthy.

Some choral singers on the grounds of Wells College

I had mercifully forgotten about a dark time in my life last year, in which I would tear open every new Harper’s and skip ahead to J. Robert Lennon’s Happyland, a serialized novel that satirized American Girl-founder Pleasant Rowland’s infiltration of an upstate New York town. While I loved Lennon’s Mailman beyond reason, I did not find Happyland nearly as pleasing. Rather, I felt enslaved to it, much like I imagine the Victorians felt enslaved to A Tale of Two Cities. Unlike the leagues of industrious Americans who lined up to meet Mr. Dickens upon his first Stateside tour, I wanted to give J. Robert Lennon a kick in the shins for writing something so tawdry, yet just well-written and high-concept enough to be compelling (for those of you who avoided it, the novella is Richard Russo by way of Sam Lipsyte, which is just as odd as it sounds).

And for those of you who have read it, this article in today’s Tribune says that it appears as though Happy Masters, er, Pleasant Rowland, has finally given up her struggle to make a small New England town into the American Girl version of Celebration U.S.A.

I find it very weird and very apppropriate that this story should emerge on the same day as allegations of abuse at Oprah’s school/theme park.

A week ago, we posted about the question of Raymond Carver’s editor claiming credit for his work. Here’s a more in-depth examination.

Date: Saturday, October 27, 2007
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Location: Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center / 400 S. State St.
Participants: Roger Payne: Are Whales Now Singing Their Last Song?

While I admit that my love for whales is superficial and mostly born from watching of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, that love is no less real. The Chicago Humanities Fest must feel the same way because they brought Roger Payne, founder and president of the cetacean research organization Ocean Alliance to kick off Day #1 of this year’s Fest. He is “best known for his discovery that humpback whales sing songs, as well as his demonstration that the sounds of fin and blue whales can be heard across oceans. He will discuss recent findings from his institute’s ongoing trips around the world, including the darkening prospects facing the world’s whales owing to various environmental depredations.” We might be snarky here sometimes at Literago, but we would never snark about whales. Everyone Chicagoan needs to attend this lecture, in our opinion.

Date: Saturday, October 27, 2007
Time: 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Location: Steppenwolf Theatre Company/1650 N. Halsted St.
Participants: Plays By Don DeLillo, Tanya Saracho

Ahhh!!! The Humanities Festival is finally here; rejoice! And it kicks off with a Literago favorite.Don DeLillo, author of White Noise and Underworld, and the play Valparaiso, and Tanya Saracho, co-founder of Teatro Luna, will present premiere readings of two short plays addressing the Festival’s “Climate of Concern” theme. A discussion with playwrights and other special guests will follow.

Date: Thursday, October 25, 2007
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Kate the Great’s Book Emporium, 5550 N. Broadway St., ph. 773.561.1932
Participants: Brian Alsapa

Just in time for Halloween, Writers Workspace presents Bryan Alaspa who will be reading from and signing copies of his new book Ghosts of St. Louis: The Lemp Mansion and Other Eerie Tales (Schiffer Books). An author reception to follow the reading.

If you’re the kind that likes to try it before you buy it, you can check out some of his short works, here on Amazon Shorts, available for download for $.49 apiece (whoever heard of such a thing?)

Date: Thursday, October 25th, 2007
Time: 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Location: Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, 400 South State Street, 7th Floor - Chicago Authors’ Room

This guy is really making a name for himself. On top of receiving tons of accolades for his work he was also chosen to color Jonathan Lethem’s new comics serial, Omega the Unknown. I saw him read this summer at a Stop Smiling event and I have to say, I was impressed. Now here’s your chance to check him out. He’s going to be doing a slide show reading from both, The Three Paradoxes and Let Us Be Perfectly Clear. As an added bonus Paul will stick around to talk about what all goes into writing and creating comics. You know what else? He’s going to sign books.

*part of the Chicago Public Library’s Chicago Book Festival.

Date: Wednesday, October 24th 2007
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: The Book Cellar

Our apologies for the late notice, but Chris Mazza will read from her new novel, Water Baby, accompanied by the wine-stylings of our favorite PBS-host, Alpana Singh, who will pair wines with characters from the novel. Also reading is Charles Blackstone, author of The Week You Weren’t Here. As we all know, boozy readings are the best kinds of readings, and boozy readings by innovative fiction writers and presided over by master sommeliers can approach the sublime.

At a recent reading, J.K. Rowling tells us pleasantly that Harry Potter’s headmaster has been gay all along. Most of us yawn and say, “oh, that explains some things.” But others of us lose our minds. A quote from the previous link: In response to Dumbledore’s outing, Mallory told ABC News that the Potter series has “an anti-Christian agenda,” and, “this only further supports that. My prayer is that parents would wake up, that the subtle way this is presented as harmless fantasy would be exposed for what it really is — a subtle indoctrination into anti-Christian values,” said Mallory. “The kids are being introduced to a cult and witchcraft practices.” Uhhhh…..At the end of her reading, Rowling sweetly encouraged the kids in the crowd to “question authority.” Rowling, you little millionaire minx.