Chicago hails new small press lit fair

Top: Leah Jones, at the Pilcrow Lit Fest, in Chicago. Bottom: Author Amy Guth organized the Pilcrow in her homewtown of Chicago.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS -- The Pilcrow Literature Festival is taking place in the city from May 22-25. The event gathers local and national authors, writers, poets, librarians, booksellers and publishers for three days of free workshops, panel discussions, lectures and author readings.

The director of the event is Amy Guth. She said the Pilcrow event is inspired by other literary festivals around the country. "As I city-hopped to promote my first novel, Three Fallen Women, I had the opportunity to speak at a few wonderful literary festivals -- the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, (Downtown) Omaha Literary Fest and the Decatur Book Festival, in Atlanta. Although each festival is very different, in both focus and execution, I couldn't help but notice a certain community-building spirit about each one that I knew would translate well here in Chicago," Guth said.

In all, more than 60 writers from around the country are taking part in the event. Notables such as author/editor Kevin Sampsell, author Jonathan Messinger, and author Leah Jones, among many others, are taking part.

Today and yesterday, the event has brought out many authors and strong support from the local community. Last night, an evening event at Matilda's, in the city, was attended by more than 50 festival participants.

For more information about the festival, click on the headline, or go to: www.pilcrowlitfest.com.