Fifth Annual Printers’ Ball

Founded by Poetry magazine with other independent Chicago literary organizations, the Printers’ Ball is an annual celebration of print culture, featuring thousands of magazines, books, and broadsides available free of charge; live readings and music; letterpress, offset, and paper-making demonstrations; and much more. This year’s Printers’ Ball is co-produced with Columbia College Chicago and the Center for Book & Paper Arts, and is set to take place in the landmark Ludington Building, former home to the American Book Company. Select events during the Printers’ Ball are being recorded for Chicago Public Radio’s Chicago Amplified.

Sneak previews of Printers' Ball publications, preparations, and secret invitations are available at the official Printers' Ball blog, Chicago Poetry Calendar: http://chicagopoetrycalendar.blogspot.com.

Major collaborators for the fifth annual Printers’ Ball are the Alternative Press Center, the Center for Book & Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago, Chicago Amplified, Chicago Underground Library, CHIRP (Chicago Independent Radio Project), MAKE: A Chicago Literary Magazine, Newcity, Opium Magazine, Poetry magazine, Poetry Foundation, and the Student Affairs Offices of Columbia College Chicago. The Printers’ Ball extends special gratitude to Louis Glunz Beer, Inc., and Lagunitas, Hofbrau, Chimay, and Founders breweries for their generous support of the evening’s festivities.

More than 1,500 people annually attend what has become one of the largest celebrations of print culture in the country. This year, for the first time ever, the Printers’ Ball features publishers outside of Chicago, showcasing more than 200 local, national, and international literary organizations and the various ways they bring print to life.

Special Attractions:

• Free ink on paper, including magazines, books, broadsides, and more
• Hidden treasures
• Printers’ Ball Library, hosted by the Alternative Press Center and the Chicago Underground Library, which invites you to spend quality time with quality print. Visit the library to browse all publications; learn more about your discoveries, what you might have missed, and where to find it; and connect directly with publishers and organizations through our one-stop mailing list and subscription kiosks.
• Busy Beaver ButtonOmatic
• Papermaking and book-binding demonstrations
• Letterpress, offset, and rubber stamp printing demonstrations
• Silkscreen demonstrations by Anchor Graphics
• Minibook-making lessons from Featherproof Books
• Ratso from Chic-A-Go-Go
• Live interviews by Chicago Subtext’s Amy Guth
• Elevated Diction, presented by Silver Tongue

Music:

• CHIRP (Chicago Independent Radio Project) presents: DJ Carolina Wheat
• Baby Alright: “All-star Chicago funk-soul-boogie” cover project featuring Marvin Tate (vocals), Dan Bitney (drums), LeRoy Bach (guitar), Matt Lux (bass), and Toby Summerfield (guitar)

First Floor Features

• Live showcase of out-of-town publications, featuring Joe Meno reading for McSweeney’s, Nick Twemlow for jubilat, Eula Biss for Iowa Review, John Beer for The Hat, and Caitlin O’Connor Creevy for Open City, accompanied by Philip Jenks, poet and drummer for the Howling Hex
•  Opium Magazine’s Literary Death Match, hosted by Tod Zuniga, featuring:
* Michael Czyzniejewski for ACM (Another Chicago Magazine)
* Spencer Dew for THE2NDHAND
* Gabe Gudding for MAKE: A Chicago Literary Magazine
* Paul Killebrew for Canarium Books
* Adam Levin for Ninth Letter
* Simone Muench for Poetry magazine
* Kathleen Rooney for Switchback Books
* Febronio Zatarain for contratiempo
* Celebrity judges Barry Hite, Jay Ryan, and Nami Mun


Eighth Floor Features

• Nearly forty readers over six hours, representing 24 Chicago reading series, literary organizations, and publications. All evening, some of Chicago’s finest and most innovative readers will be on the eighth floor of the Luddington Building, including:
* Columbia College Chicago showcase of in-house talent
* Bilingual readings presented by the Guild Complex and Palabra Pura   
* Chicago reading series face-off, hosted by Quickies’ Mary Hamilton and Lindsay Hunter  
* Printers’ Pageant: Chicago Poetry Cram hosted by CJ Laity
• Featured organizations include:
Danny’s, Dreaded Biscuits, Elbowing off the Stage, The Encyclopedia Show, f magazine, Fresh Squeezed Poetry, Guild Complex’s Palabra Pura, Hair Trigger, Homolatte, Mandorla, Mental Graffiti, Off the Stage, Poetry Local 33, The Poetry Parlor, Quickies, Ray’s Reading Series, recroom, Red Rover, Reading Under the Influence, 2nd Story, Second City Third Person, Silver Tongue, South Loop Review, Story Week Reader, Sunday Night Sex Show, and Thumbs and Knuckles
• Featured readers include:
Toby Bengelsdorf, John Beer, Daniel Borzutzky, Michael H. Brownstein, Chris Bower, N. Barry Carver, Casey J. Bye, Brian Costello, Sheila Donovan, Kate Dougherty, Krista Franklin, Cynthia Gallaher, Daniel Godston, Miki Howald, Lisa Janssen, Lillian Jordan, Jennifer Karmin, Lesley Kartali, Donna Kiser, Ish Klein, Michael Landau, James Lower, Shontay Luna, Adam McOmber, Santiago Martinez, Jill Neumann, Coya Paz, Johanny Vazquez Paz, Donna Pecore, Paul Martinez Pompa, Mike Puican, Dred Sista Ren, Jacob Saenz, Cathleen Schandelmeier, Ashley Schroeder, Melissa Severin, Megan Stielstra, Colleen Storiz, Erin Teegarden, Angeline Tomcik, Andi White, Judy Wiker, Christopher Williams, and Sid Yiddish

Participating literary organizations include:
ACM (Another Chicago Magazine) • A Day in the Air • After Hours • ALARM • Alimentum—The Literature of Food • Allbook Books • Alternative Press Center • American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons • The American Prospect • Anchor Graphics • Anti Gravity Surprise • A Public Space • AREA Chicago • Artful Dodge • Artifice Magazine • The Publications Department of the Art Institute of Chicago • Aufgabe • Bateau Press • Beard of Bees Press • The Believer • Bellevue Literary Review • The Bird Machine • Black Lodge Press • Black Ocean • Black Swan Press • Book/Mark • Build Shop, Columbia College Chicago • BULL: Fiction for Thinking Men • Busy Beaver Buttons • CALYX Books • CALYX Journal • Canarium Books • Cannot Exist • Carpe Articulum Literary Review • Casagrande Press • Cave Wall • Charles H. Kerr • Chicago Amplified • Chicago Artists' Coalition • Chicago Artists' News • Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Publishing Industry Programs • Chic-A-Go-Go • Chicago INNERVIEW Magazine • Chicago Literary Scene Examiner • Chicago Magazine • ChicagoPoetry.com • Chicago Reader • Chicago Review • Chicago Subtext • Chicago Underground Library • CHIRP • Cider Press Review • Columbia College Library • Columbia Poetry Review • The Common Review • Conclave: A Journal of Character • Confrontation • contratiempo • Court Green • Cram • Creative Nonfiction • Crosshair Press • Dalkey Archive Press • dancing girl press • Danny’s • Demeter Press • Dan Grzeca • Draft Magazine • Drag City Records • Dreaded Biscuits • The East Village Inky • Elbowing off the Stage • Eleven Eleven • The Encyclopedia Show • Etruscan Press • Euphony • Evanston Print and Paper Shop • Exact Change Press / Exact Change Only • Eye Rocket Books • f magazine • featherproof books • Fence • Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College • Free Lunch • Fresh Squeezed Poetry • Front Forty Press • Gapers Block • Geneva13 Press • Georgia Review • Gival Press • Great Books Foundation • The Green Lantern • Guild Complex • The Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing • Hair Trigger • Harold Arts Residency Quarterly • The Hat • Hayden’s Ferry Review • Haymarket Books • HERE • High Desert Journal • Homolatte • Hotel Amerika • Hourglass Books • House Press • The International Socialist Review • In These Times • The Iowa Review • JAB (Journal of Artists’ Books) • Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering • Journal of Ordinary Thought • Jubilat • Lake Claremont Press • Les Figues Press • Light Quarterly • Lilies and Cannonballs Review • Lilith Magazine • Literago • Literal Latte • Literary Deathmatch • Litmus Press / Ether Sea Projects • Little Bang • Lumpen • The MacGuffin, Schoolcraft College • MAKE: A Chicago Literary Magazine • Mandorla • McSweeney’s • Mental Graffiti • Mermaid Tenement Press • Mildred Pierce Zine • Milk Machine • Milk Magazine • Milkweed Editions • The Missouri Review • The Mom Egg • Moonlit • Mother Jones • Mule Magazine • Muumuu House • The New Anonymous • Newcity • The New York Quarterly • Ninth Letter • Noemi Press • Northwestern University Press • Off Campus Writers Workshop • One Story • Open Books • Open City • Open Letter Books • Opium Magazine • Orange Alert Press • Other Voices Books • The Oxford American • Packingtown Review • Painted Bride Quarterly • Palabra • Palabra Pura • paper egg books • Platypus Review • Playboy • Please Don’t • Poetry • Polyphony • The Point • PRA Publishing • Preacher's Biscuit Books • Prompt • Proximity • The Puddin’head Press • Puerto del Sol • Quickies • Quimby’s • Ray’s Reading Series • RCP Publications • Reading Under the Influence • reconstruction room • Red Rover • Redivider • Revolution Books • Rhino/The Poetry Forum • Ribald Crow Powder Magazine • Rock for Reading • Roctober Magazine • Rose Metal Press • The Saint Ann’s Review • Salamander • The Same • Sara Ranchouse Publishing • Say What Magazine • 2nd Story • Second City Third Person • Silver Tongue • Smartish Pace • Snow City Arts • Soberscove Press • Socialist Worker newspaper and SocialistWorker.org • South Loop Review • Spinning Jenny • Spire Press • Spoon River Poetry Review • Stampland • STOPSMILING BOOKS • Story Week Reader • Strange Times Press • Sunday Night Sex Show • Switchback Books • Sycamore Review • Tampa Review • Tarpaulin Sky Press • The Taylor Trust: Poetry & Prose • Tebot Bach • THE2NDHAND • Think Journal • Third World Press • Thumbs and Knuckles • Time Out Chicago • TriQuarterly • Try Less Hard • Tuesday; An Art Project • Two Lines • Two With Water • Ugly Duckling Presse • University of Tampa Press • UNSCENE • upstreet • Venus Zine • Versal • virtual artists collective • Visual Studies Workshop • Washington Square Review • West Branch • Woman Made Gallery • Writer’s Studio (University of Chicago – Graham School of General Studies) • Wurlington Press / Build Your Own Chicago • You Are Beautiful • Young Chicago Authors

For more information, e-mail [email protected].

About the Alternative Press Center
The Alternative Press Center (APC) is a periodicals library and nonprofit collective that promotes access to independent and critical sources of news and information. The central goal of the Alternative Press Center is to increase public awareness of the independent, critical press. In doing so, we strive to forge a link between theory and practice for scholars and activists; facilitate research in contemporary scholarship and activism; and provide access to underreported issues that often pass under the radar of the mainstream media.

About the Center for Book & Paper Arts Columbia College Chicago
The Center for Book & Paper Arts (CBPA) at Columbia College Chicago is dedicated to furthering knowledge and appreciation of book art, including letterpress and offset printing, bookbinding, papermaking, and artists’ books. We work to preserve historical techniques while promoting research and innovations in the media of book and paper arts.

About Chicago Amplified
Chicago Public Radio's Chicago Amplified was created in 2006 to bring wider distribution to some of the most exciting and informative public programming happening throughout the Chicago region. Every day throughout our communities there are lectures, conversations, panel discussions, forums, and other educational events taking place. They serve the purpose of inspiring public discourse about a vast array of topics, from recent scientific discoveries and important issues of the day to cultural connections and the importance of shared experience in both our personal and collective history.

About CHIRP (Chicago Independent Radio Project)
The Chicago Independent Radio Project (CHIRP) is working to bring a new music- and arts-focused community radio station to Chicago. CHIRP is launching a streaming station this summer and will continue to work to secure a broadcast license as well.

About Chicago Underground Library
Chicago Underground Library provides an open forum for creative exchange between all producers and patrons of Chicago’s independent media, facilitating collaboration and awareness within diverse communities. Through innovative and inclusive approaches to acquisitions, cataloging, and programming, we illuminate connections and provide both a historical and a contemporary context for the creation of new local media.

About Columbia College Chicago
Columbia College Chicago, an urban institution committed to opportunity and excellence in higher education, provides innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media, and communication arts to nearly 12,500 students in over 120 undergraduate and graduate programs, including film and video, art and design, arts management, television, radio, early childhood education, music, dance, and interactive multimedia—all within a rigorous liberal arts context. Founded in 1890 as a communications school, Columbia College Chicago was re-envisioned in 1963 as a liberal arts college with a “hands-on, minds-on” approach to arts and media education and a progressive social agenda. Under the leadership of President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D., Columbia is aggressively pursuing this mission.

About the Ludington Building
The Ludington Building, at 1104 South Wabash on Columbia’s South Loop campus, was commissioned by Mary Ludington Barnes for the American Book Company. Built in 1891, the Ludington was designed by William LeBaron Jenney, the architect acknowledged as the inventor of the skyscraper. At the time Chicago was a national center for the publishing industry, and Ludington Barnes commissioned the building to house the offices, printing presses, and packaging and shipping operations of her husband’s company. Its frame was built to withstand the weight and vibrations of the presses, located on the fourth through sixth floors. Columbia College Chicago purchased the building in 1999, refitting the historic structure for educational purposes. The Ludington, named a City of Chicago Landmark in 1996 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, currently houses the school’s Center for Book & Paper Arts, Film and Video Department facilities, Glass Curtain Gallery, and Conaway Student Center.

About MAKE: A Chicago Literary Magazine
MAKE: A Chicago Literary Magazine is a biannual literary magazine featuring emerging and established writers and visual artists, published by MAKE Literary Productions, NFP, a 501(c)(3) literary arts organization. Issue 8—This Everyday—is out now.

About Newcity
Newcity, Chicago’s only locally owned and operated arts and culture weekly, offers up a fresh take on culture and city flavored by a lifelong love of the metropolis we cover. With a combination of in-depth reporting, vivid profiles, and sassy commentary on the issues that keep Chicago percolating, Newcity lives as a kind of collective urban diary. And tour guide. Weekly.

About Opium Magazine and Literary Death Match
Opium Magazine has been updated daily since its online debut in 2001, and the print magazine, designed by David Barringer, has been published semiannually since August 2005. Opium features an array of delight-inducing contests. Featured artists include Etgar Keret, Daniel Handler, Neil LaBute, Aimee Bender, Jack Handey, Art Spiegelman, and more.

Opium’s Literary Death Match features four readers (who represent print and online literary concerns) in an edge-of-your-seat read-off, all critiqued by three all-star judges. Regularly produced in New York City and San Francisco, it has also launched in London, Beijing, Boston, and beyond (plus it’s soon being pitched as a TV show).

About Poetry Magazine
Founded in Chicago by Harriet Monroe in 1912, Poetry is the oldest monthly devoted to verse in the English-speaking world. Harriet Monroe’s “Open Door” policy, set forth in volume 1 of the magazine, remains the most succinct statement of Poetry’s mission: to print the best poetry written today, in whatever style, genre, or approach. The magazine established its reputation early by publishing the first important poems of T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, H.D., William Carlos Williams, Carl Sandburg, and other now-classic authors. In succeeding decades it has presented—often for the first time—works by virtually every significant poet of the 20th century.