Chicago After Dark : A City All-Star Student Anthology

Here in the 21st century, Chicago has been receiving an increasing amount of attention as one of the premiere literary cities in the United States; but what often gets overlooked is the thriving educational community that exists here as well, with over two dozen institutions in the area teaching thousands of student writers, under the tutelage of some of the most celebrated published authors on the planet. And now the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography is proud to kick off its first in a series of annual looks at the best of such student work, gathered around a specific theme each year in order to spur daring and original new pieces by these writers. This 2014 collection features 31 students in the fields of fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry, turning in everything from sentimental family portraits and funny coming-of-age stories to cutting-edge horror and science-fiction, and capped with a brand-new introduction by revered author (and beloved local professor) Don De Grazia. It provides a fascinating and highly entertaining snapshot of how this city is being viewed by its youngest adults here in the Millennial years, and shows that Chicago is not just the current home of some of the brightest writers of our generation, but will continue to be so for generations to come.