An Untamed State by Roxane Gay

The prolific Gay demonstrates her exceptional talent with 2014’s bracing, harrowing account of Mireille Duval Jameson, a wealthy Haitian American who gets kidnapped by a band of mercenaries while on vacation in the Caribbean. It’s not easy reading by any means, but Gay’s ability to write humanely about the complicated web of economic privilege, racism, … Read more

Ike Holter

Holter broke out with 2012’s Hit the Wall. But the follow-up to his kinetic take on the Stonewall riots shows that the Minneapolis native is a blaze, not a flare. With Exit Strategy—produced earlier this year at Jackalope Theatre—he brought white-knuckle intensity to the emotional and politically incendiary topic of the public school closings in Chicago. Watching … Read more

Ian Abramson

The 25-year-old Logan Square resident delights in peppering the Twittersphere (@iantherage) with droll one-liners such as “I tried to get my checking account to check on my savings, but it didn’t have any interest.” The regular on the standup scene has lately been running around town staging madcap pranks. In one, he put a comedian … Read more

Museum of Contemporary Art

Soon after the MCA settled into its home behind Water Tower Place in 1996, monumental sculptures began popping up, adding a dash of the surreal to the museum’s entrance plaza. So far, a dozen artists have been showcased there. In 2005, a car and its camper seemed to crash through the pavement from below in … Read more

Poetry Magazine

This centenarian monthly has long engaged local writers, but a recent redesign claimed the magazine’s cover for contemporary artists. “Our heart is in Chicago, and lately we’ve been wearing it on our sleeve,” says Poetry’s art director, Fred Sasaki. This year, works by Rebecca Shore, Jessie Mott, Lilli Carré, and Kate McQuillen have graced the … Read more