chicago stories

3 COA Authors Featured in “Write City Magazine”

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Over the past few years, three COA authors have been featured in Write City Magazine, the online publication of the Chicago Writers Association. Most recently our own malcontent Augie Truesdale’s ramble about dog-earin’ and cliches and the shark eating the marlin were published in June. Check Augie’s piece out here. Try to guess how many shots of Jim Beam rye it took to write it.

COA author and Write City contributor Monte Verde

Monte Verde, back when he did such things. Playing dress-up, I mean.

The Chicago Writers Association has published a first-ever print compilation of some of the finest WCM pieces of the past half-decade. We’re excited to announce that C. D. “Charlie” Monte Verde (twice) and  Erick Sierra (once) both made the cut! Those pieces have been featured on our site as well. We’ll republish one of them in an upcoming week.

COA author and Write City contributor Sierra

The good Dr. Sierra

Don’t play the guessing game on which piece we’ll re-post! Purchase the first-ever Write City Review journal, one copy for $15 (click this link) or two for $20 (click this link).

Happy summer, people!

Whistler's Mother is LeBron James

Whistler’s Mother is LeBron James

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‘Whistler’s Mother is LeBron James’ Thorsten Sahlin’s first piece for COA. You can check out his new author Q&A piece here if you want to know a little more about people that actually enjoy Malort or being from everywhere and nowhere all-at-once.

It is not without an eye roll that I hear about a world-famous painting exhibiting at the Art Institute of Chicago. Individuals who normally wouldn’t spend 1.5 seconds on a lesser-known painting come in droves to view a work because someone else told them it’s important. With this in mind, I had reservations about going to see Arrangement in Gray and Black No. 1 (Whistler’s Mother). Is this epitome of all things matronly worth trudging through the galleries of screaming children? Is it worth listening to their khaki-baptized parents summarizing the description from the pamphlet to one another as if these are their own takeaways from the piece? Oddly enough, the answer for me is almost always yes. After, all someone told me it’s important. Continue reading →