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Poking around the scary, horrible, disgusting, excellent cauldron of new horror lit

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borrelli.bsky.social @borrelli.bsky.social · 3d

If you’re looking for a scary read this Halloween season, my roundup of the best horror lit of the year, w/ @raforall.bsky.social @keithrosson.bsky.social @rachelharrison.bsky.social @ericlarocca.bsky.social @sgj.bsky.social @cynthiapelayo.bsky.social www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/02/h...

Horror lit is in an unprecedented renaissance right now, driven by a diverse crop of new writers, robust horror sections in bookstores and the spread of horror-only book clubs. But all roads lead b…

As ‘SNL’ begins its 51st season, an appreciation of those celeb ‘bumper’ photos

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borrelli.bsky.social @borrelli.bsky.social · 4d

As 'SNL' begins its 51st season tonight, my piece on the unappreciated art of the SNL commercial bumper, which have been made by only two people in 51 seasons. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/03/s...

The portraits have all been made by two photographers, Mary Ellen Matthews and Edie Baskin, who have collected their work in recent art books.

As ‘SNL’ begins its 51st season, an appreciation of those celeb ‘bumper’ photos

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Clay McLeod Chapman @claymcleod.bsky.social · 6d

Super cool to find ACQUIRED TASTE highlighted in this pretty expansive article about our horror lit boom in the Chicago Tribune this morning. Immense thanks to Christopher Borrelli for including my “quasi-Kingian” collection. Love it. Read the article here: bit.ly/4npTml8 @chicagotribune.com

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borrelli.bsky.social @borrelli.bsky.social · 4d

As 'SNL' begins its 51st season tonight, my piece on the unappreciated art of the SNL commercial bumper, which have been made by only two people in 51 seasons. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/03/s...

The portraits have all been made by two photographers, Mary Ellen Matthews and Edie Baskin, who have collected their work in recent art books.

Column: You think your office is a sitcom? I worked at Toledo’s Blade newspaper, a loose inspiration for ‘The Paper’

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Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · 13d

When “The Paper” and its location were announced earlier this year, former Blade staffers lit up social media, skeptical of how crazy this show could possibly get — how true to actually working at The Blade could a sitcom be and still be believable?

The new Peacock sitcom set at a Toledo newspaper is by the creators of “The Office.” Some real newspaper staffers in that Ohio city threw a little watch party in a basement bar recently.

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borrelli.bsky.social @borrelli.bsky.social · 13d

Having worked there myself, I wrote about the craziness of working at the actual Toledo Blade newspaper that partly inspired the fake paper in Peacock’s The Paper www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/25/c...

Column: You think your office is a sitcom? I worked at Toledo’s Blade newspaper, a loose inspiration for ‘The Paper’

The new Peacock sitcom set at a Toledo newspaper is by the creators of “The Office.” Some real newspaper staffers in that Ohio city threw a little watch party in a basement bar recently.

Column: You think your office is a sitcom? I worked at Toledo’s Blade newspaper, a loose inspiration for ‘The Paper’

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borrelli.bsky.social @borrelli.bsky.social · 13d

Having worked there myself, I wrote about the craziness of working at the actual Toledo Blade newspaper that partly inspired the fake paper in Peacock’s The Paper www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/25/c...

The new Peacock sitcom set at a Toledo newspaper is by the creators of “The Office.” Some real newspaper staffers in that Ohio city threw a little watch party in a basement bar recently.

Column: Fall Arts Season 2025, or When politics can’t be avoided

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borrelli.bsky.social @borrelli.bsky.social · 22d

My piece on why the fall arts season is, yes, as political as you think, whether it intends to be or not. W @brucespringsteen.net @artinstitutechi.bsky.social @riotfest.bsky.social and more www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/05/f...

Someday, someone might look back on 2025 and pick through the mountain of symphonies and movies and novels and museum exhibits that were being offered in Chicago. But never mind future historians, …

Column: Fall Arts Season 2025, or When politics can’t be avoided

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borrelli.bsky.social @borrelli.bsky.social · 22d

My piece on why the fall arts season is, yes, as political as you think, whether it intends to be or not. W @brucespringsteen.net @artinstitutechi.bsky.social @riotfest.bsky.social and more www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/05/f...

Someday, someone might look back on 2025 and pick through the mountain of symphonies and movies and novels and museum exhibits that were being offered in Chicago. But never mind future historians, …

Books for fall 2025: Luigi, Ozzy and the great beyond

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borrelli.bsky.social @borrelli.bsky.social · 26d

Manifesting the Tribune’s giant fall book package w/ @sarahweinman.com @rachelcorbett.bsky.social @lizgilbert.bsky.social @angelaflournoy.bsky.social @grady-chambers.bsky.social @jelaniya.bsky.social @bethmacy.bsky.social @charlesfinch.bsky.social and more… www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/11/f...

The endless to-be-read list on your phone, the ready-to-be-read stack on your bedside table, should expect company, regardless of whether you read cozy mysteries or harrowing memoirs.

Books for fall 2025: Luigi, Ozzy and the great beyond

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borrelli.bsky.social @borrelli.bsky.social · 26d

Manifesting the Tribune’s giant fall book package w/ @sarahweinman.com @rachelcorbett.bsky.social @lizgilbert.bsky.social @angelaflournoy.bsky.social @grady-chambers.bsky.social @jelaniya.bsky.social @bethmacy.bsky.social @charlesfinch.bsky.social and more… www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/11/f...

The endless to-be-read list on your phone, the ready-to-be-read stack on your bedside table, should expect company, regardless of whether you read cozy mysteries or harrowing memoirs.

Review: Art Institute’s Catlett show is unnervingly, thrillingly of the moment

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Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · Sep 8

Timing is everything.

“Elizabeth Catlett: ‘A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies,’” a remarkably bracing new exhibit stuffed with politics and activism and fascism and standing up for everyday laborers and educators, arrives at the Art Institute of Chicago in a cultural hailstorm.

“Elizabeth Catlett: ‘A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies'” is full of artwork that stops you in your tracks when you meant to be walking through the exhibit.

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Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · Sep 3

It started with just a few people meeting on the lakefront on Sunday evenings to let out their feelings by screaming. There are now chapters in Lisbon and London.

Shout out! The weekly Scream Club Chicago taps into a need — and has already gone global

It started with just a few people meeting on the lakefront on Sunday evenings to let out their feelings by screaming. There are now chapters in Lisbon and London.

Peter Orner, the best kept literary secret from Chicago no longer?

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borrelli.bsky.social @borrelli.bsky.social · Aug 21

My profile of the long unsung Peter_Orner, whose new novel, The Gossip's Columnist's Daughter -- a love letter to Chicago, a long-forgotten true crime tale, a strange bit of Highland Park history -- is looking like the best novel of the year
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/21/p...

His new novel, “The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter,” is about the death of Sun-Times columnist Irv Kupcinet’s daughter. Whatever he writes about, he never shakes Chicago.

Peter Orner, the best kept literary secret from Chicago no longer?

borrelli.bsky.social @borrelli.bsky.social · Aug 21

My profile of the long unsung Peter_Orner, whose new novel, The Gossip's Columnist's Daughter -- a love letter to Chicago, a long-forgotten true crime tale, a strange bit of Highland Park history -- is looking like the best novel of the year
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/21/p...

His new novel, “The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter,” is about the death of Sun-Times columnist Irv Kupcinet’s daughter. Whatever he writes about, he never shakes Chicago.

Terrible Chicago artist draws terrible Chicago portraits. And finds a niche.

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borrelli.bsky.social @borrelli.bsky.social · Aug 21

My piece on Jacob Reno, self-proclaimed bad artist, now much in demand around Chicago for his services www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/20/c...

Jacob Ryan Reno, long and boyish, wearing the kind of blue smock you imagine a painter would wear in a cartoon about a painter, is not good at his job.

Terrible Chicago artist draws terrible Chicago portraits. And finds a niche.

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borrelli.bsky.social @borrelli.bsky.social · Aug 21

My piece on Jacob Reno, self-proclaimed bad artist, now much in demand around Chicago for his services www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/20/c...

Jacob Ryan Reno, long and boyish, wearing the kind of blue smock you imagine a painter would wear in a cartoon about a painter, is not good at his job.

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/13/a...

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borrelli.bsky.social @borrelli.bsky.social · Aug 17

To know them is to loath them: Oak Park’s Alec Nevala-Lee finds a niche, writing about science’s biggest jerks

Alec Nevala-Lee of Oak Park has developed a talent for writing quite accessible histories of the boorish but brilliant.

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/13/a...

borrelli.bsky.social @borrelli.bsky.social · Aug 17

To know them is to loath them: Oak Park’s Alec Nevala-Lee finds a niche, writing about science’s biggest jerks

Alec Nevala-Lee of Oak Park has developed a talent for writing quite accessible histories of the boorish but brilliant.

Long after the fuss over Pope Leo XIV, the village of Dolton will still be here

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borrelli.bsky.social @borrelli.bsky.social · Aug 7

My profile of Dolton, the Pope’s hometown, after the cameras leave www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/07/d...

If you’re planning a pilgrimage to the pope’s hometown this summer, keep in mind that Dolton never asked to be considered remarkable. Except, in its own way, it is. Just like wherever it is you cam…

To know them is to loath them: Oak Park’s Alec Nevala-Lee finds a niche, writing about science’s biggest jerks

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borrelli.bsky.social @borrelli.bsky.social · Aug 14

My piece on Oak Park's ⁦‪Alec Nevala-Lee,‬⁩ who found his niche as a writer - the biographies of science’s great assholes - the boorish, but brilliant. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/13/a...

Alec Nevala-Lee of Oak Park has developed a talent for writing quite accessible histories of the boorish but brilliant.

To know them is to loath them: Oak Park’s Alec Nevala-Lee finds a niche, writing about science’s biggest jerks

borrelli.bsky.social @borrelli.bsky.social · Aug 14

My piece on Oak Park's ⁦‪Alec Nevala-Lee,‬⁩ who found his niche as a writer - the biographies of science’s great assholes - the boorish, but brilliant. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/13/a...

Alec Nevala-Lee of Oak Park has developed a talent for writing quite accessible histories of the boorish but brilliant.

Chicago Humanities Fall Festival faces the decline of the humanities with lineup including Margaret Atwood, Kate McKinnon

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Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · Aug 11

The Chicago Humanities Festival announces its fall lineup at a time when many cultural institutions face a bleak future of almost zero public funding.

The Chicago Humanities Festival announces its fall lineup at a time when many cultural institutions face a bleak future of almost zero public funding.

Long after the fuss over Pope Leo XIV, the village of Dolton will still be here

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borrelli.bsky.social @borrelli.bsky.social · Aug 7

My profile of Dolton, the Pope’s hometown, after the cameras leave www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/07/d...

If you’re planning a pilgrimage to the pope’s hometown this summer, keep in mind that Dolton never asked to be considered remarkable. Except, in its own way, it is. Just like wherever it is you cam…