The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
=This is the week for the Sirens in the Loop book launch party!
=Here are the details for this all-star event...
=Big night last Thursday night in Mesa, Arizona. The producers of My Father, Dick Allen, including Eckhartz Press author (Chili Dog MVP) Dr. David Fletcher unveiled the first episode of their documentary to a star-studded crowd. Eckhartz Press publishers Rick and Dave were on hand for the festivities as well, and brought back a few photos...
=It's a big deal when the likes of Rick Kogan comes out to interview you. That's what happened on Sunday afternoon to Nick Digilio in front of a crowd of movie fans discussing films and the Oscars. It was a magical event.
=Great event on Sunday afternoon at the G-man tavern on Clark Street (just down the street from Wrigley Field). Eckhartz Press author Brendan Sullivan interviewed Eckhartz Press author Robert Conlon about his book Celtic Knot, in front of a packed house. Thanks to everyone who came out.
St. Patrick's Day
=St Patrick's Day has always been a big day for Eckhartz Press. In addition to our latest Irish classic Celtic Knot, our Irish cup runneth over with these other titles. Tony Fitzpatrick (The Sun at the End of the Road) wrote an essay about St. Patrick's Day in his Eckhartz Press book. He also created the beautiful art piece in honor of Sinead O'Connor (Psalms for an Irish Girl) below. Joel Daly (The Daly News) covered the St. Patrick's Day parade for Channel 7 for 40 years. John Landecker (Records Truly Is My Middle Name) been has going to the parade since the 1970s (photo below with Bob Sirott), Brendan Sullivan (The Living Wills) wrote a piece for us about what it means to grow up South Side Irish (It's here.) and his co-author Rick Kaempfer once got an opportunity to jam at the Irish Rock and Roll Museum in Dublin.
=Also, don't forget the first day of Spring is this week, or as we call it at EveryCubEver headquarters, the first day of Jack Spring.
=This is a great interview with Mark Wukas, author of The Kiss of Night.
=Mark will also be at the book launch party for Sirens in the Loop on Thursday night.
Slivers
=Not many people have had the chance to read Vicki Atkinson's new book, a novel called Slivers, which will be coming out on Eckhartz Press in the next few weeks. One person who has sean it, is author Joy Neal Kidney, and here's what she thought of it...
You may think your family is a tribe of misfits, but what if there’s a backstory from generations earlier? I’ve never chewed my fingernails, but I could have with this story of ancestral secrets run amok. Teenagers living with secrets, rituals, tension, deceit, assured by their mothers that things are okay but sensing otherwise. Important things, worrisome, unspoken. Family dysfunction on steroids. With whispers about the gift of intuition in her own family from generations across the ocean, Vicki Atkinson has woven a compelling story of inherited tentacles deeply entangled in the lives of younger descendants.
-Joy Neal Kidney, author of the Leora trilogy and other heartfelt books about family
=Gloria Golec's memoir about growing up on the South Side of Chicago is now available for sale at TownHouse Books and Cafe in St. Charles Illinois (105 North 2nd Avenue). Great little independent book store. Swing by if you're in the neighborhood and look for Gloria's book there.
=Jeff Reiter has a full calender of upcoming events to promote The Best of Words on Birds, his incredible book about bird watching ("It's called Birding, Rick"). Here are just a few of them...
To The Men I've Loved (God Help Them!)
=Reader reviews from Take Me Back to Chicago by Doug E. Jones have been pouring in, and it seems like Doug has struck a nerve with Chicago readers. Here's a sampling...
=This week is former Bears center Jay Hilgenberg's birthday (March 21). He was kind enough to provide us with a blurb for Dan McNeil's book I Bear Witness.
Dan gets puffy chested about his titanic drives and he does have length. He gets club head speed with that Barney Rubble body and hits it a long way. In every direction. The pride he takes in his radio work gets much better results.
Happy Anniversary!
Two Eckhartz Press books had book launch parties this week, Cameo by Beth Jacobellis (2018) and Nose Over Toes by Janet Sutherland (2019). Photos from those book launch parties are below.
Records Truly Is My Middle Name
=This week in 2013 was a big week for Records Truly Is My Middle Name. You don't really know what you have with a book until the Chicago Tribune's Rick Kogan chimes in. His excellent review in the Tribune came out this week, and Rick also conducted this interview in the Tribune newsroom.
=Two of the contributors to Cubsessions are celebrating birthdays this week, actor Gary Sinese (March 17) and Shawon Dunston (March 21). Dunston himself doesn't appear in the book, but the man who created the Shawon-O-Meter (Dave Cilha) does. That's Dave (on the far right) at one of the Cubsessions book signings. Others in the photo--author Randy Richardson, former Cubs ball girl Kathy Wolter, and Ronnie Woo Woo.
Scott Simon
=The NPR host is celebrating a birthday this week (March 16). He appears in the two Eckhartz Press books mentioned above. His late 1970s report on the John Landecker show was a significant turning point in Records Truly Is My Middle Name, and Simon was also interviewed by Randy Richardson and Becky Sarwate about his love of the Cubs for their 2019 book Cubsessions.
=This week in 2023, Windy City Reviews dropped an incredible review of Rick Kaempfer's novel Back in the DDR...
“For those reminiscing on or wishing they could have visited Cold War Europe, this reviewer has the next best alternative for you, in the form of Rick Kaempfer’s fascinating new novel Back in the D.D.R. In his highly polished and breezy writing style, Kaempfer takes the reader on a literary adventure of a lifetime, back to Checkpoint Charlie and the whispers of espionage.
Having an understanding of the geography, when added to Kaempfer’s descriptive and detailed writing, helps to transport the reader to these locations. Indeed, the reader may begin to feel as if they are physically accompanying Rudi and his family as they travel.
This fantastic story ends on a triumphal note for thirteen-year-old Rudi, who is forced to mature in a short time. Emblematic of this dawning maturity is when Rudi states, “In Chicago I always felt like a German boy pretending to be American, in Germany I discovered that I was not pretending.”
=This week in 2016 (March 21), Dobie Maxwell was making the rounds in his native Milwaukee. He had a big appearance at Shank Hall.
=This week in 1989 (March 18), Steve Dahl got his vasectomy live on the radio, and Garry Meier had to describe it. That story is told in the pages of The Loop Files.
=This week in 1861, the Benedictine Sisters of Chicago was founded. Eckhartz Press author Vicki Quade is a huge supporter of the organization, and they, in turn, are huge supporters of Vicki...
“Vicki Quade’s new book reminds me of Martin Buber’s quote which was always a favorite of mine: All real living is meeting. Anyone who loves or wants to know Chicago will enjoy Vicki’s keen humor and vivid memories. They invite us to find new ways to live and laugh, especially during this pandemic isolation. Maybe it will encourage some to write their own memories of human encounters!”
=This week in 2020, Lee Kingsmill's great book was given a long and heartfelt endorsement by WGN Radio's Steve King and Johnnie Putman.
=This week in 2023 Chuck Swirsky pitched his memoir Always a Pleasure in Canada. It was a coming home of sorts for Swirsky who was the play-by-play man for the Raptors for many years.
