The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
Printers Row Lit Fest
=If you're going to the Printers Row Lit Fest this weekend, you'll have two chances to meet Eckhartz Press authors. On Saturday Ken Smoller will be there with his book Last Comiskey, and on Sunday Vicki Atkinson will be there signing and selling her book Surviving Sue. Both will be in the Chicago Writers Association tent. Hope to see you there!
Award Winner!
=This week in 2016 (September 2), we released a book by M.L Collins called Out the Door! It was our little book that could. Unknown author, writing about Door County, and doing it with wit and charm. The cover was a grabber, it built a cult following, and sold well. Then, at the end of the year, it was named the Book of the Year by the Chicago Writers Association.
=Randy Merkin's book is about the many sports legends he has met and booked as guests during his long and successful career as a sports radio producer. Three of the stars featured in his book have birthdays this week. Terry Bradshaw (September 2), Tom Watson (September 4) and Al McGuire (September 7). Each of them rate their own chapter in Behind the Glass. Also, celebrating a birthday this week (September 7) is Randy's former ESPN Radio colleague Jonathan Hood, who came out to the launch party for the book.
=If you don't get a chance to make it down to Printers Row Lit Fest this weekend, there are several other places to meet Last Comiskey author Ken Smoller (shown here with Eckhartz Press publishers Rick Kaempfer and David Stern)
Thursday, Sept 5
Crestwood Library
4pm
Thursday, Sept 5
Riverside Library Talk
- 7pm
Saturday, Sept 7
Evergreen
Park Library 10:30 am
(Here's an article about his upcoming appearance there)
Monday, Sept 9
ELA Area Public Library
Wednesday,
September 11
Lake Villa library talk
=This week in 2018, Richard Reeder appeared on Rick Kogan's WGN Radio show to talk about his book 1001 Train Rides in Chicago.
=This week in 2021 (September 2), John Landecker had Rick Kaempfer on his WGN Radio show to talk about the Cubs. At the time people were saying that year's Cubs team was the worst ever. Rick gave John many more examples of teams that were worse. Far worse. You can listen to it here.
=This week in 2018 (September 3), Mitch Michaels wrote about the experience of the year he just completed. The year of his writing and promoting Doin' The Cruise.
One year ago today my book was released: Doin The Cruise: Memories From a Lifetime in Radio & Rock n Roll. I wrote the book for me, for my kids and grand kids so they knew at least some of what I had done with my life, but I also wrote it for all those of you who have been listening throughout years. We’ve spent a great deal of time together and I thought a chronology of the Chicago radio landscape, from my point of view, over the past forty-five plus years might be of some interest. I wanted to say thanks to my publishers Rick Kaempfer and David Stern from Eckhartz Press who did such a great job and a special thanks to Ken Churilla (my co-author) who spent two years listening, recording and writing down my stories. Ken was required to learn a brand new language for this project. He had to learn “Mitch Speaks” and he learned it very well. Forgive me if this sounds like I’m reliving A Day in The Life, because that’s exactly what I’m doing! This day, one year ago was so special. It started with an interview on The Noon News at WGN-TV with Steve Sanders who turned out to be a fan. Big fun! Great guy!! Followed by a book release party later that afternoon, at Lloyd’s of Chicago, attended by old friends and co-workers alike. It was an amazing day! It’s been a whirlwind of a year and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
=Can you identify the man who gave his name to this signature shoe? It's none other than former tennis star Jimmy Connors. Ryan Trembath writes about Jimmy and this shoe in his Eckhartz Press book about the celebrities who spawned the signature shoe world. Jimmy's birthday is this week (September 2)
WGN-TV Morning News
=This week (September 6) marks the 30th anniversary of the WGN-TV Morning News. Most of the faces have remained the same since the beginning of that time, including Larry Potash, Robin Baumgarten, Paul Konrad, Pat Tomasulo, and Dean Richards. The show has also been very gracious to Eckhartz Press over the years, featuring a number of our authors. Here are a few on set. Bobby Skafish, Chuck Swirsky, Rich King, Joel Daly, John Landecker, and Rick Kaempfer.
=These two books have a few things in common, and one of them is the support of radio personality Johnnie Putman (September 5 birthday). She gave a wonderful endorsement to Roger's book...
“This book’s cover photo was taken on a night we’ll never forget. Trust us, we never had a night like that on the radio before or since and, along with our WGN radio listeners, were praying that Roger would survive. Spoiler alert: He did! In this book Roger shares the details of that night and other adventures, including his time with Chicago’s first black mayor, Harold Washington, and first woman mayor, Jane Byrne. “The Unplanned Life” of this man we’re so proud to call a friend was obviously part of a bigger plan. Thankfully, he listened to the universe and went along for the ride. Buckle up, it’s a good one!”
Read a book day
=September 6 is Read a Book Day and we thought we'd take the opportunity to mention a few of the novels we have released over the years. They don't get as much attention as the non-fiction books, but let's face it, who doesn't like to dig in to a little fiction every now and then? Seems like Read a Book Day is the perfect opportunity. Try The Living Wills, Down at the Golden Coin, Cheeseland, Lost in the Ivy, Safe Inside, An Off-White Christmas, Righteous Might, City U, Wicker Park Wishes, Talking Bout My Generation, Belle, Back in the DDR, and Severance, to name a few.
Everything I Know I Learned from Rock Stars
=Bill Paige's book is one of the few you'll find with a Freddie Mercury interview. Freddie would have been celebrating a birthday this week (September 5).
=We just lost Bob Newhart in July, but the famous comedian/Cubs fan did contribute to our book Cubsessions back in 2019 (written by Randy Richardson and Becky Sarwate). Want to know how Bob felt in 2016 after the Cubs won the World Series? He had been a Cubs fan so long, he greeted the 1945 Cubs at the train station when they won the pennant. Bob's Cubs joy is found in the pages of Cubsessions. It would have been his birthday this week (September 5)
=This week in 2019 (September 7), Bobby Skafish made an appearance at our favorite record store, Blue Village Vinyl in Westmont. A few of his old pals were there to help him celebrate. That's former Loop colleagues Wendy Snyder and Jimmy Mac McInerney.
Windy City Live
This week in 2014 (September 5) we almost lost four of our authors in a monsoon at Wrigley Field. James Finn Garner (contributor to Write City Review), Donald Evans (An Off-White Christmas), Randy Richardson (Cubsessions, Lost in the Ivy, Cheeseland) and Rick Kaempfer narrowly escaped with their lives. The Cubs weren't as lucky.
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