Take a peek into the best moments of the best chats from 30+ years of Chicago Humanities with our new culture-filled podcast - Chicago Humanities Tapes. Join host Alisa Rosenthal as she looks for the answers to humanity’s biggest questions by picking the coolest moments from our current season along with programs from our incredible archive dating back to 1991. Listen on your favorite podcast platform or direct from chicagohumanities.org/explore/podcast/.

Chicago Humanities creates experiences through culture, creativity, and connection. Want to be the first to know about upcoming events so you can see your favorite speaker live and in person? Head over to chicagohumanities.org to join our email list.

We’ve got to thank comedian Abby McEnany and writer Samantha Irby for both achieving fame and keeping it real. McEnany has adapted her Chicago’s iO Theater one-woman show into the semi-autobiographical Showtime series “Work In Progress”—the “coming of age story of a 45-year-old self-identified queer dyke”. Irby’s latest essay collection Wow, No Thank You, chronicles her “bourgeois life of a Hallmark Channel dream,” including turning 40, getting married, and moving out of Chicago. Come celebrate Pride and representing queer joy with McEnany and Irby. This program was livestreamed on June 25, 2020.

Donate now to support programs like this: https://www.chicagohumanities.org/donate   

Season 1 of "Work In Progress" is streaming now on Showtime.    

Order Samantha Irby's book Wow, No Thank You. online at Seminary Co-Op: https://www.semcoop.com/wow-no-thank-you 

Explore upcoming events: https://www.chicagohumanities.org/

The slogan of Roman Mars’s popular podcast 99% Invisible—“always read the plaque”—is a reminder to look for the stories lurking within. In their new book The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design, Mars and his co-author Kurt Kohlstedt focus their appreciation for the hidden dimensions of everyday design on the cityscape. Mars, Kohlstedt, and YouTuber and author Hank Green (A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor) will reveal the stories of us in the places we inhabit. This program was livestreamed on October 8, 2020.

This week’s programs presented with the support of Bank of America.  

Donate now to support programs like this: https://www.chicagohumanities.org/donate   

Order the book The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design online at Seminary Co-op: https://www.semcoop.com/ 

Explore upcoming events: https://www.chicagohumanities.org/

While many know Margaret Atwood for her dystopian novels The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and the MaddAddam trilogy, her distinguished career began via another medium: poetry. Audiences eagerly awaiting Atwood’s return to the form will not be disappointed with her first collection in over a decade. Dearly is an introspective and intimate reflection on love, loss, and the passage of time. Come hear the singular voice and mind of Margaret Atwood at play, reflecting on the role of writing in helping us to understand our past and prepare for the future. Atwood is joined in conversation by CHF Marilynn Thoma Artistic Director Alison Cuddy. This program was livestreamed on November 8, 2020.

This program is generously underwritten by Ellen Stone Belic.  

Women & Children First is Chicago's feminist bookstore, celebrating and amplifying underrepresented voices since 1979.  

This week’s programs presented with the support of Bank of America.  

Donate now to support programs like this: https://www.chicagohumanities.org/donate

Explore upcoming events: https://www.chicagohumanities.org/

There are three stages of life, reflects the visionary theater director, writer, and actor André Gregory: “Youth, Middle Age, and You’re-looking-great!”. In This Is Not My Memoir, Gregory (now 86 years old) shares memories from the making of his seminal film My Dinner With André and ponders having “reached the age of You’re-looking-great”. Gregory is joined in conversation by stand-up comedian and SNL alum John Mulaney whose alter ego from the hit Broadway show Oh Hello! made a hilarious appearance at Film Independent’s 2019 adapted table read of Gregory’s My Dinner with André. This program was livestreamed on November 18, 2020.

Donate now to support programs like this: https://www.chicagohumanities.org/donate   

Order the book This Is Not My Memoir online at Seminary Co-op: https://www.semcoop.com/not-my-memoir 

Explore upcoming events: https://www.chicagohumanities.org/

Shannon Lee, daughter of iconic martial artist and actor Bruce Lee, is an executive producer on Cinemax’s Warrior (Season 2 now airing Friday’s at 10pm), which brings her father’s vision for a TV show about Chinese immigrants during the Tong Wars to fruition. Lee is also the author of Be Water, My Friend, a book of Bruce Lee’s philosophy and advice “demonstrating how martial arts are a perfect metaphor for personal growth”. Join Shannon Lee at CHF to talk about keeping her father’s legacy and influence alive on our television screens and bookshelves, and what we can learn from Bruce Lee’s vision. Lee is joined in conversation by sociologist and pop culture expert Nancy Wang Yuen. This program was livestreamed on October 30, 2020.

Check out the trailer for Season 2 of Warrior: https://youtu.be/V_wSj_1fWtY 

Donate now to support programs like this: https://www.chicagohumanities.org/donate 

This week’s programs presented with the support of Fifth Third Bank.  

Order the book Be Water, My Friend : The Teachings of Bruce Lee online at Seminary Co-op: https://www.semcoop.com/

Explore upcoming events: https://www.chicagohumanities.org/

“Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter,” wrote Alicia Garza in a 2013 Facebook post after the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. The #BlackLivesMatter hashtag that emerged in response to the post, and the following movement (co-founded by Garza), remains as important today as it was then, with people across the country continuing to protest state-sanctioned violence against Black people. Garza returns to CHF to discuss her debut book The Purpose of Power, which details the two decades of organizing experience that guides her activism. Garza is joined in conversation by writer, pleasure activist, and social justice facilitator adrienne maree brown. This program was livestreamed on October 29, 2020.

This annual lecture is supported by the Doris Conant Endowment for Programs on Women and Culture and is presented in partnership with 826CHI.  

This week’s programs presented with the support of Fifth Third Bank.  

Donate now to support programs like this: https://www.chicagohumanities.org/donate  

Order the book The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart online at Seminary Co-op: https://www.semcoop.com/purpose-power 

Explore upcoming events: https://www.chicagohumanities.org/

After his high profile tenure as the Mayor of South Bend, Indiana and a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, Pete Buttigieg has turned his gaze to the future. In his new book Trust: America’s Best Chance, Buttigieg identifies what he sees as a crisis of trust “in our institutions, each other, and the American project”, arguing that our success or failure depends on addressing these systemic concerns. Buttigieg is joined by Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot for a conversation about trust and distrust in this turbulent moment for American democracy. This program was livestreamed on October 16, 2020.

Donate now to support programs like this: https://www.chicagohumanities.org/don...   

This week's programs presented with the support of Southwest Airlines.  

Order the book Trust: America's Best Chance online at Seminary Co-op: https://www.semcoop.com/trust-america... 

Explore upcoming events: https://www.chicagohumanities.org/

Nick Hornby’s latest novel Just Like You updates the meet-cute genre for a modern love story: Lucy, a 41 year old almost-divorcée, stands in line at a butcher shop watching her neighbor flirt with a much younger man behind the counter. It’s not exactly the stuff of dreams, but Lucy isn’t looking for romance (at least not yet). Join Hornby (High Fidelity) and Ayelet Waldman (The Mommy-Track Mysteries) for a chat about what it means for authors and characters to throw out the old scripts in order to try something new. This program was livestreamed on October 27, 2020.

Donate now to support programs like this: https://www.chicagohumanities.org/don...   

This week’s programs presented with the support of Fifth Third Bank.  

Order the book Just Like You: A Novel online at Seminary Co-op: https://www.semcoop.com/just-you 

Explore upcoming events: https://www.chicagohumanities.org/

Popular accounts of the 1960s-era civil rights movement are often reduced to the story of two extraordinary visionaries: Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. In his book The Sword and the Shield Peniel E. Joseph argues that by focusing on their differing doctrines of self-defense versus nonviolence, we’ve been blind to the scope of their shared activism and communion.  Join Joseph and Jonathan Eig, author of a forthcoming biography on King, for a conversation about how the legacies of these civil rights leaders informs the current struggle for racial justice. This program was livestreamed on October 14, 2020.

This week's programs presented with the support of Southwest Airlines.  

Donate now to support programs like this: https://www.chicagohumanities.org/don...   

Order the book The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. online at Seminary Co-op: https://www.semcoop.com/sword-and-shield

Explore upcoming events: https://www.chicagohumanities.org/