TRAVEL

Amid Chicago’s skyscrapers lies a city

steeped in books: Ulysses was first

published here, Oscar Wilde and WB Yeats

were visitors, and next year it will open a

museum dedicated to the giants of

American writing, founded by an Irishman

A literarystorm in theWindy City

YVONNEGORDON

I t is “poetry slam” night at the GreenMill jazz club in uptown Chicago. In thehalf-light at the back of the stage there isa man on grand piano, another on thedouble bass and a percussionist. As eachcompeting poet steps up, they call outthe style of music they want the band toplay. José, from Mexico, has just takento the stage . “Play some kind of dramaticlove affair. Just follow me and I’ll startsoft,” he says.Jose is about 28, with tattoos on his

neck. He starts loud and fast, sounding atfirst like a rapper. With a voice full ofpassion, he recalls, in rhyming verse,how a certain woman made him feelalive. After the audience cheers andapplauds, the judges give him 24½ pointsout of a possible 30.The Green Mill club dates back to 1907,

and it was a speakeasy during theProhibition era, part-owned by the mobwith regulars such as Al Capone. Order awhiskey cocktail and slide into a woodenbooth in the art deco interior and youcould be back in the 1940s.It is a Sunday night and the club is

packed for the show, which combinespoetry with music, and sometimesdance. The average age of the audience islate 20s or early 30s — couples andgroups of friends. Of the six poets whoperform, three go into a final and thewinner gets $11.Marc Smith, the host, started the

poetry slam in 1986 and it has inspiredspin-offs and “story slams”, in which theaudience shares stories, around the globe.“It has forced the established poetry

world to do better at reading their work,”Smith says. “It’s the art of performanceremarried to the art of writing poetry.”Chicago has always had a reputation for

nurturing literary talent. As the city’sskyscrapers went up and its social,political and economic life developed,writers were drawn here to record thenew urban reality in what was fastbecoming the literary capital of America.Chicago is also the birthplace of science-fiction author Philip K Dick, playwrightDavid Mamet and writer ErnestHemingway, who grew up in its suburbs.Saul Bellow, the writer, lived here

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the club include Lady Gregory and WBYeats, who was honoured with a specialbanquet here in 1914, hosted by Poetrymagazine. Louis Sullivan, the architectcredited with creating the firstskyscraper and whose father was born inIreland, wrote his memoir in the club.The building has a bird’s-eye view over

Lake Michigan and the Loop, where themain tourist attractions are withinwalking distance of each other. The22nd-floor terrace looks down onthe Art Institute of Chicago and overGrant Park, which houses MillenniumPark and the mirrored Cloud Gatesculpture known as the Bean. From thisvantage point tourists are reduced tomoving dots, with many running in

and out of the cooling waters of theCrown Fountain.You don’t have to be in loftyheights to experience the city’srefreshing culture, however.Chicago is a city you can explore

through music, theatre, art,comedy, food orarchitecture — or all six.Trace the footsteps ofYeats, Wilde andHemingway, connectwith the greatAmerican writers ofthe past and present,hear a funny story orpoem, or dare toperform one ofyour own.

He always loved the Dublin WritersMuseum and was surprised there was notan equivalent in the US. He chose to basehis museum in Chicago because of itscentral location and its literaryhistory.“The museum will be an intimatetwo-hour interaction with the greatAmerican writers,” says O’Hagan.The 1,115 sq metre space will contain

writers and readers’ halls, and achildren’s literature gallery with audio-visual and interactive exhibits. Americanwriters from all genres and periods willbe celebrated, including NathanielHawthorne, John Steinbeck, JD Salinger,Herman Melville and F Scott Fitzgerald,as well as figures such as Laura IngallsWilder, the author of Little House onthe Prairie, and Peter Benchley, who

wrote Jaws.The Windy City is, of course,just as well-known for itsarchitecture, which grew inscale and stature with the city’srapid industrialisation in thesecond half of the 19thcentury. Chicago grew into abig business centre whenmany of the world’s firstskyscrapers were built hereafter the great fire of 1871.A river cruise tour, organised

by the Chicago ArchitectureFoundation, is a great way to

appreciate the cityscape and stretchessuch as the Magnificent Mile, where thewhite Wrigley Building and the neo-gothic Tribune Tower sprouted up duringthe building boom of the 1920s. Somebuildings are so large they require theirown zip code or postcode, includingWillis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), theworld’s tallest building for nearly 25years, which has a viewing deck over thecity and the distinctive postcode 60606.In the Loop, the landmark

Chicago Cultural Centre,formerly the Chicago Publiclibrary, is free to visit and isworth it even if only to admirethe ornate walls and itsstained-glass Tiffany dome. Onthe walls, writers’ namesand literary quotes areset into the mosaictiles.The Cliff Dwellers

Club, on SouthMichigan Avenue,was establishedin 1907 forartists, writersand architects.Irish writerswho visited

from the age of nine. It was inChicago, and not Paris, where readersfirst clapped eyes on James Joyce’sUlysses, when it was serialised in TheLittle Review magazine in 1918-20.Irish writers published in Poetry

magazine, which was founded in Chicagoin 1912, include WB Yeats, Oscar Wilde,JM Synge, Samuel Beckett, PatrickKavanagh, Seamus Heaney and PaulMuldoon. The magazine celebrated youngIrish poets in its September 2015 issue.The city shows no sign of losing its love

affair with literature. NewCity, a localmagazine, reports how writing is“exploding across Chicago”.“In all corners, any night of the week,

there are salons, readings, book launchesand live lit performances. Chicagowriters wrestle with questions abouthumanity, gods, tyrants, relationships,sex, violence, segregation, vaccinations,party politics, this city and the world,” itsays in the report, which lists the city’s50 most popular writers, including StuartDybek, Trainspotting author Irvine Welshand Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn.Lovers of literature are spoilt for choice

in Chicago, where events range fromopen-mic poetry nights to story slams ata wine bar where your entry fee gets you

a taster flight of wines, each with adifferent tale. A quick browse onliterarychicago.com brings up nearly 50different storytelling events.The Printers Row Lit Fest, a free book

festival held over two days in June thatattracts 150,000 visitors, is buzzing in thecity’s former bookmaking centre justsouth of the Loop (the downtown area).A row of outdoor stalls where publishersand authors display new and old booksstretches for five blocks while writers ofall genres discuss their work on stages.At a table inside one tent, a tall woman

in a vintage dress is waving her arms,discussing Henry VIII. At another, ayoung woman is asking a publisher whathistorical romances are coming out onthe 6th of next month — her neighbourhas written one under a pseudonymbut won’t tell her which one. Atother tables, curious literarypresences such as the BizarroWriters Association and PostMortem Press display theirwares.Someone who understands

the joy of a good book isMalcolm O’Hagan, an engineerby trade but an avid bookwormand the president of theAmerican Writers Museum,which opens next March. O’Haganwas born in Sligo and moved toAmerica in 1968 after studying at UCD.

High and mighty

The Cliff Dwellers

Club, left, has great

views over Chicago;Green Mill cocktail

lounge, right, was

once the haunt of

Al Capone, inset;Ernest Hemingway,

below left, grew

up in the city’ssuburbs; bottom

left, Printers Row Lit

Fest; bottom right,the bean-like Cloud

Gate sculpture

Chicago

20km

Lake Michigan

In all corners, any night of

the week, there are salons,

readings, book launches and

live literature performances

Getting there Aer Lingus has twoflights daily from Dublin to Chicago,with returns costing €490 including a23kg bag (aerlingus.com).Where to stay Doubles at the Drakehotel, including breakfast and taxes,start at €170 (drake.hilton.com).The brief The Uptown Poetry Slam atthe Green Mill Jazz Club is on Sundaysfrom 7pm to 10pm; entry is €6.50(greenmilljazz.com). The ChicagoArchitecture Foundation river cruisetakes 90 minutes and has several dailydepartures; tickets cost €40(cruisechicago.com). The AmericanWriters Museum is due to open inMarch (americanwritersmuseum.org).For more information about the city,see choosechicago.com.

The lowdown