Chicago is a city of neighborhoods, goes the refrain around here, and Logan Square is a neighborhood par excellence. Sitting at the terminus of the boulevard system, Logan Square was originally settled by immigrants, whose elegant mansions, greystones and cottage homes remain to this day. Nowadays, as the New York Times proclaims with its usual bravado: Logan Square’s time has come ’round.
NYT accolades or not, Logan Square inhabitants will attest to the fact that it’s a fantastic and unique place to live. In addition to beautiful architecture, the neighborhood is bursting with restaurants serving up a variety of cuisines, bars of the divey and upscale sorts, coffee shops and diverse artistic offerings. The literary subsection of the arts is particularly well represented: Uncharted Books (@unchartedbooks, 2630 N. Milwaukee Ave.) hosts regular poetry readings; MAKE magazine (@makelit) is produced by Logan Squarites; the Logan Square Literary Review (now defunct) went strong for many issues; and a large number of writers call the neighborhood home.
A new project called Anthology of Chicago (@AnthologyOfChi) is building on Logan Square’s rich literary ecosystem, putting the neighborhood on view through a creative lens. In a sentence, Anthology of Chicago is collecting poems and stories inspired by Chicago’s various neighborhoods, celebrating those neighborhoods and the writers that live, work and play in them.
Logan Square, it’s your lucky day! Anthology of Chicago is currently taking submissions of poems and stories about your neighborhood. Pieces should lie at the intersection of place and the personal, speaking both to Logan Square itself, and the experience of living here. The pieces could involve strolling (or stumbling) along the boulevards, Sundays at Lula’s and the Farmers Market, concerts at the once-mighty Fireside Bowl, or any one of the many facets of Logan Square, be they pretty or ugly. Show us Logan Square in your submissions, show us yourself.
Submissions are open until Monday, June 10th, and detailed guidelines can be found on the website, along with accepted pieces.
Whether you’ve lived in Logan Square for one year or 10, you’ve got something to say about the neighborhood, a poem on the tip of your tongue, a story to tell. Consider telling it to Anthology of Chicago.
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