Open Stacks

Havens for the Heterodox: Seminary Co-op Director Jeff Deutsch on Good Bookstores Jun 30, 2022

On this special episode of Open Stacks, we hear from Jeff Deutsch, the Director of the Seminary Co-op Bookstores. Jeff's book, In Praise of Good Bookstores, came out from Princeton University Press this Spring, and Jeff has been traveling the country visiting other independent bookstores to talk about it, and about the value of bookselling and bookstores in the 21st century. Jeff spoke at the Seminary Co-op with Ydalmi Noriega, a member of the Co-op's board of directors, and director of programs and community engagement at the Poetry Foundation. Find out more about the Co-op's mission and help these important spaces thrive.

This episode was produced by Jackson Roach, hosted by Alena Jones, and features music by Andrei Pohorelsky and Daniel Birch.

Meeting Again: Mikki Kendall, Jack Cella, & Colin McDonald Dec 02, 2021

On this episode of Open Stacks, the last of the fourth season, Mikki Kendall remembers a childhood at 57th Street Books and the reading that shapes her writing. We also hear from old friends Jack Cella and Colin McDonald, and from booksellers on the books they return to year after year.

For a list of books discussed, music credits, and directions for submitting your favorite passages, head to our website.

Curiosity Is a Skill: On Reading Seriously Nov 11, 2021

This time on Open Stacks, with Philip Leventhal, Elizabeth Branch Dyson, Paul Yamazaki, and Dan Wells, we ask what makes a book "serious." Booksellers Amélie, Annie, and Artemie share scholarly favorites.

We're releasing this episode during University Press Week 2021, the 10th annual celebration of these important institutions and the knowledge and culture they help to cultivate.

Philip Leventhal is Senior Editor at Columbia University Press, acquiring titles in journalism, film and media Studies, and literary studies. He also worked at the Co-op for many years, and was the managing editor of The Front Table, the Co-op's print catalog and newsletter. You can hear him on this episode from earlier in the season.

Elizabeth Branch Dyson is Assistant Editorial Director and Executive Editor at The University of Chicago Press, acquiring titles in education, sociology, and music, especially jazz and blues studies. She's appeared a few times on this season of Open Stacks.

Paul Yamazaki is the principal buyer at City Lights, where he has worked for over 50 years. He has also appeared a few times on this season of Open Stacks, and will soon be publishing with Ode Books.

Dan Wells is the founder of the publisher and bookstore Biblioasis. He also appeared on an earlier episode this season.

Thanks to listener Marie for sharing a passage from My First Thirty Years by Gertrude Beasley. If you'd like to share a piece of great writing with us, send us a voice memo.

This episode was hosted by Alena Jones and produced by Jackson Roach, and features music by Blue Dot Sessions, Los Amparito, Loyalty Freak Music, and Daniel Birch.

Find a list of books discussed in this episode here.

A Cave with Windows: Bookstore as Building Oct 28, 2021

This time on Open Stacks: We explore the rabbit warren of the Co-op’s original location in the old Chicago Theological Seminary with manager emeritus Jack Cella and veteran bookseller Katy O’Brien Weintraub, then emerge from the underground with architect Margaret McCurry, who was integral in the creation of our new space in the sun. Paul Yamazaki, legendary book buyer at City Lights in San Francisco, gestures toward a spatial theory of bookstores—how the shape of the room and the number of books on a shelf can encourage the symbiosis of reader and bookseller—and Co-op manager Bryce Lucas takes an ecological (and mycological) squint at the Front Table.

Head to our website for music credits, a list of books, extra material, and directions for sending us your favorite passages from books.

At All Costs: Dave Eggers, Dan Wells, Ann Kjellberg, & Paul Yamazaki Oct 15, 2021

On this episode, authors, publishers, editors and booksellers reflect on the value of their work, and what it takes to make a great bookstore thrive. Plus, an out-of-the-way reading list from our bookseller Mrittika: queer historical fiction... thrillers.

For more from the voices you hear in this episode, a list of books mentioned, music credits, and instructions for sending us audio of yourself reading writing that you love, visit us here.

What's There and What's Not: A Visit to the Front Table Sep 23, 2021

On this episode of open stacks: a ghostly tour of the Co-op's Front Table, from the hauntings of american history to life (and death) advice from Spinoza.

For a list of books featured in this episode, music and production credits, and more, visit our website.

Escape Tunnel: Philip Leventhal on The Front Table Sep 09, 2021

This time on Open Stacks we hear from Philip Leventhal, editor at Columbia University Press and veteran Co-opian, about the history of the famous Front Table catalog, in its print and digital forms. Then we head to the Front Table (the actual table) for some recent titles on underground transformation.

Philip Leventhal is Senior Editor at Columbia University Press, acquiring titles in Journalism, Film and Media Studies, and Literary Studies. He also worked at the Co-op for many years, and was the managing editor of The Front Table, the Co-op's print catalog and newsletter. Last year we revived The Front Table as a digital publication, featuring bookseller recommendations and notable titles, author interviews, news and numbers from the Co-op, and much more. You can read every issue of the digital Front Table here, and find many of the original print issues on display in the vestibule leading into the Co-op.

Thanks to our Children's Marketing Manager, Thulasi, for sharing a passage from Inkheart for this episode, released only a week or so after the re-opening of 57th Street Books for in-person browsing. We'd love to hear something wonderful you've read recently. Find instructions for recording yourself and sharing your reading with us here.

Open Stacks is hosted by Alena Jones and produced by Jackson Roach. This episode features music by Blue Dot Sessions, Loyalty Freak Music, Daniel Birch, Joni Void, and LJ Kruzer.

Find a list of every book mentioned in this episode here.

Place to Place: Katarzyna Bartoszyńska & Reuben Jonathan Miller Aug 26, 2021

On this episode of Open Stacks with Katarzyna Bartoszyńska and Reuben Jonathan Miller, we trace paths between: academia and bookselling; Poland and Ireland; animal navigation and interpersonal knowledge; the inside and the outside of the American prison.

For a complete list of books mentioned in this episode, music credits, and supplementary materials, click here.

Want to submit a passage you've dog-eared? Click here.

A Land Without Trees: A Visit to the Front Table Aug 05, 2021

On this episode of Open Stacks, books from the land of the ice and snow, from the midnight sun, where the hot springs flow. In the middle of the Summer, a stack of Front Table books from the heart(s) of Winter.

Thanks to bookseller Joey for sharing a favorite passage from Roberto Bolaño's The Savage Detectives. If you want to share something you read with us (and other listeners' like you), send us a voice memo. We'd love to hear about what you're reading.

Open Stacks is hosted by Alena Jones, the director of buying and content. Bryce Lucas, the Co-op's manager, is our Front Table correspondent. Jackson Roach is the producer. This episode features music by Loyalty Freak Music, Gallery Six, and Keshco.

Find a list of every book mentioned in this episode here.

Washing a Book: Elizabeth Branch Dyson, Eve Ewing, and Ann Kjellberg Jul 22, 2021

On this episode of Open Stacks: a prismatic exploration of new releases at the Front Table, an editorial dialogue with Elizabeth Branch Dyson and Eve Ewing, and Ann Kjellberg on a life in publishing, Joseph Brodsky, and how serious books connect us to one another and the world.

Elizabeth Branch Dyson is Assistant Editorial Director and Executive Editor at The University of Chicago Press. She also appears on the first episode of this season of Open Stacks. Eve Ewing is a sociologist, activist writer, assistant professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration, and dear friend of the Seminary Co-op.

Ann Kjellberg is an editor, publisher, writer and translator, the literary executor of the estate of Joseph Brodsky, and the creator of the book culture newsletter Book Post.

Run into some great writing lately? Read it to us! We want to know what draws you in as a reader, and we're always excited to feature listeners' voices on the show. Find everything you need to send us a passage right here.

Open Stacks is hosted by Alena Jones and produced by Jackson Roach. This episode features music by Keshco, Los Amparito, Lee Rosevere, Andrei Pohorelsky, and Loyalty Freak Music, as well as excerpts from a talk given by Kurt Vonnegut at Case Western Reserve University in 2004.

Find a list of every book mentioned in this episode here.

Common Languages: A Visit to the Front Table Jul 08, 2021

On this episode of Open Stacks, a circle around the Co-op’s Front Table: from a post-war pioneer of Afrofuturism on Chicago’s South Side to the complex communal powers of games like spades, mahjong, and pickup soccer.

Thanks to Bryce Lucas for taking us on a tour of the Front Table this time. In this episode, you hear fragments of archival recordings of Sun Ra, including brief excerpts from his film Space is the Place and the track "If You Are Not A Myth" from his album The Sub-Dwellers. You also hear Aleksandar Hemon reading at the 2012 Grand Opening of the Co-op's current location. If you'd like to hear more from Hanif Abdurraqib, you might start with his appearance on Open Stacks in May of 2019, and then check out his own podcast, Object of Sound, or his 1980-focused season of the KCRW show Lost Notes.

This episode's passage of the week comes from Philip Roth, by way of Alex at the Co-op. Have you read something recently that moved you, surprised you, made you laugh, or that you couldn't stop thinking about? Tell us about it, or just read it aloud.

Open Stacks is hosted by Alena Jones and produced by Jackson Roach. This episode features music by Daniel Birch and Blue Dot Sessions.

Find a complete list of every book mentioned in this episode on our website.

A Spirit in the Space: On Reopening Our Doors Jun 25, 2021

On this episode of Open Stacks, we celebrate the Co-op reopening its doors for in-person browsing – the first time since we closed 15 months ago. Browsers, booksellers, authors, and our own Clancey D'Isa and Bryce Lucas discuss the transfiguration of space, absence and presence, the "invisible" work of bookselling, and how reading needn't be a solo activity.

Have you read something recently (or over the last year) that moved you, that made you laugh, that you can't stop thinking about, or, simply, that changed you? We'd love to hear you reading an excerpt from the book. Click here to find everything you need to know to send us a voicemail – and you might hear yourself on the show sometime!

Open Stacks is produced by Jackson Roach and hosted by Alena Jones. This episode features music by Loyalty Freak Music, Blue Dot Sessions, Daniel Birch, Gallery Six, and Andrei Pohorelsky, as well as excerpts from virtual events co-hosted by the Seminary Co-op and our myriad community partners over the last year.

For a complete list of books mentioned in this episode, as well as details about the events you heard excerpts from, click here.

Observer Observed: A Visit to the Front Table Jun 09, 2021

In this episode, Alena takes a tour around the Front Table, guided by Bryce Lucas, manager of 57th Street Books. Circling the table, they move from bald philosophy to the physics of crumpled paper, from an Icelandic fisheries museum to the shifting nature of observation itself.

Have a perspective to share? We'll be featuring listeners' voices throughout the season. This time: tell us about a book you loved on first reading, but hated the second time around – or vice versa. Share the story of your change in perspective, and your favorite (or least favorite) passage from the book. Find recording guidelines and send in your answer here.

Open Stacks is hosted by Alena Jones and produced by Jackson Roach. This episode features music by johnny_ripper, Daniel Birch, and Andrei Pohorelsky.

Find a list of books mentioned in this episode here.

Not New in a New Way: Elizabeth Branch Dyson & Haki Madhubuti May 26, 2021

In this first episode of the fourth season, we sit down with Elizabeth Branch Dyson, assistant editorial director and executive editor at the University of Chicago Press, to hear how she approaches acquiring widely accessible books for an academic press. Bryce (manager of 57th Street Books) takes us on a tour around the Co-op's Front Table, checking out a few recent releases. We're then joined by poet, author, and publisher Haki Madhubuti, who talks to us about his journey through books, the founding of Third World Press, and the draw of the Front Table. Throughout, we hear "spine poems" composed by booksellers at the Seminary Co-op and 57th Street Books. Have something to say? We'll be featuring listeners' voices throughout the season. First up: tell us about a meaningful book you've come across accidentally in the past year. We'd love to hear the story behind your discovery or even just your favorite passage. Submit your answers through this form here. Open Stacks is hosted by Alena Jones (director of buying and content) and produced by Jackson Roach. This episode features music by Daniel Birch, johnny_ripper, junior85, and alright lover. For a close-to-complete list of books featured in this (and every) episode, head to our website: semcoop.com/openstacks

Open Stacks Returns May 14, 2021

A new season of Open Stacks, coming soon from the Seminary Co-op Bookstores in Chicago, the first not-for-profit bookstores whose mission is bookselling.

This teaser features music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Narrative Threads: Jordan Alexander Stein & Jasmon Drain Mar 15, 2020

Think you know how fiction works? Think again on this episode of Open Stacks with literary theorist Jordan Alexander Stein, who joins us in the stacks for a look at When Novels Were Books. Plus, Jasmon Drain and Ben Austen discuss Drain’s novelistic collection of stories about the interconnected lives of residents of “the biggest concrete building on Chicago’s South Side,” Stateway’s Garden. And the Co-op’s Colin and Alena find humor in paying attention. You’ll never judge a book by its genre again.

This episode was produced by Elliot Ducree, Veronica Karlin, and Jackson Roach. It features music by Andrei Pohorelsky, Kevin MacLeod, and Blue Dot Sessions.

Books on Books: Craig Fehrman, Anna Kornbluh & Booksellers Off the Clock Mar 02, 2020

From our nation’s highest office to the uncharted territories of political formalism, we trust in books to take us in and out of the bookstore on this episode of Open Stacks, with journalist and historian Craig Fehrman on presidential authorship and literary theorist Anna Kornbluh on the future of social space and the novels on which it stands. Plus, booksellers off the clock, and what’s not to like about Wuthering Heights. Find books that break ground and more reasons to dig into what might be our most meta episode yet.

Visual Memories: Berthold Hoeckner, Leila Taylor & Adam Sonderberg Feb 17, 2020

On this episode of Open Stacks, Professor of Music Berthold Hoeckner spins a record of cultural memory made audible in films focused on the past, from Casablanca to Sleepless in Seattle in his book, Film, Music, Memory, as Leila Taylor turns over our shared, if buried, history of racism in Darkly: Black History and America’s Gothic Soul. Plus, looking back with Adam Sonderberg on his tenure at the Co-op and the books that struck a chord.

This episode was produced by Elliot Ducree, Veronica Karlin, and Jackson Roach. It features music by Andrei Pohorelsky, Kevin MacLeod, johnny_ripper, and Blue Dot Sessions,.

The Front Table: 2/13/20 Feb 13, 2020

In his final hours as Manager of the Seminary Co-op, Adam Sonderberg sat down to let his favorite books speak (mostly) for themselves. Join us as we reminisce on Adam’s tenure at the Co-op, killing time with Kierkegaard, and coming to inhabit a world that books create on this week’s Front Table podcast.

Picture Book Feb 03, 2020

Ahead of the Oscars, Open Stacks returns with a long red carpet full of books on Hollywood, Hitchcock, Hegel and more with scholars Sharon Marcus on The Drama of Celebrity and Robert B. Pippin’s Filmed Thought. Plus, re-viewing The Arcades Project and seeing Self-Help through the lens of Samuel Beckett. Fail better, read better on this episode of Open Stacks: The Seminary Co-op Bookstore Podcast.

This episode was produced by Elliot Ducree, Veronica Karlin, and Jackson Roach. It features music by Andrei Pohorelsky, Kevin MacLeod, Blue Dot Sessions, and johnny_ripper.

The Front Table: 1/29/20 Jan 29, 2020

New year. New books. New you? The Seminary Co-op’s Colin and Alena search for Self-Help in the guise (and stacks) of literature, capitalist spirituality, ancient philosophy and more on this week’s Front Table.

Featured Books:

The Self Help Compulsion: Searching for Advice in Modern Literature by Beth Blum (from Columbia University Press)

Aristotle's Way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life by Edith Hall (from Penguin)

McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality by Ronald Purser (from Repeater)

How to be a Leader by Plutarch (from Princeton University Press)

This episode features music by Kevin MacLeod

Children Aren’t Boats: Kim Brooks, Julissa Arce & Franny Billingsley Dec 09, 2019

The pleasures of reading are often introduced at a young age, and on this episode of Open Stacks, we revisit young adulthood and the child in the 21st century, in Kim Brooks’ Small Animals: Parenthood in the Age of Fear and Julissa Arce’s Someone Like Me: How One Undocumented Girl Fought for Her American Dream. Plus Children’s Book Specialist Franny Billingsley and Colin sit down with 2019’s best picture books.

This episode was produced by Veronica Karlin and Jackson Roach, and features music by Andrei Pohorelsky.

The Front Table: 12/3/19 Dec 03, 2019

Not all cities are created equal, and on this week’s Front Table we go behind the scenes and un-seens of cities near and far, from the depths of London to the extravagant annals of Pyongyang’s “model” utopias.

Out of Season: Kathryn Scanlan & Devin Johnston Nov 25, 2019

At 82, May Sarton “made a dialogue out of what had been a soliloquy,” in her journal. On this entry of Open Stacks, we take the measure of our days in diaries and diaristic units of shared sense in conversations with Kathryn Scanlan and Devin Johnston.

This episode was produced by Veronica Karlin and Jackson Roach, and features music by Kevin MacLeod, Daniel Birch, Gallery Six, and Andrei Pohorelsky. Special thanks to Co-op booksellers Adam Stern and Fred Tadrowski.

The Front Table: 11/19/19 Nov 19, 2019

A planet, a republic, a meal, and a question: what is the future of food? Specifically that which comes from animals. This week’s Front Table is serving up thick cuts of scholarship on “The Meat Question” and history of our relationship to meat past, present, and beyond.

This episode features voices of the Co-op's Colin McDonald and Alena Jones, as well as music by Kevin MacLeod. It was produced by Jackson Roach.

How to Explode Slowly: Etgar Keret, Jessica Laser & Daniel Poppick Nov 14, 2019

From the depths of Moby Dick to the light of something like poetry in author Etgar Keret’s new collection, Fly Already, we follow a line (or is it a fuse?) running between the past and present of contemporary literature on this episode of Open Stacks, featuring Etgar Keret, Jessica Laser, and Daniel Poppick.

This episode was produced by Veronica Karlin and Jackson Roach, and featured music by Kevin MacLeod, Gallery Six, Cursor Miner, Daniel Birch, and Andrei Pohorelsky.

The Front Table: 11/5/19 Nov 05, 2019

It’s a long and winding road on this week’s Front Table from idea to book, career, and other forms of written livelihood.

This episode of the Front Table features the voices of the Co-op's Colin McDonald and Alena Jones. It was produced by Jackson Roach, and includes music by Kevin MacLeod, and very brief excerpts of "The Long and Winding Road" as performed by Aretha Franklin and the Langley Schools Music Project.

World Makers: Ocean Vuong & Rebecca Clarren Oct 27, 2019

Award winning poet Ocean Vuong and journalist Rebecca Clarren turn a romantic and empiric lens on the art of fiction in their acclaimed debut novels, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous and Kickdown, both of which plunge new emotional depths of American experience on this episode of Open Stacks.

The Front Table: 10/21/19 Oct 22, 2019

Space is the place on this week’s Front Table with the Seminary Co-op's Colin and Alena looking up and down at a veritable galaxy of new books about our universe and multiverse.

Placemaking: Timothy Cresswell & Dani Shapiro Oct 06, 2019

A place like the Seminary Co-op is in some sense made of writing, but what can writing make? That question is at the center of conversations with Timothy Cresswell, Dani Shapiro and others on the first episode of the third season of Open Stacks.

The Front Table: 9/26/19 Sep 27, 2019

As students return to campus in pursuit of degrees, the Co-op’s Colin and Alena come back to the Front Table in pursuit of knowledge in and beyond education, with a look at the higher costs and undervalues making college work... for some.

The Front Table: 9/12/19 Sep 12, 2019

Feeling blue? You’re not alone. Join the Seminary Co-op’s Colin and Alena and for a spin around the Co-op’s colorful Front Table with recent and reissued works that help mythologize, reflect, and interact with the secret lives of color on this week’s Front Table podcast.

The Front Table: 8/27/19 Aug 27, 2019

We may not be able to slow down our climate crisis, but we can take time to understand what’s happening and why with the help of new books about environmental peril in relation to philosophical anthropology, institutional racism, and a categorical lack of imagination; something you’ll never find on this week’s Front Table podcast.

The Front Table: 8/13/19 Aug 13, 2019

What’s wrong with rudeness? The Seminary Co-op’s Colin and Alena turn to ancient ideas about etiquette and more for our ill-mannered age on this week’s Front Table. Tune in for “civilized” reading wherever you listen to podcasts.

The Front Table: 7/30/19 Jul 30, 2019

Fresh off inventory, the Seminary Co-op’s Colin and Alena investigate the “impulse to accumulate” as qualitatively quantified in yet more new books on this week’s Front Table.

The Front Table: 7/16/19 Jul 16, 2019

Since medieval times, if not before, writers like Francois Villon and St. Teresa of Avila have been showing us how writing about oneself is done. Or is it? The Co-op's Colin and Alena have a look at how far we’ve come on this week's Front Table, with a short stack of new memoirs long in the making.

The Front Table: 6/20/19 Jun 20, 2019

Summer is here, which begs the question: What is a summer read, anyway? The Co-op's Alena and Colin find shade at the Front Table for a brief look and long view at what makes a quintessential (or potential) summer read.

“The one things happen to”: Robert Launay & Noura Erakat Jun 09, 2019

Taking a line from Jorge Luis Borges’ Labyrinths, we set out to read and re-imagine the Other on this week's episode of Open Stacks (our last before summer break), with Professor of Anthropology Robert Launay, who joins us in the stacks to help us think of others through the eyes of Savages, Romans, and Despots, and Palestinian American legal scholar and human rights attorney Noura Erakat on Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine. Plus, our booksellers share serendipitous discoveries while wandering (i.e., shelving) in the stacks.

The Front Table: 6/5/19 Jun 05, 2019

We know that the most important things in the world are beyond measure,” writes Co-op Director Jeff Deutsch in his most recent annual letter to the Co-op community, “On Measure.” But in our over-quantified age, the urge to justify with numbers is all around us, literally. This week, we measure up to the Co-op’s Front Table for a look at new releases to help put us on the map.

Are We There Yet? Amit Chaudhuri & Evelyn Hampton May 26, 2019

How do you get to the end when there’s no where to get? Authors Evelyn Hampton and Amit Chaudhuri read and discuss fictions of anxiety, memory, autobiography, and impersonation, taking us there one sentence at a time. Booksellers Freddie and Joe chime in on Co-op staff favorites W.G. Sebald, Annie Dilliard, and more.

The Front Table: 5/21/19 May 21, 2019

At times of uncertainty, books of anxiety abound, but the question of how to write the unknown is always in flux. Enter a state of incomprehension on this week’s Front Table, with books that can help us keep sight of our fears, from life after climate change to the Isle of Sky in Virgina Woolf’s To the Lighthouse.

Exoteric Advice: Edith Hall & Helen Rosner May 12, 2019

What might 4th century BC philosopher Aristotle and 20th century celebrity chef Julia Child have to say to each other and to us? We’re in dialogue with renowned classicist Edith Hall, author of Aristotle's Way, and The New Yorker’s James Beard Award-winning roving food correspondent Helen Rosner on how ancient wisdom, practical advice, and a decided lack of elitism are key ingredients for eating and living well. Plus, a dash of good taste (and advice) in books our staff live by.

The Front Table: 5/7/19 May 07, 2019

Spring is in the air and selections from the Co-op’s Moms, Dads, Grads & Kids 2019 Gift Guide (https://www.semcoop.com/category/moms-dads-grads) are on the Front Table for all of your spring season’s holidays and special occasions. Co-op Assistant Manager Alena Jones takes us in and beyond the guide for a reader’s look at MOTHERHOOD and other books expanding on our notions and misconceptions of mothering just in time for Mother’s Day.

"Throw Out the Radio": Florence Dore, Luke Fischer + Making Sense of "Blurbs" Apr 28, 2019

Rock musician and professor Florence Dore attunes to static in her research on "resonant silences" surrounding censorship and race in modernist literature of the early 20th century and its recapitulation of institutional norms in her new book, Novel Sounds; Australian poet and philosopher Luke Fischer joins us just in time for Poetry Month to read and discuss A Personal History of Vision; and Co-op staff Mark Loeffler and Alena Jones help us see through the haze of jacket copy, otherwise known as "blurbs."

The Front Table: 4/23/19 Apr 23, 2019

Thanks for reading and listening with us on this week’s Front Table from the Seminary Co-op Bookstores in Chicago. Browse each week’s Front Table and subscribe to our free weekly email newsletter at semcoop.com for more serious books for curious readers. "I greet you at the beginning of a great career." This, legend has it, was the first blurb, or brief book description, to appear in 1856 courtesy of Ralph Waldo Emerson in praise of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. This week, we cover the long and short of blurbs, calling out to us from the Co-op’s Front Table, with Seminary Co-op Assistant Manager Alena Jones.

Women Warriors: Pamela Toler & Carol J. Adams Apr 14, 2019

Open Stacks returns with historian Pamela Toler on women for whom battle was not a metaphor, while positing the use of story in shaping shared history. Meanwhile, feminist-vegan advocate Carol J. Adams deconstructs the narrative surrounding hamburgers and other animal sourced foods and how eating, like reading, is always political. Plus, Co-op booksellers weigh in on the glut, guilt, and glory of biting off more than most readers can chew when it comes to ARCs (aka, advance reader copies).

The Front Table: 3/26/19 Mar 26, 2019

Forgotten, no good, or simply on sale? Seminary Co-op Assistant Manager Alena Jones looks past the Front Table for books of great value: what remains (and why) when books of value get marked down. Browse each week's Front Table at semcoop.com.

Autobiography of Song: Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib & Timuel Black Mar 17, 2019

From autobiography to music criticism, poet, essayist, and cultural critic Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib walks the floor of the Seminary Co-op in conversation with the books that served as muses of his love letter to A Tribe Called Quest, Go Ahead in the Rain. Oral historian and civil rights activist Timuel D. Black, Jr. shares his long-awaited memoir, Sacred Ground.

The Front Table: 3/12/19 Mar 12, 2019

This week, Seminary Co-op Assistant manager Alena Jones picks up the radical feminism of Andrea Dworkin and three new translations by women of classical works by men. Browse each week’s Front Table at semcoop.com.

"The opposite of an out-of-body experience": In the Stacks with Eileen Myles + The "Gentle Madness" of Collecting Books Mar 04, 2019

Poet Eileen Myles joins us in the stacks to discuss writing EVOLUTION: their new collection of essays and poems, reading in good company, and "trying so hard to be in this world." Co-op Booksellers weigh in on the art and "gentle madness" of collecting books.

Time-Literate: Marcia Bjornerud on Timefulness and James Joyce’s Ulysses Feb 18, 2019

To deny our place in time is to imperil our perspective, says Marcia Bjornerud, professor of geology and author of TIMEFULNESS. This time on Open Stacks, we expand our view of the Seminary Co-op, with new looks at the Front Table, James Joyce’s time-intensive staff favorite ULYSSES, and Bjornerud’s poly-temporal thinking and reading to support the claim that, contrary to current trains of thought, time is on our side.

From a Distance: Rachel Galvin's NEWS OF WAR & Up Close with UNWATCHABLE Feb 04, 2019

Unwatchable, unreadable, or merely hard to find. It all adds up on this episode of Open Stacks as excesses of art and life are on (and off) display. Uncover your eyes and ears as editors Nicholas Baer, Maggie Hennefeld, and Laura Horak discuss our mediated era and contemporary modes of spectatorship in Unwatchable, and other books worth reading closely. From the front lines of the Front Table, Rachel Galvin's News of War examines early 20th century poetry's critical distance from cultures of war. And Co-op Manager Adam Sonderberg esteems value in books browsed and left behind.

Illegibility Writ Large: Dark Ages and Pages with Charles Bernstein and James Bridle Jan 20, 2019

To accept that truth and expression can be easily conveyed is to become a ploy of dark forces, says poet, essayist, and scholar Charles Bernstein, whose "difficult" poems take on the opacity, adjacency, multiplicity and technology of language by "slipping on the banana of words." Picking up where our conversation in the stacks of the Co-op leaves off, James Bridle calls for new metaphors and questions to guide us through our new Dark Age of information.

Books Worth Giving, Lives Worth Living: Imani Perry, Norman C. Ellstrand, Co-op Booksellers' Top 5 of 2018 Dec 24, 2018

It’s that most wonderful time of the year and our booksellers and books are here to help, surprise, challenge, and delight every reader on your list. From Biography to Cooking (of a sort), indulge in books worth giving and lives worth living, with Imani Perry on the radiant and radical life of playwright Lorraine Hansberry; Norman C. Ellstrand on the romance of plants and your food; and Co-op Booksellers' Top 5 favorite books of 2018.

Something Like Freedom: David Ferry, David Shulman & Michelle Obama's "Becoming" Dec 10, 2018

A bookstore is more than a retail space, and on this episode of Open Stacks we welcome back old friends and longtime members of the Co-op for a celebration of community committed to a sense of time and conversation spoken across the ages. Poet David Ferry goes in search of a communal voice in his landmark translation of Virgil's The Aeneid; peace activist and Indologist David Shulman walks us through the West Bank in Palestine, retracing the "ambiguous grounds for action," freedom, and despair in territories that can't seem to coexist; and Hyde Park's own Michelle Obama returns to the Co-op to kickoff her tour for Becoming.

Peaceable Kingdoms of Books: Liam Heneghan, Bill Ayers & The Diary of a Bookseller Nov 26, 2018

Our journey into other worlds continues on this episode of Open Stacks in preparation for the after and before-lives of great books, with lions, bears, and very hungry caterpillars (oh my!) that makeup and reveal the environmental wisdom of children's literature in scientist and poet Liam Heneghan's Beasts at Bedtime. Theneavesdrop onthe great indoors of the neighborhood bookstore, with educator and activist Bill Ayers and Co-op Booksellers on Shaun Bythell's The Diary of a Bookseller.

To Live and Read in an Age of Fear: Jack Zipes, Scott G. Bruce, & Conor Bean Nov 12, 2018

This episode, an interview with fairy tale scholar Jack Zipes, Penguin Book of Hell editor Scott G. Bruce shares hell tales and lessons, and former Co-op Inventory Manager Conor Bean walks us through his reading list for confronting fearful times.

BONUS: A Conversation with Kristen Ciccarelli and Franny Billingsley Nov 08, 2018

Just before the fantastic Epic Reads Meet-Up this past September at 57th Street Books, we sat down with celebrated YA author Kristen Ciccarelli and our own (National Book Award finalist) Franny Billingsley, who mentored Kristen through the completion of her first novel, The Last Namsara. And it was their first time meeting face-to-face! From why fantasy is an empowering genre to where writers choose to work (hint: bookstores are always close at hand), you can listen in on the conversation right here. Stop by to pick up a signed copy of Ciccarelli's newest book, The Caged Queen, and receive a free Epic Reads tote bag (while supplies last)!

A short tale from hell as told by Scott G. Bruce Oct 31, 2018

A trick-or-treat special: Penguin Book of Hell editor Scott Bruce tells a hell tale. Hear more from him, along with Jack Zipes and Conor Bean in our next episode of Open Stacks, out November 11.

Music: Zombie Lovesong by Apache Tomcat

Two Roads Diverged: Sheila Heti's MOTHERHOOD, Leonard Mlodinow on ELASTIC, and In the Stacks with Martin Patrick Oct 28, 2018

Elastic thinking, says theoretical physicist Leonard Mlodinow, isn’t about following but inventing rules, trading analytic for elastic thought, in order to adapt in an endlessly dynamic world, with non-linear approaches to life and work together. On this episode of Open Stacks, we pave new roads not taken, trajectories informed by social practice, social pressure, and the self at one remove, in conversations with Mlodinow on Elastic; art critic and historian Martin Patrick on books that stretched his notion of performance and identity in Across the Art/Life Divide; and booksellers on Canadian writer Sheila Heti's life-changing novel, Motherhood.

An Episodic Life: Andrew Sean Greer, Malynne Sternstein, and Seminary Co-op on Campus Novels Oct 14, 2018

Tricky narrators and learning spaces: Pulitzer Prize winning author Andrew Sean Greer takes listeners through a break up with an excerpt from Less, University of Chicago professor Malynne Sterstein parses Nabokov's Pnin, and Co-op booksellers recount some of their favorite campus novels (with expanded takes on the genre).

A Not Uncritical Open Heartedness: Peter Coviello, Stephen T Asma, & the Seminary Co-op on Middlemarch Sep 30, 2018

Open Stacks returns from summer break with fresh ears and shelf-browsings: Peter Coviello takes a walk through the stacks, Stephen T Asma speaks on Why We Need Religion, and the Co-op's eminent booksellers talk about Middlemarch.

#55 Biblio-files - Co-op Legends: Hanna Holborn Gray Jun 10, 2018

This week on Open Stacks, the second episode of our occasional Biblio-files series, featuring Co-op friends and legends, with professor emerita and former University of Chicago president Hanna Holborn Gray.

#54 101 - A Celebration of Gwendolyn Brooks Jun 03, 2018

This week on Open Stacks, we're celebrating Chicago's own legendary Gwendolyn Brooks on her 101st birthday. Reginald Gibbons, Angela Jackson, Quraysh Ali Lansana, Georgia Popoff, Troy Harden, and Cheryl Clarke join us for conversations and readings about her life and legacy.

#53: Shifting the City - Ben Austen, LaDale C. Winling, & Gordon Douglas May 27, 2018

This week on the program, cities shifting and shifted, and the people, institutions, and social structures that make it so. Ben Austen recounts the dissolution of Cabrini Green, America’s most iconic public housing project, on Chicago’s west side and tells a story of America’s public housing experiments and failures; LaDale C. Winling examines the role of universities on the shape of their neighborhoods and towns; and Gordon Douglas considers how DIY planning takes place, and who participates, within urban contexts.

#52 In Search of French Lit Part Deux: Jordan Stump, Jonathan Larson, & Katie Kadue May 20, 2018

This week on Open Stacks, French lit part deux. Join us for tete-à-tetes with translators Jonathan Larson on Francis Ponge's Nioques of the Early-Spring and Jordan Stump on Marie NDiaye's My Heart Hemmed In, as well as University of Chicago fellow Katie Kadue on Rabelais and domestic georgics.

#51 Prison Nation: James Forman, Jr. & Sarah Shourd May 14, 2018

This week, a further look at the mechanisms of incarceration. 2018 Pulitzer Prize winning professor, legal scholar, and author James Forman, Jr. discusses Locking Up Our Own and prisoners rights advocate Sarah Shourd recalls and contextualizes her own and others' experiences in solitary confinement.

#50 Biblio-files: Co-op Legends - Marshall Sahlins May 07, 2018

This week on Open Stacks, the inaugural episode of our occasional Biblio-files series, featuring Co-op friends and legends, beginning with prolific author, esteemed anthropologist and professor, and publishing partner of the Co-op, Marshall Sahlins.

#49 Children's Book Week: Javaka Steptoe & Elizabeth Acevedo Apr 29, 2018

This week on Open Stacks, lit for the little ones: it's Children's Book Week! Writers Javaka Steptoe and Elizabeth Acevedo join us, Colin interviews Franny, special selections from storytime, and more.

All Things Poetry: Place - Andy Fitch, Miquel Àngel Llauger, Joshua Beckman, & Patrick Morrissey Apr 22, 2018

This week on the podcast, we traverse the poetics of place and shared space with Andy Fitch, Miquel Àngel Llauger, Joshua Beckman, & Patrick Morrissey.

#47 All Things Poetry - Thing: Cecilia Vicuña and Jen Bervin Apr 15, 2018

This week on Open Stacks, a look at poemthings that point to the truths beyond the given names of the things contained within them, with Cecilia Vicuña and Jen Bervin.

#46 All Things Poetry - Person: Anthony Madrid & Duriel E. Harris Apr 08, 2018

This week on Open Stacks, poetry and personhood. We hear a reading and conversation with Anthony Madrid and an interview with Duriel E. Harris.

#45 All Things Poetry - Idea: Daniel Borzutzky, Nate Marshall, & Robert Darnton Apr 01, 2018

On this week's episode, National Book Award Winner Daniel Borzutsky, discusses his new book, Lake Michigan, with Chicago poet Nate Marshall. They also talk politics, education, violence, and the state. Then we talk with historian Robert Darnton about the revolutionary potential of poetry in 18th Century France.

#44 Translations: Haun Saussy & Yoon Sun Yang Mar 25, 2018

This week on the show, we're taking a multifocal look at translation processes. Come along as we consider its tectonic, idiosyncratic, and uncharted terrains in conversations with Haun Saussy, Yoon Sun Yang, and the Co-op’s own Jeff Deutsch and Adam Sonderberg. With Rosanna Warren, Saussy discusses translation theory and translations of Baudelaire into Chinese; Yang talks about the formation of the concept of the individual in early colonial Korean literature; and Jeff and Adam take a lap around another vista difficult to put in words: the Co-op’s Front Table.

#43 Institutions: Toussaint Losier, Michael C. Dawson, Crystal Laura, & Bill Ayers Mar 18, 2018

This week on Open Stacks, discussions about two of the most fervently debated and scrutinized institutions: prisons and public schools.

First, Touissant Losier sits down with Michael C. Dawson to discuss the book Losier and Dan Berger co-authored, Rethinking the American Prison Movement. Then, Bill Ayers and Crystal Laura talk about Laura’s book, "You Can't Fire the Bad Ones!": And 18 Other Myths about Teachers, Teachers Unions, and Public Education, co-authored with Rick Ayers.

#42 Art & Time: Pamela Bannos, Laura Letinsky, & John Muse Mar 11, 2018

This week on Open Stacks, the many relationships of art to time, as elucidated in photography, theater, and the lives of artists. Pamela Bannos discusses her book Vivian Maier: A Photographer’s Life and Afterlife, which details the life and work of the posthumously celebrated photographer; and Laura Letinsky and John Muse talk about their respective books Time’s Assignation and Microdramas.

#41 History from Below: William Pelz, Lisa Lee, David Stovall, Bill Ayers, Nate Marshall, and Jeremy McCarter Mar 04, 2018

This week's episode of Open Stacks features William Pelz discussing history from below; Lisa Lee, David Stovall, and Bill Ayers in conversation from the Singing In Dark Times series; and a discussion with Nate Marshall and Jeremy McCarter, about activists and art.