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Today

Kevin Nealon: Brushes with Fame with Tim Meadows

Join Saturday Night Live alum, standup comedian, and caricature artist Kevin Nealon for an evening of stories: from backstage at SNL with Chris Farley and Dana Carvey to hanging out in Tiffany Haddish's vegetable garden. At CHF, Nealon will chat with former SNL castmate Tim Meadows about his new book I Exaggerate: My Brushes with […]

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The Church, State, & the Information Crisis in America

What happens when people get their news from the pulpit? At CHF, Bonnie Kristian (author of Untrustworthy and columnist at Christianity Today), Russell Moore (Editor in Chief at Christianity Today), and David French (senior editor at The Dispatch) unpack this question. Join them for a discussion about the power the evangelical church wields in shaping […]

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The Art of the Short Story with George Saunders

Heralded as the “best short-story writer in English” by Time, and winner of the Man Booker Prize for Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders is the perfect author to help us make sense of our era through fiction. At CHF, Saunders sits down with Peter Sagal for a chat about his latest collection Liberation Day, […]

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The Art of the Short Story with George Saunders

Heralded as the “best short-story writer in English” by Time, and winner of the Man Booker Prize for Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders is the perfect author to help us make sense of our era through fiction. At CHF, Saunders sits down for a chat about his latest collection Liberation Day, featuring timely short […]

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Margaret A. Burnham on the Jim Crow Legal System

“If a law can’t protect a person from lynching, isn’t lynching the law?” asks Margaret A. Burnham, director of Northeastern University’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, in her new book By Hands Now Known. At CHF, Burnham and Courtney Pierre Joseph (Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies at Lake Forest College) explain […]

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A Conversation with Legendary Reporter Seymour Hersh

Seymour Hersh has been at the forefront of investigative journalism ever since his Pulitzer Prize-winning exposé of the Vietnam War’s Mỹ Lai Massacre. At CHF, Hersh sits down with David Greising, President of the Better Government Association, to talk about what Hersh has learned over the course of his storied career—from Vietnam to Iraq’s Abu […]

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Sudhir Venkatesh on Gun Violence

Mass media rarely tells a three-dimensional story of violence in Chicago, but sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh does. At CHF, Venkatesh goes beyond perfunctory news coverage for a story about a community coming together to save a group of teenagers from gun violence. Join him for a conversation with Rudi Batzell about a national crisis and what […]

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Michael Shermer: Why People Believe Conspiracy Theories

The public has always been fascinated by conspiracy theories, but lately more people have started believing in them: from speculations about John F. Kennedy’s assassination to notions that 9/11 was an inside job. At CHF, Michael Shermer (founding publisher of Skeptic magazine) talks with Meghan Daum (The Problem With Everything, The Unspeakable Podcast) about the […]

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Inside the American Presidency with Pete Souza & David Axelrod

As Official White House Photographer for both Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan and author of The West Wing and Beyond, Pete Souza has a unique window into how our democracy really works. Using Souza’s photos as our guide, he and David Axelrod (former chief strategist and senior advisor to President Obama) take us behind the […]

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Swing State

It's hard to know who your friends are in a world that's more divided than ever. Tony Award-winner Robert Falls and his longtime collaborator, Pulitzer Prize finalist playwright Rebecca Gilman, […]

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Margo Price

We often hear the legends of a musician’s “big break,” but what happens before that? In her memoir Maybe We’ll Make It, Grammy-nominated country singer-songwriter Margo Price gets real about […]

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Jeff Garlin: Our Man in Chicago

Jeff Garlin is a man of many talents: he is a writer, producer, director, actor, photographer, and stand-up comedian. His impressive filmography includes: Curb Your Enthusiasm, WALL-E, Toy Story 3 […]

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Extremism in America: Pushing Back on Radicalism & Saving our Democracy

America is witnessing a frightening trend: the rise of extremist groups, like the Proud Boys, infiltrating our politics. At CHF, leading extremism reporter Andy Campbell (author of We Are Proud […]

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Will Bunch on the Higher Education Divide

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Will Bunch calls higher education the great political and cultural fault line of American life. Join Bunch and Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Undergraduate Studies, […]

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Innocent & Behind Bars with Daniel S. Medwed

At CHF, renowned legal scholar Daniel S. Medwed explains how America’s judicial system is stacked against the innocent. Join him and Lake Forest College legal studies professor Stephanie Caparelli for […]

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Miranda July on Art in All its Forms

Miranda July has gained a cult following over the span of her award-winning career as a filmmaker (Me and You and Everyone We Know and Kajillionaire), writer (No One Belongs […]

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Rick Lowe on the Transformative Power of Public Art

For artist and MacArthur Fellow Rick Lowe, art doesn't only hang on walls in museums, art is all around us. Art is street murals celebrating Black-owned businesses. Art is the […]

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FUN FIT FLEX CHICAGO

We invite you to our newest fundraising campaign, in which we raise awareness and funds for people with myositis. Funds will help patient programs, enhance professional education efforts, and research […]

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Black Women Will Save the World with April Ryan

It’s time—and long overdue—for everyone to acknowledge Black women’s unrivaled contribution to American life and democracy. At CHF, trailblazing White House correspondent April Ryan highlights the incredible work of “sheroes” […]

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Celebrating the Poets of Forms & Features (Online)

Join us for a reading and celebration of the diverse voices, rich experiences, and powerful words of poets from around the country, and the world. Participants from the online poetry workshop series, Forms & Features, will share work created in this online creative community. Poetry Foundation’s events are completely free of charge and open to […]

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Chicago International Film Festival – Bard (Open Captions)

DIRECTED BY Álfrún Örnólfsdóttir RUN TIME 87 minutes SYNOPSIS If This Is Spinal Tap had been centered on an all-female group of Icelandic performance-artist musicians, it would look a lot like Band. singer-turned-filmmaker Álfrún Örnólfsdóttir’s hilarious and poignant portrait of the misadventures of her Post Performance Blues Band. Renowned in the underground Reykjavik music scene […]

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Holland Cotter Lecture

Join us in person for a lecture by art critic Holland Cotter followed by an audience Q&A. Location: The Art Institute of Chicago, Fullerton Hall, 111 S. Michigan Ave. (doors open at 5:45pm) Holland Cotter is co-chief art critic and a senior writer at the New York Times. He has received the Pulitzer Prize for […]

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Chicago International Film Festival – The Visitors (Open Captions)

The Visitors Návštěvníci DIRECTED BY Veronika Lišková RUN TIME 85 minutes SYNOPSIS After a young Czech anthropologist, Zdenka, moves with her family to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard to study how life is changing for this unique polar community, she quickly falls in love with her new home. But all is not sweeping Arctic beauty […]

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