Although the Chicago Humanities Festival presents it most grand-scale event each November, in recent years the organization has added briefer winter and springtime frolics to its calendar as well.
Just announced were the headliners for the second annual Springfest: authors Marie Kondo and Sheryl Sandberg. The theme of the festival, running April 28-30, will be “Stuff,” which organizers explain will be “for the recyclers, hoarders, American Pickers, Antique Roadshow warriors, and more … [and] will shine a spotlight on our relation to the things we value, protect in collections, and hand down as heirlooms. It will also consider what we throw away, ignore, or consign to oblivion.”
To be sure, one speaker’s visit is ideally timed to coincide with any urge to engage in serious spring cleaning. The expert in the room will be Kondo, the master organizer and author of “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” She will discuss how she created the KonMari Method, which advocates for holding onto objects which “spark joy” and winnowing possessions which do not.
In a statement, festival artistic director Jonathan Elmer, observed: “Our relationship to things is changing: We don’t need shelving because our books are on our Kindle and files are kept in the cloud. But the topic goes way beyond personal storage when you consider the threat posed by garbage thrown into our oceans. More people have more things than ever before, but our possessions still divide us into those with too much and those with not enough.”
Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook and author of “Lean In,” will discuss the subject of resilience and how to deal with loss, drawing on the sudden death of her husband, David Goldberg, which is the topic of her newest book, “Option B.” Sandberg co-wrote “Option B” with Adam Grant, best-selling author of “Originals,” who will join Sandberg for the event.
The full line-up for Springfest’s “Stuff” series will be revealed on March 2. For more information visit http://www.chicagohumanities.org/stuff. Tickets for Springfest will go on-sale to CHF members on March 8 and to the general public on March 15. They will be available online at tickets.chicagohumanities.org or by calling (312) 494-9509.
Winter highlights, already announced, include visits by ballerina Misty Copeland, author George Saunders and political activists Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin (parents of Trayvon Martin, the teenager fatally shot in Florida in 2012).
• “Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin” (6-7:15 p.m. Feb. 16 at the First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple, 77 W. Washington. Tickets: $20. And 6-7:15 p.m. Feb. 17 at the DuSable Museum of African American History, 740 E. 56th Pl. Tickets: $20). Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin will discuss how, driven by their love for a lost son, they discovered their voice, gathered allies and launched a movement for national justice that would change the country. Both programs are presented in partnership between the Chicago Humanities Festival, the DuSable Museum of African American History and the Chicago Urban League. (To purchase tickets for the Feb. 17 program, visit chf.to/dusablerestinpower or call (773) 947- 0600.
• George Saunders: “Lincoln in the Bardo” (7-8 p.m. March 2 at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport. Tickets: $30.) Saunders, a master of short fiction and a MacArthur Fellow, will discuss his long-awaited first novel, which reimagines the death of Abraham Lincoln’s 11-year-old son, Willie, at the dawn of the Civil War. Ticket purchases includes a copy of “Lincoln at the Bardo.” An option for one book and two tickets is available by calling (312) 494-9509.
• “An Evening with Misty Copeland” (6-7 p.m. March 23 at the First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple, 77 W. Washington. Tickets: $15.) Copeland, the first African American female principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, has often spoken out about being “different” in the world of ballet. Her journey from living in a motel to dancing on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House, and her story of perseverance through poverty, racism, and overcoming setbacks from injury, have made her an inspiring figure to many. In her new book, “The Ballerina Body,” she explores the disciplines required to create and sustain physical conditioning at the highest level.
Tickets to the Chicago Temple and Music Box events will go on sale to the general public on Jan. 12.
