Ta-Nehisi Coates, Nigella Lawson, Elvis Costello join Chicago Humanities Festival

The Chicago Humanities Festival today announced the full schedule for its 26th annual extravaganza, running Oct. 24-Nov. 8 at various venues across the area.

Some of the notables heading to town for events exploring the theme of “Citizens”:

• Author Ta-Nehisi Coates discusses his memoir “Between the World and Me,” Oct. 24 at Northwestern University’s Cahn Auditorium.

• Author Salman Rushdie receives the 2015 Chicago Tribune Literary Award and discuss his life and work, Nov. 7 at the UIC Forum.

• Cookbook author and co-judge of the TV reality series “The Taste” Nigella Lawson discusses her books and eating healthy, Nov. 8 at Benito Juarez Community Academy.

• Pop-rocker Elvis Costello discusses his career and memoir “Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink,” Nov. 3 at Francis W. Parker School.

• Aasif Mandvi (“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”) discusses his brand of humor and his book “No Land’s Man,” Oct. 30 at Northwestern University’s Thorne Auditorium.

• Comedian/actor/author Patton Oswalt (“Silver Screen Fiend”) discusses comedy and the myriad inspirations that have shaped his work, Nov. 7 at UIC Forum.

• New Orleans native and actor Wendell Pierce (“The Wire”) discusses his memoir “The Wind in the Reeds: A Storm, A Play, and the City that Would Not Be Broken,” about his love and hope for the city in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Nov. 1 at First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple.

• Evanston-born playwright, former artistic director of Lookingglass Theatre and Emmy-winning scriptwriter Laura Eason (“House of Cards”) talks about writing off-Broadway and online, Oct. 27 at Northwestern University’s Thorne Auditorium.

• Author Azar Nafisi (“The Reading of Lolita in Tehran,” “The Republic of Imagination”) discusses her work Oct. 24, Northwestern University’s Cahn Auditorium;

• Author and essayist Roxane Gay (“An Untamed State,” “Bad Feminist”) discusses her work Nov. 6 at Francis W. Parker School.

Among the performance highlights:

• Chilean playwright Guillermo Calderon celebrates the North American premiere of his new play, “Escuela,” in four performances (Nov. 6-8) at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The drama is set “in the 1980s during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. A group of masked left-wing youth undergo paramilitary training to resist the ruthless and unyielding tactics of Chilean police forces.” (In Spanish with English supertitles.)

• “Manual Cinema: My Soul’s Shadow” (in five performances Nov. 6-8) at Mana Contemporary Chicago. Puppeteers move seamlessly from projector to projector as shadow puppets glide across large screens, encountering the live actors who doff a cap here and light a cigarette there, accompanied by the mood-setting strains of an orchestra. Manual Cinema’s latest production embraces language in celebration of Spanish poet Federico García Lorca.

• Clarinetist Anthony McGill, the world-renowned, Chicago-born-and-raised orchestra and chamber musician was recently appointed principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic, will perform (Oct. 25 at the University of Chicago’s Logan Center for the Arts) and discuss his career, a career that includes a solo performance at Carnegie Hall and playing at President Obama’s inauguration in 2009.

For the complete schedule and list of venues, visit chicagohumanities.org/citizens.

Festival tickets (price range, free to $35), go on sale to CHF members at 10 a.m. Sept. 8 and to the general public at 10 a.m. Sept. 14, at chicagohumanities.org or by calling the CHF Box Office at (312) 494-9509.

Follow @MiriamDiNunzio

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