Cubs fan's team loyalty to be showcased at literary dinner

NPR’s Scott Simon with his late mother, Chicagoan Pat Newman

BOOK BEAT: The upcoming Carl Sandburg Literary Awards dinner will have a nice twist for NPR’s Scott Simon — who will moderate the evening’s discussion between authors Michael Lewis (“Moneyball”) and Isabel Allende (“House of the Spirits”).

Simon is said to be excited to meet Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts, the event’s co-chair. Simon’s bestselling book, “Home and Away: Memoir of a Fan,” was a chronicle of his lifelong affection for the Cubs — and the recent passing of Simon’s mother, Pat Newman, was noted by the team with a special message on the Wrigley Field marquee at Clark and Addison.