L.A. Hawbaker

Laura Hawbaker is a writer based in Chicago by way of New Orleans. She's written for The Chicago Tribune, Newcity Magazine and Bright Wall/Dark Room. Twitter @laurahawbaker | www.lahawbaker.com
Novel or Stories? Author Kate Wisel on the Powerful Paradox of Linked Collections

Novel or Stories? Author Kate Wisel on the Powerful Paradox of Linked Collections

Kate Wisel, the author of Driving in Cars with Homeless Men, shares her thoughts on writing linked story collections, drawing inspiration from real life, and adapting her work for television.

What Is Real in the Norval Morrisseau Documentary ‘There Are No Fakes’

What Is Real in the Norval Morrisseau Documentary ‘There Are No Fakes’

Forgeries of Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau’s art are but a symptom of a greater injustice in Jamie Kastner’s documentary, There Are No Fakes.

The Likability of Unlikability in Elizabeth Strout’s ‘Olive Kitteridge’

The Likability of Unlikability in Elizabeth Strout’s ‘Olive Kitteridge’

Elizabeth Strout counters Olive Kitteridge’s unpleasantness with two of the most important, traits of a standout character: the Ghost and the Lie.

Silence Has a Sound: The Unempty Quiet in ‘Sound of Metal’

Silence Has a Sound: The Unempty Quiet in ‘Sound of Metal’

If punk is for those who reject mainstream culture, then in the music film Sound of Metal, nothing is more punk than radical deaf acceptance.

The Martian Chronicles: A Tale of Two Apocalypses

The Martian Chronicles: A Tale of Two Apocalypses

Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles calls out from the past to our time of pandemic and NASA’s Mars Space Rover: however far our reach may be there is no escape for humankind from humankind.