Written by Keith Shay

The Chicago Publishers Gallery & Café, established and run by the City of Chicago’s Publishing Industry Programs, is a permanent collection of over 2,300 books and periodicals from Chicag0-based publishers and authors. From best-selling novels to underground comic books; classical masterpieces to children’s verse; daily newspapers to full-set encyclopedias, the Gallery showcases every type of publication imaginable.

Located on the first floor of the Chicago Cultural Center, the Gallery is a beautiful, quiet setting that is perfect for reading books or just relaxing on your lunch break, and includes a café serving fresh food at reasonable prices.

Due to overwhelming popularity with visitors and Chicago’s publishing community, the Gallery was expanded in October 2009, adding six additional reading areas to the main room of the Randolph Café. Complementing the two original nooks on either side of the grand staircase, a children’s corner, a writers’ corner, a news corner, a local interest corner, a reference book area, and several display cases for books of art and photography are open to the public. The café decor has also been revamped, with new tables, seating, displays of letterpress art, banners featuring popular book photography by Laurie Rubin, and additional prints from Audrey Niffenegger’s The Night Bookmobile.

The Gallery is a wonderful opportunity for publishers to publicize their books and share their work, both with colleagues and with the public. Due to its location the Gallery receives a great deal of traffic that garners a high level of visibility for the books on display.

Don’t miss out of a great way to feature your work. If you are a Chicago publisher who is not currently on display, the Chicago Publishers Gallery would love to add you. We encourage you to write to Danielle Chapman, Director of Publishing Industry Programs, at danielle.chapman@cityofchicago.org for submission instructions, and let her know that you learned about the Gallery from Ware-Pak.

Publishing Industry Programs also sponsors many public and private events for members of the industry including panel discussion, meet and greets, and readings. Danielle can also let you know how to become part of this lively literary community.