Donna Seaman

In “The American Scholar,” Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "there is then creative reading as well as creative writing.” Emerson also wrote, “I do not feel as if my day had substance in it, if I have read nothing.” Reading has been my lifelong passion, and I have tried to read creatively as a reviewer, critic, and literary journalist. And I, too, feel that a day lacks "substance" if some part of it hasn't been spent reading. Reading with high curiosity and receptivity. Books illuminate minds and worlds. Literature breaks the isolating fever of the self.

So I read, and I write about books. Primarly for BOOKLIST, published in Chicago by the American Library Association, where I'm an associate editor. I also review books for the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Kansas City Star, and Bookforum. I'm a book critic for Chicago Public Radio. Visit their web site: www.chicagopublicradio.org

My radio interviews with writers can be heard on the web site: www.openbooksradio.org. That's where I blog, too.

I'm proud to be a recipient of the James Friend Memorial Award for Literary Criticism; the Writer Magazine Writers Who Make a Difference Award, the Literacy Chicago Literacy Hero Award, the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago’s Story Week Achievement Award, and the Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award.