The Chicago-based Nelson Algren Committee's annual celebration of writer Nelson Algren's life, this year dedicated to the memory of author-activist Howard Zinn (A People's History of the United States), features photographer and Algren pal and perennial party attendee Art Shay (Chicago's Nelson Algren), Algren scholar Nathaniel Mills, novelist Bayo Ojikutu, Algren documentarian Michael Caplan, and more.

A highlight should be author Delphine Pontvieux reading from the beautiful love letters written to Algren by French writer and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir.

The celebration takes place Saturday, March 27, 8 PM, at Saint Paul's Cultural Center; admission is $10, $5 for seniors and students. Cash bar.