University of Chicago's Studs Terkel Festival to Run 5/9-11

A full schedule is now available for Let's Get Working, a new three-day festival honoring the life and work of Chicago legend Studs Terkel at the University of Chicago's Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th Street, Chicago. Let's Get Working explores Terkel's legacy while showcasing individuals and groups from Chicago and beyond who have been influenced and inspired by Terkel's work as a broadcaster, historian, actor, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. All events are free and open to the public.

Let's Get Working is a rare opportunity to bring together a diverse group of thinkers and doers -scholars, activists, journalists, artists, and many others following in Terkel's footsteps-who reflect the broad range of subjects and communities Terkel engaged in his work.

Festival details and full schedule can be found here: studs.uchicago.edu; highlights include:

· This American Life host Ira Glass on Terkel and the future of radio

· Haskell Wexler and Andy Davis in conversation with Rick Perlstein (Nixonland) and Jim Chandler about Terkel's involvement in their 1968 film Medium Cool

· Dave Isay (StoryCorps) and Alex Kotlowitz (The Interrupters) on Terkel's influence as a storyteller

· "Show & Tell," a cinematic shadow puppetry performance of audio stories from the StoryCorps archive from Manual Cinema

· "Making Radio with Studs & the Studs Terkel Radio Archive," a panel discussion with six of Terkel's WFMT colleagues and a conversation about the creation of the Studs Terkel Radio Archive

In addition to new works and original programming, the festival will include videos of Terkel and listening stations that will allow guests to explore his radio archive. There will also be screenings of Studs' early work in TV, industrial, educational, and documentary films from the Media Burn Independent Video Archive.

From talks to lively debate to inspired performances, Let's Get Working focuses on issues such as labor, race, faith, and community-all prominent themes throughout Terkel's broadcasting and literary careers.

As a writer, broadcaster, and activist, Louis "Studs" Terkel (1912-2008) often served as the voice of Chicago-but as an oral historian, he recognized the value in listening to all of the city's voices. His work-including the books Division Street: America (1967), Working (1974), Race (1992), and Pulitzer Prize-winning The Good War (1984)-preserves the past while encouraging audiences to fully inhabit the present and imagine a better future.

In advance of the festival, organizers are hosting Studs 101 events designed for participants to re-engage or familiarize themselves with Studs' work. See a full schedule of Studs 101 events.

Let's Get Working is organized by Leigh Fagin, Assistant Director of Collaborative Programming at the Logan Center and Paul Durica, Festival Program Coordinator, and was initiated by Judy Hoffman along with the Studs Terkel Centenary Committee.