Guildworks: Writings by the West Side Writers Guild

by Mark Allen Boone (Editor)

With its slick cover, solid editing, and often compelling work, Writings by the West Side Writers Guild bears few signs of self-publication, said the Literary Supplement of NEW CITY, Chicago's arts and entertainment weekly. An unusual anthology of works by natives of Chicago's toughest and poorest section, a locale that fosters people who gain strength from adversity, Guildworks' highlights include poet Cranston Knight's You Ain't Got No Culture, in which he disses a friend for his lack of refinement, only to end by praising him for his loyalty; Boone's A Visit to the Poe House, that recounts his harrowing search for the poet's Baltimore row house located in the heart of a drug den; Irene J. Smith's novel excerpt that sets the stage for the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington's 1983 mayoral campaign; and Tina Jenkins Bell's lighthearted account of the sexual harassment she encountered on the road as a publishing sales representative. --Literary Supplement of NEW CITY

146 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Mark Allen Boone is a native Chicagoan who grew up on Chicago’s West Side. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Mark is a former teacher, having taught in the Chicago Public Schools, the Archdiocese of Chicago, and ABE/GED classes through the Chicago City Colleges Urban Skills Institute.

In the mid-1980s he joined Contemporary Books, where he developed materials for the GED Tests and the adult and continuing education market. In his spare time, he served as fiction editor for the Chicago-based quarterly AIM Magazine, a post he filled for more than 20 years, and wrote and published short fiction. One of his stories, "Brunswick Stew" was anthologized in the collection West Side Stories published by City Stoop Press. Another,“The Derelict,” has been excerpted for use in GED Test Preparation books.

Mark's first published novel Reunion was published in 1989. In 1990, he founded the West Side Writers’ Guild of Chicago, a support group for aspiring writers. This association produced the anthology, Guildworks: Writings by the West Side Writer’s Guild (1996), for which Mark served as editor.

In 2005, Mark established Blacksmith Books, LLC, a small publisher committed to publishing high-quality works that present a broader range of African-American experience.

Its first title, The Demise of Luleta Jones, a mystery set in the Austin Village area of Chicago’s West Side was released in 2006 to highly favorable reviews. Blacksmith Books’ latest title Some Glad Morning by native West Sider and current Alabama resident Irene J. Steele, was released in January 2007. Also set on the West Side, the novel is a story about the interrelationships in a West Side community as it seeks to elect Chicago’s first African-American mayor in the 1980s.