Hey! I'm in Today's Chicago Tribune!

It was a thrill to be part of the 24th annual Printers Row Book Fair in Chicago over the weekend – I signed books at Sandmeyer’ s Bookstore on Saturday, then gave a formal presentation Sunday morning. It can make a person feel downright proud, living in a neighborhood that devotes an entire festival to books every year. When the fair was over last night, our neighbor Margaret joined Mike and me for our annual ritual. Each year we sit outside Hackney’s while the street is still closed to traffic. It’ s so quiet we can actually hear the glasses clink as we toast the end of another great book fair. I didn’t know it last night, but the celebrating wasn’t quite over after those toasts. A review of this year’ s Printers Row Book Fair in this morning’s Chicago Tribune features me, Beth Finke, along with the likes of baseball giant Billy Williams and best-selling author Scott Turow, as one of “the fair’s star attractions.”

Beth Finke Beth Finke’s fan club turned out to cheer on the woman teaching them how to write a journal and, evidently, how to live a full life. The South Loop resident makes it sound wry and funny as she recounts the loss of her vision in her mid-20s, learning to negotiate a new world of talking computers and Seeing Eye dogs; dealing with marital difficulties and becoming a mother; and translating her experiences into books and teaching. Finke has strung her experiences into a memoir, “Long Time No See” (University of Illinois Press), published in 2003 and based on the taped journals she started after losing her sight.

Finke’s latest book, written for children ages 4 to 10, is a beautifully illustrated story told from her Seeing Eye dog’s point of view. “Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound” (Blue Marlin Publications) has taken her into classrooms all over the area to meet with children and talk to them about assistance dogs and what it’s like to be blind. Finke’s journal-writing class meets weekly at the Chicago Cultural Center. If she presents events in her life like beads on a string, it’s only because she has plenty of experience examining each thought and finding a place for it. When you are overwhelmed by your own recollection, she advises her students, “Take it a chunk at a time.” —L.L.

WOWEE! whoever you are, “L.L.” – I love you. Looks like we may have to return to Hackney’ s for another toast!