Description:

As a kick-off to registration for Northwestern University’s Summer Writers' Conference, the MA/MFA program will host a career panel at 2 p.m. on May 6 at 405 Church Street in Evanston with three locally based writers and journalists, Mark Caro, Mary Dixon, and Eric May. Mark, Mary and Eric will discuss how they began and have sustained their multifaceted writing careers—of nonfiction, fiction, and journalism. Mark Caro is the author of The Foie Gras Wars, and coauthored Take It to the Bridge, a book on songwriting, with Chicago-based musician Steve Dawson. Mark also worked for more than two decades as a reporter and culture critic for the Chicago Tribune. Mary Dixon is an award-winning journalist who has reported for CNN, WGN-TV, and has been the morning newsperson on WXRT, 93.1 FM, for many years. Before joining the fiction faculty at Columbia College Chicago, Eric May worked as a reporter for The Washington Post, and his novel, Bedrock Faith, was published in 2014. The panel will be moderated by Christine Sneed, with a Q and A session to follow.

Mary Dixon is the news anchor and co-host of the WXRT (93.1FM/93XRT.com) Morning Show. It’s radio for people who like to listen to good rock music and hear about what’s going on in the world. Dixon’s mission is to nudge the world into being a little smarter and a bit more fun.
She contributes to the conversation with occasional long-form interviews and by helping to select the local charities that benefit from the annual release of the CD ‘ONXRT - Live From the Archives.’
She started working in radio in Dixon, Illinois as high school senior. She earned journalism degrees from Northern Illinois University and the University of Illinois-Springfield. As a reporter, she won Associated Press and Lisagor honors for investigative, business and features stories. She’s been part of the XRT Morning Show with Lin Brehmer, on and off, for 22 years. In the off years, she was reporting for CNN and WGN-TV or having babies – all ventures involving high stress, unusual hours and many joys.
Follow her on Twitter @MaryLDixon

Mark Caro is co-author of Take It To the Bridge: Unlocking the Great Songs Inside of You (GIA) and author of The Foie Gras Wars (Simon & Schuster), winner of the 2009 Great Lakes Book Award for general nonfiction and two Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Paris. He created and hosts the popular “Is It Still Funny?” film series at the Music Box Theatre, and he writes about culture for The New York Times and other outlets. Previously he was a Chicago Tribune staff writer for more than 23 years.
Follow him on Twitter at @MarkCaro.
Website: www.tothebridgebook.com

Eric Charles May is an associate professor in the fiction program at Columbia College Chicago. He’s the author of the novel Bedrock Faith, which was named a Notable African-American Title by Publishers Weekly, and a Top Ten Debut Novel for 2014 by Booklist Magazine.
A 2015 recipient of the Chicago Public Library Foundation’s 21st Century Award, May is a former reporter for The Washington Post. His fiction has also appeared in Fish Stories, Solstice, Hypertext, Flyleaf Journal, and We Speak Chicagoease.
In addition to his Post reporting, his nonfiction has appeared in the Chicago Tribune and the anthology Briefly Knocked Unconscious By A Low-Flying Duck. He’s taught at several writers’ conferences: the Chicago Writers’ Conference, Stonecoast, Solstice, and Northwestern University Summer Writers’ Conference.