Writer. Educator. Runner.
JAMES STEWART III
Welcome to my website. As a professional Writer, I aim to create a better understanding of the world and our place in it. Read some of my work below, including published articles and short stories.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Storyteller
James Stewart III is a Black writer living in Chicago with an MFA from the School of the Art Institute Chicago. He is currently working on a novel about the daily struggles of a multi-racial working-class family and the costs we pay for loving others. He also hosts and co-curates the reading series The Guild Complex Presents Exhibit B and is Managing Editor of Critics' Union. For the past six years, he has worked throughout the Chicagoland area with special-needs students in public schools as a paraprofessional.
PROJECTS
Defiant Acts
A Novel in Short-stories
Defiant Acts is a work of literary auto-fiction that explores the lives of a mixed-race, working-class family and how the parents struggle to maintain the illusion of stability while living paycheck to paycheck in the early '90s. At its heart, this is a novel of values, the value of hope, sacrifice for others, the everyday strength it takes to fight for those you love, and the work it takes to build a home.
Critics' Union
What would a criticism that critiques the critics look like?
Founded in 2018 on the campus of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Critics’ Union reimagines the role of the public editor. Acknowledging the decline of ombudsman positions throughout the country, while recognizing that opinion-makers hold more influence over the public interest than reporters, our magazine, essentially, critiques the critics.
The Guild Complex Presents Exhibit B
Quarterly Reading Series
Exhibit B is a reading series that highlights exciting text-based work in Chicago. Presented by the Guild Literary Complex, a 30-year-old grassroots literary arts organization based in Chicago, Exhibit B aspires to give those in attendance the same kind of charge you feel after leaving a great concert. We want prose, poetry, plays, music, and more. We want to create a space that showcases work that you don’t need an MFA to feel and that leaves the audience always wanting more. We want community. We want impact.
CV
MASTER OF FINE ARTS - CREATIVE WRITING: SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
Sept. 2016 - May 2018
MASTER OF LIBERAL ARTS - NORTH CENTRAL COLLEGE
Sept. 2011-May 2013
BACHELOR OF ARTS - COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO
January 2006-Dec. 2010
MANAGING EDITOR - CRITICS' UNION
2018-Present
PARAPROFESSIONAL - EVANSTON TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT 202
October 2019-Present
SPECIAL EDUCATION CLASSROOM ASSISTANT II - CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS
January 2019- October 2019
SUBSTITUTE TEACHER - EVANSTON/SKOKIE SCHOOL DISTRICT 65
August 2016 - January 2019
LECTURER (BLACK WRITING FROM CHICAGO) - SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
FA Semester 2017
SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER'S ASSISTANT - EVANSTON/SKOKIE SCHOOL DISTRICT 65
September 2015-August 2016
SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER'S ASSISTANT-INDIAN PRAIRIE DISTRICT 204 – METEA VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL, AURORA, IL
2014-2015
RECENT ESSAYS AND SHORT STORIES
"Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words."
Ursula K. Le Guin
GET IN TOUCH
One of the greatest perks of my job is getting feedback and interacting with readers. Contact me if you’ve got any comments or questions for me, I’d love to hear from you.