Aleksandar Hemon moved from Sarajevo to Chicago in 1992, wrote his first story in English in 1995, and won a MacArthur “genius grant" in 2004. Not bad, right? Last week Hemon released the fruit of his “genius grant," The Lazarus Project, a novel that jumps between the murder of a Jew in early 20th century Chicago and a Bosnian immigrant in modern-day Chicago investigating the victim. Hemon’s 2002 novel Nowhere Man and 2000 debut collection of stories, The Question of Bruno, also feature Chicago heavily. His style is a mix of careful description and epic narrative, channeling the desires and dreams of immigrants in America; he lives in Edgewater, one of the most diverse and immigrant friendly neighborhoods in the city. More...