I grew up in Rogers Park, first at Clark and Albion, then at Pratt and Western, but by the age of sixteen I was a regular at the No Exit Open Mike's. When I was 18, I moved to Clark and Devon and started working at the Heartland Cafe. I worked at the Heartland on and off until I was twenty-four and did everything from bartending, to bussing tables, to working the door.

My first novel, which I wrote when I was twenty-two, was published by a small comic book publisher. The novel is called Jones Inn and the 'Jones Inn' of the novel is a bar on Glenwood and Lunt. Michael James has long been convinced that this novel is a take-down of the Heartland Cafe and a confession to stealing while working there. It's neither and he's since forgiven me and now I sometimes contribute to the Heartland Journal. Jones Inn wasn't a very good book, and fortunately they misspelled my name so the book is hard to find, Steve Elliot instead of Stephen Elliott. My second novel, A Life Without Consequences, is set almost entirely in Rogers Park and West Rogers Park, and concerns itself mainly with the child welfare system there. It's a better book and they spelled my name right. My third novel, What It Means To Love You, is also good, but set at Halsted and Belmont, not Rogers Park.

Now I'm a fellow at Stanford Universityand live in San Francisco. But whenever I am in Chicago I always stay near the Morse train station and I always drink at the Heartland. My fourth novel, The Masochist, won't be out until early 2004, but is set mostly around the Jonquil area just north of Howard.

- Stephen Elliot