Charli Renken (they/them) is the social media engagement associate at the Chicago Reader and a multimedia storyteller with experience in investigative journalism, beat reporting, social media management, and entertainment news.
While they write on a variety of topics, their work tends to revolve around the city of Chicago, queer culture, online subcultures, and marginalized voices.
Previous to joining the Reader, Renken worked as a news reporter for Built In, and was the founding editor of Secret Chicago, associate editor of the Jackalope, a staff writer for Hush Comics, and resource coordinator and writer for Fandom Forward.
They have been published by a number of other publications including Block Club Chicago, Wizards in Space, Glyph Literary Magazine, the Denver Post, Calling Upon Calliope and many more.
Their first collection of creative nonfiction, Interrobang, was published in 2017 and explores trauma, addiction, grief, and pop culture analysis.
Renken lives in Chicago. They speak English and can be reached at [email protected].
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