Category: books

  • John Porcellino & Chris Fink Release Forage Like a Bear at Quimby’s, May 31st

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by Quimbys Bookstore (@quimbysbookstore)

    Don’t miss John Porcellino (King-Cat) and Chris Fink (Add This to the List of Things That You Are) visiting Quimby’s to talk about Forage Like a Bear, their collaborative book of gentle micro-essays on nature, family, and life on Saturday, May 31st at 7pm!

    This beautiful book by Chris Fink collects twenty of his short, luminous radio essays as heard on Northern Public Radio WNIJ FM in DeKalb, Illinois. Low-key and plainspoken, he explores quiet moments in nature and with family in a classic Midwestern style. It features whistling acorns, scribbling clams, gossipy geese, technicolor ducks, turkeys (including human ones), roving bands of chipmunks, chimneys, fires, chainsaws, lice, thin ice, approximately 30,000 blueberries, cars rolling uphill, the leaves of a mulberry tree drifting down, Peace Trail meanders, and maybe just maybe, a holy grail morel and more, all illustrated with graceful ink line drawings by comics luminary John Porcellino. 

    Porcellino will read (with slides) selections from recent issues of King-Cat, with Chris Fink reading afterwards from Forage Like a Bear. A Q+A and signing will follow. Books will be available for purchase.

    Long-time friend of Quimby’s John Porcellino has been publishing King-Cat Comics since 1989. When he does events at Quimby’s he lovingly refers to us as the place where he does the first event on the tour to experiment, and we are therefore the “sacrifical pancake.” He runs Spit and a Half Distro and goes to the post office on most days. Follow him on Patreon +@johnporcellino on IG among other places.

    Chris Fink is a professor of English at Beloit College and the editor of the Beloit Fiction Journal. He’s the author of two collections of short stories, Farmer’s Almanac: A Work of Fiction (Emergency Press, 2013/2023) and Add This to the List of Things That You Are (University of Wisconsin Press, 2019). He’s a regular contributor to Northern Public Radio.

    Forage Like a Bear (Bored Wolves, 2025) $18.00 – Lovingly printed on soft white paper with French flaps.

    Yes! Quimby’s will stay open later for this event! Quimby’s is located at 1854 W. North Ave, Chicago, IL 60622.  This event is free.

    Find the Facebook event link here.

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by Quimbys Bookstore (@quimbysbookstore)

  • 2025 Chicagoland Indie Bookstore Day Challenge! April 26th

    On Saturday, April 26th Quimby’s will participate in celebrating Independent Bookstore Day with Chicago bookstores from all over the city!

    One of the best ways to celebrate Independent Bookstore Day is the annual bookstore crawl (aka, the Chicagoland Indie Bookstore Day Challenge)! The crawl promises to be bigger and better than ever this year! Dozens of stores—both brand-new stores and old favorites will be participating.  (See the complete list at www.ChiLoveBooks.com.) And, yes, the bus tour will be BACK!

    Again this year, the goals will be:
    • Visit TEN stores in one day and get 10% off at all participating bookstores for an ENTIRE YEAR!
    • Visit FIFTEEN stores in one day and get 15% off at all participating bookstores for an ENTIRE YEAR!

    Readers are encouraged to post a snapshot of themselves and their Independent Bookstore Day haul on social media with the hashtags #TeamIndie, #ChiLoveBooks, #IBDCHI25, plus the hashtags of each store they’ve visited.

    Independent Bookstore Day is the last Saturday of April, and yet again, Chicagoland proves itself to be the dream destination for book lovers and readers of all ages! More than 50 independent bookstores in the greater Chicago area — from Lake Forest to Beverly, and Naperville to the Loop — are collaborating on our annual Chicagoland Bookstore Crawl, which encourages book lovers to indulge in bookstore tourism by visiting 10 or more stores in a single day.

  • Zine Club Chicago: An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping Collective Reading and Zinemaking Workshop, March 15th!

    A colorful infographic flyer designed by Julie Cho that features the cover of the book “An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping”, with text that reads: “An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping Collective Reading and Zinemaking Workshop; Zine Club Chicago at Quimby’s Bookstore, 1854 W. North Ave., Chicago IL 60622; Saturday, March 15, 3pm CST; For more information visit quimbys.com”

    Zine Club Chicago: An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping Collective Reading and Zinemaking Workshop
    3 p.m. Saturday, March 15, 2025
    Quimby’s Bookstore, 1854 W. North Ave.
    Free! 

    This month, Zine Club Chicago is thrilled to welcome our friends at Thick Press for a celebration of their new book, An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping!

    From “abundance” to “zinemaking,” An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping invites the reader to wander through a collection of interconnected entries on helping and healing by over 200 contributors from the worlds of social work and family therapy; art and design; body work and witchery; organizing and education; and more. Privileging co-construction over diagnosis, wisdom over evidence, collective healing over individual curejuyet, always blurring categories and embracing contradictions — this world-making collection reveals a pluriverse of helping practices grounded in love and freedom.

    Please join us for Zine Club Chicago: An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping Collective Reading and Zinemaking Workshop, 3 p.m. Saturday, March 15, 2025 right here at our shop, 1854 W. North Ave. in Wicker Park. Free!

    Erin Segal and Chris Hoff, two of the editors of An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping, will be joining us, and contributors to the book will read selections from their entries. Our readers include Zine Club Chicago producer Cynthia E. Hanifin, Neil Horsky, and Noriko Martinez.

    Zine Club Chicago also be hosting a zinemaking workshop, and you’re all invited to make a mini zine about your own radical helping and collective care practices! No prior zinemaking experience necessary.

    All zinemaking materials will be provided. Please note that event seating is limited, and will be first-come, first-served. Zine Club Chicago is a mask-supportive environment; masks will be provided if you’d like to wear one.

    About Thick Press: Care-givers, justice-seekers, and community-builders often find ourselves in the thick of human experience. Yet so many of the texts we produce rely on the thin logic of Western medicine and mainstream social science! What might happen if we grounded more texts in the arts? In critical theories? In spirituality? In lived experience? What might happen if we paid more attention to medium, form, and design?

    Enter Thick Press, a collaboration between a social worker (Erin Segal) and a designer (Julie Cho).

    We aspire to a practice that is loving, reflexive, playful, and collaborative. We worry about reproducing oppressive structures, but we’re not really that interested in critique. Above all, we want to make unusual books with others.

    Inspired by artists’ books and zines, Thick Press publishes books that cross genres and disciplines.  All our books relate to working or living in the thick of human experience.

    Zine newbies and longtime enthusiasts alike are always welcome at Zine Club Chicago. This free event series is produced by Cynthia E. Hanifin and sponsored by Quimby’s Bookstore. Anna Jo Beck is the creative force behind our visuals, and she also made the Zine Club Chicago Shout-Outs site, where folks can peruse and recommend zines we’ve discussed at our events.

    Facebook event is here. More info on the Zine Club Chicago social media channels: @zineclubchicago

    Image description: A colorful infographic flyer designed by Julie Cho that features the cover of the book An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping, with text that reads: “An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping Collective Reading and Zinemaking Workshop; Zine Club Chicago at Quimby’s Bookstore, 1854 W. North Ave., Chicago IL 60622; Saturday, March 15, 3pm CST; For more information visit quimbys.com”

  • Recommended Reading: Vibrant Voices on the Page

    A pile of books and zines that tell personal stories, available at Quimby’s Bookstore in Chicago.

    The world is a flaming mess right now. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, I’m right there with you. Whenever I’m struggling, I know that I can find respite in personal narratives. Reading about another person’s challenges, triumphs, sorrows, and joys reminds me that, as Adrienne Rich wrote, our stories flow in more than one direction.

    Our shop is, of course, packed to the brick walls with vibrant voices on the page. Here are a few of the tales in which I’ve taken solace lately.

    Every single issue of Lucinda J. Williams’ Bookshelf Voyeur series is a pure delight. Her latest release, #8: On Scrapbooks, delves into the fascinating lives that the zinemaker first encountered within a collection of turn-of-the-century ephemera.

    Anxious Critters #1 and #2: I adore this pair of sweet zines about the relationship between creator Alex O’Keefe and her housemate: A very cute bunny named Ivy.

    Although I’m a native Chicagoan, I’ve lived a good chunk of my life in small Midwestern towns, each with its own unique DIY community. Punks in Peoria: Making a Scene in the American Heartland by Jonathan Wright and Dawson Barrett takes a compelling look at how the hardcore punk movement played out in one central Illinois city in the ’80s and ’90s.

    When someone I know returns from a trip, the first thing I ask is what they ate during their journey. April Malig chronicles her culinary adventures, with words and gorgeous colorwashed images, in April’s Eating Zine #5: Everything I Ate in Japan (Part One: Toyko!) and April’s Eating Zine #5.5: Everything I Ate in Japan (Part 2: Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka, Atami!).

    I love a pocket-size zine, since I like never want to be without a story to get lost in. Ker-bloom! always delivers a perfect bite-sized tale presented in a beautiful letterpress package. Issue #171 begins with the epic statement: “Sometimes it pays to be a known Lord of the Rings nerd.”

    So perhaps you’d like to add your own story to the glorious chorus of voices in this universe? We’ve got two of my favorite books about writing in stock right now. 1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round by Jami Attenberg and many of the writer’s literary friends — including Carmen Maria Machado, Roxane Gay, and Kiese Laymon — just came out in paperback. Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative by Melissa Febos is the book I would put into the hands of any storyteller who wants to deepen their own practice.

    If you do decide to share your story with the world, please consider putting it into a zine and consigning it with us! You might want to grab a This is Going in My Perzine sticker to give folks a heads-up. 🙂

    —   With love and solidarity, C.E. Hanifin

  • Gift Guide for RADICALS

    Hi-diddly-ho, shopperinos! Echo here with another (last minute) holiday gift guide for you!

    If you’ve been a sentient member of the human species lately, you have probably noticed that society is in a state of… how can I put this… total chaos and unbridled horror?

    At Quimby’s, we recognize our small but important role as dedicated purveyors of radical, inclusive, and subversive literature. Perhaps (hopefully) there are many radicals in your life. Heck, you may even be one of them! So, I’ve picked out some books, zines, and other fun stuff (from our rather extensive selection of subversive materials) for the RADICAL in your life. Read on to discover my revolutionary picks for you and your loved ones this gift-giving season…

    Zines can make for very thoughtful and fun gifts or stocking stuffers. I’d like to point your attention to Pleasure Pie, a sexual justice organization that’s based in Boston. They make incredible zines about sex positivity and intersectional liberation and we just love them! We’re freshly restocked with plenty of Pleasure Pie titles and they sent us a bunch of new stuff, too! The newest additions to our Pleasure Pie inventory include:

    What Is Pleasure Injustice?
    Sustainable Alternatives for Pads and Tampons: a Gender-Neutral Guide
    How to Say No: a Guide for Listening to Your Gut in Sex and Life

    They’ve also sent us some very poignant zines about Palestine, its voices, and its struggle for liberation:

    Queer Voices From the Fight for Palestinian Liberation
    Sex Education in Gaza: Empowering Young People Under Occupation
    A Gazan Young Man Dreams of a Peaceful Death     by Mo. Alcrunz
    We Palestinians Are Not Going Away: First Person Accounts on the War in Gaza

    The first book in my radical gift guide is To Rob a Bank Is an Honor by Lucio Urtubia. Urtubia is remembered as a real-life Robin Hood. On paper, he was a bricklayer from Navarra, an autonomous community in Spain. He was also a revolutionary outlaw who spent many years printing political pamphlets in his printshop, counterfeiting passports and checks for workers, and, most famously, scamming Citibank to fund the efforts of Italy’s Red Brigades, the Black Panthers, and other radical groups. This fascinating memoir is sure to make an excellent gift for the anarchist on your list.

    No radical book collection is complete without An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States. By telling the history of the United States from an indigenous perspective, historian and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz helps us see through the colonial lies that have dominated the popular narrative about the hyperpower that is the United States. As I type this, we have two wonderful versions of this important book in stock: the 10th-anniversary edition and a beautiful graphic interpretation adapted by Paul Peart-Smith.

    Next up, we have a landmark classic—An Autobiography by Angela Davis. Originally published in 1974 (by Toni Morrison!), this book was re-released as a new edition in 2022, and it remains very pertinent to current events. A memoir from such an iconic social justice leader as Davis would make an excellent gift for anyone who’s into Black liberation, prison abolition, feminism, communism, queer rights, or for anyone who has the courage to hope and take actions to make a better world for everyone.

    Those who are passionate about queer liberation are sure to appreciate Surviving the Future: Abolitionist Queer Strategies a collection of essays on current queer revolutionary theory from PM Press. This book does a wonderful job of bringing the movement for LGBTQIA+ liberation right into the fold of intersectionality with prison abolition, antiracism, and other concurrent revolutionary movements. It highlights the need for mutual aid as we look towards a brighter future for queer folks and for individuals from all marginalized groups.

    Don’t forget to pick some fun, revolutionary stocking stuffers! Like Johnny Sampson’s glorious “No Bezos” sticker. And you can radicalize your Christmas tree with a hammer-and-sickle or anarchy ornament by artist Paul Garner. Garner’s Che Guevara figurines would also make great gifts!

    ¡Felices fiestas & viva la revolución!

    -Echo @fraulein_echo

    P.S. And we’ll see you tomorrow, Tuesday, December 24th, because we’ll be open this one Tuesday from noon to 6! More info here!

  • Recommended Reading: Adam Gnade and his Great American Novels

    As of late, I’ve been deep into Adam Gnade‘s pocket sized novels ever since we received a large box of them from Kansas, where the author resides. Gnade (pronounced GUH-NAH-DEE) writes about coming of age in America, friendship, and being involved in alternative music scenes in the early aughts, a time when smartphones hadn’t been invented and the world felt less chaotic and broken.

    After Tonight, Everything Will Be Different drew me in with its cover: a picture of a hand pouring hot sauce on a giant burrito inside a taqueria. Maybe I was hungry that day, but something nudged me to buy it (we sold two other copies in the same day, perhaps there was something in the air). After Tonight… is set in San Diego, CA centered around the main character’s memories of growing up in the beachy California town where his parents owned a seafood restaurant. Each chapter is centered around a specific food memory and how the meals or snacks comforted James and his pals after late nights at punk shows, bars, and nights out when the only thing that mattered was being in the moment and escaping reality with chosen family. Despite each chapter being centered around food, the book reads more like an autobiography filled with visceral memories and the pain of early adulthood when you and your friends move on, go to college, or stay put in your hometown and waste time trying to figure out who you are and what you want to be. Gnade has a poetic way of retelling memories that pull the reader into his world by making them relatable and tender.

    When you make sense to someone it is a lovely thing. What you are doesn’t tire them or make them nervous or scare them off. They see you and you make sense. Your weird shit makes sense. Your fears and delusions make sense. The things you love make sense. If you don’t make sense, it’s like a bitter flavor in a thing that should be sweet and it’s confusing to people. They don’t get you, and because they don’t get you, you’ve got no chance of being their friend. At 16 I want nothing more than to make sense to people, but I don’t make sense to anyone.

    This beautiful paragraph is from the chapter titled “BURRITOS, VARIOUS.”

    The second book in Gnade’s pocket sized series of America is The Internet Newspaper. In the sequel, we follow James for three days in the year 2000 as he temps for a local internet newspaper in San Diego writing clickbait articles about cats and listing local music events. At night, he’s raiding the alcohol cabinet of a stranger’s home with friends while they house sit and driving to Tijuana with his coworkers for a press junket and getting drunk on the company dime. The Internet Newspaper captures a time when the internet was a place where information was less available and more casual, not all encompassing like it is today. The book is not just about the internet and the experience of having your first grown-up job, but about the main character’s life as a twenty-something punk having fun with friends while battling debilitating depression and suicidal ideation.

    As I savor the last few pages of The Internet Newspaper, I look forward to reading I Wish to Say Lovely Things, Gnade’s follow up novel about love in all its many forms.

    tl;dr Adam Gnade makes reading fun, inspiring, accessible, and cool with his badass autofiction novels.

    *xo~Angel~xo*

    @angel.xoxoxoxox

  • Does God have a recipe? Find out in Holy Food! Oct 13th

    Join Christina Ward to celebrate Holy Food: How Cults, Communes, and Religious Movements Influenced What We Eat:
    An American History on Friday, October 13th, 7pm, here at Quimby’s!

    “Holy Food doesn’t just trace the influence that preachers, gurus, and cult leaders have had on American cuisine. It offers a unique look at the ways spirituality—whether in the form of fringe cults or major religions—has shaped our culture. Christina Ward has gone spelunking into some very odd corners of American history to unearth this fascinating collection of stories and recipes.” — Jonathan Kauffmann, author of Hippie Food: How Back-to-the-Landers, Longhairs, and Revolutionaries Changed the Way We Eat

    Religious beliefs have been the source of food “rules” since Pythagoras told his followers not to eat beans (they contain souls), Kosher and Halal rules forbade the shrimp cocktail (shellfish are scavengers, or maybe G-d just said “no”). A long-ago Pope forbade Catholics to eat meat on Fridays (fasting to atone for committed sins). Rules about eating are present in nearly every American belief, from high-control groups that ban everything except “air” to the infamous strawberry shortcake that sated visitors to the Oneida Community in the late 1800s. In America, where the freedom to worship the god of your choice and sometimes of your own making, embraced old traditions and invented new ones.

    Holy Food looks explores the explosion of religious movements since the Great Awakenings birthed a cottage industry of food fads and at the obscure sects and communities of the 20th Century who dabbled in vague spirituality and used food to both entice and control followers. Ward skillfully navigates between academic studies, interviews, cookbooks, and religious texts to make sharp observations and new insights into American history in this highly readable journey through the American kitchen.

    Holy Food features over 75 recipes from religious and communal groups tested and updated for modern cooks. (Dough Gods! Funeral Potatoes! Yogi Tea! Mother F*cker Beans! The Source Family’s infamous Aware Inn Salad!) Also includes over 100 historic black and white images.

    Christina Ward is an independent food historian, a Master Food Preserver (Wisconsin), and writer who works in the publishing industry. www.christinaward.net

    For more info see: info(at)processmediainc(dot)com • www.processmediainc.com

    Facebook Event Invite here.

    Free Event at Quimby’s Bookstore.

  • M.S. Harkness Celebrates Time Under Tension: a Graphic Memoir at Quimby's Bookstore With Evan Salazar & Caroline Cash, Oct 6th!

    M.S. Harkness Celebrates Time Under Tension: a Graphic Memoir
    at Quimby’s Bookstore
    With Evan Salazar & Caroline Cash
    Fri, Oct 6th, 7pm
    Free!

    Time Under Tension is a smart, funny, no bullshit work of autobiography, a story of searching for dignity in a world that rarely affords it and taking agency of adulthood in the face of so many easy excuses not to.

    M.S. Harkness is graduating from art school in Minneapolis and facing a crossroads in life. She has a strained relationship with her mother, a sexually abusive father on parole, and is in love with an aspiring MMA fighter who mostly hangs out with her to get high and already has a girlfriend and career prospects with a fight promotion. An art career feels untenable — as one professor tells her, “Don’t expect to get by on this fucked-up broke girl shit.” She decides to get a personal trainer’s certificate — it seems like a feasible and sensible career option — but continues to dabble as a sex worker and weed dealer because the money is too irresistible. With idle hands due to no classes or full-time work, M.S. has ample time to aimlessly fuck around — or, to get her shit together. “I want to be better, I want to be stable and solid. I don’t want to keep aimlessly shifting between untenable situations.”

    Harkness’s bold, precise black-and-white cartooning and eye for storytelling invites the reader in, while her sharp wit and naturalist ear as a writer takes it away from there. Never didactic, always real, Time Under Tension is a spirited and assured work of graphic memoir.

    M.S. Harkness was born in Oklahoma and lives in Columbus, Ohio. She was featured as an up and coming cartoonist at the Angouleme Comics Festival in France, and was a recipient of the Minnesota State Arts Board Visual Artist Grant. Harkness occasionally teaches comics at Columbus College of Art & Design, in addition to working as a personal trainer. This is her third graphic novel, following Tinderella and Desperate Pleasures (both from Uncivilized Books). Find M.S. Harkness on IG at @m.s.harkness.

    Joining the celebration of Time Under Tension are artists Evan Salazar and Caroline Cash.

    Evan Salazar is a cartoonist originally from Tucson, Arizona. His main project is the self-published comic book Rodeo, which explores the secret passageways that connect memory, imagination, and family. Salazar has been published internationally, was the recipient of a 2020 MICE Mini-grant, participated in the Hocking Hills Cartoonist Retreat, founded the Tucson Comix Club, and has presented his work at comics festivals across the United States. He currently lives in Arizona with his dog, Margie. For more info see rodeocomics.com.

    Ignatz award winning cartoonist Caroline Cash, known for such titles as Girl In the World and Pee Pee Poo Poo, used to work at Quimby’s. She can be found on IG at cash_browns.

     

    More about Time Under Tension:

    See M.S. Harkness on tour!

    Want the Facebook Event Invite for this Quimby’s event? Go here!

  • Quimby's Presents Joshua James Amberson’s Staring Contest Book Release + Antiquated Future Showcase Online on YouTube, June 14th

    Staring Contest: Essays on Eyes (Perfect Day Publishing) is the debut full-length essay collection from zinester, arts-and-culture writer, and founder of the Antiquated Future zine distro and record label, Joshua James Amberson. Deftly weaving together such disparate subjects as Bette Davis’s career, the daily challenges of eye contact, and his own decade-long saga of periodic eye injections, Amberson digs deeply into the physical and existential consequences of living with such uncertainty. Staring Contest is wise, generous, and—given the subject matter—surprisingly funny.

    This event will also be a showcase of Chicago-based writers carried by Antiquated Future, including Anna Jo Beck (Biff Boff Bam Sock), Jim Joyce (Let it Sink), and Liz Mason (Caboose). It will air on the Quimby’s YouTube channel so no RSVP is necessary.

    “Staring Contest is a jewel box of an essay collection: It takes a quotidian facet of experience—the human gaze—and considers it at length, revealing an overlooked world of ideas and resonances.” –Jordan Kisner, author of Thin Places: Essays from In Between

    Joshua James Amberson is the author of the young-adult novel How to Forget Almost Everything, as well as a series of chapbooks on Two Plum Press, and the long-running Basic Paper Airplane zine series. His words have appeared in The Los Angeles Review of Books, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, and Tin House, among others. joshuajamesamberson.com

    About the other readers:

    Anna Jo Beck has been making zines for over a decade, writing and designing how-to zines on skills like personal finance, habit tracking, and health insurance, as well as a film recommendation series called Mini Movie Marathon. She also runs Zine-A-Month, a zine by mail subscription. More info on her and her various zine projects can be found at annajobeck.com

    Jim Joyce writes perzines like Let It Sink and others. A gentleman, he likes keeping his hands as sof’ as a frog’s belly.

    Liz Mason publishes Cul-de-sac, Caboose, and Awesome Things. Her work has been in places like Broken Pencil, Punk Planet, The Zine Yearbook and the back of her friend’s toilets. She’s worked at Quimby’s Bookstore since 2001 in a state of perpetual arrested development. Find her at LizMasonIsAwesome.com + Etsy at LizMasonZines + @caboosezine at all the places.

    For more info:

    perfectdaypublishing.com

    antiquatedfuture.com

    Buy Staring Contest at Quimby’s

    Wednesday, June 14th, 7:30pm CT

    Online at youtube.com/quimbysbookstore

    Want the Facebook invite to add it to your calendar? It’s here.

  • Independent Bookstore Day Indie Bookstore Crawl – Saturday, April 29, 2023

    Stop at Quimby’s during the annual Indie Bookstore Crawl (IBD) on Saturday, April 29th, the one-day national party celebrating Chicagoland indie bookstores. Use the map at ChiLoveBooks.com to learn about how to participate and plan your itinerary.