Category: Event

  • 1/29 After Hours: General Things Press

    After Hours with General Things Press Thursday, 1/29 6:30-8.
    Readings by: Evan Fusco, Jessie McCarty, Lemmy Ya’akova, Grace Papineau-Couture
    In Person at Quimby’s Bookstore, 1854 W. North Ave, Chicago, IL

    General Things Press is an assemblage of various people coming together to collaborate on producing works in the world. Underneath its umbrella it contains a publishing effort, a latent radio show, and a reading series. General Things Press makes as it can with vigor and excitement. All works are printed locally and bound by hand by the editor.

    Jessie McCarty is a writer and information science worker from Louisiana. Their book, Pretty Punks, is out with Magra Books now. They often write about gender, folklore, Irish and American-Southern diasporas.

    Evan Fusco is a lecturer based in Chicago, IL. Pieces of theirs have been published, performed, contained, or shown in and/or at: Other Forms, MOCA Cleveland, Apparatus Projects, The Chicago Art Book Fair, Plates Journal, Carrol University, Prompt Press, Watershed Art & Ecology, Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Joan Flasch Artist Book Collection.

    Lemmy Ya’akova is an advocate for y2k low culture, an amateur pool player, a popcorn enthusiast and a cat parent to their son, Moose. Their work can be found in HAD (Hobart After Dark), Anti-Heroin Chic Magazine, SAND Journal and more. They’re the author of the poetry collections Overflowing the Tub, Night Gallery Press, 2024 and Tiger’s Tail, General Things Press, 2024.

    Grace Papineau-Couture is a Canadian interdisciplinary artist currently based in Chicago. They are interested in sound as a generative process – something unfolding, recursive and responsive, allowing for sound and listener to have a dialectical relationship. Using old and low-fidelity technology such as cassette tapes, contact microphones, and experimental instruments, Grace’s sound performances interface with themes of haunting, environmental disaster and acoustic ecology. These compositions urge the listener to ask themselves, “what do we hear in the latency? What kind of apparition reveals itself to us through the cracks of low fidelity?”

    After Hours is a production of Taylor Thornburg and Quimby’s Bookstore

    –.- ..- .. — -… -.– .—-. …

    Pay what you can afford in person or via Venmo.
    Suggested: $10
    Venmo: @quimbysbookstore
    Please include “After Hours” in the note!

    Your generous donation directly supports artist honorariums and ensures the continuation of this program. We are so grateful for your support of local creators, Quimby’s Bookstore, and DIY culture—we truly couldn’t do it without you!

    Your generous donation directly supports artist honorariums and ensures the continuation of this program. We are so grateful for your support of local authors, publishers, creators, Quimby’s Bookstore, and DIY culture—we truly couldn’t do it without you!

  • 1/23 Show & Tell: Blonde Bombastic, Frankie Lyne | Opening & Reading

    Quimby’s Show & Tell
    Blonde Bombastic
    Art Opening and Talk by Frankie Lyne
    Comics Reading by Frankie Lynn, Gren Bee, and J.E Paeth
    Friday, January 23rd, 2026 – 6:30 PM

    Show runs through Sunday February 8th
    in-person at Quimby’s Bookstore 1854 W. North Ave Chicago, IL 60622

    Blonde Bombastic features the work of Frankie Lyne [ they/them ] centered around Marie a 50’s does 70’s heroine who’s incredible outfits, glamorous looks, and bad news boyfriend Simon keep her just ahead of the dire consequences of her full on sex-and-drugs rock and roll lifestyle.

    Featuring a full wall of plush cheetah print, blow ups of the original art, process work, Risograph prints, and bejeweled safety pin bound risograph zines, Blonde Bombastic will be on view at Quimby’s Friday Jan 16 – Sunday February 8th.

    On Friday, January 23rd, at 6:30 Frankie will be joined by friends Gren Bee and J.E Paeth for a artist talk and reading.

    Frankie Lyne [ they/them ] is a recent School of the Art Institute Chicago graduate, comics creator, and musician. Their comics and zines include Supercvnt, Simon and Marie, Death of Marie, Devout, Vive La Vie MoonStride, Alter Ego, and Starr Ramone.

    Frankie sells comics and zines at Quimby’s Bookstore, Chicago Comics, and Howling Pages. They are also published in SAIC’s Mouth Magazine and have run Starr Ramone in F News since 2021.

    –.- ..- .. — -… -.– .—-. …

    Register for the Event

    Your generous donation directly supports artist honorariums and ensures the continuation of this program. We are so grateful for your support of local creators, Quimby’s Bookstore, and DIY culture—we truly couldn’t do it without you!

    Pay what you can afford in person or via Venmo.
    Suggested: $10
    Venmo: @quimbysbookstore
    Please include “Show & Tell” in the note!

    Your generous donation directly supports artist honorariums and ensures the continuation of this program. We are so grateful for your support of local authors, publishers, creators, Quimby’s Bookstore, and DIY culture—we truly couldn’t do it without you!

  • 01/12 Sketch/Book: Salon

    Sketch / Book: a Wicker Park Reading and Drawing Salon
    A collaboration between LMN Wedge Studio and Quimby’s
    Monday, January 12th, 2026 –  6:00-8:30pm

    Meet in-person at Quimby’s Bookstore: 1854 W. North Ave, Chicago IL: 60622
    At 6:30 walk 2 blocks to LMN Wedge Studio 1579 N Milwaukee Ave Suite 206, Chicago, IL 60622

    Cost: $40 – comes with a free zine or comic of your choice ($15 value or less) at Quimby’s Bookstore and tea and light refreshments at LMN Wedge. Funds go directly to support these vital Wicker Park artist run spaces.

    Capacity: A cozy and mystical gathering of 13!

    Sketch / Book is a social salon and creative meetup centered on reading and/or drawing, hosted by LMN Wedge Studio and Quimby’s Bookstore. Guests begin the session at Quimby’s to select a free zine. After browsing, and getting aquinted we’ll head over to the Flatiron Arts Building to read or sketch within the eclectic comfort of LMN Wedge Studio and Gallery. This is an opportunity to read a zine book or comic in a social setting, practice sketching people from observation, or simply journal and mark-make in your sketchbook within a social, supportive setting.

    A time for round-robin sharing and networking is built into the schedule.

    Register for the event on eventbrite

    OR:

    Register via a $40 donation to Venmo: @quimbysbookstore
    Please include “Sketch Book and your name” in the note!

  • 01/09 Conor Stechschulte: Closing

    Crepusculine Exhibition Closing Reception
    with
    Conor Stechschulte
    Friday, January 9th, 2026 –  5:00-7:00pm

    in-person at Quimby’s Bookstore: 1854 W. North Ave, Chicago IL: 60622

    Join Conor Stechschulte  for the closing reception of original art related to the process and thinking behind his new comic, “Crepusculine 2.”

    Conor Stechschulte is an Eisner-Nominated cartoonist, artist, screenwriter and educator. He is the author of the graphic novels The Amateurs and Ultrasound. His work has been translated into five languages and adapted for film. He teaches classes in comics, printmaking, and self-publishing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

    Register for the event!

  • County Highway Summer Reading Tour, 7/12

    County Highway Summer Reading Tour
    Saturday, July 12, 2025 – 3:00 PM
    in-person at Quimby’s Bookstore
    1854 W. North Ave Chicago, IL 60622

    Register to attend County Highway Summer Reading

    Meaghan Garvey and Amanda Fortini will be reading from their work in County Highway with interspersed discussions, followed by an audience Q&A discussion!

    County Highway is a magazine about America in the form of a 19th-century newspaper, started on a shoestring by three friends (David Samuels, Walter Kirn, and Ryan Baesemann) in the wake of the pandemic. They have since become the fastest growing print periodical in the country — earning an annual circulation of 150,000 copies barely one year after releasing thier debut issue.

    The name County Highway is inspired by what they believe is the perfect-sized place for the enhancement of life and art. A county is a chunk of earth big enough to allow for a variety of human types, but small enough to get to know a decent number of your neighbors, where they come from, what they’re proud of, what they fear, what they smoke, what they drink, and what they love. The county where County Highway newspaper is located is somewhere between all those places, real and imaginary. It’s the scale of the place that’s important, and also the idea of traveling from one to another with an eye towards finding new answers to the founding American questions of who we are, and why we are here.

    Dubbed America’s Only Newspaper,” County Highway features hairy off-road adventures by some of America’s best and strangest writers; reports on the myriad of political and spiritual crises that are gripping our country and their deeper cultural and historical sources; regular columns about agriculture, civil liberties, animals, herbal medicine, and living off the grid, both mentally and physically; essays about literature and art; and an entire section devoted to music. Offering a road-side banquet of American humor, common-speech, and social and political insights in every issue, County Highway prints six times each year for readers across all fifty states and Canada. Wherever there’s a stop sign, there’s a story.

    Amanda Fortini is a natural remedies columnist for County Highway. She divides her time between Livingston, Montana, and Las Vegas, Nevada, about which she is currently writing a book of essays, Flamingo RoadFrom 2021 to 2022, she did a nine-month flower essence apprenticeship and got certified as a practitioner.

    Meaghan Garvey is a writer and illustrator living on the beach in the Midwest. She’s a contributing writer to County Highway, with bylines in Pitchfork, NPR, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Tablet, Vulture, and many other outlets. Her debut book Midwestern Death Trip will be published by Panamerica in 2026.

    ——

    Suggested donation: $10
    Venmo: @quimbysbookstore
    Please include “County Highway” in the note!

    Your generous donation directly supports artist honorariums and ensures the continuation of this program. We are so grateful for your support of local authors, publishers, creators, Quimby’s Bookstore, and DIY culture—we truly couldn’t do it without you!

  • Quimby’s Show & Tell: Rachel Hays of Taxonomy Press, 7/17

    Quimby’s Show & Tell: Rachel Hays of Taxonomy Press
    Thursday, July 17, 2025 – 6:30 PM
    in-person at Quimby’s Bookstore
    1854 W. North Ave Chicago, IL 60622

    Register to attend Show & Tell: Rachel Hays of Taxonomy Press

    Join Detroit-based printmaker and publisher Rachel Hays of Taxonomy Press for an evening of visual storytelling and reflection on sustaining a creative press practice. In this Show & Tell session, Rachel will share recent work and guide us through the systems, collaborations, and small habits that help her keep going as she navigates the shift to full-time independent publishing.

    Expect an honest, low-key conversation about the creative process, risograph printing, and staying grounded outside the algorithm. Perfect for anyone curious about zines, small press life, or slow, intentional ways of making.

    ——

    Suggested donation: $10
    Venmo: @quimbysbookstore
    Please include “Show & Tell” in the note!

    Your generous donation directly supports artist honorariums and ensures the continuation of this program. We are so grateful for your support of local authors, publishers, creators, Quimby’s Bookstore, and DIY culture—we truly couldn’t do it without you!

  • Quimby’s After Hours: Raging Opossum, 6/26

    Quimby’s After Hours: Raging Opossum
    Thursday, June 26, 2025 – 6:30 PM
    in-person at Quimby’s Bookstore
    1854 W. North Ave Chicago, IL 60622

    Register to attend After Hours: Raging Opossum

    Join Quimby’s Bookstore and Taylor Thornburg to welcome Raging Opossum Press for our inaugural After Hours evening of readings. 

    Raging Opossum Press is a publishing house and press highlighting the local and DIY art in Chicago… Raging Opossum Press is dedicated to the ideas of community and the wonders of sharing art with one another, and strives to do that regularly by showing off different artists through publications, interviews, or our newsletter which shares and discusses a variety of different art events, shows, and whatever else around Chicago.

    Expect a raucous reading celebrating contributors to recent issues of Raging Opossum.

    ——

    Suggested donation: $10
    Venmo: @quimbysbookstore
    Please include “After Hours” in the note!

    Your generous donation directly supports artist honorariums and ensures the continuation of this program. We are so grateful for your support of local authors, publishers, creators, Quimby’s Bookstore, and DIY culture—we truly couldn’t do it without you!

  • Quimby’s Co-Sponsors Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE), at The Irish American Heritage Center, 6/28 + 6/29

    Quimby’s is proud to co-sponsor The Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE), a weekend-long celebration of independent comics, inspired by Chicago’s rich legacy as home to many of underground and alternative comics’ most talented artists– past, present and future. Featuring comics for sale, workshops, exhibitions, panel discussions and more, CAKE is dedicated to fostering community and dialogue amongst independent artists, small presses, publishers and readers.

    Featuring Special Guests!: Angie Hewitt, Caroline Hu, Geneva Bowers, Koreangry, Malachi Ward, Max Huffman

    CAKE 2025

    Saturday, June 28, 11:00 – 6:00 PM
    Sunday, June 29, 11:00 – 5:00 PM

    at The Irish American Heritage Center (not at Quimbys!)
    4626 N. Knox Ave.
    Chicago, IL 60630

    Masks strongly encouraged.

    More info at cakechicago.com

    flyer by former Quimby’s employee Mike Centeno!

  • Quimby’s Co-Sponsors Chicago Zine Fest at the Harold Washington Library Center, 7/19

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by Chicago Zine Fest (@chicagozinefest)

    Quimby’s is proud to be a co-sponsor of Chicago Zine Fest! We’ll be tabling there on 7/19 at the Harold Washington Library featuring special guest Angel xoxoxoxox! Stop by our table and say hello.

    Chicago Zine Fest is a celebration of small press and independent publishers, with an annual festival of workshops and the big expo day where 70+ zinesters sell and trade their zines. All CZF events are free and open to the public.

    Saturday, July 19, 2025, 11 am to 4 pm
    Harold Washington Library Center
    Winter Garden, 9th Floor
    400 S State St
    Chicago, IL 60605

    More information at chicagozinefest.org.

    art by Kelly Wang.

  • 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)