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Category: Event
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Learnapalooza Make a Zine Workshop, with Edie Fake 6/28 4pm
Learnapalooza is an annual day of free workshops taught across your neighborhood and open to the public. Classes are taught by community members and local businesses, hosted in 10-20 businesses and community centers across the neighborhood. This will be Learnapalooza’s 5th year in Wicker Park, and there are more than 15 participating hosts, more than 50 classes, and will be between 350-500 attendees.
This year, artist Edie Fake (Gaylord Phoenix, Memory Palaces) will teach you how to make a zine!
Register, volunteer, more info:
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Meags Fitzgerald Launches PHOTOBOOTH: A BIOGRAPHY 6/12
Come join Meags as she presents her work and discusses the process of making the definitive graphic novel about this fascinating subject.For almost a century chemical photobooths have occupied public spaces, giving people the opportunity to quickly take inexpensive, quality photos. In the last decade these machines have started to rapidly disappear, causing an eclectic group of in- dividuals from around the world to come together and respond. Illustrator, writer and long-time photobooth lover, Meags Fitzger- ald has chronicled the photobooth’s fortuitous history and the events which gave rise to the desperate need to save them. Having traveled in North America, Europe and Australia, she’s constructed a biography of the booth through the eyes of technicians, owners, collectors, artists and fanatics. In this ground-breaking book Fitzgerald struggles with her own relationship to these fleeting machines, while looking to the future.
Meags Fitzgerald is an artist and storyteller who draws, animates, writes and performs. Working primarily as an illustrator, she has a BFA from the Alberta College of Art + Design and a certificate in Design from the Nova Scotia College of Art + Design University. In many of her works, Fitzgerald addresses memory, history and the act of collecting. Photobooth: A Biography is her first graphic novel.
For more information:Conundrum Press conundrumpress.com
Thurs, June 12, 7pm – Free Event
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Elisha Lim, MariNaomi & Mike Dawson read from their Graphic Novels to kick off the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo at Quimby’s 5/30
The Chicago Alternative Comics Expo will kick off its third year’s festivities with a reading at Quimby’s Bookstore with three of its many exciting exhibitors. Join us the Friday before the festival to welcome comics makers, MariNaomi, Elisha Lim and Mike Dawson as they read excerpts from their new graphic novels.

MariNaomi will read from her book, Dragon’s Breath and Other True Stories (2DCloud). In this collection of thought-provoking, emotionally honest graphic vignettes, MariNaomi explores a wide spectrum of topics including youthful rebellion, mortality, disillusionment and compassion.
Mike Dawson will read from his book Angie Bongiolatti (Secret Acres). Set in the same universe as Troop 142, Dawson’s much acclaimed tale of Boy Scouts gone wild, Angie Bongiolatti puts away childish things and moves into the city.
Elisha Lim will read from their book 100 Crushes (Koyama Press), which compiles five years of queer comics. It is an absorbing documentary that travels through Toronto, Berlin, Singapore, and beyond in the form of interviews, memoirs, and gossip from an international queer vanguard.
Entertainment Weekly called Mike Dawson’s debut graphic novel, Freddie & Me: A Coming-of-Age (Bohemian) Rhapsody, “undeniably contagious”, while the UK Daily Telegraph said it was “Charming, sincere and, above all, expressively drawn”. Troop 142, his second graphic novel, was nominated for multiple Ignatz Awards, including Outstanding Graphic Novel, and was the winner in the Online Comic category. Dawson is also the co-host of The Ink Panthers Show!, a comics-themed “lifestyle” podcast. http://mikedawwwson.tumblr.com
Toronto-based artist Elisha Lim’s work celebrates the dignity and power of being neither straight, nor white, nor cis-gendered. In 2011 they also successfully advocated for Canadian gay media to adopt the gender neutral pronoun “they.” http://elishalim.com
MariNaomi is the author and illustrator of the award-winning graphic memoir Kiss & Tell: A Romantic Resume, Ages 0 to 22 (Harper Perennial, 2011), the upcoming books Dragon’s Breath and Other True Stories and Turning Japanese (2D Cloud), and her self-published zine, Estrus Comics (1998 to 2009). Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies, including I Saw You: Comics Inspired by Real Life Missed Connections, Cheers to Muses: Contemporary Works by Asian American Women, No Straight Lines, Anything That Loves, QU33R and Action Girl Comics.Her comics and essays have been featured on The Rumpus, The Weeklings, Truth-out, SFBay.CA, The Comics Journal, The Bay Citizen, XOJane and more. http://marinaomi.com
The Chicago Alternative Comics Expo [CAKE] is 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. This year’s CAKE is May 31 & June 1st at the Center on Halsted (3656 N Halsted), and is free and open to the public. http://cakechicago.com
Visit http://cakechicago.com or e-mail cakexpo [at] gmail.com for more information.
Fri, May 30, 7pm – Free Event
Quimby’s Bookstore Chicago, IL quimbys.com -
Edie Fake presents Memory Palaces at Quimby’s 5/17
Edie Fake’s first art book, Memory Palaces, has just arrived from Secret Acres in bold, oversize color. Cataloging Fake’s suite of meticulous drawings that re-imagine the queer landscape of Chicago, Memory Palaces blends striking visuals and ecstatic architecture with excavated history and unlocked potential.
To celebrate the launch of this new publication, Fake is delighted to host a book release party at Quimby’s. Attendees can count on snacks, drinks and souvenir ephemera as well as a sweet and squirrely lecture on the triumph and folly of architectural repurposing. It will be a night of funny photographs, strange ideas and lovely new books, not to be missed!
Edie Fake is an artist and zinemaker from Chicago. He works as a minicomics sommelier for Quimby’s Books and was one of the founding organizers of the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE). His comic, Gaylord Phoenix, won the 2011 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Graphic Novel and he was one of the first recipients of Printed Matter’s Awards for Artists. The work in Memory Palaces was originally presented at Fake’s first solo exhibition at Thomas Robertello Gallery in 2013. He is currently working on a series of comics collages and collecting photos of anthropomorphic characters.
For more info and images: ediefake.tumblr.com
Or contact: ediefake(at)gmail(dot)com -
Trubble Club Draws Your True Inner Self for Free Comic Book Day 5/3
Join the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo [CAKE] at Quimby’s Bookstore [1854 W North Ave] on Saturday May 3rd 7pm to celebrate Free Comic Book Day with Chicago’s Trubble Club!
This year, the Trubble Club has modified the Quimby’s photo booth to capture your true essence. Come hang out with some of Chicago’s best comics artists as they collaboratively reveal your inner self by interpreting psychic signals from their magical photobooth. Snacks and refreshments will be provided by CAKE, and free comic books will be available for pick up (while supplies last).
Trubble Club started as a group of Chicago-based cartoonist making jam comics. While we still do that, and love doing that, we’ve been branching out. The Infinite Corpse is a never-ending webcomic spearheaded by Trubble Club, that includes panels by both totally unknown artists, and institutions, like Art Speigelman and Kim Deitch. We have also recently done commissioned installations for the Museum of Contemporary Art, The DePaul Art Museum, and the John Michael Kohler Art Center.
The Chicago Alternative Comics Expo [CAKE] is 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. This year’s CAKE is May 31 & June 1st at the Center on Halsted (3656 N Halsted), and is free and open to the public.
Visit http://cakechicago.com or e-mail cakexpo@gmail.com for more information.
Sat, May 3, 7pm – Free Event
Quimby’s Bookstore Chicago, IL quimbys.com -
Yuriy Tarnawsky Reads from The Placebo Effect Trilogy with Eckhard Gerdes 5/16
In Ukrainian-American novelist Yuriy Tarnawsky’s new trilogy The Placebo Effect (JEF Books), the themes of alienation, abandonment, and fear of death, developed in Like Blood in Water and elaborated in The Future of Giraffes, respectively the first and second book of The Placebo Effect Trilogy, are picked up in the third book, View of Delft, and are given a new treatment.Yuriy Tarnawsky has authored more than two dozen books of poetry, fiction, drama, essays, and translations. He is one of the founding members of the New York Group, a Ukrainian émigré avant-garde group of writers, and cofounder and co-editor of the journal Novi Poeziyi (New Poetry; 1959–1972). He writes fiction, poetry, plays, translations, and criticism in both Ukrainian and English. His works have been translated into French, German, Hebrew, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, and Russian. An engineer and linguist by training, he has worked as a computer scientist at IBM Corporation and professor of Ukrainian literature and culture at Columbia University. He writes in Ukrainian and English and resides in the New York City area. His other English-language books include the books of fiction Meningitis, Three Blondes and Death, Like Blood in Water (all FC2), and Short Tails (JEF Books), as well as the play Not Medea (JEF).
Tarnawsky takes risks most writers wouldn’t dream of. Just when you think you’re on familiar ground, the earth begins to shake. His writing rocks! —Derek Pell
Novelist and poet Eckhard Gerdes will also be reading from some of his recent work.
Fri, May 16th, 7 pm – Free Event
For more info: egerdes(at)experimentalfiction(dot)com
To find this event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/262105330638172/
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off-site: CAKE FRAME 2: Live Art Auction and Brain Frame Comics Performance Event to Benefit CAKE 4/20
Sun, April 20 at the Co-Prosperity Sphere, 3219 S Morgan Street, Chicago IL 60608 (NOT at Quimby’s)Doors at 6pm, show at 7pm
$5 – $20 sliding scale entryFor the second year running, the performative comics reading series Brain Frame is teaming up with the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE) to host the CAKE Frame fundraiser, an evening of comics readings and a live art auction. Cake Frame 2 is All proceeds go to benefit CAKE, the weekend-long celebration of independent comics 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.
Brain Frame founder Lyra Hill will host the evening as master of ceremonies and auctioneer. Attendees can bid on original art from 30 talented Chicagoans including Chris Ware, Nicole Hollander, Ivan Brunetti, and Edie Fake. All bids for artworks will start at $30. The evening will also include a wide variety of comics performances by Brain Frame alums Kevin Budnik, Rachel Niffenegger, Pup House and Jen Rickert. There will be live drawing by Jenna Caravello and live music by El Is A Sound Of Joy. Doors open at 6pm and the event starts at 7pm, but we recommend attendees arrive early if they want to review the auction items before bidding.
With only two months until CAKE on May 31/June 1 at the Center on Halstead, the CAKE organizers are kicked into full gear. Organizers Ben Bertin, Neil Brideau, Marnie Galloway, Max Morris, Grace Tran and Jeff Zwirek are committed to making this year’s show one that goes down in history, and the CAKE Frame 2 fundraiser will help them towards that goal.
For more information on CAKE, please visit cakechicago.com
For more information on Brain Frame, please visit brainframe.tumblr.com
Contact: Max Morris, cakexpo(at)gmail(dot)com -
Gregory Benton Brings B+F to Quimby's 3/22
Gregory Benton’s book B+F was awarded the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art’s inaugural Award of Excellence at MoCCAFest 2013. An expanded version of B+F was published in the autumn of 2013 through AdHouse Books (USA) and Editions ça et la (France).
B+F is a wordless meditation on goodwill, hostility, and isolation. It’s a fable, a meandering tale of two friends that explores an otherworldly forest with a naked woman “F” and a large yellow dog “B” as they encounter its denizens, both benevolent and malicious. The characters are pulled apart by circumstance and the obstacles that they must overcome to find each other again.
Gregory has embarked on a nation-wide tour in support of B+F. He is excited to add Quimby’s of Chicago to the list of stores he is visiting. He’ll be “dedicating” books to customers, meaning that he’ll spend time with each customer drawing in their books, more common in the European comics festival tradition.
Gregory Benton has been making comix since 1993. He cut his teeth on the political anthology World War 3, moving on to writing and drawing stories for Nickelodoeon, Vertigo, DC Comics, Disney Adventures, Watson-Guptil, Entertainment Weekly, as well as contributing to numerous alternate-press comix anthologies. A graphic novel, Hummingbird, was published by Slave Labor Graphics in 1996. Gregory has also produced numerous limited-edition mini-comix. Hopefully you have some. His illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, The Village Voice and Fortune, among others.
Details:
B+F
64 4C pages
10 ” x 15 ” HC
$24.95 US funds
ISBN 978-1-935233-25-1For more info: gregorybenton.com
Click here to read an interview with Gregory Benton.
(author photo credit to Seth Kushner)
Saturday, March 22nd, 7pm










