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Category: Local writer/artist
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Zine Club Chicago: An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping Collective Reading and Zinemaking Workshop, March 15th!
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”
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Recommended Reading: Vibrant Voices on the Page
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
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Zine Club Chicago: Let’s Make Food Zines! with Special Guest Sarah Becan
Zine Club Chicago: Let’s Make Food Zines! with Special Guest Sarah Becan
3 p.m. Saturday, November 23, 2024
Quimby’s Bookstore, 1854 W. North Ave.
Free!What better way to celebrate a season of harvest than with an artist who draws food? Chicago-based superstar Sarah Becan has been on the scene for years, and we’ve always been fans of her delectable and informative work. We’re thrilled to have Sarah as a special guest at Zine Club Chicago to talk about her career in culinary comics, which spans mini-comics, webcomics, restaurant work, and publishing. Sarah also will tell us about the weird things artists have to think about when illustrating food and making recipe comics, because she’s got plenty of experience. Plus, she’ll be hosting a free workshop! Bring a recip Bon appetit!
Please join us at Zine Club Chicago: Let’s Make Food Zines! with Special Guest Sarah Becan at 3 p.m. Saturday, November 23, 2024 right here at our shop, 1054 W. North Ave. in Wicker Park. Free!
We’ll provide zinemaking supplies and snacks. Recommended: Bring a short recipe of your choosing to make into a zine during the workshop.
Zine Club Chicago is a mask-supportive environment; we’ll have masks available if you’d like to wear one. Please note that seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Sarah Becan has been drawing comics since she was very small. Her food-based autobiographical webcomic “I Think You’re Sauceome” sparked a love of food and culinary illustration, and her work has since appeared in various publications, including Saveur Magazine, Eater.com, StarChefs, and the Chicago Reader. She is the coauthor and illustrator of Let’s Make Ramen!, published July 2019, and Let’s Make Dumplings!, published June 2021, and the most recent Let’s Make Bread!, coauthored with baker Ken Forkish, published May 2024. She lives in Chicago with her partner Niles and their cat Toki, and she would be very happy to do nothing but draw food all day. Find her on Instagram @sarahbecan
Zine newbies and longtime enthusiasts alike are always welcome at Zine Club Chicago. This free monthly event series is produced by Cynthia E. Hanifin and sponsored by Quimby’s Bookstore. Anna Jo Beck designs the monthly flyers, created the logo, and made the Zine Club Chicago Shout-Outs site, where folks can peruse and recommend zines we’ve discussed at our events: https://zineclubchicagoshoutouts.spread.name/
More info:
Zine Club Chicago social media channels: @zineclubchicago like here on IG and here on Twitter.
The Facebook Event Invite is here.
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Local Spooky: Full Bleeeeeeeeed
AHHH! WHAT’S THAT BEHIND YOU???
Oh! It’s the spooky season!!
Fall is here and there’s already a little chill in the air… With October (the best month of the year by a gapingly enormous margin) just around the corner, many of us are looking very much forward to all the fun, fun activities of the spooky season: coming up with Halloween costumes; eating supernatural amounts of candy; carving 80 to 90 pumpkins into exact replicas of Moo Deng the sassy baby hippo; and, of course, watching as many horror movies as humanly possible!
Whether you’re a seasoned horror flick connoisseur, a sweet lil’ chicken whose terror tolerance is maxed out by It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, or somewhere in between, October is a great time to watch some scary (and not-so-scary) movies. If you agree, I’d like to point your attention to a new zine that you won’t want to sleep on:
The premier issue of Full Bleed: Chicago’s #1 Horror & Exploitation Zine is currently on the shelves at Quimby’s, so get it while we got it! This wicked zine is jam packed with horror movie reviews, an interview with local comic artist Tyrell Cannon, a Chicago horror directory, a frighteningly hilarious comic, and more.
Don’t miss Eerie Ed’s 31-day Argentober Letterboxd challenge, which is outlined on page 9! Eerie Ed challenges readers to join him in watching one horror movie from another country per day during the month of October.
And be sure to check out the STACKED calendar of upcoming local events that graces the center spread! It showcases horror film screenings and other spooky events that will be happening in Chicago from October through December.
Chicago thanks you, Full Bleed staff (“Tombstone” Tony Recktenwald, “Eerie” Ed Witt, “Jump-scare” Judson Picco, and Dean “the Ween” Gibbs), for this horrifically delightful new horror zine!
Shine on, zine-stars!
<3 <3 <3 Echo
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some LOVE Chapbook Release with Poetry Readings by Maria Mendoza Cervantes, Sophie Grimes, Nick Souder, and elizabeth s. Tieri 9/28
some LOVE Chapbook Release
with Poetry Readings by Maria Mendoza Cervantes, Sophie Grimes, Nick Souder, and elizabeth s. Tieri.
Saturday, September 28th at 3 pm
at Quimby’s Bookstore (1854 W North Ave)FREE & BYOB
Back to Print presents some LOVE the latest chapbook from poet, historienne and zinester extraordinaire elizabeth s. Tieri. Known for her sexy and succinct poems often on themes of heartbreak and other hurt, elizabeth has begun to balance the scale in celebration of friendship and love.
Joining her on the mic will be the phenomenal Chicago poets Maria Mendoza Cervantes, Sophie Grimes (City Structures) and Nick Souder (Trash Bird and the Kill Yr Idols reading series) all of whom were previously wrangled into the columns of Back to Print’s founding zine the deadline.
Please join us in celebration at Quimby‘s bookstore, where the limited-edition chapbook will be available for purchase alongside countless other independent & handmade zines.
For more info:
@GetBackToPrint
@QuimbysBookstore -
This is a Gina Wynbrandt Appreciation Post!
On August 23rd we celebrated the release of PEEPEE POOPOO #1 by Caroline Cash here at Quimby’s! The event was a kick off for CAKE (Chicago Alternative Comics Expo) weekend and a bunch of comic artists joined us for the packed event. Reading with Caroline Cash was Gina Wynbrandt and Bonnie Guerra, two artists I was not familiar with. Gina Wynbrandt read first and had the entire room laughing about getting into credit card debt and baseball superstitions (which you can read about in Bubbles #15 ). Next was Bonnie Guerra who read pages from her comic diary, slideshow style. Her comics were gay, sexXxy, and had us LOLing. Last but not least was Caroline Cash reading from the much anticipated PEEPEE POOPOO #1!!!! Caroline did an excellent job and signed many issues of PEEPEE POOPOO for all her adoring fans. I love attending events at Quimby’s because I get turned onto incredibly talented artists, end up meeting new people, and leave feeling inspired.
The next day I came to Quimby’s and found several restocks of Gina’s comics lying in our reshelving basket, I was so excited to find more of her work at the shop! I bought Mini Kus #112: You’re the Center of Attention and read it shortly after purchasing. You can read my review and buy the comic on our website here. Spoiler: Gina is freaking hilarious, and anyone who has read her comics or has seen her read in person will agree with me! I recommend Someone Please Have Sex With Me, also hilarious. If you like to laugh, are sex-positive, love pop-culture references, and don’t mind your comics on the weird side, don’t sleep on these titles by Gina Wynbrandt!!!
*xo~Angel~xo*
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PeePee PooPoo #1 Release Party, Aug 23rd
PeePee PooPoo #1 Release Party
with Caroline Cash, Gina Wynbrandt, & Bonnie Guerra
Sat, Aug 23rd, 7:30pm at Quimby’s Bookstore
1854 W. North Ave, ChicagoCongrats to Caroline Cash! Her comic PeePee PooPoo won an Eisner for Best Limited Series! As a Quimby’s alum, we’re awfully proud of her. She’ll come back to Quimby’s this month to celebrate the release of PeePee PooPoo #1!
Four issues into the series and we finally get PeePee PooPoo #1! Was it time travel, or a marketing move? The world may never know! In this issue: Caroline discovers a fresh start is surprisingly hard to make in “Ah, Philly.” Romance blossoms in “First Date,” a classic Alison Bechdel comic gets an update in “Femme and Butch,” and a night out turns complicated in “Stoned Again.” Caroline Cash’s gay, modern take on the ‘60s underground comic continues to make readers say “hell yeah.”
Join us in store at Quimby’s on Fri, August 23rd at 7:30pm with readings by Caroline Cash, Gina Wynbrandt, and Bonnie Guerra!
Caroline Cash (above) is an Eisner-winning cartoonist who used to live in Chicago. Her work has been featured in The New Yorker, VICE, The Nib, The Chicago Reader, and various other publications. She is currently working on her award winning series PeePeePooPoo. She is a Capricorn. @cash_browns
Gina Wynbrandt is an artist living in Chicago. Her work has been featured in The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, printed in The Best American Comics, nominated for two Ignatz awards, and translated into Danish, Norwegian, and Spanish. Find her at ginawynbrandt.com.
Bonnie Guerra is a lesbian cartoonist living in Chicago IL, who draws cute furries and humans having gay sex. With her humor, wits, charm, and DD cups, she is going to change the comics industry as we know it. Find her at @Hotchickheaven @Bxxxnie
Want the Facebook event invite cuz yr just the kind of person? It’s here.
View this post on Instagram -
Signed Book Raffle Purchase Opportunity For My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book 2
Everybody and their moms asked us to get signed copies of My Favorite Things Is Monsters Book 2 by Emil Ferris since we were the bookseller at her event at the library on Wednesday. (Missed the event? Wanna watch it? It ruled. You can watch it here,) Guess what? We were only able to get 7 signed copies because the line of fans to get their books signed with Emil was immense.So here’s what we’re doing — we are raffling off opportunities to buy a signed copy. If you win the raffle, we’ll hold the book for you for one week. You come in and buy it. Read: we are NOT raffling off a free copy of the book. We are raffling off us holding a signed copy of the book that you have to come in and buy.These are the terms so read them:-We will do the raffle on the New Stuff Saturdays Livestream 11:30am CT on Instagram (on Saturdays, duh), until all the signed books are sold, starting Saturday, June 15th.-You get to enter once. Give someone else a chance, friends.-This raffle is for in-store stuff only. You must buy the book in the store. Not mail order. You must come in to the store to pick it up. We’re not going to send this book in the mail. You cannot enter on the phone or via email. Make this easy for us, please.-You have to come into the store and buy something to enter in the raffle where you will fill out a raffle form legibly.-We are closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so don’t come then. We’ve been closed on those days for 4 years and it’s listed everywhere. Get over it!-We will not answer questions about this on social media or phone calls. Do not DM us. Do not contact store employees directly through their personal social media or DMs or phone calls. BOUNDARIES, PEOPLE!-If your week elapses before you buy it, that’s on you. That opportunity to buy that book gets put back into the raffle.As Miko’s Italian Ice would say, “No crybabies.”TL;DR*IN-STORE only.
*Buy Something.
*Fill out a raffle form.
*Watch the Saturday Livestream.
*If your ticket gets called you get a week to buy the book. -
Quimby's Offsite: Emil Ferris Discusses My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two at Harold Washington Library Center, June 5th
Emil Ferris at the Harold Washington Library Center
400 S. State Street, Cindy Pritzker Auditorium, Lower Level
Wednesday, June 5
6pm–7pmNot at Quimby’s.
The Chicago Public Library and Quimby’s welcome Emil Ferris to the Harold Washington Library Center to discuss her highly anticipated new book, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two. Emil Ferris will be in conversation with painter Kurt Devine.
Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late ’60s Chicago, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two is the eagerly awaited conclusion to the most acclaimed graphic novels of the past decade. Presented as the fictional graphic diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes as she tries to solve the murder of her beloved and enigmatic upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, while the interconnected stories of those around her unfold.
In Book Two, dark mysteries past and present continue to abound in the tumultuous and violent Chicago summer of 1968. Young Karen attends the Yippie-organized Festival of Life in Grant Park and finds herself swept up in a police stomping. Privately, she continues to investigate Anka’s recent death and discovers one last cassette tape that sheds light upon Anka’s heroic activities in Nazi Germany. She wrestles with her own sexual identity, the death of her mother, and the secrets she suspects her brother Deez of hiding. Ferris’s exhilarating cast of characters experience revelations and epiphanies that both resolve and deepen the mysteries visited upon them eariler. Visually, the story is told in Ferris’ inimitable style that breathtakingly and seamlessly combines panel-to-panel storytelling and cartoon montages, filled with B-movie horror and pulp monster mag iconography.
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two is part of the My Favorite Thing is Monsters series.
Emil Ferris grew up in Chicago during the turbulent 1960s, where she still lives, and is consequently a devotee of all things monstrous and horrific. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Find her at on Patreon here – on IG @emilferris on Twitter @Emilferrisdraws
How to Attend – In Person: Doors to the Auditorium open at 5:30 p.m., and seating is first come, first served (350 capacity). Quimby’s will be selling Emil’s book, and she’ll be available to autograph books at the conclusion of the program.
How to Attend – Virtual: This event will also take place live on CPL’s YouTube channel and CPL’s Facebook page. You’ll be able to ask questions during the event as well! Can’t make it to the live stream? CPL will archive the video on YouTube to watch later.
Accessibility: Need sign language interpretation or other accessibility assistance for this event? Please call (312) 747-8184 or email access@chipublib.org to request accommodations. Requests must be made at least 14 business days before the event.
More info at the CPL Event Listing here.
Facebook event listing here.
Note this event is NOT at Quimby’s!
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Bianca Xunise Celebrates PUNK ROCK KARAOKE, In Conversation with Jessica Hopper, April 27th
Quimby’s welcomes celebrates Independent Bookstore Day with Chicago-based artist Bianca Xunise on Saturday, April 27th at 3:30pm to celebrate the release of their book PUNK ROCK KARAOKE. Xunise will be joined in conversation by director, producer and author Jessica Hopper.
PUNK ROCK KARAOKE is the explosive new YA graphic novel from Ignatz Award-winning and nationally syndicated cartoonist Bianca Xunise (Six Chix, Be Gay Do Comics), following three friends and their Garage Punk band on their quest to make it big in Southside Chicago’s underground music scene. Drawn from Xunise’s passion for their city and extensive Punk knowledge, PUNK ROCK KARAOKE explores questions about authenticity, the importance of community, and what it means to succeed on your own terms. Complete with a zine-style guide to the real-life Punk icons referenced throughout the story, the book is sure to be a hit with listeners of The Linda Lindas and viewers of Netflix’s Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.
Asked about their inspirations for the project, Xunise said, “PUNK ROCK KARAOKE is a love letter to the diverse and rambunctious underground scene of the DIY music community. I hope that readers fall in love with the same community that allowed me to march to the beat of my own drum and are inspired to create spaces for each other in their own backyards.”
In PUNK ROCK KARAOKE, School is out for summer and Ariel Grace Jones is determined to make it one for the books! Together with their bestie bandmates, Michele and Gael, Ariel believes they’re destined to break into the music industry by singing lead in their garage punk band, Baby Hares. But before they can officially get into the groove, the realities of post grad life start to weigh on this crew of misfits. Ari begins to worry that it’s time to pull the plug on their dreams of making it big.
Just when all hope feels lost, a fellow punk and local icon takes an interest in their talent. It seems like he might be the only one Ariel can rely on as frustrations between bandmates reach at an all-time high, but is he really all he seems? And will Ariel and Michele’s friendship survive the journey?
“Incredibly grounded in its neighborhood and scene, this is a great ride from start to finish.” -Booklist
“A vibrant, inclusive, feminist, punk-rock homage, guide, and coming-of-age story” -Kirkus
“Stole my heart from the first page to the last. Endlessly funny and sincere.” -Tillie Walden, Eisner & Ignatz Award-winning cartoonist
Bianca Xunise is a cartoonist based out of Chicago, Illinois. Their work primarily focuses on the plight, joy, and daily struggles of misfits within the black community. In 2017 Xunise earned an Ignatz for Promising New Talent for their comic Say Her Name, an autobiographical story of police brutality and social justice. In 2020 Xunise earned their second Ignatz for their contribution to Be Gay, Do Comics published by IDW. Xunise has collaborated with Vogue, The Washington Post, The Nib, and Believer Magazine. They are also a contributor to the book How We Fight Supremacy: A Field Guide to Black Resistance along with Ta-Nehisi Coates, Tarana Burk, and Harry Belafonte. Bianca became the first nationally syndicated non-binary cartoonist when they joined the comic strip Six Chix in 2020 as their first black creator. Bianca is also the April Quimby’s artist-in-residence! CHECK OUT THE AMAZING BANNERS THEY DESIGNED IN OUR WINDOW! More info at https://linktr.ee/biancaxunise
Jessica Hopper is a director, producer and author based in Chicago. Most recently, Hopper directed and executive produced the upcoming four-part docuseries Women Who Rock, releasing summer of 2022 on Epix and Sky. She has written for Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, the Chicago Reader, Punk Planet and more. She ins the author of The Girls Guide To Rocking, The First Collection of Criticism By A Living Female Rock Critic, Night Moves. She is series editor of The American Music Series at the University of Texas Press. More info at jessicahopper.org.
As always, Quimby’s events are free. Want the Facebook invite for this event? Click here.
This event is also on Independent Bookstore Day 2024! Quimby’s is a stop on the Chicagoland Bookstore Crawl. Get info about that here. Stay posted for more #IBD24 surprises!
Flyer at the tippy top for event by Caroline Cash.
