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Category: Store Events
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Georgia Webber Reads From Dumb: Living Without a Voice 5/31
Toronto-based cartoonist Georgia Webber’s new book, Dumb (Fantagraphics Books), Part memoir, part medical cautionary tale, Dumb tells the story of how the book’s author copes with the everyday challenges that come with voicelessness. Webber adroitly uses the comics medium to convey the practical hurdles she faced as well as the fear and dread that accompanied her increasingly lonely journey to regain her life. Her raw cartooning style, occasionally devolving into chaotic scribbles, splotches of ink, and overlapping montages, perfectly captures her frustration and anxiety. But her ordeal ultimately becomes a hopeful story. Throughout, she learns to lean on the support of her close friends, finds self-expression in creating comics, and comes to understand and appreciate how deeply her voice and identity are intertwined.
“Webber wields the full power of the comics medium to address the life-changing catastrophe of being forced into silence.”
– Broken Frontier
Georgia Webber is a cartoonist living in Toronto, where she is a freelance comics in addition to editing the comics section of carte blanche. She is best known for Dumb, her autobiographical comics series about living with a vocal disability.
For more info:
Media inquiries to: cohen@fantagraphics.com
Thursday, May 31st 7pm – Free Event
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Philip Becnel Reads From Freedom City 6/22
In his debut novel FREEDOM CITY, Philip Becnel hilariously ridicules the current kakistocracy (government run by the worst people) in a gripping satire that pays homage to The Monkey Wrench Gang. After President Trump unceremoniously dies from a stroke, an eclectic band of rebels from Washington, D.C. sever the heads of Confederate statues and wage a comedic guerrilla war on post-Trump America. When President Pence enlists droves of fascist volunteers to crush the “alt-left” uprising, the rebels must risk their lives to run the fascists out of D.C. What follows is not only a battle for survival—but also a desperate search for remnants of what once made America great.
“Someone at Netflix needs to check out Freedom City. It’s a short novel, but the character’s backgrounds could fill out a six part series! Hurry!” – Christopher Leibig, Author of Almost Mortal
FREEDOM CITY draws on Philip Becnel’s nearly 20 years of experience working as a private detective in D.C., where The Washington Post has referred to him as the “Bogart of body language” for his interviewing skills. He previously published Introduction to Conducting Private Investigations and Principles of Investigative Documentation, two books widely considered must-reads in the investigations industry. He has also written articles in a variety of legal and popular journals such as Time Magazine, and he has been interviewed by several major news organizations, including CNN and U.S. News & World Report, for his unique expertise and perspective.
For more info please visit https://philipbecnel.com.
Fri, June 22nd, 7pm – Free Event
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Justin O'Brien Reads From Chicago Yippie! '68
Justin O’Brien’s new book Chicago Yippie! ’68 (Garret Room Books) is a true chronicle of his experiences during the week of the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention. What promised to be a music festival and protest against the war in Vietnam turned into a “police riot,” as deemed by the official investigation report, Rights in Conflict. This historic event, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, has relevant echoes in the protests of today. Even other participants have been amazed by this detailed description of events. O’Brien’s gripping narrative is interwoven with additional eyewitness accounts and includes more than 150 color and black and white photos—most of them never before published, and three original maps help the reader pinpoint the action. Handbills, posters, newspapers, political buttons, and other paraphernalia—all from the author’s collection—provide fascinating visual references and offer graphic evidence of this historic Chicago moment.
“Justin O’Brien seemingly was ever-present during 1968’s Chicago Convention Week. His lively recollections from the streets and the parks resurrect a polarized time of counterculture protest and potential.”
—Abe Peck, Professor Emeritus in Service, Northwestern University;
Author, Uncovering the Sixties: The Life and Times of the Underground Press“There is no book more loyal to the events that occurred over four August days in Chicago in 1968 than Justin O’Brien’s riveting Chicago Yippie! ’68. With his lucid, engaging prose, O’Brien effortlessly unwinds the various discordant threads that were so tightly woven into the fabric of the anti-war movements that defined the 1960s. Chicago Yippie! ’68 will take you back to a place that time may have muted, but that Mr. O’Brien has never forgotten.”
—Pat OwensWith more than 400 by-lines on a variety of subjects, Justin O’Brien has written extensively about blues music over a forty-year period, and for several decades has been associated with Living Blues magazine of the University of Mississippi. His work has also appeared in Juke Blues, Sing Out!, UIC Alumni News, Chicago Parent, Digital Chicago, Southern Graphics, and other publications. He has contributed to the Encyclopedia of the Blues (Routledge Press, 2005), Armitage Avenue Transcendentalists (Charles Kerr, 2009), and Base Paths: The Best of the Minneapolis Review of Baseball (Wm. Brown, 1991), to which, coincidentally, former Senator Eugene McCarthy, the “peace candidate” of 1968, wrote a foreword.
Friday, March 23, 7 p.m. – Free Event
For more info: garretroom.com
Facebook invite for this event here!
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Off-Site: Chicago Zine Fest 2018, May 18th and 19th
Watch this space for more info about Chicago Zine Fest 2018!
Quimby’s is proud to co-sponsor The Chicago Zine Fest, a celebration of small press and independent publishers, with free workshops, events, and an annual festival. CZF 2018 will be held May 18-19. All events are free!
Friday, May 18th: Panel Discussion & Exhibitor Reading, 6:30-9:30pm at the Institute of Cultural Affairs, 4750 N. Sheridan Road in Uptown. The topic is On Speaking Terms: Zines, Librarians and Communities and the panel will feature local zinester and Chicago Public Library employee Oscar Arreola, Doro of the School of the Art Institute’s Zine Collection, Milo from Queer Zine Archive Project (QZAP), and moderated by the University of Chicago’s zine archivist, Sarah G. Wenzel. Then stay for the exhibitor reading featuring performances by Zach Auburn, Shira Mario, Megan Metzger, Ariel Chan, Marian Runk, Katie Armentrout and Cathy Hannah. Facebook event invite for that event here.
Saturday, May 19th: Tabling Exhibition, 11am-6pm at The Plumbers Union Hall, 1340 W Washington Blvd in Chicago. The exhibitor list is here. And Facebook event invite for that event here. Come see us at Table S3!
And don’t forget about the Chicago Zine Fest Afterparty w/ Punk Rock Karaoke at the Co-Prosperity Sphere from 7:30 to midnight on Saturday night. (Here’s the Facebook event invite for it.) $6 goes to fundraiser for the CHIPRC.
PRK flyer by Miguel Centeno.
For more info:
Interested in volunteering? Contact CZF here!
CZF 2018 artwork by Yewon Kwon.
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Nick Drnaso launches Sabrina on Thurs, May 24th, Interviewed by Jessica Campbell
When Sabrina disappears, an airman in the U.S. Air Force is drawn into a web of suppositions, wild theories, and outright lies. He reports to work every night in a bare, sterile fortress that serves as no protection from a situation that threatens the sanity of Teddy, his childhood friend and boyfriend of the missing woman. Sabrina’s grieving sister Sandra struggles to fill her days waiting in purgatory. After a videotape surfaces, we see devastation through a cinematic lens, as true tragedy is distorted when fringe thinkers and conspiracy theorists begin to interpret events to fit their own narratives.
The follow-up to Nick Drnaso’s LA Times Book Prize winning Beverly, Sabrina depicts a modern world devoid of personal interaction and responsibility, where relationships are stripped of intimacy through glowing computer screens. An indictment of our modern state, Sabrina contemplates the dangers of a fake news climate. Timely and articulate, Drnaso’s graphic novel leaves you gutted, searching for meaning in the aftermath of disaster.
At this event, Chicago-based cartoonist Jessica Campbell will interview Nick Drnaso. Her new book XTC69 is in stock now! In it, a commander with the same name as the author of the planet L8DZ N1T3 and her crew are searching for men to breed with when they discover the last human on Earth, the cryogenically frozen Jessica Campbell. With a new, but familiar crewmember, the search for men continues, but will it be worth it?
“Nick Drnaso’s Sabrina is the best book—in any medium—I have read about our current moment. It is a masterpiece, beautifully written and drawn, possessing all the political power of polemic and yet simultaneously all the delicacy of truly great art. It scared me. I loved it.”—Zadie Smith
Nick Drnaso was born in 1989 in Palos Hills, Illinois. His debut graphic novel, Beverly, received the LA Times Book prize for Best Graphic Novel. He has contributed to several comics anthologies, self-published a handful of comics, been nominated for three Ignatz Awards, and co-edited the second and third issue of Linework, Columbia College’s annual comic anthology. Drnaso lives in Chicago, where he works as a cartoonist and illustrator.
For more info:
Julia Pohl-Miranda and Sruti Islam at publicity@drawnandquarterly.com
Thurs, May 24th, 7pm – Free Event
Quimby’s Bookstore, Chicago, IL quimbys.com
Here’s the Facebook Event Invite for this!
Press about Sabrina!:
Chicago Magazine
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Reader -
John Porcellino: From Lone Mountain at Quimby's 3/16
John Porcellino will be comin’ round Lone Mountain with his newest D+Q book here at Quimby’s on Friday, March 16th!
From Lone Mountain (in stores March 20th) collects stories from his influential zine King-Cat, and sees John entering a new phase of his life—remarrying and deciding to leave his beloved second home Colorado for San Francisco. Grand themes of King-Cat are visited and stated more eloquently than ever before: serendipity, memory, and the quest for meaning in the everyday.
A view of America—as seen in small towns, rural roads, and its overlooked in-between places
John Porcellino makes his love of home and of nature the anchors in an increasingly turbulent world. He slows down and visits the forests, fields, streams, and overgrown abandoned lots that surround every city. He studies the flora and fauna around us. He looks at the overlooked. Porcellino also digs deep into a quintessential American endeavour—the road trip. Uprooting his comfortable life several times in From Lone Mountain, John drives through the country weaving from small town to small town, experiencing America in slow motion, avoiding the sameness of airports and overwhelming hustle of major cities.
Over the past three decades, Porcellino’s beloved King-Cat has offered solace to his readers: his gentle observational stories take the pulse of everyday life and reveal beauty in the struggle to keep going.
About John Porcellino:
John Porcellino was born in Chicago in 1968, and has been writing, drawing, and publishing minicomics, comics, and graphic novels for over twenty-five years. His celebrated self-published series King-Cat Comics, begun in 1989 and still running, has inspired a generation of cartoonists. He lives in Illinois.
For more info:
Facebook Event Listing for this event.
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Tommi Parrish at Quimby's for The Lie and How We Told It 2/6
Cartoonist, illustrator, and art editor Tommi Parrish stops at Quimby’s with The Lie and How We Told It, a book that has received praise from NPR, Paste Magazine, Sequential State, and others.
Tommi Parrish is a cartoonist, illustrator, and art editor from Melbourne, currently based in Montreal. Their work has appeared in various anthologies, magazines, mini comics, gallery shows in New York, Argentina, and throughout Australia, the online column Advicecomics and they were previously an art editor of the Australian literary journal The Lifted Brow. Their previous publications include Perfect Hair (2dcloud) and Perfect Discipline and Unbending Loyalty (Perfectly Acceptable Press).
About The Lie:
After a chance encounter, two formerly close friends try to salvage whatever is left of their decaying relationship. They are in for an awkward, painful night that leaves them feeling lonelier, more uncertain, and more estranged than ever before. Parrish’s first graphic novel for Fantagraphics is a visual tour de force, always in the service of the author’s ever-prevalent themes: navigating queer desire, masculinity, fear, and the ever-in-flux state of friendships.
Parrish makes emotionally loaded painted comics about everyday relationships, doubts, and anxieties. The psychological acuity in the work pairs perfectly to the graphic style. The Lie and How We Told It is a remarkably resonant work from an exciting new voice in contemporary graphic novels.
Don’t miss Tommi here on Tuesday, Feb 6th, 7pm.
Here’s the event invite for this on Facebook.
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Zizobotchi Rises at Quimby's: Selected Readings from Volume 2 on Friday, March 2nd
Join us for a night of selected readings from Zizobotchi Papers: volume 2, fall, 2017.
Zizobotchi Papers is a literary journal dedicated to the novella. Think double feature, with a paperback spine instead of a marquee.
Jeff Phillips will read from his latest novella, God’s Least Likely to Succeed, about the derailing of a secret agent’s first day on the job by an ancient cult’s infiltration of their operation.
Erin Makowski will read from Dan MacRae’s latest novella, The Dollmaker’s Grin, where an altercation changes a shuttle bus driver’s life, for better, and for much much worse.
Copies of the book will be for sale for $13.
Find out more about Zizobotchi Papers on the web at Zizobotchi.com
Jeff Phillips is a washed up varsity cross country skier and storefront theatre method actor. For two years he was co-host of The Liquid Burning, an apocalypse themed reading series, and for just shy of three years, he co-hosted the Chicago reading series Pungent Parlour. His short fiction has appeared in Seeding Meat, This Zine Will Change Your Life, Metazen, Chicago Literati, and Literary Orphans. He is the co-founder of Zizobotchi Papers, a literary journal dedicated to the novella and a regular contributor of short stories and essays at the site Drinkers With Writing Problems. You can find him on Twitter as @TheIglooOven or at theotherauthorjeffphillips.com
Erin Makowski has been acting and singing since her childhood. Her first production was as Gretel in ‘The Sound of Music’. Most of her younger years were spent in the Gilbert and Sullivan Company of El Paso going from the high seas in ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ to a little maid in school in Mikado. After her early schooling in the theater Erin received a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia College right here in Chicago. Erin has worked with many companies in town, played extras on TV and sung her heart out for Cabaret audiences.
Fri, March 2nd, 7pm – Free Event
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Quimby’s 2018 Zlumber Party 1/27-1/28
Hey zinesters and comics artists! Come to our Zlumber Party (as in Zine Slumber Party)! This is the seventh year in a row we’re inviting you to come in and spend the night with us working on your zine, and start your year off with a creative frenzy! Get here at 9:30 on Sat, Jan 27th (the store closes at 10pm). Then spend the night here! Stay until 6am Sun, Jan 28th! (And yes, you can leave whenever you want before then if you want or need to.) So bring yer jammies and a sleeping bag, then leave in the morning with what you’ve been workin’ on! There will be snacks! And coffee!
What: Zlumber Party 2018!
When: Sat, Jan 27th, 9:30pm – Sun, Jan 28th, 6am
Where: Here at Quimby’s Bookstore at 1854 W. North Ave, Chicago
RSVP: Give us a holler so we have a head count and know how much pizza to order!: info(at)quimbys(dot)com.
Invite your friends with the Facebook invite here.
Helpful hints!
*In terms of what to bring, definitely whatever project you’re working on, whether it’s a zine, a comic, a book, a magazine, an artist book — independent publishing knows no bounds!
*Be here at 9:30pm (the store closes at 10pm). This is NOT a lock in; you can leave whenever you want. You can stay as late as 6am on sunday morning, which is the official end time for the event.
*Wear comfy clothes! Don’t forget your sleeping gear! A sleeping bag if you wanna take a break to catch a few zzzz (or just be comfy), a pillow, footie pajamas, a blanket, slippers…whatever makes you comfy.
*We’ll provide some snacks and coffee, but you may want to bring some snacks with you if you like. A good way to make new friends is bring food, is all we’re saying. If you have food sensitivities or allergies please bring whatever nourishment you need to bring to sustain you.
*We’ll also provide some office supplies (papers, pens, scissors, staplers, that type of thing), chairs and tables.
*One final note: Don’t feel pressured to feel like you have to finish whatever you’re working on before you leave. If you feel excited to work on your project once you’ve been working on it here, that you’ve started your 2018 off jazzed that you got the creative ball rolling, then we’ve done our job (that’s once of the reasons we do this event in January). When you’re all done with your zine and you want to consign it here, we’re excited to sell it for you. More info about consignment here: quimbys.com/consignment
Also, click here for more info about consigning at Quimby’s Bookstore NYC!
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Offsite: Quimby's Co-Sponsors The Independent World Karaoke Championship at the Co-Prosperity Sphere Dec 7th-9th
Chicago is the new karaoke capital, and The Independent World Karaoke Championship is happening Dec 7th-Dec 9th in this great city to prove it. Quimby’s is proud to co-sponsor the first IWKC, which boasts 3 nights of karaoke, special awards, bands, celebrity appearances, raffles, screenings and more. This karaoke-related multi-media experience explodes in lowbrow hi-fi at the Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport, the Community of Future. This festival is a fundraiser for WLPN, Lumpen Radio.
Dec 7-9, 2017
All events take place at the Co-Prosperity Sphere (NOT Quimby’s), 3219 S Morgan St • Chicago Il 60608
Admission is $10 – 3 Day Pass is $25
THURSDAY DEC 7 Shameless Karaoke Night
7pm: Screening of the movie Karaoke Terror
9pm: Performance by: Bill Mummy
9:30pm-midnight – Karaoke provided Shameless KaraokeFRIDAY, DEC 8 Green Screen You Tube Karaoke Freakout!
7pm Screening of the documentary Karaoke Fever
9pm Performance by Winston Lasker ( Hunter Husar )
9:30pm-midnight Green Screen You Tube Karaoke Freakout!SATURDAY, DEC 9 The Finals!
4pm Interview with Rob Drew, author of Karaoke Nights: An Ethnographic Rhapsody (recorded live with studio audience for WLPN broadcast)
7pm Screening of the worst karaoke movie ever made: Duets
9pm Performance by Bobby Conn
9:30 pm-Midnight: Judged competition- Karaoke provided Shameless Karaokefull schedule located at c-ps.org.
#IWKC
Wanna see the list of songs Shameless Karaoke offers for Thurs and Sat? Click here!
Wanna see this event on Facebook? Click here!
