Category: Store Events

  • 11/20 After Hours: Milwaukee Ave Messenger

    The Milwaukee Avenue Messenger is a quarterly arts and literary journal that celebrates and serves the vibrant communities and independent DIY artistic tradition of Chicago’s Milwaukee Avenue corridor.

    Join us with Milwaukee Avenue Messenger Publisher Matt McCarthy in conversation with After Hours host Taylor Thornburg and reading by Milwaukee Avenue Messenger contributors!

    Our readers for the evening are:

    Matt McCarthy is the editor and publisher of the Milwaukee Avenue Messenger, the author of the rock ‘n’ roll novel Livestock! (highfalutin media), and the creator and co-host of the highfalutin podcast. He lives in Avondale with his wife and their cats.

    Joel Craig is the author of the poetry collections Humanoid and The White House (both Green Lantern Press). He co-founded and hosted the Danny’s Reading Series in Chicago from 2001-2015 and serves as an artistic associate for the Lit & Luz festival. Recent work can be found in Fonograf Editions Magazine, TYPO, mercury firs and Bathhouse Journal.

    Jesica Davis is a poet and technical writer from Chicago. She’s a Co-Founder and Associate Editor for Inverted Syntax and Associate Editor for Milwaukee Avenue Messenger whose work has appeared in Bombay Gin, Heavy Feather Review, The Laurel Review, After Hours, and other places. Sometimes she makes poemboxes and other sculptural interpretations of her poems. See j3s.net for more.

    Sav Henderson is a writer and soil scientist located in Avondale, Chicago. Her short fiction has been published in Genuine Gold Literary Magazine and presented at the Goodenough College LGBTQIA+ Conference. Sav’s first short play was recently read at the Gloria Bond-Clunie Playwright Festival in Evanston.

    Rocío Franco is a self-identified Chicana warrior poet from Chicago. She holds fellowships from The Watering Hole and Periplus Collective. The Frost Place, VONA, and Tin House have supported her work. She is a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize nominee. Her poems have appeared in The Acentos Review, Lunch Ticket, L@tino Literatures Journal, AGNI, december magazine, Mom Egg Review, and others.

    Register for the event!

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    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. Suggested $10+
    Venmo or PayPal (Please include “After Hours” in the note) or make a Credit Card or Cash donation in person at the register the night of 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 authors, publishers, creators, Quimby’s Bookstore, and DIY culture—we truly couldn’t do it without you!

  • 10/30 After Hours: Veilance

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

    Register to Attend: Quimby’s After Hours: Veilance

    Veilance is a small surrealist press run by writers, for writers. The annual issues of Veilance are guided by a theme which is intended to be transformed and transgressed by its contributors. Veilance Press prioritizes experimental work, welcoming submissions in the form of dream journals, collage, forged documents, graphs, cut-up techniques, ekphrasis, lists, found footage, images, anagrams, calligrams, talismans, erotica, theoretical essays, concrete poetry, blind contours, automatic writing, fantasies, and haikus.
    Veilance Books is a new independent publishing resource. Veilance Books works one on one with a writer or artist to edit, design, and conceive their artist books, novelas, poetry collections, manifestos, plays or collected essays.
    Join us with Veilance co-founders Eden Jolie and Els Deitz in conversation with After Hours host Taylor Thornburg and reading by Veilance contributors!
    Eden is a writer and the co-founder of Veilance Press. Their work has been published by Temper Press and Agon Journal, they’ve read their work at the Whistler, Empty Bottle, Grunts Rare Books, Winnemac Reading Series, Links Hall, and other venues in Chicago. They received their BFAW at the Art Institute of Chicago in the spring of 2025.
    Els is a writer, image maker and co-founder of Veilance Press. Their writing has appeared at The Empty Bottle, The Whistler and other bars.
    Readers for After Hours: Veilance
    Allegra Harvard is a Chicago based artist, playwright, curator, and director.
    Vim Grace Hile lives and works as a teacher, artist, puppeteer and performer in Chicago, Illinois.
    Isabel Beeman recently completed her MFA in creative writing at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she also edited prose for TIMBER journal. She writes about shame, weakness, and disconnection, and her style has been described as impressionistic and atmospheric. Her other interests include collecting rocks, decorating her apartment, and watching films. Outline is forthcoming in Issue 1 of Veilance.
    Justin D’Acci is a Chicago-based clown, artist, and puppeteer. His writing has appeared in Issue 0: Eroticism (Veilance Press), Zero Degree (Blurden Press), and the self-published Book of Sooth Ob-Sooth (2021), and Clarity; or, Drivel from a Limb… (2022).

    Register for the event!

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    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. 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 authors, publishers, creators, Quimby’s Bookstore, and DIY culture—we truly couldn’t do it without you!

  • 10/10 FULL BLEED Gallery Show Reception

    FULL BLEED Gallery Show

    Reception: Friday, October 10th, 5-7 pm
    Light refreshments will be served, plus prizes, stickers, zines & more!
    Quimby’s Bookstore: 1854 W North Ave. CH-IL

    Show runs October 5th through early November

    FULL BLEED zine is taking over our gallery wall for spooky season! Featuring art and work from a dozen Full Bleed contributors; Jim Terry, Melissa Kelly, Tyrell Cannon, Mr. Walters, Max Bare, Jcrash Charles Huth, Austin Winstead, Stuart John Marsh, Tony Recktenwald, Eerie Ed, Spencer Drew Bogart! & maybe more!

    Viewer beware, you’re in for a scare!!

    Registration for this free event on Eventbrite is appreciated!

     

  • 9/27 Show & Tell: madeleine aguilar

    Quimby’s Show & Tell
    with madeleine aguilar of bench press
    Saturday, September 27, 2025 – 6:30 PM
    in-person at Quimby’s Bookstore 1854 W. North Ave Chicago, IL 60622

    Join madeleine aguilar of bench press for a conversation on maintaining a collaborative practice, dive deep into the behind-the-scenes of some of her favorite publications. Bench Press is a risograph press based on friendship, play & collaboration. Books are remnants of generative conversations & mutual exchange between artist + publisher.

    “madeleine is an artist & musician from chicago. her work is often mobile / modular / interactive and can be found in backyards, libraries, storefronts, homes, galleries, book stores & street fairs. using the archive as form, she acknowledges the passing of time by cataloging lived spaces, collected objects, familial histories, personal relationships, natural phenomena, mundane routines, and ephemeral moments.” ~ benchpresspress.com

    Register for the event!

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

  • 9/25 After Hours: Taylor Thornburg

    Quimby’s After Hours:
    Taylor Thornburg – 6:00 pm to 7:27 pm
    Thursday, September the 25th 6pm-7:27pm

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

    Quimby’s After Hours is excited to welcome Quimby’s family member Taylor Thornburg for a conversation, reading, and book launch for his recent release Agathe, 6:00 p.m. to 7:27, “about a woman, her letter, a memory, and the trouble in which she finds herself.”

    “Taylor Thornburg is an author and essayist based in Chicago, Illinois. His fiction explores strange yet humane ways of being. His fiction can be found in The Garfield Lake Review, L’Esprit Literary Review, Thirteenth Floor Magazine, Valley Voices, The Heartwood Literary Review, Disco Kitchen, and elsewhere.” ~ Lost Telegram Press

    Register for the event!

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    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. 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 authors, publishers, creators, Quimby’s Bookstore, and DIY culture—we truly couldn’t do it without you!

  • Quimby’s After Hours: Wreathe Literary Collective

    Quimby’s After Hours:
    Wreathe Literary Collective
    Thursday, August 28th, 2025 – 6:30 PM

    in-person at Quimby’s Bookstore1854 W. North Ave Chicago, IL 60622

    Quimby’s After Hours is excited to welcome readers from Wreathe Literary Collective. Wreathe Literary Collective, founded by Chicago writer Kat Thanopoulis publishes Wreath Magazine a two (and soon to be three) issue zine format lit, poetry and painting publication!

    Register for the event!

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    Readers for the event are

    Gretchen Shull

    Gretchen Shull is a sketch and improv performer and loves Kat with all of their heart! They love a good notes app poem; they find it fun to tell a small story in their poems that only they know. They’re very proud of Kat and Wreath, and are very excited to be a part of it.

    Dylan Gann 

    Dylan Gann (she/her) graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a degree in Comedy Writing and Performance. She was first published in Wreath and has since loved sharing her poetry and exploring the literary world!

    ethan

    ethan is an abolitionist poet born and raised on the far north side of Chicago.

    His poetry has previously appeared in Wreath LC, Querencia press and Dream Boy Book Club. He is currently working on his 2nd collection of poetry: Code Switch

    Tommy Bien

    Tommy Bien is a visual artist and sometimes writer from Chicago.

    Expect a lively reading celebrating contributors Wreathe Literary Collective and zines from Wreathe and the readers!

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    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 want. Suggested $10.

    Venmo: @quimbysbookstore (Please include “Wreathe” in the note!)

    By registering for this event, you’ll be added to Quimby’s newsletter to receive updates on upcoming events, new releases, and zine news. You can unsubscribe at any time.

  • 8/9 Show & Tell: Marc Fischer

    Quimby’s Show & Tell: Marc Fischer of Public Collectors
    Saturday, August 9th, 2025 – 6:30 PM
    in-person at Quimby’s Bookstore
    1854 W. North Ave Chicago, IL 60622

    Register to attend Show & Tell: Marc Fischer of Public Collectors

    Join Chicago-based publisher Marc Fischer of Public Collectors to discuss his latest Public Collectors publications, and read from the recent booklets: “Why Self-Publish Under Fascism?” and “Who Shares the Restroom Code with ICE Agents?“

    Marc Fischer is the administrator of Public Collectors, an initiative he formed in 2007. Public Collectors aims to encourage greater access and scholarship for marginal cultural materials, particularly those that museums ignore. Public Collectors’ work includes the Library Excavations publication series and web project, Hardcore Architecture—a blog and publication series about where people in punk bands lived, and Quaranzine—which produced 100 single-page publications with over 75 collaborators at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to Public Collectors, Fischer is also a member of the group Temporary Services (founded in 1998) and a partner in its publishing imprint Half Letter Press (ongoing since 2008). He is based in Chicago.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!

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    Pay what you want. 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!

  • 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 Road. From 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.

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    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.

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    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.

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    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!