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Poster design by David Alvarado.
Category: Store Events
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Quimby’s July Newsletter Available Now
Read it here and make sure you sign up to get it in your inbox at quimbys.com.
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billy woods & m. musgrove sign A is for Anarchist: An ABC for Activists 7/29
A is for Anarchist: An ABC for Activists is a a sardonic spin on the ABC book, a sharp knife in a drawer full of safety scissors.
Wryly written by critically acclaimed rapper billy woods and sublimely illustrated by artist m. musgrove, A is for Anarchist upends the traditional ABC format with earnestness that belies its irreverence. Anarchist takes modest ideas, like E is for Energy and G is for Ghosts, and flips them into incisive commentary on modern life and the state of the world. Also, it has to be the only alphabet book with annotated footnotes and a Nas reference.
woods is a writer, rapper, and father who needed something cool to read to his children. The child of a Jamaican intellectual and a Zimbabwean revolutionary, woods’s childhood spent between the U.S., Africa, and the West Indies leaves its imprint on all his work.
musgrove is a Brooklyn-based painter, illustrator, and amateur animator. She is inspired by Wimmen’s Comix, William Morris, and tumult.
billy woods & m. musgrove
sign A Is For Anarchist
Quimby’s Bookstore
1854 W. North Ave, Chicago
Sat, July 29th, 2pm
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Off-Site: Quimby's at Shred the Shed Portable Gray Release Celebration at the Salt Shed, 6/21
The Salt Shed presents Shred the Shed, their four day skatepark pop-up coming June 21-24, four days of DJs, food and drink vendors, guest skaters, and a skatepark designed and built by Chicago artist and skater Juan Chavez. It kicks off National Go Skate Day (June 21) with a Portable Gray release celebration, which Quimby’s will be there to sell, as well as other relevant items from 4pm to 9pm.
What does this UChicago Press arts & ideas journal have to do with skateboarding, you ask? This spring issue of Portable Gray is the Family Issue, and Brent Heyl of the Empty Bottle and The Salt Shed appears in the issue with his brother Shane (a professional skateboarder).
In addition to the skateboard park, music and refreshments, Bad at Sports will be streaming conversations with contributors to this issue.
The Fairgrounds will be open to all to come and skate, though they require participants to sign a waiver (and if you’re under 18, your parent/guardian must sign a waiver). RSVP at this link.
We hope to see you there!
The Salt Shed is accepting donations at this event to donate to the Chicago Abortion Fund, which you can donate to online here, and donations will be accepted on site as well.
(very sick drawing by @agrapedope!)
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Off-Site Event: Zine Camp 2023 presented by Zine Club Chicago, July 9th!
OFF-SITE EVENT!
Zine Camp 2023 presented by Zine Club Chicago
2 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 9, 2023
Picnic Grove 5 at Dan Ryan Woods
Free!Join Zine Club Chicago for an in-person outdoor hangout for adults who love zines!
We had such a blast at Zine Camp last year that we’re bringing it back and packing in even more summer fun. Newbies and Zine Club Chicago regulars alike are welcome at Zine Camp 2023, set for 2 p.m.-6:30 p.m. Sunday, July 9 in Picnic Grove 5 at Dan Ryan Woods on Chicago’s Southwest Side. Free!
Camp activities include zinemaking, zine trading, and socializing with fellow self-publishing enthusiasts; a crowd-sourced, collaborative, zine-focused Complaint Chorus by Ayun Halliday: a Zinemaking Workshop by Jude R. Bettridge; and SO. MANY. SNACKS!
We’ll also be hosting a pen pal station so you can strike up a correspondence with one of our out-of-town Zine Club Chicago friends! (Can’t make it to Zine Camp and want a pen pal? Sign up here: tiny.cc/ZineCamp2023PenPals)
Feel free to drop in anytime between 2-6:30 p.m. and stay for as long as you like. Dan Ryan Woods is a Cook County Forest Preserve; our campsite at Picnic Grove 5 will be located off Western Avenue near 84th St.
Need a map, directions on how to get there via public transit or car, and accessibility information? You can find all the details about Zine Camp 2023 (including where we’re going for the afterparty!) at zine.camp. Facebook event here.
Zine Camp is made possible by the generous support of zinemaker and all-around awesome person Lucinda J. Williams. Check out her Bookshelf Voyeur zine series here at our shop and online at quimbys.com!
Shoutout to our Zine Camp Counselors: Aim Beland, Michael Verdi, Liz Mason, Cynthia E. Hanifin, Ayun Halliday, and Jude R. Bettridge
Thank you to Aim Beland for designing the Zine Camp 2023 poster!
Image description: A pink flyer with the illustration of a green tent made out of a stitchbound zine and a tree branch, with this text: Zine Camp 2023; a (free) meetup for adults who love zines; Brought to you by Zine Club Chicago; 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. July 9th; Dan Ryan Woods Shelter #5 @ Western x 84th; for more info, visit zine.camp
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Zine Club Chicago Online: Fest Finds Edition with Special Guest Co-host Jordan Sea of Sonoma County Zine Club, June 20th!
Zine Club Chicago Online: Fest Finds Edition
With Special Guest Co-host Jordan Sea of Sonoma County Zine Club
7:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, June 20 on Zoom
Free!Zine fest season is in full swing, so this month Zine Club Chicago is inviting y’all to share your fave finds from Chicago Zine Fest, CAKE, and other in-person and online events that center self-publishers. We’re super excited to welcome a special guest co-host, Jordan Sea of Sonoma County Zine Club, to give us a West Coast perspective on the return of zine fests around the country!
Grab the best zines you’re scooped up at recent festivals, BYOS(nacks), and join us on Zoom for Zine Club Chicago Online: Fest Finds Edition with Special Guest Co-host Jordan Sea of Sonoma County Zine Club at 7:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, June 20!
** RSVP required ** We want to make sure that our online Zine Club Chicago events are a safe space, so we won’t be releasing the Zoom link publicly. If you’d like to attend, please email zineclubchicago@gmail.com to RSVP by 9 p.m. CT Monday, June 19 (the evening before our event). We’ll email you the Zoom link by 5 p.m. CT on Tuesday, June 20.
Observer, contemplative, seeking engrossment, zinester, mom, following too many podcasts. Jordan Sea has been a fan of zine culture for 20 years but only started writing Rain Barrel in 2020. Out of a deep longing for Chicago’s zine community and with a desire to enliven zine culture and find other zinesters near them, they began the Sonoma County Zine Club in 2022. Jordan sells their own zines and those of their family on their Etsy store. Their writing has appeared in Snax and Behind the Zines, with their latest Rain Barrel issue featured in Anna Jo Beck’s Zine-A-Month. You can also find Jordan on Instagram at @rainbarrelzine.
Sonoma County Zine Club is a collaborative space to create and share zines in community. Activities are usually informal, open for folks to work on whatever they wish. Different art supplies are provided, like markers, tape, scissors, rubber stamps, glue sticks, paper, and more! Occasionally a collaborative zine is made on a particular topic. The library provides the space and fun snacks! Sonoma County Zine Club meets on the first Tuesday night of the month at 6 p.m. at the Sebastopol Regional Library in Sebastopol, CA.
Zine newbies and longtime enthusiasts alike are always welcome at Zine Club Chicago, the city’s only book club-style event for people who read zines. This free monthly series is produced by Cynthia E. Hanifin and sponsored by Quimby’s Bookstore. Anna Jo Beck designs our monthly flyers, created our logo, and made our Zine Club Chicago Shout-Outs site, where folks can peruse and recommend zines we’ve discussed at our events.
More info at quimbys.com and on the Zine Club Chicago social media channels: @zineclubchicago. Facebook link here.
Image description #1: A red-and-blue infographic flyer, with the crowd photo from Chicago Zine Fest 2023, and text that reads: “Zine Club Chicago: Fest Finds Edition with Special Guest Co-host Jordan Sea of Sonoma County Zine Club; Online! Free! Zoom info on quimbys.com; 7:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, April 25, 2023”
Image description #2: A photo of zinemaker Jordan Sea, who is smiling and has pink and black hair and rhinestone-studded cats-eye glasses.
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Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE), June 3rd & 4th at the Broadway Armory
Quimby’s is a proud co-sponsor for 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 and 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.
June 3rd-4th, 2023
11am-6pm Saturday
11am-5pm SundayBroadway Armory (not at Quimby’s!)
5917 N Broadway
Chicago, IL 60660Free and open to the public!
CAKECHICAGO.COMSpecial guests:
Masks strongly encouraged.
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Quimby's Presents Joshua James Amberson’s Staring Contest Book Release + Antiquated Future Showcase Online on YouTube, June 14th
Staring Contest: Essays on Eyes (Perfect Day Publishing) is the debut full-length essay collection from zinester, arts-and-culture writer, and founder of the Antiquated Future zine distro and record label, Joshua James Amberson. Deftly weaving together such disparate subjects as Bette Davis’s career, the daily challenges of eye contact, and his own decade-long saga of periodic eye injections, Amberson digs deeply into the physical and existential consequences of living with such uncertainty. Staring Contest is wise, generous, and—given the subject matter—surprisingly funny.
This event will also be a showcase of Chicago-based writers carried by Antiquated Future, including Anna Jo Beck (Biff Boff Bam Sock), Jim Joyce (Let it Sink), and Liz Mason (Caboose). It will air on the Quimby’s YouTube channel so no RSVP is necessary.
“Staring Contest is a jewel box of an essay collection: It takes a quotidian facet of experience—the human gaze—and considers it at length, revealing an overlooked world of ideas and resonances.” –Jordan Kisner, author of Thin Places: Essays from In Between
Joshua James Amberson is the author of the young-adult novel How to Forget Almost Everything, as well as a series of chapbooks on Two Plum Press, and the long-running Basic Paper Airplane zine series. His words have appeared in The Los Angeles Review of Books, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, and Tin House, among others. joshuajamesamberson.com
About the other readers:
Anna Jo Beck has been making zines for over a decade, writing and designing how-to zines on skills like personal finance, habit tracking, and health insurance, as well as a film recommendation series called Mini Movie Marathon. She also runs Zine-A-Month, a zine by mail subscription. More info on her and her various zine projects can be found at annajobeck.com
Jim Joyce writes perzines like Let It Sink and others. A gentleman, he likes keeping his hands as sof’ as a frog’s belly.
Liz Mason publishes Cul-de-sac, Caboose, and Awesome Things. Her work has been in places like Broken Pencil, Punk Planet, The Zine Yearbook and the back of her friend’s toilets. She’s worked at Quimby’s Bookstore since 2001 in a state of perpetual arrested development. Find her at LizMasonIsAwesome.com + Etsy at LizMasonZines + @caboosezine at all the places.
For more info:
Buy Staring Contest at Quimby’s
Wednesday, June 14th, 7:30pm CT
Online at youtube.com/quimbysbookstore
Want the Facebook invite to add it to your calendar? It’s here.
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Zine Club Chicago In Person: Choose Your Own Adventure Zine Workshop With Jude R. Bettridge, May 26th!
Zine Club Chicago In Person: Choose Your Own Adventure Zine Workshop
With Jude R. Bettridge
7-9 p.m. CT Friday, May 26
Quimby’s Bookstore, 1854 W. North Ave.
Free!In May, Zine Club Chicago is excited to welcome Jude R. Bettridge to lead a workshop that gives Choose Your Own Adventure a zine twist! Jude will demonstrate how to make multiple folded, mini-zine formats that offer readers a chance to explore. Create stories that lead to different outcomes, sending your favorite characters on an epic quest of your choosing!
Join us for Zine Club Chicago In Person: Choose Your Own Adventure Zine Workshop at 7-9 p.m. Friday, May 26 here at the shop. We’ll have zinemaking supplies and snacks on hand! Masks are strongly encouraged when you’re not noshing.
Jude R. Bettridge (they/them/theirs) is a Chicago-based Jack-of-all-trades artist, whose focus shifts from comics and zines to oil painting and fiber sculpture as often as they change their pants. Their comic work draws inspiration from the great Art Spiegelman, Bill Watterson, and Beth Hetland as they depict the daily struggles of being a neurodivergent super-queer social anomaly in a late-stage capitalistic hellscape. Often featuring fantastical characters and their fat cat, Gravy Boat, their work takes on a cynical, sarcastic lens to talk about mental health, trans rights, environmentalism, queerness, socialism, and much more. Is this a coping mechanism? Maybe. In a nutshell, they just want to talk about zines, queerness, and have someone read their comics.
Out-of-town friends, Zine Club Chicago will be back on Zoom with y’all in June with a to-be-announced special guest co-host! If you’d like to get together virtually with zine pals in May, check out Zine Party!, hosted by Michael Verdi, at 7:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, May 9. For more info and the Zoom link, visit next.zine.party
Zine newbies and longtime enthusiasts alike are always welcome at Zine Club Chicago, the city’s only book club-style event for people who read zines. This free monthly series is produced by Cynthia E. Hanifin and sponsored by Quimby’s Bookstore. Anna Jo Beck designs our monthly flyers, created our logo, and made our Zine Club Chicago Shout-Outs site, where folks can peruse and recommend zines we’ve discussed at our events.
More info on the Zine Club Chicago social media channels: @zineclubchicago. Facebook event here.
Image description: A red-and-blue infographic flyer, with a black-and white image in the center featuring a sword, treasure map, and various other adventure-themed images, and text that reads: “Zine Club Chicago: Choose Your Own Adventure Zine Workshop in Collaboration With Jude R. Bettridge; In Person! Free!; Quimby’s Bookstore, 1854 W. North Ave. in Wicker Park; 7-9 p.m. Friday, May 26, 2023”
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Zine Club Chicago Hosts a Post-CZF2023 Hangout, May 21st!
12-2 p.m. Sunday, May 21
Quimby’s Bookstore
1854 W. North Ave.
Free!Going to Chicago Zine Fest?* Let’s keep the fun fest vibe going all weekend! Zine Club Chicago is hosting a meetup (with snacks, of course) from 12 to 2 p.m. Sunday, May 21 here at the shop. Spend time with your zine pals and make new ones, eat some cookies, browse fresh arrivals in the shop, and drop off your consignment items.**Free! Masks encouraged. More info on the Zine Club Chicago social media channels: @zineclubchicago. Facebook event here.* We’ll be there! Look for the Quimby’s and Zine Club Chicago tables at #CZF2023.** Please note that we have moved to an email-only consignment check-in system and will not be able to make consignment payouts or check current stock levels of your consignment items during the hangout.Image description: A black-and-white, cut-and-paste event flyer that reads: “Join Zine Club Chicago for a Post-Chicago Zine Fest Hangout! 12-2 p.m. Sunday, May 21 at Quimby’s Bookstore, 1854 W. North Ave. in Wicker Park; Free!: Meet up with zine friends and make new ones!; Drop off consignment items!; Eat cookies!; Masks encouraged; More info: quimbys.com” -
Independent Bookstore Day Indie Bookstore Crawl – Saturday, April 29, 2023
Stop at Quimby’s during the annual Indie Bookstore Crawl (IBD) on Saturday, April 29th, the one-day national party celebrating Chicagoland indie bookstores. Use the map at ChiLoveBooks.com to learn about how to participate and plan your itinerary.
