Category: Store Events

  • Chavisa Woods reads from Love Does Not Make Me Gentle or Kind

    Love Does Not Make Me Gentle or Kind is a collection of short stories focusing on the formative and tumultuous moments in the lives of two women as children and adults, whose relationship to one another is cast in an ambiguous light, and whose characters are abstracted within the context of each story. Primarily set in rural America and other transient realms, this book combines realism with elements of meta-fiction, magnifying the extraordinary interpersonal worlds created by the circumstances of their outer reality.

    Chavisa Woods is the Author of Love Does Not Make Me Gentle or Kind, her first full-length book. Her previous short stories and poetry have been published nationally and internationally in such publications as: Matador (Spain), Prima Materia (NY), Blue Fog (Figi) 4 AM Poetry, Cake, Big Tex(t), The Bard Gay and Lesbian Review, Howl 10003, Tribes Magazine, Wildflowers, Fuzion, Chronogram, Agenzia Catalogue, What Happens Next?, Where We Live, In the Fray, and Rhapsodist the documentary

    Her work has been featured in performance at such venues as: the Annual Vision Festival, , the Howl festival, Sarah Lawrence College, Bard College, I Love NY Poetry, Pink Pony Reading Series, CBS Morning show, HOT Festival at the Dixon Place Theater, The portable Theater Company, Salient Saturdays at the Bowery Poetry Club, Poetic License, The Hidden Treasure Reading Series, the Annual Charlie Parker Festival, Beat Bush Woodstock, WOW Theater- 2006 Bloom Festival, The fresh Fruit Festival, The Telephone Bar Library Lounge ,Red Dreams at the Cornelia Street Cafe, L.E.S. 2002 and 2003 National Poetry Slam

    Chavisa will be on hand to read and sign copies of her new book

  • Gregory Kiewiet reads from his new book of poetry In the Company of Words.

    What people are saying about In the Company of Words:

    “Closely watched scenes; ringing shifts, gaps; breathtaking progressions, appear in and make up Gregory Kiewiet’s remarkable collection. This book reverberates. It beautifully provokes, moves, even unsettles.”  Lynn Crawford

    “To seek the company of words is to cultivate the silence in which language speaks. It is as much a matter of listening as of writing, and a willingness to think with words as they exist. In their wry compassion for “a world that needs no introduction” and their fierce humility in the face of its “barbed wire hang-ups,” these poems compel and reward our attention.”  Ted Pearson

    “There are brilliant traceries in these structures – the poem as filament, the poem as grid. Within them a keen interplay between the abstract and the pointedly concrete. Much of the work of language here goes on in the synapse, in the gap between losses, distances, political “things” at work, climates and unnamed cultural weather, the sudden detail, tatters of conversation, something overheard . . . these themes or movements carried through in an impressive variety of forms and approaches: at first this variety is disarming, but the altercations between stripped and scattered structures and established devices, between the word-driven lyric and something like the memory narrative (done ever so lightly), between translations and poems conceived by the author in Dutch and rendered then into English, becomes at last, by a kind of wonderful accetion, an intriguing and appealing collection, something to be picked up and carried around.”  Edward Haworth Hoeppner

    Gregory Kiewiet recieved his B. A. in English and Art History from Oakland University (Rochester, MI) and M. A. in English (Creative Writing) from Wayne State University (Detroit, MI) – he is currently pursueing an MFA in Writing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Previous work has appeared in http://www.markszine.com/  Dispatch Detroit, Graffiti Rag, Woodward Magazine, and Box.

  • Chip Kidd reads from The Learners

    From graphic designer Chip Kidd comes a brilliant new novel about advertising, electro-shock torture, potato chips, murder, powdered milk, suicide, shoes with buckles, crippling despair, and giant dogs. And the Holocaust.

    Fresh out of college in the summer of 1961, Happy lands his first job as a graphic designer (okay, art assistant) at a small Connecticut advertising agency populated by a cast of endearing eccentrics. Life for Happy seems to be—well, happy. But when he’s assigned to design a newspaper ad recruiting participants for an experiment in the Yale Psychology Department, Happy can’t resist responding to the ad himself. Little does he know that the experience will devastate him, forcing a reexamination of his past, his soul, and the nature of human cruelty—chiefly, his own.

    Chip Kidd is a writer and graphic designer in New York City. His book jacket designs for Alfred A. Knopf (where he has worked since 1986) have helped spawn a revolution in the art of American book packaging. In 1998 he was made a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationalle, and in 2007 he was awarded the National Design Award for Communications.

    Mr. Kidd has also written about graphic design and popular culture for McSweeney’s, The New York Times, The New York Observer, Entertainment Weekly, Details, The New York Post, I.D. and Print. He is author and designer of Batman Collected, Batman Animated, Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz and Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross. As an editor of books of comics for Pantheon (a subsidiary of Knopf) Kidd has worked extensively with some of the most brilliant talents practicing today, including: Chris Ware, Art Spiegelman, Dan Clowes, Kim Deitch, Charles Burns, Mark Beyer, Ben Katchor and Alex Ross.

    A comprehensive monograph of Kidd’s work, CHIP KIDD: BOOK ONE was published in October of 2005.  The Cheese Monkeys, Kidd’s first novel, was published by Scribner in Fall of 2001 and was a national bestseller, as well as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His second novel, The Learners, was published in February of 2008.

    Chip Kidd will be on hand to read and sign copies of The Learners.

  • Geoff Herbach & Sam Osterhout

    Join the founding members of The Lit 6 Project, a Minneapolis-based story performance group known for being funny and sad and good as they read and perform. Geoff Herbach will be reading from his novel The Miracle Letters of T. Rimberg and Sam Osterhout will perform in support of The Electric Arc Radio Show which is an internet/radio literary tragi-comedy (heard on Minnesota Public Radio and everywhere online).

    More about the performers:

    Geoff Herbach is the co-founder of the Lit 6 Project, a lit-based story-telling group that performs in bars, art galleries, and bookstores all over the country.  He is a writer and performer in the Electric Arc Radio Show, which airs on Minnesota Public Radio.  He curates The Walker Art Center’s new flash fiction competition. The Miracle Letters of T. Rimberg is his first novel.

    Sam Osterhout is the other co-cofounder of the Lit 6 Project.  He hosts the Electric Arc Radio Show on Minnesota Public Radio.  His short work has appeared in Minneapolis periodicals The Rake, City Pages, and MNArtists and has been heard on Minnesota Public Radio.

    More info:
    www.electricarcradio.com
    www.lit6project.com

  • SANTI LIVES OF MODERNS SAINTS Event

    On April 18, Chicago-based writer John Sheppard (author of the cult novel Small Town Punk), author/editor Luca Dipierro, and illustrator Rachel Bradley will be in Chicago reading from the anthology of short stories Santi: Lives of Modern Saints at Quimby’s Bookstore (1854 W. North Ave. Chicago, IL  60622). Reading starts at 7 pm.

    Santi: Lives of Modern Saints is an anthology of short stories published by Black Arrow Studio & Press, edited by Luca Dipierro and N. Frank Daniels and illustrated by visual artist Rachel Bradley. Santi brings together some of the most original new voices in contemporary fiction from the US and Italy like Dan Chaon, Rob Roberge, David R. Matthews, John Sheppard, Grant Bailie, Roy Kesey, James P. Othmer, Greg Downs, Giona A. Nazzaro, Claudio Morandini and more.

    Revisiting the ancient genre of hagiography (from ancient Greek: biography of saints), Santi: Lives of Modern Saints is a playful reinterpretation of religious images and myths. Twenty-six provocative tales of madness, murder, sin and redemption, fear and folly that peer deeply into the human psyche.

    Poet and essayist Bracken Sparks wrote about the book: “The saints in Santi: Lives of Modern Saints are not the saints of eternity. They are the saints of the moment, saints of the small and undone. Their feast days are likely to be any Tuesday night eating Sam’s Club macaroni and cheese. They are sociopathic loners, cubicle prophets, natural heretics, and frayed at the edges, as if painted by Francis Bacon or Dana Schutz.”

    Links:
    www.blackarrowpress.com
    www.youtube.com/blackarrowstudio
    www.smalltownpunk.blogspot.com
    www.lucadipierro.com
    www.rachelbradley.net

  • Mike Adams reads from Toilet Bowl Soup

    MIKE ADAMS’ recently released book Toilet Bowl Soup is a collection of twisted short stories dealing with junky amputees, rabid beasts, satanic Hispanics, sadistic rednecks, big dick retards and more…all mixed with enough booze and violence to keep you firmly planted on your throne! He will be on hand to read a few stories from the book and sign copies as well.

    Mike Adams is also featured in the new STEVE BALDERSON (FIRECRACKER starring MIKE PATTON & KAREN BLACK) film “PHONE SEX” along with the fame of RON JEREMY, MARGARET CHO, JANE WEIDLIN, GINGER COYOTE, SUSAN TRAYLOR and many others. You can also find him in the Steve Balderson film WAMEGO STRIKES BACK.

    He has contributed some music to the soundtrack of the upcoming cult horror film IT CAME FROM TRAFALGAR starring Rudy Ray Moore (Dolemite), Hank Williams III, Butch Patrick (The Munsters), Linnea Quigley (Return Of the Living Dead), Edwin Neal (Original Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Gunnar Hansen (Original Texas Chainsaw Massacre), J.P. Richardson (Big Bopper Jr.), Kenny Miller (I was a Teenage Werewolf), Jesco White (The Dancing Outlaw), Conrad Brooks (Plan 9 From Outerspace), Brinke Stevens (Slumber Party Massacre), Bill Hinzman (Original Night Of the Living Dead), Jim O’Rear (Day of the Dead), Joey Image (Misfits), Joe Buck, etc.

    Most recently he played the part of a meth addict/dealer in the upcoming Restraining Hollywood film “TRUST ME”. The film is scheduled for a 2008 release.

    FOR MORE INFO VISIT: WWW.TOILETBOWLSOUP.COM

  • Spencer Dew reads from Songs of Insurgency

    With readings from:

    Spencer Dew, author of the collection of stories Songs of Insurgency

    Jeremy Biles, editor of Chicago Artists’ News and author of  Ecce Monstrum: Georges Bataille and the Sacrifice of Form

    Nick Ostdick, author of Sunbeams and Cigarettes

    Jill Summers, whose work has been featured on Chicago Public Radio, the Third Coast International Audio Festival, and New Adventures in Sound Art.

    More Info TBA

  • Jessica Hagy presents Indexed at Quimby’s!

    Jessica Hagy is a different kind of thinker. She has an astonishing talent for visualizing relationships, capturing in pictures what is difficult for most of us to express in words.

    At indexed.blogspot.com, she posts charts, graphs, and Venn diagrams drawn on index cards that reveal in a simple and intuitive way the large and small truths of modern life.

    Praised throughout the blogosphere as “brilliant,” “incredibly creative,” and “comic genius,” Jessica turns her incisive, deadpan sense of humor on everything from office politics to relationships to religion. With new material along with some of Jessica’s greatest hits, Indexed is an utterly unique book will thrill readers who demand humor that makes them both laugh and think.

    About the Author
    Jessica Hagy is a freelance copywriter. She has won a Silver Clio, Creative Best Award from the Columbus Society for Communication Arts, and more than a dozen ADDY awards for her writing. Her blog, Indexed, was named a 2007 Webby Awards Honoree and was a recent addition to the BBC Magazine online.

    Jessica will read and present some of her Venn diagrams and possibly do some drawing live. She will also sign copies of her book.

    Check out: http://indexed.blogspot.com/

  • THE2NDHAND Release Event

    The 2ndHand Release Event with Jill Summers, Lauren Pretnar, Ling Ma and Chris Bower at Quimby’s!

    We at THE2NDHAND are celebrating the release of our 27th print broadsheet with readings by Jill Summers, Lauren Pretnar, Ling Ma and Chris Bower. All Hosted by the inimitable C.T. Ballentine

    Jill Summers‘ audio fiction has been featured by Chicago Public Radio, the Third Coast International Audio Festival and New Adventures in Sound Art. She lives and writes in Chicago.

    Chris Bower is a playwright and fiction writer who contributes to THE2NDHAND.

    Ling Ma is the Reads Editor of Venus Zine. She divides her time between New York and Chicago, both cities in which she roams the streets, still goes to the cinema, and otherwise leads a sedentary lifestyle of freelance assignments and writing fiction.

    Lauren Pretnar holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the city in which she lives and writes. In addition to various reviews and other published work, certain of her plays have seen stage time at the Pac/Edge fest and at Prop Thtr.

  • Cristin O’Keefe reads Words in Your Face at Quimby’s!

    Join us for a book signing and reading for WORDS IN YOUR FACE: A GUIDED TOUR THROUGH TWENTY YEARS OF THE NEW YORK CITY POETRY SLAM by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz.

    The first definitive history of one of the 21st century’s most explosive art movements, Words In Your Face explores the birth, growing pains and continuing development of the Poetry Slam. Spoken word icons such as Saul Williams, Maggie Estep, Bob Holman and John S. Hall join scores of other poets, organizers, filmmakers, scholars and critics in bringing the story of the New York City Poetry Slam movement to life.

    Author Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz tells the story of slam’s origins in the roofless, unheated Nuyorican Poets Cafe and then traces the explosive growth of slam as the media pick up on the trend–MTV’s Unplugged begins to feature slam poets; PBS runs the mini-series The United States of Poetry, produced by then-Nuyorican impresario, Bob Holman; Lollapalooza adds a spoken word tent; and Holman also launches a spoken word label with Mercury Records.

    Aptowicz shows how, rather than depend on the fickle media for continued support, Slam instead deepens and broadens organically, avoiding the flash-in-the-pan flame-out of, say, the grunge scene. The author also establishes a relationship between the poetry slam world and the academic poetry world, encouraging interaction between academia and slammers, especially the poets of color, the youth slammers and the burgeoning hip hop poetry scene. She also shows how the scene has created the only non-academic way to make a living as a poet, as many poets are able to quit the day job through the opportunities created from touring, publishing, performing, audio downloads and matures to where it is a key component of educational initiatives and political campaigns.

    CRISTIN O’KEEFE APTOWICZ is the author of four books of poetry–Dear Future Boyfriend, Hot Teen Slut, Working Class Represent and Oh, Terrible Youth–and is the founder the three-time National Poetry Slam Championship venue, NYC-Urbana. Aptowicz has enjoyed commissioned residencies with Chamber Dance in NYC and the Sydney Opera House in Australia, and has toured with her work throughout North America and Australia. She lives in New York City. www.aptowicz.com

    Also slated to perform:
    SHAPPY SEASHOLTZ is a slam poet, comedian, nerd, playwright, actor, bartender and — most importantly of all — former employee of Quimby’s. He is a National Poetry Slam champion, has appeared on the third season of HBO’s “Def Poetry” and is the author of six books of poetry, including the Firecracker Award-winning, Little Book of Ass. www.uncleshappy.com