Blog

An Evening with the Blithe House Quarterly
Friday, June 18th, 7:00 PM
 
Join host: Aldo Alvarez, executive editor and publisher, Blithe House Quarterly as he presents a reading of short fiction by authors appearing in the all-Chicago Summer issue of Blithe House Quarterly, an online journal of LGBT short fiction. Event readers Include: Dave Awl, Kurt Heintz, Karen Lee Osborne, K.R. Randen and Yvonne Zipter
 
Aldo Alvarez is the author of Interesting Monsters: Fictions. Aldo founded Blithe House Quarterly in 1997 and currently serves as its Executive Editor and Publisher.
 
Dave Awl is the author of What the Sea Means: Poems, Stories and Monologues 1987-2002. He is the founder of The Pansy Kings performance group and a ten-year veteran of The Neo-Futurists\’ fringe theater smash Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind.
 
Kurt Heintz is a writer, performer, and new media artist whose output grows from contemporary video art, performance poetry, poetry video, and electronic literature. He is
founder of the e-poets network.
 
Karen Lee Osborne is the author of the novels Carlyle and Hawkwings the editor of The Country of Herself: Short Fiction by Chicago Women and coeditor, with William Spurlin, of Reclaiming the Heartland: Lesbian and Gay Voices from the Midwest
 
KR Randen is a 24 year old writer living in Chicago, IL. While short stories are his mainstay, he performs on stage; most recently at the Queer is Folk Festival.
 
Yvonne Zipter is the author of the nonfiction books Ransacking the Closet and Diamonds Are a Dyke\’s Best Friend, the nationally syndicated column \”Inside Out,\” and the critically acclaimed poetry collection The Patience of Metal.
 
Blithe House Quarterly was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award in 2000. The GLAAD Media Award recognizes the \”fairness, accuracy, quality, originality and impact of media representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community\”.
Check them out on-line at: www.blithe.com
FREE

The 2nd Hand celebrates the release of issue #13
Live at Quimby?s
 
The following is a direct transmission for the editors of The 2nd Hand:
 
For Apes, By Apes
 
Between adopting new exercise routines and trying to ignore the empty vessel on television, we have managed the 13. You know you want it. Join The 2nd Hand (www.the2ndhand.com) at Quimby?s on Thursday, March 18 at 7:30 pm to celebrate the release of The 2nd Hand broadside number 13, featuring: new fiction (I hadn’t slept like a normal human being for months.) by John L. Sheppard (from our 27th state); our co-conspirator Mickey Hess (Late at night where there used to be static, and I said two-for-one on wheels and rims and we’ll throw in mudflaps too) from Louisville-a town we will always cherish for giving the world Slint; and Chicago’s Erika Mikkalo (Someone outside the circle shouted, “I can play taps on a tuba!”).
 
Helping us celebrate are: resident 2nd Hand weather poet Susannah Felts; Gretchen Kalwinski, who seems to understand much about the nature of waiting; and your dear 2nd Hand editors, Todd Dills (author of For Weeks Above the Umbrella) and Jeb Gleason-Allured (author of his own despair).
 
BYOB. You heard us.

Nikki Pill reads from her novel Singing and Then at Quimby?s
March 27th 7:00PM
 
A unique and experimental novel, Singing, and Then explores the realms of Earth, Heaven and Hell from the perspective of angels, mortal men and the Prince of Lies himself.
 
A new angel inexplicably appears in Heaven. At the same time all the souls in Heaven, Hell and Earth disappear. While Heaven searches for the lost souls, two damaged spirits wander the Earth. Angels, spirits and mortal men combine forces in a surprising chain of events. They uncover an ugly conspiracy: innocent angels imprisoned, a mysterious illness that devours those closest to God, and a plot to start a second war between Heaven and Hell.
 
Nikki M. Pill graduated from Lake Forest College with a bachelors’ degree in English and Philosophy. She names Jeanette Winterson, William Faulkner, Steven Brust, and Neil Gaiman as her biggest literary influences, and hopes that all the Sartre she read isn\’t counteracting them too much. Nikki is also widely known and admired as the Vipe Girl, creator of Vipe.org, a feminist web site that critiques our culture’s unrealistic beauty standards.
 
Singing and Then is her first published novel, and she is currently working on her second, as well as collaborating on a screenplay with the inimitable Bob Cappel.
 
More info is at: www.singingandthen.com

The Danny’s Reading Series welcomes
Poets Matthew Zapruder, Matt Rohrer and Joshua Beckman to Quimby’s for a night of poetry
Friday April 16th 8PM
 
Matthew Zapruder is the author of American Linden, winner of the 2001 Tupelo Press Editors’ Prize. Matt Rohrer is the author of Hummock in the Malookas (winner National Poetry Series, published by Norton), Satellite (Verse Press) and the forthcoming A Green Light (Verse Press); he is the poetry editor of Fence. Joshua Beckman is the author of Things Are Happening (winner of the APR Honickman Award, published by Copper Canyon), Something I Expected to be Different (Verse Press) and the forthcoming Your Time Has Come (Verse Press). Rohrer and Beckman are also the authors of a collaborative book of poems, Nice Hat: Thanks (Verse Press), as well as an accompanying compact disk, Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty (Verse Press).
 
This reading is part of the midwest tour to support the new books from Matt Roher and Joshua Beckman. They will also sign copies of their books.
 
More info is at:www.versepress.orgwww.tupelopress.org

Jarret Keene, poet, Monster FashionRyan G. Van Cleave, poet, The Magical Breasts of Britney SpearsSeth Flynn Barkan, poet, Blue Wizard Is About to Die!Friday March 26th 7:30PM
 
Jarret Keene & Ryan G. Van Cleave read from their new poetry collections
Pop-culture poets Jarret Keene (Monster Fashion) and Ryan G. Van Cleave return to Quimby’s to read from their latest poetry collections. Ryan G. Van Cleave’s, new collection is entitled The Magical Breasts of Britney Spears. This evening will also feature Seth Flynn Barkan author of the new book of videogame poetry, Blue Wizard
Is About to Die!
 
Check out:
www.manicdpress.comwww.jarretkeene.comwww.ryangvancleave.com

Comics artist Paul Hornschemeier, the author of Mother Come Home,
celebrates the release of Forlorn Funnies #5 with animated videos at Quimby?s.
Friday March 19th 8PM
 
Paul Hornschemeier is the creator of the Harvey, Ignatz, and Eisner nominated Forlorn Funnies, as well as the recently published “Mother, Come Home” collection from Dark Horse. Reared in a small farming town in southern Ohio, Paul now lives and works in Chicago. His work has also appeared in the Chicago Reader, Alarm, Sound Collector Audio Review, Friction, The Common Review, Project Telstar, Autobiographix, as well as various CD and 7″ covers and posters.
 
For this event there will be a showing of short animated videos based on Paul’s cartoons, followed by a brief question and answer session. The event will conclude with Paul signing his collection, Mother, Come Home, as well as the new 80-page Forlorn Funnies 5, which makes its debut at the beginning of March.

Soft Skull & FC2 authors read Thursday March 25th 7:30PM
 
An evening of readings featuring:Ben Greenman, Daniel Nester and Clayton Eshleman & FC2 Authors
further details tba
 
Soft Skull Authors:
Ben Greenman is an editor at The New Yorker; his work has appeared there as well as in Nerve, McSweeneys, The Paris Review, Mississippi Review, Elysian Fields, and elsewhere. Most recently his work appeared in the acclaimed McAdam/Cage anthology Politically Inspired. He has ghostwritten for Gene Simmons and Simon Cowell, amongst others, and once won a car in a rock ?n? roll trivia bowl. Born in Chicago, he grew up in Florida and now lives in Brooklyn, NY.
 
Daniel Nester is a poet, editor, and teacher who lives in Brooklyn, NY. His work has appeared in such journals as Open City, Nerve, Mississippi Review, and in The Best American Poetry2003. He is the editor in chief of the online literary journal Unpleasant Event Schedule , former editor in chief of La Petite Zine, and contributing editor of Painted Bride Quarterly.
 
Clayton Eshleman:
 
FC2 Authors:
Brian Evenson is the author of six books of fiction, most recently The Wavering Knife. He teaches Creative Writing at Brown University. He will be reading from “The Installation.”
 
Lucy Corin’s short stories have appeared in many literary journals, including Ploughshares, The Southern Review, and Fiction International, and in anthologies such as New Stories from the South: The Year’s
Best and FC2’s Chick-Lit2 (No Chic Vics). She will be reading from her first novel, Everyday
Psychokillers: A History for Girls.
 
A.B. West lives in Belgium, where she has worked with the avant-garde theater company, Th??tre Laboratoire Vicinal. She performed and collaborated on the original plays Tramp, Lunapark and Chaman Hooligan. She was the director and sole actress of the play “I” which toured worldwide. West has also been an agent, an editor with Wall Street Journal Europe, a free-lance translator and a copywriter. Wakenight Emporium has been accepted for publication in France as Figurations Lumi?res. She will be reading from Wakenight Emporium.
 
more info at http://fc2.org

Akashic authors Robert Arellano & Shawn Shiflett read from their new books Don Dimaio of La Plata & Hidden PlaceMonday March 22nd 7PM
 
Robert Arellano is the author of Don Dimaio of La Plata Roberto Bobby Arellano De Nueva Jersey taught creative writing at Brown University and is the author of Fast Eddie: King of the Bees. His short fiction has appeared in the Kenyon Review and Jane. As an indie musician, Arellano has performed with Will Oldham, Havanarama, and Nick Cave.
 
Shawn Shiflett is the author of Hidden Place He is a professor in the Fiction Writing department at Columbia College Chicago. He is working on a second novel Hey, Liberal about a white boy in a predominantly African-American high school one year after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Shiflett was born and raised in Chicago, and currently lives in La Grange, Illinois with his wife and two children.
 
Don Dimaio of La Plata, a selection of the Akashic Urban Surreal series, is Robert Arellano\’s wickedly funny novel about the adventures of a high-flying American mayor who\’s always pimping the keys to his city with a bribe in his pocket, a straw up his nose, and an ape who’s just escaped from the zoo on his tail. Between grand openings and ribbon-cuttings, a trusty trooper named Pancho Sanchez muscles the black limo with numero-uno license plate through traffic while in back Mayor Don “PALLY” Dimaio (bearing a remarkable resemblance to former Providence, RI mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci who is currently serving a five-year sentence in federal prison for racketeering and corruption) swigs cognac from a flask, exposes his privates (which he nicknames “Rock Sinatra”), and holds strategy meetings with strippers from the Crafty Beaver. No matter how naughty his behavior or tacky his toupees, the people of La Plata can’t get enough of Donald “Pally” Dimaio and the jars of sauce, “Dimaio’s Own Mayonnaise,” he hawks at every fundraiser.
 
HIDDEN PLACE is Shiflett\’s suspenseful and provocative literary debut, set in Chicago and Puerto Escondido, a small Mexican beach town 150 miles south of Acapulco. Told in a strong vernacular voice, the story focuses on six major characters, all of them highly flawed and uncomfortably real. The narrator, Roman Pearson, and his girlfriend, Mila Popovic, take a vacation together to Escondido in the hopes of patching up their deteriorating relationship.
 
Both authors will read and sign copies of thier new books

Robert Newman reads and signs Fountain at the Center of the World Friday March 12th 8PM
 
A stand-up comedian for sixteen years, Newman headed the first comedy act ever to play the 12,000 seat Wembley Arena, making front page news. The late Bill Hicks asked to be his tour support, and Newman performed alongside Michael Moore in London’s biggest anti-war benefit gig. He has just completed a twelve month sell-out tour of his historico-political stand-up show From Caliban to Taliban?500 Years of Humanitarian Intervention. Newman has been politically active with Reclaim The Streets, the Liverpool Dockers, Indymedia, Earth First and People’s Global Action. In the last month he gave the keynote speech at the People & Planet conference and has been a guest speaker of the New Economics Foundation.
 
The Fountain At The Center Of The World is Newman’s third novel, but first to be published in the U.S. The writing of The Fountain At The Center Of The World was the subject of a BBC film shown on national television in Britain, Australia and parts of Europe. Research for the novel took him onto Welsh trawlers, into refugee detention centers and tropical disease hospitals. He also learned Spanish and traveled extensively through Mexico and Central America. Released October 1st in the UK, The Fountain At The Centre Of The World is already in its second printing.
 
\”It’s like bootleg Chomsky The Fountain at the Centre of the World is a serious and intelligent book. It’s a novel that confronts everything that is wrong with the world and demands that which is right, and it therefore makes a lot of British fiction seem rather tender-minded in comparison.”The Guardian
 
more info at www.robnewman.com

Saturday March 13th 2PM
 
Join us in celebrating the publication of the literary magazines, Pigeon & Bluewith readings from contributing authors: Joe Meno, Deb Lewis, Amanda Snyder. Elizabeth Yokas, Chris Maul Rice & Antonia Logue
 
Pigeon is a literary journal featuring fiction, essays, poetry, and nonfiction. Its mission is to provide a forum for writers to showcase their excellent work, and to discover who’s out there writing what. It has no themes, no topics, no word count. This no-restrictions format allows Pigeon to fill its pages with a wide range of work and a wealth of voices.
 
Blue is dedicated to publishing works by, for, and about the working class. It fills an unnecessary void in the publishing world – championing voices and subject matter that is often overlooked in the literary mainstream.
 
Joe Meno’s two novels are Tender as Hellfire and How the Hula Girl Sings. His third novel, Hairstyles of the Damned will be released this summer through Punk Planet books. He teaches creative writing at Columbia College Chicago.
 
Deb Lewis earned her MFA in Creative Writing at Columbia College and holds a Director’s Certificate from the Story Workshop Institute. Her writing has appeared in Dyversity, International Drummer, Bad Attitude, Sleepwalk, and many other publications. She teaches in the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago and has recently finished a novel.
 
Amanda Snyder is a graduate student in the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago and also a freelance writer for metromix.com. Her work has appeared in Blue, Hair Trigger, and GenX Webzine.
 
Elizabeth Yokas is an adjunct faculty member in the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago, and a graduate of its MFA program. Her work has appeared in Sleepwalk, Hair Trigger 17-19, Glasshouse, the Tap and many others.
 
Chris Maul Rice’s short stories have appeared in Hair Trigger and Emergence. Her feature stories appear regularly in Chicago Tribune’s Health and Family section and Gravity magazine. She wrote for Detroit’s MetroTimes newspaper and MetroParent magazine, where one of her articles prompted a Justice Department investigation.
 
Antonia Logue published her first novel, Shadow-Box at the age of twenty-six. The book won the Irish Times Literature Prize and placed her on the London Observer’s Twenty-One Writers for the Twenty-First Century list. Born in County Derry, Ireland and educated at Trinity College in Dublin, she has been a freelance journalist and literary critic for such publications as the Guardian, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Irish Times, and more. She currently teaches in the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago.
 
More info can be found at www.pigeonmagazine.com