( Chicago ) . Windy City Queer: LGBTQ Dispatches from the Third Coast, the first literary anthology to collect and showcase Chicago's gay and lesbian literary culture, is recently released by University of Wisconsin Press. The release will be celebrated with a reading and party on Thursday, Nov. 3, 7:00 p.m., at Women & Children First Bookstore, 5233 N. Clark St., Chicago, 773-769-9299. Joining editor Kathie Bergquist at this reading and booksigning will be contributors Achy Obejas, Sharon Bridgforth, Goldie Goldbloom, Gregg Shapiro, and Robert McDonald. This event is free and open to the public.
Until now, the contributions of the Midwest and, specifically, Chicago to LGBTQ literature have been invaluable yet largely uncelebrated. This new anthology charts a map of queer Chicago and showcases its thriving urban arts community, which boasts a unique history, legacy, and sensibility deeply rooted in the urban Midwest. The goal of Windy City Queer is to create a place for Chicago in the greater LGBTQ literary tradition, and for LGBTQ writers within Chicago's literary continuum.
Windy City Queer is a first-rate collection of queer voices from Chicago's literary community. Celebrated writers Edmund White, Achy Obejas, Sharon Bridgforth, Brian Bouldrey, E. Patrick Johnson, Carol Anshaw, David Trinidad, and Mark Zubro are joined by emerging voices from the queer literary scene. These pieces span all literary genres, from fiction and poetry to memoir and essays, and portray a full gamut of gay Chicago lives from the everyday to the quirky, from public spectacles to quiet intimacies, from family life to nightlife, from dating to marriage, from loving to mourning. The writing that comprises this volume is surprising, smart, hilarious, and heart wrenching.
Kathie Bergquist teaches writing at Columbia College Chicago. She is coauthor of A Field Guide to Gay and Lesbian Chicago, and her writing has appeared in such publications as Advocate, OUT, Girlfriends, and Diva as well as in several collections, including Best Lesbian Romance 2009 and Out in All Directions. She is a former editor of the Windy City Times Pride Literary Supplement and a former fellow at the Lambda Literary Foundation's Emerging Writers Retreat.
Here is a complete schedule of upcoming Windy City Queer events:
Thursday, Nov. 3
7:00 p.m.
WCQ Launch Party
Women & Children First Bookstore
Readers: Achy Obejas, Sharon Bridgforth, Goldie Goldbloom, Robert McDonald, Gregg Shapiro
Thursday, Nov. 10
7:30 p.m.
Magers & Quinn Bookstore
Minneapolis, MN.
Readers: Deb Lewis, Mark Zubro, Richard Fox, Brian Bouldrey
Friday, Nov. 11
6:30 p.m.
Room of One's Own Bookstore
Madison, WI.
Readers: Kay Barrett, Deb Lewis, Mark Zubro, Richard Fox, Jeanne Theresa Newman
Saturday, Nov. 12
7:00 p.m.
Outwords Bookstore
Milwaukee, WI.
Readers: Allison Gruber, Sheree Greer, Gregg Shapiro, J. Adams Oaks, Mark Zubro
Tuesday, Nov. 15
7:00 p.m.
POW-WOW at the Jeffrey Pub
7041 S. Jeffrey Blvd., Chicago
Readers: CC Carter, Sharon Bridgforth, avery r. young, Achy Obejas, Sheree Greer
Wednesday, Nov. 16
7:00 p.m.
57th St / Seminary Co-op Bookstore
5757 S. University Ave., Chicago
Readers: Brian Bouldrey, Coya Paz, David Kodeski, Goldie Goldbloom
Thursday, Nov. 17
7:00 p.m.
Bucket O' Blood Books and Records
2307 N. Milwaukee, Chicago
Readers: Richard Fox, avery r. young, Coya Paz, Yasmin Nair, Owen Keehnen
Saturday, Nov. 19
7:30 p.m.
Sappho's Salon Lesbian Poetry Showcase
Women & Children First Bookstore
5233 N. Clark, Chicago
Featuring lesbian poets from Windy City Queer
Readers: cin salach, CC Carter, Carina Gia Farrero, Karen Lee Osborne
Wednesday, Nov. 30
7:00 p.m.
Bluestockings Bookstore
New York City
Readers: Allison Gruber, Sheree Greer, Mark Zubro, J. Adams Oaks, kay barrett
Tuesday, Dec. 6
7:00 p.m.
Homolatte at Big Chicks, Chicago IL.
Readers: Owen Keehnen, J. Adams Oaks, Yasmin Nair, Nadine Warner
Wednesday, Dec. 14
7:00 p.m.
Book Cellar
4736 N. Lincoln Ave
Readers: David Kodeski, Barrie Cole, Carina Gia Farrero, Aldo Alvarez, April Newman
Thursday, January 19
7:00
Gerber Hart Library
Readers: Karen Lee Osborne, Aldo Alvarez, Gerard Wozek, Deb Lewis, Emma Vosicky