Women & Children First announces July events - 2817 - Gay Lesbian Bi Trans News

At Women & Children First in July:

Wednesday, July 8 at 7 p.m.

I Live For Trans Education

Screening Event

Join the Trans Oral History Project for a screening and discussion of documentary shorts from I Live for Trans Education, a grassroots multimedia curriculum. Learn about how Chicago activists brought together trans folks from across a racial, class, and cultural spectrum to develop educational material about issues effecting the transgender community. This is an opportunity for trans educators, youth workers, and youth leaders to learn about how to use this multimedia toolkit to educate about issues that impact the trans community from an intersectional perspective.

Thursday, July 9 at 7:30 p.m.

Patricia Skalka

Death at Gills Rock

Reading and Signing

A READ LOCAL EVENT

Angst-laden former Chicago homicide detective Dave Cubiak uncovers long-buried secrets in this sequel to Death Stalks Door County. Now the sheriff of Door County, Cubiak is bothered by inconsistent details at the scene where three prominent locals, heroes from World War II, have died in an apparent accident at Gills Rock. Cubiak studies the people involved more than the physical evidence, peeling back decades of deception by the dead men. Skalka writes with rich detail about her story's setting and with unflinching empathy for her characters. Patricia Skalka, a Chicago writer, turned to fiction following a successful career in nonfiction, as a staff writer for Reader's Digest, freelancer, ghostwriter, writing instructor, and book reviewer.

Friday, July 10 at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m.

Caitlin Moran

How to Build a Girl

Reading & Signing

**Please note: this is a ticketed event that will be held at the Swedish American Museum ( 5211 N. Clark Street ). Doors open at 7 p.m. In order to attend, you can buy a $10 ticket or a copy of ANY of Moran's books from Women & Children First. Tickets are available by calling the bookstore at 773-769-9299 or coming to the store in person.

Caitlin Moran, dubbed the "British Tina Fey," is an award-winning British broadcaster, TV critic, and columnist at the Times and the author of the bestselling, raucously hilarious essay collection How to Be a Woman. Moran has been named British Press Awards Columnist of the Year, Critic of the Year, and Interviewer of the Year. Her first novel, How to Build a Girl, soon to be released in paperback, begins in 1990 and follows the rise of fourteen-year-old Johanna Morrigan, who has shamed herself so badly on local TV that she decides that there's no point in being Johanna anymore and reinvents herself as Dolly Wilde—fast-talking, hard-drinking gothic hero and full-time "Lady Sex Adventurer." How to Build a Girl is a funny and heartbreakingly evocative story of self-discovery and invention. The reading will be followed by a Q&A and book signing.

Tuesday, July 14 at 7:30 p.m.

Sappho's Salon: A monthly performance salon, featuring expressions of queerness, gender and feminism

Co-curated by Eileen Tull and Liz Baudler

Sappho's Salon continues to enjoy its mighty return! Month after month, we've had standing room only for this performance series featuring female-identifying performers exploring gender, sexuality, and feminism in their work. This month, Sappho's will present a curated showcase of local performers, including storytellers Lily Be and Maggie Jenkins, solo performance artist Hope Miller, and your co-host Eileen Tull. Check out the Sappho's Salon Facebook page for more information. Doors open at 7 p.m., and performances begin at 7:30. Admission is $7-10, sliding scale, benefitting our featured performers and the Women's Voices Fund. Please direct questions to sapphoswcf@gmail.com .

Thursday, July 16 at 7:30 p.m.

Roxane Gay, Bonnie Jo Campbell, and April Lindala

Here: Women Writing on Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Reading and Signing

We are thrilled to host this phenomenal reading, signing, and discussion featuring Roxane Gay, Bonnie Jo Campbell, and April Lindala. These three authors will be discussing and reading their contributions to Here: Women Writing on Chicago's Upper Peninsula. This anthology explores the question, "How does place impact prose?" by drawing on the fiction and nonfiction of Upper Peninsula authors past and present. Roxane Gay is the author of Bad Feminist, Untamed State, and Ayiti. Her work has appeared in McSweeney's, Tin House, the New York Times, the Nation, the Rumpus, and many others. She is the co-editor of PANK. Her highly anticipated memoir Hunger is coming in 2016. Bonnie Jo Campbell is the author of Q Road, Once Upon a River, and American Salvage, which was a finalist for the 2009 National Book Award in Fiction. She will return to Women & Children First in October to celebrate her forthcoming collection Mothers Tell Your Daughters. She lives with her husband and other animals outside Kalamazoo, and she teaches writing in the low residency program at Pacific University. April Lindala is the director of the Center for Native American Studies at Northern Michigan University where she also teaches. She has had several poems published in various anthologies. Most recently, she was the project director and assistant editor for the anthology Voice on the Water: Great Lakes Native America Now.

Friday, July 17 at 7:30 p.m.

Bert Ashe

Twisted: My Dreadlock Chronicles

Reading and Signing

After forty years, author and professor Bert Ashe began the long, arduous, and uncertain process of growing dreadlocks in an attempt to step out of his conventional American life. As his hair takes on a life of its own, Ashe chronicles the reactions of his family, friends, strangers, and colleagues—along with his own frustration and bewilderment at his locked hair. With humor and exacting self-reflection, Ashe uses his own experience not only to explain the history of dreadlocks, but also to unpack the complicated issues of identity, politics, gender, and culture in America. Bert Ashe is an associate professor of English and American Studies at the University of Richmond. He earned an MA in English at Virginia Commonwealth University and a doctorate at the College of William and Mary. He has been published in numerous academic journals and has contributed to several essay collections. He lives in Virginia with his wife.

Tuesday, July 21 at 4 p.m.

Where's Waldo Party: Waldo on the Loose!

Where's Waldo returns to Andersonville! This year, participants need to:

Pick up their Waldo Passport at Women & Children First any time after July 1st.

Travel to at least five of the participating businesses to find Waldo and get their passports stamped.

Bring their stamped passport to Women & Children First on Tuesday, July 21st at 4 p.m. for a Waldo on the Loose Party with snacks, games, and activities! Participants with passports that have five stamps or more will be entered into a raffle for fantastical prizes, many of which have been donated by local businesses.

Thursday, July 23 at 7:30 p.m.

Michael Czyzniejewski

I Will Love You for the Rest of My Life: Breakup Stories

Reading and Signing

Michael Czyzniejewski examines twenty-nine cases of human love at their most critical junctures, bearing witness to the absurdity of longing. An astronaut's husband cheats while his wife is in space; a man exploits his peanut allergy for kinky sex; a blind date turns into a bestial kidnapping. Self-doubt, unshakable distrust, unrequited longing, and the prospect of eternal loneliness haunt these romantics. Michael Czyzniejewski is the author of Elephants in Our Bedroom and Chicago Stories: 40 Dramatic Fictions. He received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship for his fiction. He is an assistant professor at Missouri State University and managing editor of Moon City Review. He lives in Springfield, Missouri, with his family.

Saturday July 25 ( 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ) - Sunday, July 26 ( 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. )

Annual Used Book Sale to benefit the Women's Voices Fund

Mark your calendars! Our annual used book sale ( part of Andersonville's Sidewalk Sale weekend ) will be taking place July 25th and 26th! Book lovers and bargain hunters won't want to miss this Women & Children First tradition and opportunity to treasure hunt through the stacks for great deals on fiction, nonfiction, children's books, LGBTQ titles, CDs, DVDs, and collectibles; all priced to sell. Proceeds benefit our nonprofit arm, the Women's Voices Fund.

Monday, July 27 at 7 p.m.

Dynamic Dialogue Writing Workshop with Eileen Favorite

Writing Workshop

Join local writer Eileen Favorite for this writing workshop, which focuses on strategies to create more vivid, informative, and compelling dialogue. She'll lead a discussion about what dialogue accomplishes more efficiently than narrative, how and when to use taglines, and tips for developing your ear for dialogue. Short exercises and the examination of short stories will help participants identify dialogue that hits the mark. The workshop is $30 payable to Plume Writing Studios on Paypal. Eileen Favorite's novel, The Heroines, was named a best debut novel by the Rocky Mountain News. Her essays, poems, and stories have appeared in many publications, including Triquarterly, The Chicago Reader, and Poetry East. She's received fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council for poetry and for prose. She teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies.

Wednesday, July 29 at 7 p.m.

From Bloomers to Lycra: Three Short Films Celebrating Women and Cycling

Co-sponsored by Women Bike Chicago

Come to this viewing and discussion of three short documentary films directed by women about women who have found self-empowerment and happiness on their bicycles: The Wind in Our Hair; The New Woman: Annie 'Londonderry' Kopchovsky; and Georgena Terry. The Wind in Our Hair, directed by Jennifer Hardacker, is a mini documentary following the personal experiences of five women that represent various ages, riding abilities, and backgrounds. The film also touches on issues of gender inequality in sport, body image issues, and exercise as a means to combat depression. The New Woman, directed by Gillian K. Willman, tells the story of 23-year-old Jewish immigrant and mother of three Annie "Londonderry" Kopchovsky. In 1894, Annie climbed aboard a 42-pound bicycle and set off from the tenements of Boston to circle the globe. At the time, the New York World called her trip "the most extraordinary journey ever undertaken by a woman." Georgena Terry is a 6-minute documentary, directed by Amanda Zackem, about the founder of Terry Bicycles. Terry revolutionized the women's biking industry by creating a women-specific frame. This is the story of how she got her start and the challenges within the women's biking movement.

Thursday, July 30 at 7:30 p.m.

Ella Leya

The Orphan Sky

Reading and Signing

Set in the late 1970s Soviet Azerbaijan, The Orphan Sky introduces Leila, a young piano prodigy from a privileged family. Leila's life takes a dramatic turn when she receives an assignment from her communist mentor to investigate a music shop suspected of funneling Western influences to young people. But when Leila meets Tahir, the rebellious painter who owns the music shop, she falls in love with his jazz recordings, abstract art, and subversive political opinions—and, ultimately, Tahir himself. When their relationship is exposed, Leila must make an impossible choice. Ella Leya was born to communist parents in Baku, Azerbaijan. She studied composition at the Moscow Conservatory of Music. Her album of children's songs has sold nine million copies. She now lives in Laguna Beach and London with her husband and son. The Orphan Sky is her first novel.

Friday, July 31 at 7:30 p.m.

Sara Paretsky

Brush Back

Reading and Signing

A Read Local Event

Paretsky's latest novel finds our intrepid Chicago private investigator doing a favor for old high school boyfriend Frank Guzzo. Back in the South Side neighborhood, the Warshawski clan and the Guzzos have a long-standing and seemingly inexplicable feud, but V.I. reluctantly agrees to look into an unlikely claim that Stella, Frank's mother, was framed for the bludgeoning death of her daughter Annie, 25 years ago. Against her better judgment, V.I. pursues the case, raising the hackles of the friends, family, and colleagues readers have come to know. Longtime friend of the bookstore, Sara Paretsky is the author of twenty books, including the renowned V. I. Warshawski novels. She was named 2011 Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America and is also the recipient of the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award given by the British Crime Writers Association. She lives in Chicago.

Save the Dates

Wednesday, August 5 at 7:30 p.m.

Robin McLean

Reptile House

Reading and Signing

Thursday, August 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Martha Ertman

Love's Promises: How Formal and Informal Contracts Shape All Kinds of Families

Reading and Signing

Thursday, August 13 at 7:30 p.m.

Rebecca Makkai

Music for Wartime