Women & Children First Loves Chicago Books to Women in Prison
Donation Drive
January 2 through February 14
We're kicking off the new year by partnering with one of our favorite non-profits, Chicago Books to Women in Prison. This all-volunteer 501( c )( 3 ) sends paperback books free of charge to incarcerated women nationwide. Women mail in their requests for books, then CBWP volunteers match each request from their stock of donated books. The group is dedicated to offering women who otherwise would have little or no access to books the opportunities for self-empowerment, education, and entertainment that reading provides. Now through Valentine's Day, stop by Women & Children First and buy a gift card of any denomination that will go to CBWP so that they can provide women in prison the books they actually want to read and request the most.
Friday, January 11 at 7 p.m.
TransWorks Poetry Reading
Please join us for a poetry reading with Chicago House's TransWorks Mentorship Program, in partnership with Literature for All of Us. This evening of poetry is hosted by Mara Williamson & Niki and features readings by Cassie, Keegan, Casper Hanney, Angel Nordstrom, and Mara Williamson.
Monday, January 14 at 7 p.m.
Karina Longworth, author of Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes's Hollywood,
presents Outrage Screening and Author Talk at Chicago Filmmakers, 5720 N. Ridge
Tickets on sale now! We're almost sold out!
In Outrage, a young woman's life is shattered when she is raped on her way home from work. This black-and-white B movie is notable for being only the second post-Code Hollywood film to deal with the issue of rape. Seduction reveals a riveting history of Hollywood's glamorous Golden Age through the stories of actresses pursued by Howard Hughes. Karina Longworth is the creator, producer, and host of You Must Remember This, a podcast on the secret and forgotten history of 20th-century Hollywood.
Thursday, January 17 at 7 p.m.
Amy Gentry in conversation with Layne Fargo Last Woman Standing
Author Reading
When Dana Diaz, an aspiring stand-up comedian, meets tough computer programmer Amanda Dorn, the two bond over their struggles in boys' club professions. Amanda comes up with a plan to go after each other's assailants, but Dana finds that revenge draws her into a more complicated series of betrayals. Amy Gentry is the author of Good as Gone, a New York Times Book Review Notable Book. Layne Fargo's forthcoming novel, Temper, will published in the summer of 2019.
Wednesday, January 23 at 7 p.m.
Amelia Bonow & Kaylen Ralph, Shout Your Abortion
Anthology Reading
Join SYA Co-founder Amelia Bonow and local abortion storytellers to share stories and discuss the power of personal experience as a tool for activism. Amelia Bonow is the founding director of Shout Your Abortion, a nationwide movement working to create places for people to discuss their abortions in art. Kaylen Ralph writes features about politics and policy for the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.
Friday, January 25 at 7 p.m.
Rachel DeWoskin
Someday We Will Fly
Book Launch Party
The year is 1940 and Lillia is fifteen when her mother, Alenka, disappears and her father takes her and her younger sister, Naomi, to Shanghai, one of the few places that will accept Jews without visas.The Americans declare war, and the Japanese force the Americans in Shanghai into camps. Can they survive, caught in the crossfire? Rachel DeWoskin is the author of numerous books, including Foreign Babes in Beijing, Repeat After Me, and Big Girl Small, which received the American Library Association's Alex Award for an adult book with special appeal to teen readers.
Wednesday, January 30 at 7 p.m.
Am I Man Enough?
A Storytelling Show & Podcast
Am I Man Enough? is a storytelling show and podcast featuring folks from all backgrounds sharing personal stories that critically examine the culture of toxic masculinity and the construction of manhood. January's lineup includes Maya Haughton, LeVan D. Hawkins, Himabindu Poroori, Anne Purky, Tony Ho Tran, and Wil Whedbee.
Thursday, January 31 at 7 p.m.
E. Patrick Johnson
Black. Queer. Southern. Women: An Oral History
Jennifer Nash
Black Feminism Reimagined: After Intersectionality
Joint Book Launch Party
E. Patrick Johnson's Black. Queer. Southern. Women. is drawn from the life narratives of more than seventy African American queer Southern women. Black Feminism Reimagined by Jennifer C. Nash outlines how women's studies has elevated intersectionality to the discipline's primary program-building initiative and casts intersectionality as a threat to feminism's coherence. E. Patrick Johnson is the chair of African American Studies at Northwestern University. Jennifer C. Nash is associate professor of African American Studies and Gender & Sexuality Studies at Northwestern University.
Friday, February 1 at 7 p.m.
Daisy Johnson in conversation with Laura Adamczyk
Everything Under
Author Reading
Gretel grew up on a houseboat with her mother, wandering the canals of Oxford and speaking a private language of their own invention. Her mother disappeared when Gretel was a teen, but one phone call from her mother is all it takes for the past to come rushing back. Daisy Johnson is the author of the short story collection Fen. Laura Adamczyk's fiction has appeared in Hobart, the Chicago Reader, and PANK.
Wednesday, February 6 at 7 p.m.
Chloe Benjamin in conversation with Rebecca Makkai
The Immortalists
Paperback Tour
It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side and a traveling psychic claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. Four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness sneak out to hear their fortunes. The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice. Chloe Benjamin is the author of The Anatomy of Dreams, which received the Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award. Rebecca Makkai is the author of numerous books, including The Great Believers.
Friday, February 8 at 7 p.m.
Ann Russo
Feminist Accountability: Disrupting Violence and Transforming Power
Book Launch Party
In Feminist Accountability noted feminist scholar and activist Ann Russo offers an intersectional analysis of three areas of feminism in practice: anti-racist work, community accountability, and transformative justice. Russo shows us how we might contribute to the feminist work of transforming oppression and violence. Ann Russo is associate professor of Women's and Gender Studies and director of the Women's Center at DePaul University.
Save the Date
Saturday, February 9 at 11 a.m.
Cozbi A. Cabrera
My Hair Is a Garden
Kids' Story time
Sunday, February 10 at 6 p.m.
One Book One Northwestern: The Handmaid's Tale Fan Fiction Reading
Thursday, February 14 at 7 p.m.
Anne Elizabeth Moore
Sweet Little Cunt
Author Reading
Thursday, February 21 at 7 p.m.
Dave Cullen in conversation with
Heidi Stevens
Parkland
Author Reading & Book Signing
Please note: this event will be held at the Swedish American Museum
( 5211 N. Clark St. )
Friday, February 22 at 7 p.m.
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarsinha
Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice
Author Reading
Sunday, February 24 at 4 p.m.
Lucy Knisley
Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos
Book Launch Party
Wednesday, February 27 at 7 p.m.
Anissa Gray
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls
Author Reading
Friday, March 1 at 7 p.m.
Jacinda Bulle, Jaquanda Villegas, Monica Trinida, Rain Wilson, and Claudia de la Cruz
FILLINZ: Put Some Respect on It
A Prose Coloring Book Presentation
Book Groups
Family of Women Book Group
Sunday, Jan. 6 at 2 p.m.
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
Feminist Book Group
Sunday, Jan. 13 at 4 p.m.
This Bridge Called My Back edited by Cherrie Moraga & Gloria Anzaldua
Teens First Book Group
Sunday, Jan. 13 at 5 p.m.
Renegades by Marissa Meyer
Women's Book Group
Tuesday, Jan. 15 at 7:30 p.m.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Social Justice Book Group
Sunday, Jan. 20 at 2:30 p.m.
TBA
Classics of Women's Literature
Book Group
Monday, Jan. 21 at 7:15 p.m.
Bastard Out of Carolina
by Dorothy Allison
Women Aging with Wisdom & Grace Discussion & Potluck
Sunday, Jan. 27
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Suggested Reading: Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney