Archive for the 'Local writer/artist' Category

Page 9 of 33

Quimby’s Opens Wicker Park Lit Fest: 3 Songs with Jonas, Marc Lazar, Kathy Moseley & The Blue Ribbon Glee Club 9/14

Published on August 17, 2017 0 Comments
Sep ’17
14
7:00 pm

Quimby’s is proud to to open this year’s Wicker Park Lit Fest with 3 Songs, the reading series that combines words and music, during a festival that celebrates this neighborhood’s rich legacy of literature and entertainment in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago. WP Lit fest continues through the 17th at a variety of venues around Wicker Park!

Three writers read one piece each, and each song is performed by Chicago’s only a cappella punk rock group The Blue Ribbon Glee Club. BRGC regularly performs songs by Fugazi, Gang of Four, the Dead Kennedys, the Buzzcocks and more.

Readers featuring their work at this performance:

Jonas, zinester – “Words and Guitar” by Sleater-Kinney

Marc Lazar, performer – “Glad Girls” by Guided By Voices

Kathy Moseley, zinester – “Dress” by PJ Harvey

Jonas writes zines and stuff. He wrote a long zine about punks and parenthood called Cheer the Eff Up, and a whole lot of other zines he probably can’t remember at the moment. They’re all probably also about punks and parenting in some stupid way. He also wrote a novel called The Greatest Most Traveling Circus. He lives here in Chicago with his wife and two little minions. He likes music a whole lot. The song he picked is “Words and Guitar,” but he almost picked David Bowie’s “Suffragette City” because aaaaaawwwwwwwww WHAM BAM THANK YOU MA’AM!

Marc Lazar works with adults with autism, and is a storyteller, former journalist, and member of BRGC. He is a fan of books, TV shows, and music about outsiders and misfits (including The Misfits), and recently discovered the joys of vegan elote pizza. (It’s better than it sounds, but kind of messy!)

Kathy Moseley has been publishing the zine SemiBold since the last century,  is a 15-year-old girl living in the body of a 50-year-old woman. She blogs at semibold.wordpress.com.

Here’s the Facebook event invite to SHARE that you’re coming!

facebook.com/wplfest

#WPLITFEST

#mychicagobookstore

facebook.com/blueribbongleeclub

 

Read local + shop small!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Coco Picard presents “Autobiography with Stones” from The Chronicles of Fortune 9/22

Published on August 15, 2017 0 Comments
Sep ’17
22
7:00 pm

On Friday, September 22nd at 7pm, Coco Picard presents “Autobiography with Stones” a diagrammed artist talk about rocks, foreign encounters, and possible futures. This performative lecture is based on a dream Picard had in which the protagonist of her graphic novel, The Chronicles of Fortune (Radiator Comics, 2017), is hired by the government to psychoanalyze non-human kinds in a post-apocalyptic world. Picard explores the potential of this prospective narrative in relation to famous rocks she has encountered and Dr. Rock, her exhibition at Franklin Gallery where visitors were invited to tell their troubles to a stone. Following the lecture, Picard will sign copies of her graphic novel.

Originally published as a series of minicomics, The Chronicles of Fortune is a quirky and idiosyncratic adventure of Fortuna, the greatest superhero who could do anything to improve the world (and her alter-ego, Edith-May) but is tragically stricken with ennui, as they learn to cope with loss and recruit a team of friends along the way. At once charming, sad, funny, poignant, and bizarre, The Chronicles of Fortune includes a temperamental stove, a nosy mountain, a goofy crocodile, a loner moth, and a singing goldfish as they lead Fortuna on her greatest adventure.

Coco Picard is an artist, writer and curator based out of Chicago where she founded The Green Lantern Press and co-founded Sector 2337. Her critical writing appears under the name Caroline Picard in Art21, Artforum, Artslant, and Hyperallergic. Astrophil Press recently published her long-form cat essay, The Strangers Among Us and forthcoming novel, TSK, is due out from Goldwake Press in 2019.  cocopicard.com 

The Chronicles of Fortune is the first book published by Radiator Comics, a comics distributor run by former Quimby’s employee Neil Brideau, also a founding member of Chicago Zine Fest and CAKE [the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo].  radiatorcomics.com

Praise for The Chronicles of Fortune

“In the guise of a fantastical hero comedy, The Chronicles of Fortune is a story about succumbing to and triumphing over loss and grief in all its forms…” – Hyperallergic

“…each facet of [The Chronicles of Fortune’s] publication illustrates how, when publishers, distributors, and creators are truly invested in a work, the result will be wonderful.”-Women Write About Comics

“The Chronicles Of Fortune stands as a confirmation of the misfit’s path in life. Not only is it okay to be different, it’s okay to look like a failure in the eyes of others. Who cares? Just you, you’re the only one who needs to care. And are you happy? That seems to be what Picard is asking.” – Comics Beat

“Edith May/Fortuna’s urban adventures are reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland’s vignettes. With the appearance of Death as the ultimate foe, Picard creates a superhero with emotional resonance and a deeply empathetic story of one woman re-entering the world.” – Chicago Artist Writers

“You should buy The Chronicles of Fortune, read it, then share it with someone you love.” – Entropy

Here’s the Facebook invite to Share that you’re coming and invite your friends!

Tags: , , , .

Poet Carrie McGath Reads From Her New Chapbook, Dollface: Poem-Songs 9/7

Published on August 8, 2017 0 Comments
Sep ’17
7
7:00 pm

Carrie McGath’s new chapbook, Dollface: Poem-Songs (self-published), is comprised of lyrical strains representing conversations between Surrealist artists, Hans Bellmer and Unica Zürn. After studying the work of these artists and their tumultuous love affair that ended with Zürn jumping out of the window of Bellmer’s Paris apartment, these poem-songs started to come to life for McGath. In addition to the poems that make up Dollface, collage emerged as well as an amalgam of work by Bellmer and Zürn commingled with McGath’s.

“Dark, playful, and startling, these poems read like a lucid dream hovering at the edge of nightmare; no, not nightmare. Ecstasy. They feel their way around staircases, ribcage muscles, gray smoke, rolling pins – oh, the “hard, cold, beautiful” rolling pin. McGath invites us to the recesses wher  e bodies revise, scatter, retrograde, reify: ‘Touch,’ she writes, ‘Your hearts are hot.’ Indeed, there is much to feel, face, and reface in these irresistible pages.” –Kathleen Blackburn, Essayist and PhD in the UIC Program for Writers

Carrie McGath’s first collection of poetry, Small Murders (New Issues Poetry and Prose, 2006) was followed by several handmade chapbooks including So Sorry to See You Go and Ward Eighty-One. Her poems have appeared in journals such as The Chariton Review, Barrow Street, The Hiram Poetry Review, Nude Bruce Review, and others. She is currently a doctoral candidate in the Program for Writers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and is at work on her second full-length poetry collection, The Luck of Anhedonia. She is also an arts contributor to Chicagoist and  resides in Chicago.

For more info: carriemcgath.com

Share the Facebook invite for this event!

Thurs, Sept 7th, 7pm – Free Event

Tags: , , .

Erin Osmon Reads From Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost & Hosts a Q&A with members of Songs: Ohia 6/17

Published on May 13, 2017 0 Comments
Jun ’17
17
7:00 pm

In Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost (Rowman & Littlefield), author Erin Osmon presents an intensely researched, yet human account of the Rust Belt-born musician Jason Molina. The songwriting giant behind the bands Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co. had a knack for spinning tales, from the many personal myths he created and cultivated throughout this life, to the volumes of oblique poems and working man ballads he penned and performed. With the help of Molina’s family, friends and record label, Osmon details Molina’s trials and triumphs, from his earliest days as a trailer park kid in Lorain, Ohio, though his extensive world touring and his last days as a struggling artist addicted to alcohol. As the first authorized account of the prolific musician, Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost provides readers with unparalleled insight into Molina’s life and the Midwest underground that supported his meteoric rise.

“In Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost, Erin Osmon gives us a riveting biography not only of a great musician whose work deserves to be much wider known, but a well-rounded portrait of a fascinating human being, as well as a glimpse into the creative process. It’s a ride well worth taking.”—Jim DeRogatis, co-host, Sound Opinions, author, Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs

Erin Osmon is a Chicago-based writer who covers music and culture. Her work has appeared in dozens of local and national publications like the Chicago Tribune and SPIN. She also writes liner notes for deluxe reissues of historic albums. For more info: erinosmon.com

Saturday, June 17, 7pm – Free Event

Invite your friends with this handy Facebook Event Invite!

Suggested listening to The Magnolia Electric Co., the seventh regular and final album by Songs: Ohia here on Spotify here!

Tags: , , , .

Nurse-cartoonist MK Czerwiec Reads From Taking Turns: Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371 5/25

Published on April 22, 2017 0 Comments
May ’17
25
7:00 pm

MK Czerwiec’s (pronounced sir-wick) new book Taking Turns (Penn State University Press) shares the story of Unit 371, a shining example of excellence in the treatment and care of patients. Unit 371 was a community for thousands of patients and families affected by HIV and AIDS and the people who cared for them. This graphic novel combines Czerwiec’s memories with the oral histories of patients, family members, and staff. It depicts life and death in the ward, the ways the unit affected and informed those who passed through it, and how many look back on their time there today. 

Deeply personal yet made up of many voices, this history of daily life in a unique AIDS care unit is an open, honest look at suffering, grief, and hope among a community of medical professionals and patients at the heart of the epidemic

“MK Czerwiec’s tales of her nursing work on an AIDS unit chart a remarkable episode in the history of medicine. Through the lives and deaths of individual patients, written and drawn in documentary detail, we see the power dynamic between doctor and patient begin to shift. When cure is not an option, care takes on a new meaning.”         –Alison Bechdel

Czerwiec is a leader in the field of Graphic Medicine, which examines the intersection of comics and health, illness, and care giving.  Czerwiec is a co-author of the Graphic Medicine Manifesto (Penn State University Press, 2015), which was nominated for an Eisner Award. She has also self-published three collections of comics, Comic Nurse, Comic Nurse Delivers Another Dose, and Scars, Stories, and Other Adventures.

For more info: www.comicnurse.com 

Here’s the Event Post for this on Facebook to tell everybody you’re coming!

Thurs, May 25th, 7pm – Free Event

Tags: , .