Archive for the 'Store Events' Category

On April 18, Chicago-based writer John Sheppard (author of the cult novel Small Town Punk), author/editor Luca Dipierro, and illustrator Rachel Bradley will be in Chicago reading from the anthology of short stories Santi: Lives of Modern Saints at Quimby’s Bookstore (1854 W. North Ave. Chicago, IL  60622). Reading starts at 7 pm.

Santi: Lives of Modern Saints is an anthology of short stories published by Black Arrow Studio & Press, edited by Luca Dipierro and N. Frank Daniels and illustrated by visual artist Rachel Bradley. Santi brings together some of the most original new voices in contemporary fiction from the US and Italy like Dan Chaon, Rob Roberge, David R. Matthews, John Sheppard, Grant Bailie, Roy Kesey, James P. Othmer, Greg Downs, Giona A. Nazzaro, Claudio Morandini and more.

Revisiting the ancient genre of hagiography (from ancient Greek: biography of saints), Santi: Lives of Modern Saints is a playful reinterpretation of religious images and myths. Twenty-six provocative tales of madness, murder, sin and redemption, fear and folly that peer deeply into the human psyche.

Poet and essayist Bracken Sparks wrote about the book: “The saints in Santi: Lives of Modern Saints are not the saints of eternity. They are the saints of the moment, saints of the small and undone. Their feast days are likely to be any Tuesday night eating Sam’s Club macaroni and cheese. They are sociopathic loners, cubicle prophets, natural heretics, and frayed at the edges, as if painted by Francis Bacon or Dana Schutz.”

Links:
www.blackarrowpress.com
www.youtube.com/blackarrowstudio
www.smalltownpunk.blogspot.com
www.lucadipierro.com
www.rachelbradley.net

With readings from:

Spencer Dew, author of the collection of stories Songs of Insurgency

Jeremy Biles, editor of Chicago Artists’ News and author of  Ecce Monstrum: Georges Bataille and the Sacrifice of Form

Nick Ostdick, author of Sunbeams and Cigarettes

Jill Summers, whose work has been featured on Chicago Public Radio, the Third Coast International Audio Festival, and New Adventures in Sound Art.

More Info TBA

The 2ndHand Release Event with Jill Summers, Lauren Pretnar, Ling Ma and Chris Bower at Quimby’s!

We at THE2NDHAND are celebrating the release of our 27th print broadsheet with readings by Jill Summers, Lauren Pretnar, Ling Ma and Chris Bower. All Hosted by the inimitable C.T. Ballentine

Jill Summers‘ audio fiction has been featured by Chicago Public Radio, the Third Coast International Audio Festival and New Adventures in Sound Art. She lives and writes in Chicago.

Chris Bower is a playwright and fiction writer who contributes to THE2NDHAND.

Ling Ma is the Reads Editor of Venus Zine. She divides her time between New York and Chicago, both cities in which she roams the streets, still goes to the cinema, and otherwise leads a sedentary lifestyle of freelance assignments and writing fiction.

Lauren Pretnar holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the city in which she lives and writes. In addition to various reviews and other published work, certain of her plays have seen stage time at the Pac/Edge fest and at Prop Thtr.