Archive for the 'Store Events' Category

Akashic authors Robert Arellano & Shawn Shiflett read from their new books Don Dimaio of La Plata & Hidden PlaceMonday March 22nd 7PM
 
Robert Arellano is the author of Don Dimaio of La Plata Roberto Bobby Arellano De Nueva Jersey taught creative writing at Brown University and is the author of Fast Eddie: King of the Bees. His short fiction has appeared in the Kenyon Review and Jane. As an indie musician, Arellano has performed with Will Oldham, Havanarama, and Nick Cave.
 
Shawn Shiflett is the author of Hidden Place He is a professor in the Fiction Writing department at Columbia College Chicago. He is working on a second novel Hey, Liberal about a white boy in a predominantly African-American high school one year after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Shiflett was born and raised in Chicago, and currently lives in La Grange, Illinois with his wife and two children.
 
Don Dimaio of La Plata, a selection of the Akashic Urban Surreal series, is Robert Arellano\’s wickedly funny novel about the adventures of a high-flying American mayor who\’s always pimping the keys to his city with a bribe in his pocket, a straw up his nose, and an ape who’s just escaped from the zoo on his tail. Between grand openings and ribbon-cuttings, a trusty trooper named Pancho Sanchez muscles the black limo with numero-uno license plate through traffic while in back Mayor Don “PALLY” Dimaio (bearing a remarkable resemblance to former Providence, RI mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci who is currently serving a five-year sentence in federal prison for racketeering and corruption) swigs cognac from a flask, exposes his privates (which he nicknames “Rock Sinatra”), and holds strategy meetings with strippers from the Crafty Beaver. No matter how naughty his behavior or tacky his toupees, the people of La Plata can’t get enough of Donald “Pally” Dimaio and the jars of sauce, “Dimaio’s Own Mayonnaise,” he hawks at every fundraiser.
 
HIDDEN PLACE is Shiflett\’s suspenseful and provocative literary debut, set in Chicago and Puerto Escondido, a small Mexican beach town 150 miles south of Acapulco. Told in a strong vernacular voice, the story focuses on six major characters, all of them highly flawed and uncomfortably real. The narrator, Roman Pearson, and his girlfriend, Mila Popovic, take a vacation together to Escondido in the hopes of patching up their deteriorating relationship.
 
Both authors will read and sign copies of thier new books

Saturday March 13th 2PM
 
Join us in celebrating the publication of the literary magazines, Pigeon & Bluewith readings from contributing authors: Joe Meno, Deb Lewis, Amanda Snyder. Elizabeth Yokas, Chris Maul Rice & Antonia Logue
 
Pigeon is a literary journal featuring fiction, essays, poetry, and nonfiction. Its mission is to provide a forum for writers to showcase their excellent work, and to discover who’s out there writing what. It has no themes, no topics, no word count. This no-restrictions format allows Pigeon to fill its pages with a wide range of work and a wealth of voices.
 
Blue is dedicated to publishing works by, for, and about the working class. It fills an unnecessary void in the publishing world – championing voices and subject matter that is often overlooked in the literary mainstream.
 
Joe Meno’s two novels are Tender as Hellfire and How the Hula Girl Sings. His third novel, Hairstyles of the Damned will be released this summer through Punk Planet books. He teaches creative writing at Columbia College Chicago.
 
Deb Lewis earned her MFA in Creative Writing at Columbia College and holds a Director’s Certificate from the Story Workshop Institute. Her writing has appeared in Dyversity, International Drummer, Bad Attitude, Sleepwalk, and many other publications. She teaches in the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago and has recently finished a novel.
 
Amanda Snyder is a graduate student in the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago and also a freelance writer for metromix.com. Her work has appeared in Blue, Hair Trigger, and GenX Webzine.
 
Elizabeth Yokas is an adjunct faculty member in the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago, and a graduate of its MFA program. Her work has appeared in Sleepwalk, Hair Trigger 17-19, Glasshouse, the Tap and many others.
 
Chris Maul Rice’s short stories have appeared in Hair Trigger and Emergence. Her feature stories appear regularly in Chicago Tribune’s Health and Family section and Gravity magazine. She wrote for Detroit’s MetroTimes newspaper and MetroParent magazine, where one of her articles prompted a Justice Department investigation.
 
Antonia Logue published her first novel, Shadow-Box at the age of twenty-six. The book won the Irish Times Literature Prize and placed her on the London Observer’s Twenty-One Writers for the Twenty-First Century list. Born in County Derry, Ireland and educated at Trinity College in Dublin, she has been a freelance journalist and literary critic for such publications as the Guardian, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Irish Times, and more. She currently teaches in the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago.
 
More info can be found at www.pigeonmagazine.com

A Reading of tales filled with hope, despair, agony, real human emotion, and words, brought to you by Gregory Jacobsen, Patrick Bertram, and Daniel Gleason.
Thursday February 26th 8:00PM
 
This is your chance to meet three of Alexandre Dumas’s most valued ghost writers during the period in which he ‘wrote’ Count of Monte Christo, and more importantly, Le Chevalier De Maison-Rouge. Come hear them read stories they did not totally get screwed out of credit for on this magical night. And please-remember to wear your most frilly 19th Century garb!
 
Gregory Jacobsen paints pictures. He performs in a band called “Lovely Little Girls.” He cuts up pulp novels, cookbooks, encyclopedias, and medical books to write his concrete prose.
 
Patrick Bertram is a local resident. He is moving though, and would like to spend more quality time with his friend Dan, so he is glad to be here. May your time here tonight refresh you.
 
Dan Gleason writes incessantly because no one will talk to him. He is a scotch guard huffer. He sells 9 books at Quimby’s because it makes him feel like ‘a somebody.’ Dan is currently in his house nursing a large boil under is right ear lobe.