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The CWG Presents: Prompts/Prompted Here at Quimby’s 9/23

Published on August 27, 2011 0 Comments
Sep ’11
23
7:00 pm

The Creative Writing Guild presents it’s latest publication, Prompts/Prompted. The dual issue is a compilation of instructions for experimental writing, and the CWG’s own written results. Five CWG contributors will read selections from the books, explain instructions, and share recent summer writing. Bring a pen and paper.

The Creative Writing Guild aims to share experimental and traditional writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago writing community.

cwgsaic.blogspot.com

Fri, Sep 23rd, 7pm

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Rebekah Mercuri Reads From Weeding the Seeds of Deceit 9/15

Published on August 16, 2011 0 Comments
Sep ’11
15
7:00 pm

Many of the events experienced by the main character of Rebekah Mercuri’s debut novel echo the true-life experiences of the author, who herself, was involved in a Christian Cult.

Weeding the Seeds of Deceit is a story of Hope Locker, a young woman seeking closure to the haunting and vivid memories of an impoverished life, beginning with the manipulations and contradictions from a Christian Cult her parents joined in her youth.  When the prophet of the cult threatens their lives, the family escapes to Texas to live with Hope’s paternal grandfather. The deep affliction her parents feel from dragging the family into such annihilation leads them down an even more despairing and destructive path. Despite the cult experience, Hope maintains her faith through prayer, and music later becomes her sole outlet from life’s chaos, and provides her with the inspiration to follow her dreams.

 

REBEKAH MERCURI is a writer and mother of two. She had a unique and nomadic childhood as a member of a Christian cult. Her experiences inspired her to pen her debut fiction novel, Weeding the Seeds of Deceit. Mercuri was born in Anaheim, California and was educated at Columbia College Chicago, where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Fiction Writing. She also holds an Associate’s degree in Marketing and Business Management from Cincinnati State Community College. She resides in Chicago, Illinois and is currently working on a her next novel.

 

Thurs, Sep 15th, 7pm

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CCLaP Releases American Wasteland: Bleak Tales of the Future On the Tenth Anniversary of 9/11

Published on August 16, 2011 2 Comments
Sep ’11
9
7:00 pm

With all the talk of “hope” and “honor” that was bound to arise during the tenth anniversary of September 11th, the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography (CCLaP) thought it was important to also remind the future of what the last ten years have REALLY been like. That’s why the center put together this latest anthology, which took a dark science-fiction conceit as its core and then invited a series of writers across the nation to pen stories set within that alternative universe. In this case, the stories look back from a fictional twentieth anniversary of 9/11, but one where John McCain won the 2008 and ’12 elections, then Sarah Palin in 2016 and ’20; and with no government bailouts, no withdrawals from the Middle East, and no attempts to move away from an oil-based economy, the US has become a much bleaker and more terrible place, a nation that is now used to rolling electricity blackouts two or three days a week and that is just about to go to war with Mexico, where the permanently unemployed squat in half-finished McMansions out in crumbling suburbs that almost completely lack both gasoline and fresh fruit. A sobering reminder of what life under Tea Party rule would likely be like, “American Wasteland” is an antidote to the false cheeriness and optimism that has come with the tenth anniversary of 9/11, a more realistic look at all the mistakes this nation has made between then and now.

Various local contributors to this anthology will be performing at Quimby’s that night, including DELPHINE PONTVIEUX (“ETA: Estimated
Time of Arrest”), MARK R. BRAND (“Life After Sleep”) and LAWRENCE SANTORO (“Just North of Nowhere”). CCLaP itself (cclapcenter.com) is a
mostly online organization that has been open since 2007, a regular publisher of both electronic and handmade paper books, as well as such other activities as a podcast, 150 book reviews a year at its blog, and half a dozen live events annually at various venues across the city.

Friday, September 9th, 7pm

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Anders Nilsen Celebrates Big Questions at Lula Cafe with Quimby’s 8/30

Published on August 1, 2011 1 Comment
Aug ’11
30
7:00 pm

Anders Nilsen’s graphic novel collection of Big Questions is coming out, and we’re going to celebrate with him at Lula Cafe on August 30th at 7pm.

A haunting postmodern fable, Big Questions is the magnum opus of Anders Nilsen, one of the brightest and most talented young cartoonists working today. This beautiful and minimalist story, collected here for the first time, is the culmination of ten years and over 600 pages of work that details the metaphysical quandaries of the occupants of an endless plain, existing somewhere between a dream and a Russian steppe. A downed plane is thought to be a bird and the unexploded bomb that came from it is mistaken for a giant egg by the group of birds whose lives the story follows. The indifferent and stranded pilot is of great interest to the birds–some doggedly seek his approval, while others do quite the opposite, leading to tensions in the group. Nilsen seamlessly moves from humor to heartbreak. His distinctive, detailed line work is paired with plentiful white space and large, often frameless panels, conveying an ineffable sense of vulnerability and openness.

Big Questions has roots in classic fable–the story’s birds and snakes have more to say than their human counterparts and there are hints of the classic hero’s journey, but the easy moral that closes most fables is left here as open and ambiguous. Rather than lending its world meaning, Nilsen’s parable lets the questions wander out to go where they will.

Paperback, 7.25 x 9.25, colour, 658 pages

Anders will be joined by John Porcellino of King-Cat Comics and Stories, and local fiction writer Kyle Beachy (The Slide) and Zak Sally (Like a Dog Recidivist, former bassist of Low, editor of La Mano Press).

Please note that this event is NOT AT QUIMBY’S!

It is at Lula Cafe which is at 2537 N. Kedzie Blvd, Chicago
lulacafe.com
773-489-9554

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Carrie McGath Reads From So Sorry to See You Go

Published on August 1, 2011 0 Comments
Aug ’11
27
7:00 pm

Carrie McGath’s first collection of poems, Small Murders, was released in 2006 from New Issues Poetry and Prose. Ward-Eighty-One and The Chase are her self-published, limited-edition collections released in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Her newest self-published chapbook, So Sorry to See You Go is in a limited 50-edition run with the cover design by Bailey Romaine. The poems are inspired by Carrie’s thesis research at the Newberry Library about the presence of the circus in the Midwest. Carrie grew up in Youngstown, Ohio. Youngstown’s strange persona remains with Carrie, along with her dark Irish ancestral roots seeped in secrets, illness, and superstition. Carrie currently lives in Chicago where she is a poet, visual artist and art writer for Chicago Art Magazine She also contributes to Art:21 Blog’s “Open Enrollment” column. Her blog dollwork.org is devoted to film, literature, art, and other nooks of culture where dolls appear.  She lives with her sweet and spoiled cats, Seamus and Hortense.

“Juxtaposing imagery of fractured delicacy, birds’ wings, eggshells and doll’s heads, with uncompromising hardness of gun barrels and wooden chests, she captures an uncanny world where a semblance of normality veils overripe fantasies and violence.”    ~~ Aisha Motiani, Milwaukee’s Shepherd Express

For more info: carriemcgath.com