5/28 After Hours with The Ground Is Uneven

Published on May 10, 2026 Closed
May
28
6:30 pm

After Hours with The Ground Is Uneven: Th. 5/28, 6:30-8 pm
Quimby’s Bookstore, 1854 W. North Ave, Chicago

The Ground Is Uneven is run by Editor and Creative Writer Adam Kaz in collaboration with Art Director Grimm Shapfel. Justin Wilde  served as the art director for the first issue. 

Sporting a highly visual format, The Ground is Uneven presents evocative short stories paired with striking illustrations. Adam developed much of the early content, manages the magazine’s web presence, and edits all submissions.

After Hours will feature this stacked roster of readers from the pages of The Ground is Uneven, an open mic, and a live interview with the editor on their process!

Adam Kaz (he/him) is a Chicago-based writer, critic, marketing professional, and editor-in-chief of The Ground Is Uneven, an arts and literary journal. His fiction has appeared in Flash Fiction Magazine, Milwaukee Avenue Messenger, Fabula Argentea, literally stories, The Ground Is Uneven, MoonPark Review, Poetries in English Magazine, and Maudlin House.

Amrit Sooch (she/her) is a Chicago-based poet whose work brings awareness to women’s health. Her poetry collection Pain & Paper was published in 2024, and her work is forthcoming in The Ground Is Uneven.

Jon Murphy (he/him) is a Chicago-based writer of copy by day and fiction by night/lunch break. He’s a proud contributor to The Ground is Uneven.

Maranda Raskin (she/her) is a writer and food systems policy professional based in Chicago. She runs a neighborhood writing group that self-publishes an annual zine just for fun. Ask her about it!

After Hours is a production of Taylor Thornburg in partnership with Quimby’s!

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Pay what you can afford in person or via Venmo.
Suggested: $10
Venmo: @quimbysbookstore
Please include “After Hours” in the note!

Your generous donation directly supports artist honorariums and ensures the continuation of this program. We are so grateful for your support of local creators, Quimby’s Bookstore, and DIY culture—we truly couldn’t do it without you!

Your generous donation directly supports artist honorariums and ensures the continuation of this program. We are so grateful for your support of local authors, publishers, creators, Quimby’s Bookstore, and DIY culture—we truly couldn’t do it without you!

4/30 After Hours with L’Esprit Literary Review

Published on April 20, 2026 Closed
Apr
30
6:30 pm

After Hours with L’Esprit Literary Review: Th. 4/30 6:30
Quimby’s Bookstore, 1854 W. North Ave, Chicago

L’Esprit was founded in February 2022, the centenary month of the publication of Ulysses. The journal was thus born in celebration of the literary revolution of consciousness represented by High Modernism, and seeks to publish work in that spirit.
For After Hours L’Esprit has curated a stacked roster of Chicago writers:
Joyce Goldenstern  is the author of the novel IN THEIR RUIN (Black Heron Press 2024)
Allison Elizabeth is a Chicago based writer, actress, and caffeine addict. You can check out her work in Milwaukee Avenue Messenger’s Winter 2026 issue, and JELLizine vol. 3: Articulate. Allison is a prose reader for L’Esprit Literary Review, and a blog writer for the JELLiblog.
Devyn Andrews is a graduate of the University of Illinois-Chicago Program for Writers. Her work has been published in Chicago Review of Books, Cutthroat, Memezine, and elsewhere. Previously, she lived in Boston and Sacramento.
Rachel León is a writer, editor, and social worker, who serves as Managing Director for Chicago Review of Books. Her debut novel, How We See the Gray, is forthcoming in May from Curbstone Books.
After Hours is a production of Taylor Thornburg in Partnership with Quimby’s!

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Pay what you can afford in person or via Venmo.
Suggested: $10
Venmo: @quimbysbookstore
Please include “After Hours” in the note!

Your generous donation directly supports artist honorariums and ensures the continuation of this program. We are so grateful for your support of local creators, Quimby’s Bookstore, and DIY culture—we truly couldn’t do it without you!

Your generous donation directly supports artist honorariums and ensures the continuation of this program. We are so grateful for your support of local authors, publishers, creators, Quimby’s Bookstore, and DIY culture—we truly couldn’t do it without you!

4/27 Sketch/Book: Salon **CANCELED**

Published on April 20, 2026 Closed
Apr
27
6:00 pm
Unfortunately this event is canceled due to an injury!
We’ll be back next month! (Everyone is ok – just need more recovery time)

Sketch / Book: a Wicker Park Reading and Drawing Salon
A collaboration between LMN Wedge Studio and Quimby’s
Monday, April 27th, 2026 –  6:00-8:30pm

Complimentary tea and a Quimby’s zine (off $15 value) are included with the $40 admission. BYOB, if you have a taste for adult beverage.

Save the eventbrite fee by sending $40 to @quimbysbookstore with “Sketch Book” in the note, or dm @lmn_wedge_art on Instagram to reserve a spot and pay at Quimby’s register. See below for a link.

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Meet in-person at 6pm Quimby’s Bookstore: 1854 W. North Ave, Chicago IL: 60622 for a free zine of you choosing (of $15 value or less). At 6:30 we’ll walk 2 blocks to LMN Wedge Studio 1579 N Milwaukee Ave Suite 206, Chicago, IL 60622

This is an opportunity to read a book or other material of your choosing, practice sketching the people and setting from observation, or simply journal and/or mark-make in your sketchbook within a social, supportive setting. Bring your own reading and/or sketchbook materials. (Also, if you like doing a little knitting, or something else like that, no one will raise an eyebrow 😉

At LMN Wedge, we’ll have some good instrumental tunes on, tea and water on offer, and the eclectic and comfy surroundings. We will savor a good stretch of semi-focused reading and/or sketching, then a shorter time near the close of our session for round-robin sharing. 

Register for the event on eventbrite

OR:

Register via a $40 donation to Venmo: @quimbysbookstore
Please include “Sketch Book and your name” in the note!

3/30 Sketch/Book: Salon

Published on March 8, 2026 Closed
Mar
30
6:00 pm

Sketch / Book: a Wicker Park Reading and Drawing Salon
A collaboration between LMN Wedge Studio and Quimby’s
Monday, March 30th, 2026 –  6:00-8:30pm
Meet in-person at Quimby’s Bookstore: 1854 W. North Ave, Chicago IL: 60622
At 6:30 walk 2 blocks to LMN Wedge Studio 1579 N Milwaukee Ave Suite 206, Chicago, IL 60622

Save the eventbrite fee by sending $40 to @quimbysbookstore with “Sketch Book” in the note, or dm @lmn_wedge_art on Instagram to reserve a spot and pay at Quimby’s register. See below for a link.

Guests begin at 6pm by stopping at Quimby’s for a free zine of their choosing (of $15 value or less). 

Around 6:30, the group will head a few doors down to the Flatiron Arts Building to LMN Wedge Studio and Gallery. 

This is an opportunity to read a book or other material of your choosing, practice sketching the people and setting from observation, or simply journal and/or mark-make in your sketchbook within a social, supportive setting*. Bring your own reading and/or sketchbook materials. 

At LMN Wedge, we’ll have some good instrumental tunes on, tea and water on offer, and the eclectic and comfy surroundings. We will savor a good stretch of semi-focused reading and/or sketching, then a shorter time near the close of our session for round-robin sharing. 

Complimentary tea and a Quimby’s zine (of ? $15 value) are included with the $40 admission. BYOB, if you have a taste for adult beverage.

(*Also, if you like doing a little knitting, or something else like that, no one will raise an eyebrow 😉

Register for the event on eventbrite

OR:

Register via a $40 donation to Venmo: @quimbysbookstore
Please include “Sketch Book and your name” in the note!

3/26 After Hours with Sabr Tooth Tiger Magazine

Published on March 8, 2026 Closed
Mar
26
6:30 pm

After Hours with Sabr Tooth Tiger Magazine: Th. 3/26 6:30
Quimby’s Bookstore, 1854 W. North Ave, Chicago

RSVP for After Hours

Sabr Tooth Tiger Magazine is a Chicago-based literary magazine aiming to showcase poetry, prose, and art from emerging and established creatives worldwide.

Sabr Tooth Tiger Magazine seeks to unearth the fierce beauty of patience (sabr), the pulse of the body (tooth) and the courage of the spirit (tiger). We are searching for the bridge between the animal and the divine.

Save the Night Chicago will require and provide KN95/N95 masks and Clean Air Clubs will provide HEPA air filtration and livestreaming equipment to make this event more accessible to all. 

Reading for Sabr Tooth Tiger Magazine:

Phoebe Nerem is a creative writer and visual artist torn between beauty and terror. Their work explores queerness, feeling crazy, and having a romantic fascination with fire. Their artistic and written work has been featured in numerous publications, including Get Back To Print’s “Luminous Beings Are We” and Emotional Alchemy’s “Sex, Love, and Other Magic.” 

kieran fu (they/them) is an east coaster turned chicagoan who thrives outside boxes. a certified nostalgic and double cancer sign, they write about the murky waters surrounding love and belonging. they are the author of the poetry collection tidal breaths, as well as work published or forthcoming in Y2K Quarterly, Vagabond City Literary Journal, Oyster River Pages, Snowflake Magazine, and others. 

gray lindsey (they/them) is a poet and lifelong learner from florida who moved to chicago because, well, florida. they study social work and write about community, fatigue, horror, and lust. you can find their work among TEA Literary Magazine, WREATH, Transfix Magazine, and The Deadlands.

Z.D. Jones is a writer and poet studying at the University of Chicago. They are originally from Des Plaines, Illinois. Their work has appeared in Cult. Magazine and is forthcoming in Michigan City Review of Books.

Madeline Blair is a poet, editor, and award-winning filmmaker from Chicago, IL. She is the founder/editor-in-chief of Sabr Tooth Tiger Magazine. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in Okay Donkey, BULLSHIT LIT, Burial Magazine, Michigan City Review of Books, Luna Luna Magazine, Milwaukee Avenue Messenger, and Ekphrasis Magazine.

After Hours is a production of Taylor Thornburg and Quimby’s Bookstore

–.- ..- .. — -… -.– .—-. …

Pay what you can afford in person or via Venmo.
Suggested: $10
Venmo: @quimbysbookstore
Please include “After Hours” in the note!

Your generous donation directly supports artist honorariums and ensures the continuation of this program. We are so grateful for your support of local creators, Quimby’s Bookstore, and DIY culture—we truly couldn’t do it without you!

Your generous donation directly supports artist honorariums and ensures the continuation of this program. We are so grateful for your support of local authors, publishers, creators, Quimby’s Bookstore, and DIY culture—we truly couldn’t do it without you!