Thursday, February 2
at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, February 10
at 7:30 p.m.
Angel Nafis and
Shira Erlichman
Poetry Reading
Saturday, February 11
at 3 p.m.
Storytime with
Drag Queens: Valentine's Day Edition
Wednesday, February 15 at 7 p.m.
Activism Series:
Chicago Women's
Health Center
Thursday, February 16
at 7:30 p.m.
Juan Martinez
Book Launch Party
Wednesday, February 22 at 7 p.m.
Barbara Fish
Thursday February 23
at 7:30
Emily Robbins in conversation with Rebecca Makkai
A Word For Love
Wednesday, March 1
5211 N. Clark St.
Thursday, March 2
at 7:30 p.m.
Vita E. Cleveland
and Kayla Weeden
Poetry Reading
Friday, March 3
at 7:30 p.m.
Ari Banias and
Lara Mimosa Montes
Poetry Reading
Wednesday, March 8
at 7 p.m.
Activism Series:
Personal PAC
Thursday, March 9
Friday, March 10
at 7:30 p.m.
The Conversation: Darkness in Literature,
Featuring Taylor Larsen and Annie DeWitt
Wednesday, March 15
at 7 p.m.
Roxane Gay in conversation with
Britt Julious
Difficult Women
Please Note this is a ticketed, off-site event: tickets available through Brown Paper Tickets starting January 3, 2017. Click HERE for info!
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Sunday, January 8
at 5 p.m.
The Glass Sentence
by S. E. Grove
Sunday, January 8
at 6:30 p.m.
Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici
Discussion & Potluck
Sunday, January 15
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Suggested Reading: Chapters 13-19 of
The Gift of Years
by Joan Chittister
Sunday, January 15
at 4 p.m.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Tuesday, January 17
at 7 p.m.
The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson
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Dear Friends of Women & Children First,
2017 is bringing with it lots of changes to the programming here at Women & Children First! We're excited about the launch of two new event series this month: "Activism" and "The Conversation." We hope that these series will inspire different kinds of connection and community engagement within our community and beyond.
Will you be marching, protesting, and otherwise rabble-rousing on inauguration weekend? Several of us at the bookstore will be joining the Women's March on Chicago. If you'd like to join us, we'll be convening at the bookstore beginning at 8 a.m. on Saturday, January 21st. We'll have coffee, tea, donuts, and some sign-making materials. We'll be leaving the bookstore promptly at 9 a.m. to walk to the Red Line and take the train downtown. Let's raise our voices together and let the incoming administration know that they do not speak for us. This is an opportunity to organize, connect, and mobilize. On the eve of the new year, local performing artist Molly Brennan said, "2017 may not be any better, but I sure as sh*t will be." We couldn't agree more.
W & CF
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Pussyhat Project
Wednesday, January 4 from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Calling all crafters: it's time to pick up your knitting needles and crochet hooks in support of women's rights! The
Pussyhat Project is collecting
 one million handmade pink pussyhats for protesters to wear at the Women's
March on Washington, D.C., on January 21st. In addition to keeping protesters warm, the hats will create a powerful visual statement and offer a great way for those who cannot march to connect with and support those who are marching. Read more and download your free pussyhat pattern at the
Pussyhat Project website, then get crafting! On January 4th, join us as we gather for our first Feminist Craft Circle meet-up, where we'll work on our pussyhats together and discuss the power of using traditionally "feminine" crafts for political statements, art, and more. Whether you're attending our craft circle or not, you can
drop off your completed hats at Women & Children First and we'll make sure they get to the march. Attending the Women's March on Washington? Pick up your free handmade pussyhat in the store and get ready to wear it on January 21. Please call ahead
(773-769-9299) to make sure we have hats available.
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Thursday, January 5 from 7 to 8:45 p.m.
You survived the holidays--hooray! Let's kick off 2017 together with our first
Adult Coloring Book Night of the new year! This event is BYOB & BYOCB (bring your own coloring book)! All abilities are welcome. Our entire selection of coloring books and colored pencils will be on sale d
uring the event.
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Qigong and Tai Chi Classes
Beginning in January, our good friend Francesca Segal will be offering tai chi classes (for beginners and up)
on Friday  mornings from
9 to 10 am. Students need to sign up in advance. The class will begin on Friday, January 6th, and the fee will be $88 for 8 classes. We need at least six students to sign up, or this class will not be held.
Starting on Sunday, January 8th, our weekly qigong class (for beginners and up) will also go to a bundle system, $88 for 8 classes. This class will be held Sunday mornings from 9:15 to 10:45 and will focus on the Treasures of the Eight Taoist Immortals form. We need at least six students to sign up, or this class will not be held.
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NEW! A series showcasing local activist organizations
Wednesday, January 11 at 7 p.m.
Harnessing our anger and sadness over the 2016 presidential election, we're launching a new monthly event series called Activism. At each meeting, we'll be showcasing a local social justice organization, which will give a presentation detailing its mission, followed by a Q&A and an action plan for getting involved. For the launch of this series, we'll be featuring not one, but two, amazing women-run groups: FURIE and Masjid al-Rabia.
FURIE
is a grassroots feminist
organization
working
on a range of issues, including zero tolerance of sexual assault, the need for radical feminism in today's political climate, and racial justice in the form of pan-womanism. FURIE hosts regular meetings, readings, discussions, and public events.
Masjid al-Rabia is a women-
centered LGBTQIA+
affirming
Muslim community based in Lakeview. Emphasizing accessibility and inclusivity, Masjid al-Rabia serves as a place of spiritual growth, healing, and empowerment for marginalized Muslims.
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Facilitated by Lisa Smith, author of
Girl Walks Out of a Bar, and The Awakening Center
Thursday, January 12 at 7 p.m.
The Awakening Center in collaboration with author Lisa Smith will be offering a book talk and workshop focusing on women and addiction.
Lisa Smith is the author of
Girl Walks Out of a Bar, her
memoir of high-functioning addiction and recovery in the world of New York City corporate law. Through her writing, Lisa has become a passionate advocate for breaking the stigma of addiction and mental health issues. Lisa's writing has been published in the
Washington Post
and the
Chicago Tribune
and at Addiction.com. She is a graduate of Northwestern University and Rutgers School of Law, where she served on the Editorial Board of the Rutgers Law Review. She lives in New York City with her husband, Craig.
The Awakening Center
is an outpatient private
practice
best
known for its work with anxiety, depression, trauma, relationships, and communication.
For this event, Lisa will discuss her experience and her memoir from 7 to 8 p.m, which will be followed by a workshop facilitated by the Awakening Center from 8 to 8:30 p.m.
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Sunday, January 15 at 6 p.m.
Inspired by Kids First Book
Group's
November discussion of
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
, group facilitator Mack Oliver will be hosting a screening of the first two Harry Potter movies in the bookstore.
We'll provide the popcorn, but attendees are welcome to bring their own snacks to share. Kids ages 10 to 14 are welcome--both regular book group attendees and non. If you've been curious about the Kids
First Book Group, this is a great way to learn
more!
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Book Launch Party
A READ LOCAL EVENT
Wednesday January 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Lillian Boxfish took 1930s New York by storm,
working her way up to become the highest-paid advertising woman in the country. Now it's the last night of 1984 and Lillian, 85 years old but just as sharp and savvy as ever, is on her way to a party--but decides to indulge in some detours along the way. On a walk that takes her more than 10 miles around the city, Lillian meets a wide swath of humanity while reviewing her own life of excitement and adversity, passion and heartbreak. A love letter to city life, Kathleen Rooney's new novel paints a portrait of a remarkable woman across the canvas of a changing America: from the Jazz Age to the onset of the AIDS epidemic and from the Great Depression to the birth of hip-hop.
 Kathleen Rooney is a founding editor of Rose Metal Press and a founding member of Poems While You Wait. She teaches English and Creative Writing at DePaul University and is the author of eight books of poetry, nonfiction, and fiction, including the novel O, Democracy! A winner of a Ruth Lilly Fellowship from Poetry magazine, her reviews and criticism have appeared in the New York Times Book Review, the New York Times Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, the Rumpus, and elsewhere. She lives in Chicago with her spouse, the writer Martin Seay.
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Conversation, Reading, and Signing
A READ LOCAL EVENT
Thursday, January 19 at 7 p.m.
The mayor claims we cannot afford many services
without
drastic tax increases. But are there other ways to raise revenues that are not regressive? Come hear Tom Tresser and other contributors from the collection,
Chicago Is Not Broke
.
Each contributor will speak about how Chicago got where it is now and viable alternatives to the status quo.
Speakers will include Hilary Denk, an attorney, mediator, and community leader furthering social justice and civic issues. She has held past board positions with the Illinois Coalition to End Homelessness, the Chicago Bar Association Young Lawyers Section, and Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Joliet. Hilary is currently vice president of SCARCE, a DuPage County environmental education organization, and is a director for the League of Women Voters of Illinois.
Amara Enyia is a public policy consultant. She served as the CEO of ACE Municipal Partners LLC, a full-service municipal consulting firm. Amara was a candidate for mayor in Chicago's 2015 elections.
Jonathan Peck is the South and West Side Coordinator for Restorative Justice at Alternatives, Inc. Jonathan worked as a community organizer and later as associate director of the Southwest Youth Collaborative (SWYC), a Chicago-based organization dedicated to the healthy development of low-income children, youth, and families. Most recently, he served on the Community Relations Working Group of the Police Accountability Task Force of the City of Chicago.
Tom Tresser is a civic educator and public defender. In 2008 he was a co-founder of Protect Our Parks, a neighborhood effort to stop the privatization of public space in Chicago. He was a lead organizer for No Games Chicago, an all-volunteer grassroots effort that opposed Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid. Tom co-founded The CivicLab and is the lead organizer for the TIF Illumination Project, which is investigating and explaining the effects of Tax Increment Financing districts on a community-by-community basis.
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beyza ozer, Joshua Young, and Alexis Pope with special guest Jenny Boully
Book Launch Party
A READ LOCAL EVENT
Friday, January 20 at 7:30 p.m.
Join us for a joint book launch poetry celebration for
Fail Better by poet (and W&CF bookseller!) beyza ozer and
I Am Heavy w/ Feeling by Joshua Young and Alexis Pope.
beyza ozer's work has appeared in or is forthcoming from the
Offing,
Shabby Doll House,
Columbia Poetry Review, and others. beyza is the author of
I Don't Mean To Redshift. They are deputy director of social media at YesYes Books. beyza lives in Chicago and, besides working at W&CF, also attends Columbia College and interns at the Poetry Foundation.
Alexis Pope
is the author of
Soft Threat
, as well as
three
chapbooks. Recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in
Denver Quarterly
,
cream city review
,
Poor Claudia
, and the
Volta
, among others. She received her MFA from Brooklyn College, where she taught composition and was a member of the Belladonna* Collective. Pope now lives in Chicago with her daughter, works in a very tall building, and recently taught poetry for the Writer's Center.
Joshua Young is the author of six collections, most
recently
The Holy Ghost People
, the forthcoming
Psalms for the Wreckage
and, with
Alexis Pope
,
I Am Heavy w/ Feeli
ng
. He is editor-in-chief at the Lettered Streets Press and works at the University of Chicago. He lives in the Albany Park neighborhood with two humans (and two cats).
Jenny Boully is the author of four
books, including
The
Books of Beginnings and Endings
,
[one love affair]*
, and
The Body: An Essay
. She earned an MFA with a poetry concentration from Notre Dame and a PhD in English from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She lives in Chicago with her husband and daughter and teaches at Columbia College.
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Bettye Kronstad
Reading, Q&A, and Signing
Wednesday, January 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Bettye Kronstad met Lou Reed in 1968 as a 19-year-old
Columbia University student; they were married, briefly, beginning in 1973. Their relationship coincided with some of the most
pivotal years of Reed's life and career, from the demise of The Velvet Underground to the writing and recording of his seminal solo albums Transformer, for which Lou wrote "Perfect Day" about an afternoon they spent together, and Berlin.
In
Perfect Day
, Bettye looks back on their initially idyllic life together; Lou's struggle to launch a solo career; his work and friendships with fellow stars David Bowie and Iggy Pop; and his descent into drink and drug abuse following the success of
Transformer
, which sent him spinning out of control and brought a swift and calamitous end to their relationship. The result is a powerful and poignant meditation on love, loss, writing, and music.
Bettye Kronstad
is a teacher, freelance writer and
editor,
and theater professional. She obtained her bachelor's degree in theater at SUNY Purchase College and attended the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. She attended Iona College for her master's degree in English education and Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University for a master of divinity in education. For more than twenty years she has taught English and theater in public high schools all over the country. She lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with her beloved cocker spaniel, Elroy.
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The Conversation series launch
featuring Aleksander Hemon, Roger Reeves, Coya Paz, Eula Biss, and
Monica Trinidad
A READ LOCAL Event
Thursday, January 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Listen up! Listen in! We're proud to announce the launch of our new literary series called The Conversation. Each month, we'll pair a visiting artist or writer with a local one to talk about an issue of political, social, or cultural importance. Participants will discuss issues as diverse as art and activism, race and racism, sex, class, feminism, intimacy, darkness in literature, and the life of the city. These are not readings, but passionate conversations that will include the audience.
Each Conversation will end with a takeaway (kind of like optional homework--an article to read, an organization to engage with, a movie to watch, a protest to attend). And even better: after the event, the conversation will always continue at a nearby bar, gallery, or restaurant, where we can eat, drink, argue, and organize. These events are free and open to all, but donations for a local nonprofit will be collected at the afterparty.
The theme of The Conversation's inaugural event will be Art + Resistance and will feature only local authors, including Aleksandar Hemon, Roger Reeves, Coya Paz, Eula Biss, and Monica Trinidad. The conversation will continue afterward at Las Manos Gallery (1515 W. Foster Avenue) just west of Clark Street.
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Marie Hicks
Book Launch Party
Friday, January 27 at 7:30 p.m.
In 1944 Britain led the world in electronic computing, but by 1974 its computing industry was all but extinct. Women had been a hidden engine of growth in high technology, but as computing became male-identified in the 1960s and 1970s, the government systematically neglected its largest trained technical workforce, leading to catastrophe. Hicks explains why, even today, having technical skill is not enough to ensure women will rise to the top in science and technology fields.
Programmed Inequality shows how the disappearance of women from computing had grave macroeconomic consequences for Britain and why the United States risks repeating those errors in the twenty-first century.
Marie Hicks
is an assistant professor of history of technology at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. She does research into how gender and sexuality bring hidden technological dynamics to light. Hicks received her BA from Harvard University and her MA and PhD from Duke University. Before entering academia, she worked as a UNIX systems administrator.
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SAVE THE DATE
Roxane Gay
in conversation with Britt Julious
Conversation and Book Signing
Wednesday, March 15 at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. Tickets on sale January 3 at 11 a..m.
Please Note: This is a ticketed, off-site event: tickets available through Brown Paper Tickets. Click HERE for ticket info and to purchase tickets beginning January 3rd at 11 a.m.
 Powerhouse talent Roxane Gay burst onto the scene with
An Untamed State
and the New York Times-bestselling essay collection
Bad Feminist
. Gay returns with
Difficult Women
, a collection of stories of rare force and beauty, of hardscrabble lives, passionate loves, and quirky and vexed human connection.
The women in these stories live lives of privilege and of poverty, are in marriages both loving and plagued by past crimes or emotional blackmail. From a girls' fight club to a wealthy subdivision in Florida where neighbors conform, compete, and spy on one another, Gay delivers a wry, beautiful, and haunting vision of modern America.
Roxane Gay is the author of the novel
An Untamed State
, which was a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Fiction; the essay collection
Bad Feminist
;
Ayiti
, a multi-genre collection
. She is at work on a memoir,
Hunger
, and a comic book in Marvel's
Black Panther
series. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in
Best American Mystery Stories 2014
,
Best American Short Stories 2012
,
Best Sex Writing 2012
,
A Public Space
,
McSweeney's, Tin House
,
Oxford American
,
American Short Fiction
,
West Branch
,
Virginia Quarterly Review
,
NOON
, the
New York Times
, the
Guardian
,
Bookforum
,
Time
, the
Los Angeles Times
,
the Nation
, the
Rumpus
,
Salon
, and many others. She is a recipient of the PEN Center USA Freedom to Write Award, among other honors. She splits her time between Indiana and Los Angeles.
Britt Julious is a journalist, essayist and storyteller. She is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune and editor at THUMP, Vice magazines vertical for electronic music and club culture. She frequently contributes to Esquire, ELLE, GQ, the Guardian, Vice, and Pitchfork, among others. She also hosts the Back Talk, a storytelling podcast featuring young women of color. As a moderator, shes led events for the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Gene Siskel Film Center, and the Chicago Humanities Festival. Britt is a firm believer in the underground, avant grade, and underdog.
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