June 2019
Save the Date!
 
 
Thursday, July 11 at 7 p.m.  
Deborah Shapiro in conversation with
Kathleen Rooney 
Author Reading

Friday, July 12 at 7 p.m.  
Alex DiFrancesco with special guests  Penelope Jeanne Girlblood and Margo M.  
Author Reading

Friday, July 19 at 7 p.m.  
Kristen Arnett in conversation with
Lindsay Hunter 
Author Conversation

Saturday, July 20 at 3 p.m. 
Kids' party to celebrate the month-long Where's Waldo scavenger hunt!

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!
Saturday, August 24 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Women & Children First
40th Birthday Block Party
Live music, feminist crafts, free food, and more to celebrate 40 Years Strong!
This event will be held on Women & Children First Way (Farragut Ave.)  
 
 
     
Book Group   
Sunday, June 2 
at 2 p.m.
Factfulness 
by Hans Rosling
 
Sunday, June 9
at 4 p.m.
Life's Work
by Willie Parker
 
Sunday, June 9
at 5 p.m.
Gentleman's Guide to 
Vice & Virtue
by Mackenzi Lee

Classics of Women's Literature Book Group
Monday, June 17 
at 7:15 p.m.
Clear Light of Day 
by Anita Desai
 
Tuesday, June 18 
at 7:30 p.m.
Sum of Small Things 
by Currid-Halkett

NEW!! 
Well-Read Black Girl 
Book Group
Sunday, June 23 
at 1 p.m.
Sing, Unburied, Sing 
by Jesmyn Ward

Social Justice Book Group
Sunday, June 23 
at 2:30 p.m
Give Us the Ballot
by Ari Berman

Women Aging with Wisdom & Grace Discussion Group
Sunday, July 7
10 a.m. to noon
On the Brink of Everything
by Parker Palmer

Pre-order 
Announcements
 
 
By pre-ordering through your local independent bookstore, you can receive access to exclusive offers, special giveaways and signed copies!  We are especially excited about the books below, and most come with special promotions! (Please note: We will contact you if you place an order for which the special offers are out of stock.)
 
Coming out June 4, 2019
Signed pre-order books -- limited quantity!
 
 
 
Elizabeth Gilbert's  
Coming out June 4, 2019
Signed pre-order books -- limited quantity!
 
     
 
Jennifer Weiner's
Coming out
June 11, 2019
Pre-orders include an exclusive enamel pin!
 
 
 
Chris Tebbetts'
Me Myself & Him
Coming out July 9, 2019
For every pre-order received, the author is donating $1 to the Pride Center of Vermont
   
 
 
Colson Whitehead's
The Nickel Boys
Coming out July 16, 2019
 
 
 
 
 
Dear Friends of Women & Children First,

June is Pride month, and our events calendar is coming up rainbows for the occasion! We have a YA "Epic Pride" meet-up (June 5), Sappho's Salon Pride Open Mic (June 10), and You're Being Ridiculous LGBTQIA Pride Storytelling show (June 15)! Plus, a ton of author readings and book launch parties celebrating queer authors! 
 
There's another reason to mark your calendars! On June 15th, in honor of World Refugee Week, we'll be donating 10% of sales to RefugeeOne, a non-profit social service agency in Uptown. RefugeeOne creates opportunity for refugees fleeing war, terror, and persecution to build new lives in Illinois.

Don't miss this month's reading and book signing with the one and only Eve Ensler! Get tickets  HERE 
before they sell out!

Lastly, we share your outrage about the recent attacks on abortion access. Join the fight for reproductive justice by learning about the National Network of Abortion Funds and, if you can, making a donation especially to Alabama's Yellowhammer Fund.  

With love & thanks,  

W&CF
Used Book Sale:  Donation drop-off 
begins  Monday, June 2
 
This year, we'll be accepting donations for our Used Book Sale (benefiting our non-profit arm, the Women's Voices Fund) on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays beginning Monday, June 2nd through July 24th. Donated books should be in sale-able condition. We will NOT accept reference books, mass market books (pulp paperbacks of a lower quality, usually around 6" x 4" in size), DVDS, or foreign language books. Any books that do not meet our criteria will be returned to you at the time of donation. Interested in volunteering for our Used Book Sale? Please email Karlee at wcfkarlee@gmail.com. 
 
Jessie Ann Foley
Sorry for Your Loss 
Tuesday, June 4 at 7 p.m.
YA Book Launch Party

As the youngest of eight, painfully average Pup Flanagan is used to flying under the radar. The only person who ever made him think he could be more was his older brother Patrick. But that was before Patrick died suddenly, leaving Pup with just his steely silent family and acquaintances who just keep saying, "sorry for your loss."

Jessie  Ann Foley is a teacher who writes fiction for young adults. Her debut novel, The Carnival at Bray, was a Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book.  READ MORE   
 
Epic Reads presents "Epic Pride" 
Wednesday, June 5 at 7 p.m.
YA Author Event
 
Join us for a night of "Epic Reads" celebrating LGBTQIA Young Adult authors and books for Pride Month. Structured as a Meetup, this event aims to provide attendees with the opportunity to talk directly with the authors and get their books signed. For this event, the authors featured include: Abdi Nazemian, author of Like a Love Story; Tehlor Kay Mejia, author of We Set the Dark on Fire; Kheryn Callender, author of This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story, and Angelo Surmelis, author of The Dangerous Art of Blending In READ MORE 
 
Eve Ensler
The Apology
Thursday, June 6 at 7 p.m.
Author Reading and Book Signing
Please note: this event will be held at the Swedish American Museum (5211 N. Clark St.) Buy tickets HERE .

Eve Ensler has been waiting much of her life for an apology from her father, who sexually and physically abused. The Apology, written by Eve from her father's point of view in the words she longed to hear, attempts to transform the abuse she suffered with unflinching truthfulness, compassion, and an expansive vision for the future. 

Eve Ensler is an internationally bestselling author and an award-winning playwright whose works include The Vagina Monologues, The Good Body, Insecure at Last, and I Am an Emotional Creature.
READ MORE   
 
Drag Queen Story Hour
Saturday, June 8 at 11:30 a.m.

This beloved story time tradition returns for Pride! Two Queens will read a selection of LGBTQ-related picture books and then take pictures with attendees upon request. This event is perfect for kids ages 4 and up and their caregivers. 
Sappho's Salon
Monday, June 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Pride Open Mic

Your intrepid co-hosts Liz Baudler and Eileen Tull are thrilled to be joined by guest curator Debrah Goodman as well as comedian Tamale Sepp, musician Garnet Williams, and storyteller Randy Kim. Open mic sign-ups are available at the door starting at 7PM. As per tradition, the open mic spots are available to cisgender men this month, as well as for female, non-binary, and trans performers all year round! Admission is a $7-10 donation.   READ MORE
 
An Evening on
Lesbian Pregnancy
Wednesday, June 12 at 6:30 p.m.
A Gay Women's Gathering sponsored by
the Family Equality Council 

Are you a Chicago-area resident searching for donor sperm to start or add to your family? If so, please join Family Equality Council for this relaxed, informative event. You will learn everything you need to know about family building with donor sperm, including these medical and legal do's and don'ts of working with known and unknown sperm donors and much more.  READ MORE  
Blair Hurley &  Jaclyn Gilbert
The Devoted and Late Air 
Thursday, June 13 at 7 p.m.
Joint Author Reading

Debut novelists Hurley and Gilbert will read from their books and discuss the shared themes of perfectionism, devotion, and obsession. 
 
Blair Hurley's stories are published or forthcoming in Ninth Letter, West Branch, Mid-American Review, and elsewhere. Jaclyn Gilbert's work has appeared in Tin House, Lit Hub, and elsewhere. 
 
T Fleischmann
Time Is a Thing a Body Moves Through 
Friday, June 14 at 7 p.m.
Book Launch Party

How do the bodies we inhabit affect our relationship with art? How does art affect our relationship to our bodies? T Fleischmann uses Felix Gonzalez-Torres's artworks-piles of candy, stacks of paper, puzzles-as a path through questions of love and loss, violence and rejuvenation, gender and sexuality. 
 
T Fleischmann is the author of Syzygy, Beauty. CM Burroughs is associate professor of Poetry at Columbia College Chicago. 
  READ MORE 
You're Being Ridiculous
Saturday, June 15; doors at 7 p.m.  Show starts at 7:30 p.m.
LGBTQIA Pride Storytelling Show  ($10 suggested Donation)

You're Being Ridiculous, the wildly popular storytelling show founded by Jeremy Owens, will once again hold its PRIDE show at Women & Children First! These funny, true stories will represent a diverse range of folks, who stand proudly on different points on the LGBTQIA spectrum. This year's featured performers are: Rita Balzotti, Shawn Cobb, Joshua Friedberg, RC Riley, and Jess White. This event is BYOB with a $10 suggested cash donation. Proceeds will benefit the performers and the Women's Voices Fund. More details at yourebeingridiculous.com.  READ MORE  
Robert W. Fieseler 
in conversation  with 
Owen Keehnen
Tinderbox
Wednesday, June 19 at 7 p.m.
Paperback Release Party

Tinderbox reconstructs the 1973 fire that devastated New Orleans' subterranean gay community. Buried for decades, the Up Stairs Lounge tragedy has only recently emerged as a catalyzing event of the gay liberation movement. In revelatory detail, Robert W. Fieseler chronicles the tragic event that claimed thirty-two lives. 

Robert W. Fieseler 's Tinderbox is the winner of the 2019 Edgar Award in Best Fact Crime and finalist for the Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction. Owen Keehnen is a grassroots historian and the author of Dugan's Bistro and the Legend of the Bearded Lady. 
READ MORE   
 
Darius Bost

Evidence of Being: The Black Gay Cultural Renaissance and the Politics of Violence
Thursday, June 20 at 7 p.m.
Author Reading

Evidence of Being opens on a grim scene: Washington DC's gay black community in the 1980s, ravaged by AIDS, the crack epidemic, and a series of unsolved murders, seemingly abandoned by the government and mainstream culture. In Washington and New York during the 1980s and '90s, gay black men banded together, using creative expression as a tool to challenge the widespread views that marked them as unworthy of grief. 

Darius Bost is assistant professor of Ethnic Studies in the School for Cultural and Social Transformation at the University of Utah. 
C. Heike Schotten 
Queer Terror
Wednesday, June 26 at 7 p.m.
Author Reading

In Queer Terror, C. Heike Schotten offers a critique of U.S. settler-colonial empire that draws on political, queer, and critical indigenous theory to situate Bush's either/or moralism and reframe the concept
of terrorism. The categories of the War on Terror exemplify the moralizing politics that insulate U.S. empire from critique, render its victims deserving of its abuses, and delegitimize resistance to it as unthinkable and perverse.

Heike Schotten is associate professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where she teaches political theory, feminist theory, and queer theory.  READ MORE  
Aleksandar Hemon
My Parents (An Introduction) 
This Does Not Belong to You
Thursday, June 27 at 7 p.m.
Book Launch Party 

Aleksandar Hemon presents two books in one: My Parents (An Introduction) / This Does Not Belong to You tells the story of Hemon's parents' immigration to Canada--of the lives that were upended by the war in Bosnia and siege of Sarajevo and the new lives his parents were forced to build. 
 
Aleksandar Hemon is the author of three short story collections and novels The Lazarus Project, which was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and The Making of Zombie Wars. READ MORE  
Elaine Welteroth  in conversation with Luvvie Ajayi
More Than Enough:
Claiming Space for Who You Are
Friday, June 28 at 7 p.m.
Book Launch Party 
 
Please note: this ticketed event will be held at Wilson Abbey, 935 W. Wilson. Each ticket includes a copy of Elaine's book.
 
In this riveting and timely memoir, groundbreaking journalist Elaine Welteroth unpacks lessons on race, identity, and success through her own journey. As a young boss and the only black woman in the room, she's had enough of the world telling her she's not enough. 

Elaine Welteroth is an award-winning journalist, author, judge on the new Project Runway, and recently the editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue. Luvvie Ajayi is the author of I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual, an instant New York Times best-seller.  READ MORE  
Layne Fargo in conversation
with Christina Gorman
Temper
Tuesday, July 2 at 7 p.m.
Book Launch Party

After years of struggling in the Chicago theater scene, ambitious actress Kira Rascher finally lands the role of a lifetime. An edgy, addictive, and fiendishly clever tale of ambition, deceit, and power, Temper is a timely, heart-in-your-throat psychological thriller that will leave you breathless.

Layne Fargo is the co-creator of the podcast Unlikeable Female Characters. Layne lives in Chicago with her partner and their pets READ MORE  
Annual Used Book Sale
Saturday, July 27 and Sunday, July 28
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
 
Women & Children First's Used Book Sale is an annual tradition benefiting the Women's Voices Fund, the non-profit arm of the store that supports all of our programming and events. Our annual used book sale (part of Andersonville's Sidewalk Sale weekend) will take place Saturday, July 27th and Sunday, July 28th. Book lovers and bargain hunters won't want to miss this opportunity to treasure hunt through the stacks for great deals on fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and LGBTQ titles--all priced to sell.   
Women & Children First - wcfbooks@gmail.com
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