SAVE THE DATE
Saturday, March 7
at 3 p.m.
Kids' Story Time &
40th Anniversary Celebration!
Tuesday, March 10
at 7 p.m.
Lisa Olstein
in conversation
with
Eula Biss
Author Conversation
Thursday, March 12
at 7 p.m.
Nadina LaSpina
in conversation
with
Riva Lehrer
Such A Pretty Girl: A Story of Struggle, Empowerment, and Disability Pride
Author Conversation
Joint Author Reading
Author Conversation
Thursday, March 26
at 6 p.m.
Megan Fernandes
Poetry Reading with special guests Emily Yoon, Richie Hoffman & Lisa Hilton
Friday, March 27
at 7 p.m.
Megan Giddings
in conversation with
Megan Stielstra
Author Conversation
Wednesday, April 1
at 7 p.m.
Jenny Offill
Weather: A Novel
Author Reading
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Sunday, Feb. 23
at 4 p.m.
Becoming a Man
by P. Carl
in conversation with
Barrie Jean Borich
at the Center on Halsted
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Pre-order
Announcements
By ordering a forthcoming book through your local independent bookstore, you can get access to exclusive offers, special giveaways, and signed copies! Below, explore the books we are most excited about and any associated promotions
.
* * *
by Louise Erdrich
Publishing
March 3, 2020
Signed pre-order books -- limited quantity!
by Hilary Mantel
Publishing
March 10, 2020
Signed pre-order books -- limited quantity!
________________
Check out our exclusive 40th Anniversary
tote designed by Molly Costello!
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February 2020
Dear Friends of Women & Children First,
Happy February! This month, we are hosting in-store events that explore friendship, allyship, love, intimacy, and more.
We also have some exciting off-site, ticketed event announcements:
March 31st, we will be hosting multi-Hugo Award and Nebula Award-winning author
N.K.Jemisin!
On April 23, we'll be hosting activist, author, and icon
Rebecca Solnit in a sure-to-be riveting conversation with
Eula Biss!
With Love from Andersonville returns to the neighborhood this month! February 14 through 16, we will be donating 14% of profits to
Affinity, a social justice organization serving the needs of the Black LGBTQ community of Chicago with a particular focus on Black women.
With love & thanks,
W&CF
*Big thanks to Sprouted Scribbles for our fresh Newsletter header. You can buy this image as as a postcard, magnet, and/or sticker only at Women & Children First!*
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The Third Rainbow Girl
Emily Copley Eisenberg
in conversation with Megan Stielstra
Thursday, January 30 at 7 p.m.
In the early evening of June 25, 1980 in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, two middle-class outsiders--Vicki Durian, 26, and Nancy Santomero, 19--were murdered in an isolated clearing. They were hitchhiking to a festival known as the Rainbow Gathering but never arrived; they traveled with a third woman who lived. For thirteen years, no one was prosecuted for the "Rainbow Murders," though deep suspicion was cast on a succession of local residents, who were depicted as poor, dangerous, and backward.
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Taking Sexy Back
Dr. Alexandra Solomon
All the F*cking Mistakes
Gigi Engle
Thursday, February 6 at 7 p.m.
In All the F*cking Mistakes, Gigi Engle offers bite-sized lessons that incorporate Gigi's own special brand of no-nonsense advice to provide clarity and guidance on everything from learning how to take back your confidence in a world full of slut shaming, to discovering and owning your sexual empowerment through masturbation, to demanding the love you really deserve.
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BOOK LAUNCH & PANEL DISCUSSION
Asexual Erotics
Dr. Ela Przybylo
Friday, February 7 at 7 p.m.
Author Ela Przybylo will begin this event by introducing her book Asexual Erotics: Intimate Readings of Compulsory Sexuality, after which each speaker will engage with a different chapter of the book. Asexual Erotics explores what it would mean to read texts for asexuality and to see asexuality as prolific in queer lives. The chapters engage with queer, feminist, lesbian, and antiracist movements, theories, and artwork to imagine a flourishing asexual erotics.
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Trans Ally Workshop
led by Chicago Therapy Collective
Sunday, February 9 from 4 to 6 p.m.
Join us as we take a second step in response to last year's transphobic harassment at Women & Children First. We welcome all Andersonville businesses, workers, residents, visitors, and the general public to join us for a conversation about what intersectional trans-inclusivity looks like and how we respond when anti-trans violence occurs within our businesses and on our streets.
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Sappho's Salon
Monday, February 10
Open Mic sign-up starts at 7 p.m
Show starts at 7:30 p.m.
Pay-what-you-can admission benefits the performers and the Women's Voices Fund
Sappho's Salon is a quarterly performance salon, featuring expressions of queerness, gender and feminism from featured and open mic performers. We provide light refreshments from the Middle Eastern Bakery, and as always, it's BYOB.
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Mooncakes
Suzanne Walker
in conversation with Isabella Rotman
Wednesday, February 12 at 7 p.m.
A story of love and demons, family and witchcraft. Nova Huang knows more about magic than your average teen witch. She works at her grandmothers' bookshop, where she helps them loan out spell books and investigate any supernatural occurrences in their New England town.
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Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volune 5
Thursday, February 13 at 7 p.m.
Join us for a very special author reading in celebration of Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 5! This free event will feature V-Day snacks, special giveaways, a photo-booth from GlitterGuts, and readings by: Rachel Kramer Bussel, Kathleen Delaney-Adams, Lauren Emily, Jayne Renault, Sierra Simone, and Suleikha Snyder.
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My Autobiography of
Carson McCullers
Jenn Shapland
Wednesday, February 19 at 7 p.m.
My Autobiography of Carson McCullers is an audacious new form of nonfiction that remakes the boundaries between criticism, biography, and autobiography in search of two identities. While working as an intern in the archives at the Harry Ransom Center, Jenn Shapland encounters the love letters of Carson and a woman named Annemarie--letters that are tender, intimate, and unabashed in their feelings. Shapland recognizes herself in the letters' language--but does not see Carson as history has portrayed her.
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Rage Baking: The Transformative Power of Flour, Fury, and Women's Voices
Katherine Alford & Kathy Gunst
Thursday, February 20 at 7 p.m.
In recent years, women around the globe have been expressing their rage, fury, and frustration in myriad ways. Some call their senators; some write checks; some join activist groups, march, or otherwise raise their voices. But many also turn to their greatest comfort--their kitchen.
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Holler If You Hear Me
(Comic Edition)
Gregory Michie, Bill Ayers & Contributing Artists
Friday, February 21 at 7 p.m.
Join author
Greg Michie along with
Bill Ayers and several contributing artists as they discuss the process of creating the comic edition of
Holler If You Hear Me,
one of the most enduring teacher memoirs of our time.
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Go To Sleep (I Miss You)
Lucy Knisley
Monday, February 24 at 7 p.m.
Following the completion of her pregnancy memoir
Kid Gloves
(and the birth of her baby), Lucy Knisley embarked on a new project: documenting new motherhood in short, spontaneous little cartoons, which she posted on Instagram and which quickly gained her a huge cult following among other moms.
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What Will These Hands Make?
Nikki McClure
Tuesday, February 25 at 6:30 p.m.
This lyrical picture book from beloved creator
Nikki McClure follows a family and ponders the possibilities that one day can hold--from enjoying treats at the bakery, to admiring the goods in local artisan shops, to observing the new construction in town.
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Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that the Movement Forgot
Mikki Kendall
in conversation with Jamie Nesbitt Golden
Wednesday, February 26 at 7 p.m.
Mainstream feminists rarely talk about meeting basic needs as a feminist issue, but food insecurity, access to quality education, safe neighborhoods, a living wage, and medical care are all feminist issues. All too often, the focus is not on basic survival for the many, but on increasing privilege for the few.
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Re-envisioning Masculinity
Thursday, February 27 at 7 p.m.
Ada Cheng, producer and host of the popular storytelling show Am I Man Enough? will host this workshop, weaving together storytelling and dialogue to examine toxic masculinity. Ada will be joined by two guests,
Delia Kropp and
Carlos Benitez.
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Remaking a Life
Celeste Watkins-Hayes,
Victoria Noe &
Jennifer Brier
Friday, February 28 at 7 p.m.
What is the legacy and ongoing work of women in the HIV/AIDS movement? In this provocative discussion, authors Celeste Watkins-Hayes
and Victoria Noe
will discuss their new books on women in the epidemic who fought to shape their destinies and capture the attention of policy makers, the HIV movement, and the public to influence hearts, minds, science, and policy. The discussion will be facilitated by AIDS historian Jennifer Brier.
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Finna
Wednesday, March 4 at 7 p.m.
When an elderly customer at a Swedish big box furniture store--but not that one--slips through a portal to another dimension, it's up to two minimum-wage employees to track her across the multiverse and protect their company's bottom line. Multi-dimensional swashbuckling would be hard enough, but those two unfortunate souls broke up a week ago.
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