First of all, our deepest thanks to those who donated to our fundraiser for the Highland Park Community Foundation’s July 4th Shooting Fund. Because of your generosity, we were able to make a $500 donation to the fund. This money goes directly to victims and survivors or the organizations that support them, and since these costs are large and ongoing, we hope people will continue to donate directly. You can do it online by clicking here.
Second, please check out the new Newcity Lit50: Who Really Books in Chicago list, which has been on hiatus during the pandemic, but now is back. Yes, rankings are always completely subjective and on some level silly, but what this list does at its best is paint a vibrant portrait of the collective depth and breadth of Chicago’s literary institutions—and, in alternate years—authors. With the disappearance of literary coverage from the major newspapers, Newcity's role in continuing to document different nooks and crannies of Chicago's literary life is more important than ever.
Finally, it’s pretty calm around the bookstore as we head around into the dog days of summer, but we do have a few events—including a great upcoming virtual event that features Rodney Crowell in conversation with none other than Emmylou Harris!—as well as a few new exciting Bookends University classes coming up, so please read on in the newsletter.
And, as always, read on!
Yours,
Nina
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A VIRTUAL EVENT
Wednesday, September 7, 7 - 8:30 pm
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From literary journals to independent presses to book contests to agents and the Big Five publishing houses, in this class we’ll aim to demystify the path to literary publication. We’ll discuss when to begin submitting your poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for publication (and where - spoiler alert: probably best not to try The New Yorker right out of the gate), and briefly discuss the pitfalls and possible benefits of self-publication. We’ll look at a sample cover letter for a journal submission and a sample agent query letter and discuss proper etiquette for agent queries and following up on submissions. Your $45 registration fee includes the workshop and a $10 gift card to Bookends & Beginnings, which can be used to purchase one of Christine's own books; books she recommends on writing and publishing; or any other store merchandise.
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Christine Sneed is the author most recently of the story collection The Virginity of Famous Men and the novel Paris, He Said. Her fifth book, Please Be Advised: A Novel in Memos, will be published in October, along with the short fiction anthology Love in the Time of Time’s Up, which she edited. Her work has been published in The Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Stories, New England Review, New York Times, Ploughshares, Story, Boulevard, and numerous other publications. She has been a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and has received AWP’s Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction, the 21st Century Award from the Chicago Public Library Foundation, the Chicago Writers’ Association Book of the Year Award, among other honors. She teaches for Northwestern University’s and Regis University’s graduate creative writing programs. A former longtime resident of Evanston, she now lives in Pasadena, California.
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POSTPONED FROM JUNE
AN IN-PERSON EVENT AT BOOKENDS & BEGINNINGS' COURTYARD
Thursday, September 8, 6 - 7 pm
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The New York Times praises Emily Maloney's debut essay collection, Cost of Living, as "astute, compassionate and lethally funny." Maloney's tale of hospitalization and crippling medical debt explores "the complex intersections of money, illness and medicine."
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Emily Maloney is the author of Cost of Living (Henry Holt, 2022). Her work has appeared in Glamour, Virginia Quarterly Review, Best American Essays, and the American Journal of Nursing, among others. She has worked as a dog groomer, pastry chef, general contractor, tile setter, and catalog model and sold her ceramics at art fairs. She has been awarded fellowships from MacDowell and the Illinois Arts Council, has an MFA in nonfiction from the University of Pittsburgh, and lives in Evanston, Illinois.
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Susannah Pratt's More or Less: Essays from a Year of No Buying documents her family’s experiment in buying nothing nonessential. Eula Biss writes that, “The resulting meditation on want, need, excess, and garbage asks profound questions about waste, time, and the lost art of thrift.”
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Join us for a one-night-only virtual conversation featuring songwriting giant Rodney Crowell and 14-time Grammy winner Emmylou Harris, as Crowell shares his musical journey and just-released memoir, Word For Word.
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Note: Rodney Crowell begins a national concert tour in the fall. He will appear at Space in Evanston on September 29. This virtual event is FREE, but those who purchase Word for Word when registering for Bookends & Beginnings' virtual conversation on September 13 can choose to have us bring their book to the concert, which Rodney will sign after the performance.
Emmylou Harris—who once employed Rodney Crowell as the guitarist, harmony singer, and arranger in her Hot Band—introduced many listeners to his finely-crafted songs, including “Til I Gain Control Again,” “Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight,” “I Ain’t Living Long Like This,” “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,” and “Ashes by Now.” They all went on to be become hits for other performers, while Crowell went on to carve out a career as the first country singer to earn five #1 singles from one album. Rodney continued writing and recording classics, while other artists continued to take his songs to the top of the charts, including Bob Seger’s recording of “Shame on the Moon,” Tim McGraw’s recording of “Please Remember Me,” and Keith Urban’s cover of “Making Memories of Us.”
In this disarmingly intimate look at Crowell’s songs, he shares pages from his lyric notebooks, personal photographs, and scribbles that reveal the heart of one of this generation’s finest songwriters.
Rodney Crowell is a Grammy-winning artist and songwriter who has written fifteen #1 hits for Emmylou Harris, Johnny Cash, Keith Urban, and others. In addition, his compositions have been recorded by artists such as Etta James, Bob Seger, and The Grateful Dead. Crowell has been honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Songwriting from the Americana Music Association, the prestigious ASCAP Founder’s Award, the Academy of Country Music’s Poet’s Award, and induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is the author of the acclaimed memoir Chinaberry Sidewalks.
Emmylou Harris is one of the most admired and influential women in music. A 14-time Grammy winner and Billboard Century Award recipient, Harris’ contribution as a singer and songwriter spans forty years. She has recorded more than twenty-five albums and has lent her talents to countless fellow artists’ recordings. In recognition of her remarkable career, Harris was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008 and earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 2018.
Bookends & Beginnings will be joined by Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, and Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio to present this exclusive virtual conversation.
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A Virtual Event
Wednesday, September 14, 6 - 7:30 pm
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In this 90-minute, online workshop, therapist and author Erica Hornthal will discuss the benefits to and ways of incorporating the body into mental health in order to support emotional well-being. When you can identify where you hold your emotions and tap into greater body awareness, you have the power to manage your stress and enhance your resilience. Throughout the workshop, you will practice ways to become more body aware, mindful, and present. The purpose of the workshop is to help you rediscover the mind-body connection, move through your thought patterns, and learn simple movement practices to support your mental health. This course is suitable for anyone regardless of previous movement experience. Enrollment is limited to fifteen students. The $45 registration fee includes a copy of Erica's book, Body Aware, which you can pick up at Bookends & Beginnings or have mailed to you.
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Erica Hornthal is a licensed clinical professional counselor, board-certified dance/movement therapist, and the CEO and founder of Chicago Dance Therapy. Since graduating with her MA in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling from Columbia College Chicago, Erica has worked with thousands of patients aged 3-107. Known as “The Therapist Who Moves You,” Hornthal is changing the way people see movement with regard to mental health. |
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A VIRTUAL EVENT
Wednesday, September 28, 7 - 8:30 pm
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In this 90-minute, online workshop, Jay Bonansinga, the critically acclaimed author of The Walking Dead novels, presents the top ten attributes of highly successful writers, exploring both micro and macro issues of craft, style, impact, and clarity. This will be an immersive, entertaining, and interactive experience that will improve the skills of writers of any level and genre.
Jay Bonansinga has established himself as a fixture in the genres of horror and suspense. He is currently the co-author with the late, great Stan Lee of a new series of superhero novels titled Stan Lee’s The Devil’s Quintet--mostly recently, of The Devil's Quintet: The Armageddon Code. Jay is also the New York Times bestselling author of The Walking Dead novels (four volumes in collaboration with the creator of the franchise, Robert Kirkman, and four volumes as solo author). Additionally, Jay is the author of fifteen original novels, including the Bram Stoker finalist The Black Mariah, the International Thriller Writers Award finalist Shattered, the acclaimed YA horror novel, Lucid, and Jay’s latest horror original, Self Storage. Jay’s work has been translated into sixteen languages, and he has been called “one of the most imaginative writers of thrillers.” He lives in the Chicago area with his wife, the photographer Jill Norton, and his two sons, and is currently hard at work on his next novel.
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Books You Could be Reading...
...and Buying from Us!
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Pre-order these books and get them when they're released! |
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Bookends & Beginnings is a community-centered and community-sustained, full-service, general-interest independent bookstore, now in our ninth calendar year. We are a member of the Chicago Independent Bookstore Alliance (ChIBA), the Great Lakes Independent Bookstore Association (GLIBA), and the American Booksellers Association (ABA). Show your support by shopping in our store (and other Chicago-area independent bookstores), by trading in or donating books of quality and in good condition, by bringing your local and out-of-town friends and family to shop with us, by attending our events, and by "liking" us on Facebook and posting reviews on other social media. Remember that you can always see event photos and news updates on our Facebook page, which is updated almost daily. There you can also subscribe to our events feed with a single click.
Above all, keep reading good books!
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Bookends & Beginnings
1712 Sherman Ave Alley #1
Evanston, IL 60202
224-999-7722
RSVP for events to
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