Chicago Literary Alliance Presents: One For The Books

Throughout the first two weeks of April, enjoy a variety of virtual events presented by The Chicago Literary Alliance that celebrate the many ways we use the tools of literacy. Take part in an online silent auction featuring unique and rare books, as well as items for your home. One For The Books is a series of events fundraising to benefit The Chicago Literary Alliance

Join us on Thursday, April 1 at 6 PM for a conversation with Rebecca Makkai to discuss her work, her creative process, and her view of a literate Chicago. Zoom links will be sent to all ticket holders closer to the event.

on February 23 2021· Tagged: benefit, Chicago Literary Alliance, CLA, conversation, fundraiser, in conversation, video, virtual event

Magic City Books Presents: Virtual Event – Kevin Brockmeier In Conversation with Rebecca Makkai

Magic City Books is proud to welcome Kevin Brockmeier for a virtual author event in celebration of his new collection of stories, The Ghost Variations. 

The author of the acclaimed novel The Brief History of the Dead now gives us one hundred funny, poignant, scary, and thought-provoking ghost stories that explore all aspects of the afterlife. These tales are by turns playful, chilling, and philosophical, paying homage to the genre while audaciously subverting expectations. The ghosts in these pages are certain to haunt you well after you’ve closed the book.

Kevin will be joined in conversation by Rebecca Makkai, author of The Great Believers.

This free event will be hosted on the Zoom platform and Facebook Live. To register in advance for the Zoom event visit: https://magiccitybooks.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_YUhZ3OLOR1arH2OuetXH7g.

After you register you will receive a confirmation email with instructions on how to join the event on Friday, March 12.

The Ghost Variations will be published on March 9, 2021. To pre-order a copy you can call Magic City Books, 918-602-4452 or visit: https://magiccitybooks.square.site/product/the-ghost-variations/437.

About The Ghost Variations

Ghost stories tap into our most primal emotions as they encourage us to confront the timeless question: What comes after death? Here, in tales that are by turn scary, funny, philosophic, and touching, you’ll find that question sharpened, split, reconsidered–and met with a multitude of answers.

A spirit who is fated to spend eternity reliving the exact moment she lost her chance at love, ghostly trees that haunt the occupant of a wooden house, specters that snatch anyone who steps into the shadows, and parakeets that serve as mouthpieces for the dead: these are just a few of the characters in this extraordinary compendium of one hundred ghost stories. Kevin Brockmeier’s fiction has always explored the space between the fantastical and the everyday with profundity and poignancy. As in his previous books, The Ghost Variations discovers new ways of looking at who we are and what matters to us, exploring how mysterious, sad, strange, and comical it is to be alive–or, as it happens, not to be.

KEVIN BROCKMEIER is the author of the memoir A Few Seconds of Radiant Filmstrip; the novels The Illumination, The Brief History of the Dead, and The Truth About Celia; the story collections The Ghost Variations, Things That Fall from the Sky and The View from the Seventh Layer; and the children’s novels City of Names and Grooves: A Kind of Mystery. His work has been translated into seventeen languages. He teaches frequently at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he was raised.

on February 22 2021· Tagged: Brockmeier, conversation, in conversation, Kevin Brockmeier, Magic City Books, virtual event

Virtual Book Launch: THE UPSTAIRS HOUSE by Julia Fine In Conversation With Rebecca Makkai

on February 22 2021· Tagged: conversation, digital event, events, free, in conversation, Julia Fine, video, virtual event, women & children first

Gorton’s Masterclass Series: Rebecca Makkai – A Local Writing Life

This event is virtual

“A Local Writing Life”: Local author Rebecca Makkai has achieved national prominence, most recently with her novel The Great Believers — a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and the winner of the ALA Carnegie Medal. Makkai was born and raised in Lake Bluff, and has lived her adult life in Lake Forest. She will talk with Barry Benson, Interim Executive Director of the Ragdale Foundation, about living as a professional writer in Lake Forest, coming of age in the community, sustaining a life in the arts, and the connections of her four books to both the North Shore and Chicago.

Rebecca Makkai’s latest novel, The Great Believers, was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award; it was the winner of the ALA Carnegie Medal, the Stonewall Book Award, the LA Times Book Prize, the Clark Fiction Prize, the Midwest Independent Booksellers Award, and the Chicago Review of Books Award; and it was one of the New York Times’ Ten Best Books of 2018. Her other books are the novels The Borrower and The Hundred-Year House, and the collection Music for Wartime — four stories from which appeared in The Best American Short Stories. Rebecca is on the MFA faculties of Sierra Nevada College and Northwestern University. She is Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago.

Barry Benson is the Interim Executive Director of the Ragdale Foundation, a nonprofit artists’ community located on the former country estate of architect Howard Van Doren Shaw. Nearly 200 residencies and fellowships are now offered annually to creative professionals of all types, making Ragdale one of the largest interdisciplinary artists’ communities in the country. Ragdale residents represent a cross-section of ages, cultures, experience, and mediums, for a diverse and vibrant community.

By purchasing a ticket, you will receive a link to the masterclass which will be released February 25th and sales will run through April 9th.  The link is yours to watch at your convenience.

($25 tickets/$10 for students)

on February 15 2021· Tagged: Gorton, in conversation, Masterclass, Ragdale, video, virtual event

Book Tour, Summer 2014

Announcing the Hundred-Year House book tour, Summer 2014! Many details still to come… Please feel free to share the Facebook pages and/or to kidnap bystanders with the intent of bringing them along.

NEW YORK, NY

MONDAY JULY 14

7:00 PM Reading & Signing

in conversation with David Daley of Salon.com

Launch Party

MCNALLY JACKSON BOOKS

52 Prince St

New York, NY 10012

www.mcnallyjackson.com

212-274-1160

Facebook event page here

BOSTON, MA

WEDNESDAY JULY 16

7:00 PM Reading & Signing

BROOKLINE BOOKSMITH

279 Harvard St

Brookline, MA 02446

www.brooklinebooksmith.com/

617-566-6660

Facebook event page here    

PORTLAND, ME

THURSDAY JULY 17

7:00 PM Reading & Signing

LONGFELLOW BOOKS

One Monument Square

Portland, ME 04101

207-772-4045

DAMARISCOTTA, ME

FRIDAY JULY 18

7:00 PM Reading & Signing

MAINE COAST BOOK SHOP

158 Main St.

Damariscotta, ME 04543

www.mainecoastbookshop.com

207-563-3207

ROCHESTER, VT

SUNDAY JULY 27

6:00 PM Reading, Signing (PLEASE NOTE TIME CHANGE)

BIG TOWN GALLERY READING SERIES

with Henriette Lazadris Power

Details here

CONCORD, NH

WEDNESDAY JULY 30

7:00 PM Reading & Signing

GIBSON’S BOOKSTORE

45 S. Main St.

Concord, NH 03301

http://www.gibsonsbookstore.com

603-224-0562

Facebook event page here

NAPERVILLE, IL

TUESDAY AUGUST 5

7:00PM Party/Reading

ANDERSON’S BOOKSHOP

123 W. Jefferson Ave.

Naperville, IL 60540

http://andersons2.indiebound.com/

630-355-2665

MILWAUKEE, WI

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 6

7:00PM Reading, Q&A, and Signing

with Cristina Henriquez, author of The Book of Unknown Americans

BOSWELL BOOK COMPANY

2559 N Downer Ave

Milwaukee, WI 53211

http://boswell.indiebound.com/

414-332-1181
MINNEAPOLIS, MN

THURSDAY AUGUST 7

7:00PM Reading, Q&A, and Signing

COMMON GOOD BOOKS

38 S. Snelling Ave.

St. Paul, MN 55102

http://www.commongoodbooks.com

651-225-8989

CHICAGO, IL

SATURDAY AUGUST 9

7:00PM Reading, Q&A, and Signing

Cosponsored by StoryStudio Chicago

BOOK CELLAR

4736-38 North Lincoln Ave

Chicago, IL 60625

http://www.bookcellarinc.com

773-293-2665

LAKE FOREST, IL

THURSDAY, AUGUST 14

1:00 PM Reading and high tea

Lake Forest Bookstore at Lake Forest Academy

A reading and tea on the historic grounds of Lake Forest Academy

Call Lake Forest Bookstore for reservations or more information

847 234-4420

GURNEE, IL  

TUESDAY AUGUST 26

7:00PM Reading, Q&A, and Signing

Warren Newport Library

Hosted by Lake Forest Book Store

847-234-4420

ATLANTA, GA  

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 27

A CAPPELLA BOOKS/Offsite

West Side Provisions

Howell Mill at 14th St.

(1198 Howell Mill Road)

Atlanta, GA

Scavenger Hunt and dinner (by registration) in the Upper Courtyard, 6-7:30

Reading in Lower Courtyard, 8:00, with sales by A Cappella Books

More info: (404) 872-7538 x3

Event link

DECATUR, GA

DECATUR BOOK FESTIVAL

SATURDAY, AUGUST 30

1:45-2:30 PM–  “Family Secrets” panel with Sarah Creech

Old Courthouse Stage

CHICAGO, IL

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 9

6 pm reading and discussion

Harold Washington Library with author Cristina Henriquez

Sponsored by the Society of Midland Authors

Cindy Pritzker Auditorium

CHICAGO, IL

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 10

6:30PM  Reading, Talk & Signing with author Renee Rosen

Speakeasy Theme (Chicago in the 20s)

CITY LIT BOOKS

2523 N Kedzie Blvd, Chicago, IL 60647

http://www.citylitbooks.com

773-235-2523

WINNETKA, IL

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 18

7:00PM Reading, Q&A, and Signing

THE BOOKSTALL AT CHESTNUT COURT

811 Elm Street

Winnetka, IL

http://www.thebookstall.com/

847-446-8880

LINCOLNSHIRE, IL

TUESDAY OCTOBER 14

Vernon Area Library

7 pm reading and signing

Posted in News on June 10 2014· Tagged: events, hundred-year house, in conversation, q&a, readings, schedule, tour