Join the Writer’s Studio community for instructor Cecilia Pinto's FREE craft mini-lesson on The End in Sight, looking at the connection between story beginnings and endings. After that, at 5:30pm, it's time for our always-inspiring, often-instructive creative writing open mic! 

REGISTER HERE

This signature event is an opportunity to foster your writing, hear the ideas and work of others, and, if you’re so inclined, add your voice and stories to the mix.

To read at the open mic, please prepare up to two double-spaced pages in twelve-point, Times New Roman font. You can hold an open mic spot in two ways: online through the event registration link or in person. When you register for the event, this question will allow you to sign up to read as well: Will you be reading/performing at the open mic? If you answer yes to that question, you will receive a personalized email confirming your open mic spot. If you do not see that question, the online reader signup has closed, so you will need to sign up in person. Three or more spots will be held for in-person signup at the event. Please arrive early to be added to that list.

About the Instructor: Cecilia Pinto has had her poetry and prose published in a variety of journals including Quarter After Eight, Fence, The Seneca Review, Triquarterly, and RHINO. She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for poetry and an Illinois Arts Council award and won the Esquire short fiction contest. She is also a CAAP grant recipient. In 2015, she was voted a writer to watch by The Guild Literary Society.

Writing isn’t always about putting words on the page—sometimes it’s about taking them away. Tracing the history of erasure as a tool used by poets and writers in their creative practice, this workshop will challenge you to create written work using source texts and an eye for elimination. Materials provided. All skill levels are welcome! Led by Alison Thumel, whose chapbook of erasure poems won Salt Hill's Dead Lake Chapbook Contest.

This event is free, but preregistration is required and it is now SOLD OUT, as participation is limited to 15 attendees; register for the waiting list here.

About the Instructor: Alison Thumel is a Chicago-based poet, writer, and erasurist. Her work has recently appeared in or is forthcoming in DIAGRAM, The Rumpus, and Ninth Letter. She is the author of two chapbooks.

From its origins to this day, the tradition of both international translation and illustration of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland has swung between slavish reverence for the English original and its opposite: a recognition of the revolutionary frame of mind that this classic work represents, one that embodies respect for play and nonsense, of courage in the face of the absurdities of the adult world, and of belief in the dignity of childhood as a period of grace in all of our lives. This will be a romp through several dozen notable and ig-notable Alice interpretations in word and image, from Bulgaria to Japan and from Russia to aboriginal Australia.

About the Speaker: With wife Nina, Jeff co-founded Evanston’s independent bookstore Bookends & Beginnings in 2014. In his earlier life (or lives), he was deputy director of Northwestern University Library, president of the jury that awards the Hans Christian Andersen medals, and a librarian at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley and the University of Munich, and has published articles in American Libraries, Library Quarterly, the Times Educational Supplement—and, of course, the Knight Letter, the newsletter of The Lewis Carroll Society of North America.

Legendary 100-year-old activist and historian Timuel Black discusses his new book, Sacred Ground: The Chicago Streets of Timuel Black, which chronicles the life and times of this Chicago icon. Bart Schultz, editor of the book, and Bennett Johnson, activist and publisher of Path Press, will talk with Black about his life in this event co-sponsored by Northwestern University’s Department of African-American Studies. Evanston civil rights legend Bennett Johnnson will also join the discussion. Register to reserve a seat at https://evanston.libnet.info/event/1971364

About the Speakers:

Timuel D. Black, Jr. has spent his life furthering the cause of social justice, and his two volumes of oral histories, Bridges of Memory: Chicago's First Wave of Black Migration and Bridges of Memory: Chicago's Second Generation of Black Migration, published by Northwestern University Press, chronicle black Chicago history from the 1920s to the present.

Bennett Johnson is a legendary civil rights activist and publisher in Evanston. He helped found Evanston’s branch of the Congress of Racial Equality and the Chicago League of Negro Voters. He has worked for Urban Consulting Inc. and as the president of the Evanston Minority Business Consortium He co-founded Path Press, which began publishing books in 1969 as one of the first black-owned publishers, and continues to this day.

Bart Schultz is a senior lecturer in humanities and director of the Civic Knowledge Project at the University of Chicago. He is the author of many works, including Henry Sidgwick: Eye of the Universe.

So What? Press, Comix Revolution, and the Evanston Literary Festival present a discussion on the vitality of Chicagoland's small press comics scene. Chicago is home to a healthy swatch of creators working in many different styles and genres. With the growth of shows like CAKE and Chicago Zine Fest, these creators have found new ways to expand their voices and come together as a community. We'll address the benefits of such growth as well as the challenges creators still face. Panelists include Evanston locals Keiler Roberts (Powdered Milk) and Scott Roberts (Get Uncomfortable With Being Uncomfortable); Jeff Zwirek (Burning Building Comix); and Marnie Galloway (In the Sounds and Seas).  

Various kinds of migrations—their own and those of others, chosen and forced, geographical and emotional—inform the work of many writers. The ones featured in this reading will share writing situated along contested borders and within official documents, in sites of historical significance and in classrooms, in remembered homelands and in imagined family trees—work that explores what it means to find a home in this world, what it takes to secure a sense of belonging despite the forces of fear, exclusion, xenophobia, even shame.

Readers include Jan-Henry Gray, Nestor Gomez, Kimberly Dixon-Mays, Daniela Morales, Nina Sudhakar, Jeremy T. Wilson, Foster Monroe, and Liam Hubbard, and the event is hosted by Faisal Mohyuddin.

Refreshments will be served, and free parking is available directly across the street from the event space.

Rebecca Sive's Vote Her In: Your Guide to Electing Our First Woman President addresses the unrealized dream of millions of American women: electing our first woman President. It makes the case for the urgency of women attaining equal executive political power at all levels, including the presidency, and offers a comprehensive strategy for every woman to be a part of this campaign—the most important of our lifetimes. Sive speaks with Michele Weldon, the editorial director of Take the Lead and author of Escape Points. This event is cosponsored by Take the Lead.

About Vote Her In: “inspiring, savvy and persuasive on why America needs more female leadership now. Rebecca offers not just the analysis, but the practical steps every woman and man can take to help get women into the C-suite and the Oval Office. And argues that the time to do it is now.”--Jessica Yellin, former CNN White House correspondent

About the Author: Rebecca Sive’s career has spanned executive positions − in business, government, philanthropy, academia, and the not-for-profit sector − where she has earned a reputation as a smart and inspirational women’s leadership and politics strategist, writer, speaker, and teacher. At the University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy, Sive was the founding Program and Academic Director of its Women in Public Leadership executive education initiative, and was a lecturer. Sive has received distinguished achievement awards from her undergraduate alma mater, Carleton College, and from the University of Illinois (from which she received an M.A. in American History), and leadership awards from the United Negro College Fund, the Jaycees, and the YWCA, among others. Sive was among the national leaders who developed women's issues agendas for Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. She was a gubernatorial appointee to the Illinois Human Rights Commission; a mayoral appointee as a commissioner of the Chicago Park District; a founding board member of the Chicago Foundation for Women; is in Feminists Who Changed America, University of Illinois Press (2006), and has served as a director of many other organizations and foundations.

About the Interlocutor: Michele Weldon is editorial director of Take the Lead, and is emerita faculty in journalism at Northwestern University, where she taught on the graduate and undergraduate levels for 18 years. She is director of the Northwestern Public Voices Fellowship through The OpEd Project, where she is a senior leader. Weldon is the author of four nonfiction books, I Closed My Eyes (1999); Writing To Save Your Life (2001); Everyman News (2008); and her latest, Escape Points: A Memoir (2015) was named one of the best books of 2015 by Booklist of the American Library Association and was a finalist in the Society of Midland Authors Literary Awards for 2015. She has contributed chapters in seven other books and anthologies. Her commentary appears regularly in outlets such as New York Times, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, CNN, Cosmopolitan, Washington Post, Huffington Post, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Medium, Pacific Standard, Quartz, Slate and hundreds more. Weldon co-directed TEDX NorthwesternU 2014 and competed in the 2012 Moth Story Chicago GrandSlam in 2012. She is a frequent guest on radio, TV and digital sites.

Memoir is enjoying a major resurgence. Learn how to tell your story well by weaving together craft and truth with award-winning memoirist and WBBM radio reporter David W. Berner.

In this workshop, you will begin the process by understanding how to navigate memory and story and how to find your unique voice. Whether you are only in the planning stages, beginning the storytelling, or you have already put down words, this workshop will help you find your narrative. It will focus on styles of personal story, on the craft of storytelling, issues of privacy, and will offer exercises to help guide you toward your best writing. This workshop is free, but registration is required on the Evanston Public Library website; click here to register.

David W. Berner has been fascinated with stories since his days delivering The Pittsburgh Press newspaper as a young boy. Many early Sunday mornings, when he was supposed to be dropping off the latest edition on the doorsteps of his customers, he instead sat on the curb and read about the world. He began telling his own stories and the stories of others as a reporter for numerous radio stations, including freelance work at National Public Radio and more recently for CBS in Chicago. His reporting background has given birth to award-winning memoirs and novels. He has been the Writer-in-Residence for the Jack Kerouac Project in Orlando, where he was privileged to live and work at the Kerouac House in Orlando for two-and-a-half months. He later was honored with the Writer-in-Residence position at the Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Home in Oak Park, Illinois.

Join us for Evanston's second annual Type-In, a get-together for people interested in typewriters. Write a letter, bang out some instant poetry, try some speed typing, or just admire different kinds of beautifully made typers, which we'll provide for your use.

Founded as a grassroots poetry workshop in Evanston in 1976, RHINO Poetry publishes an award-winning annual journal of poetry, flash prose, and translations.  We also host The Poetry Forum--free monthly poetry workshops at the Evanston Public Library--and RHINO Reads!--free monthly readings at Bookends & Beginnings. 

As part of Evanston Lit Fest 2019, we are thrilled to host a reading of global poetry and translations, with work in English translated from Japanese, Serbian, Punjabi, Portuguese, and Spanish.  As editors, we believe that poetry crosses borders in powerful and important ways.  Readers and audiences deserve to hear the voices that emerge around the globe in a variety of languages.  We would like to welcome these voices to the Evanston community and hope you will join us! The reading will be followed by a 15 min. open mic for poets. Featuring host Virginia Bell and readers Naoko Fujimoto, Faisal Mohyuddin, Zafar Malik, Carlo Matos, Lucina Schell, Maja Teref, and Steven Teref.

Join author Sarah Aronson as she shows you how to return a book to the library the Rube Goldberg way! Every hour on the hour, Sarah will start the program by reading her new picture book, Just Like Rube Goldberg. Immediately afterward, you will be invited to help make a human Rube Goldberg machine! We will also be raffling off some books, courtesy of Booked in Evanston! For more information about Just Like Rube Goldberg, see Sarah's website: www.saraharonson.com. 

Local illustrator Diana Sudyka will be introducing her new children’s book, When Sue Found Sue.

Sometimes writers just need the tiniest of nudges to get them off and running on a story. In this workshop, led by author Thomas Burke (Eastbound into the Cosmos), we’ll discuss the generative process, as well as writing practices, but more than anything, we will power through many different writing prompts. Participants will leave this workshop with a number of scenes, characters, and scenarios which can serve as building blocks to new work. Due to the limited size of the workshop, free registration is required; register here.

Photo: Hamilton Poe

About the Instructor: Thomas Burke received a BA from Union College and an MFA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Eastbound into the Cosmos is his first novel. He has contributed work to Tin House, The Rumpus, Playboy, Hobart Pulp and St. Petersburg Review, among other places. He has taught at UMass Amherst, the Newberry Library, and Northwestern University, where he is currently assistant director of the Kaplan Humanities Institute. Formerly Burke helped direct the Summer Literary Seminar in Russia and co-founded its sister program in Kenya. He is the recipient of the Eugene Yudis Prize for fiction, a fellowship from the UMass Amherst MFA Program, and a residency at Art Omi’s Ledig House, among other honors. He lives in Evanston, IL with his wife and two children.

The City of Light. For many, these four words instantly conjure late nineteenth-century Paris and the garish colors of Toulouse-Lautrec’s iconic posters. More recently, the Eiffel Tower’s nightly show of sparkling electric lights has come to exemplify our fantasies of Parisian nightlife. Though we reflect longingly on such scenes, in Illuminated Paris, Hollis Clayson shows that there’s more to these clichés than meets the eye. In this richly illustrated book, she traces the dramatic evolution of lighting in Paris and how artists responded to the shifting visual and cultural scenes that resulted from these technologies. While older gas lighting produced a haze of orange, new electric lighting was hardly an improvement: the glare of experimental arc lights—themselves dangerous—left figures looking pale and ghoulish. As Clayson shows, artists’ representations of these new colors and shapes reveal turn-of-the-century concerns about modernization as electric lighting came to represent the harsh glare of rapidly accelerating social change. At the same time, in part thanks to American artists visiting the city, these works of art also produced our enduring romantic view of Parisian glamour and its Belle Époque.

About the Author: Hollis Clayson, Bergen Evans Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern, is a historian of modern art who specializes in 19th-century Europe, especially France, and transatlantic exchanges between France and the U.S. Her first book, Painted Love: Prostitution in French Art of the Impressionist Era, appeared in 1991 (Yale U. Press). Paris in Despair: Art and Everyday Life Under Siege (1870-71) was published in 2002 (U. of Chicago Press). In 2013, she curated the exhibition ELECTRIC PARIS at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA. An expanded version of the exhibition was at the Bruce Museum of Art in Greenwich, CT during the spring and summer of 2016. Her co-edited book (with André Dombrowski), Is Paris Still the Capital of the Nineteenth Century? Essays on Art and Modernity, 1850-1900, appeared in 2016 (Routledge). Her new book, Illuminated Paris: Essays on Art and Lighting in the Belle Époque (U. of Chicago Press), will appear in spring 2019. Her current project is The Inescapability of the Eiffel Tower.

Northwestern University Summer Writers' Conference is hosting a special literary reading in connection with the Evanston Literary Festival. This amazing lineup will give a glimpse of what's to come in August. You're not going to want to miss this!

6:00pm Doors and snacks
6:15pm Program begins

Lineup to include:
Gint Aras, Susanna Calkins, Krista Franklin, Alex Higley, Nami Mun, Kenyatta Rogers, and Mark Turcotte

A 30 minute reading of a scene from “Cracked,” a play written by Nikkita Duke. Performed by Nikkita Duke and friends. “Cracked” is a full-length dramedy play which follows prodigal son, Edem, who returns home with his wife, Ekanem, after many years for his mother’s funeral. Things eventually begin to crack as Edem is forced to confront all the buried secrets and memories of his childhood that haunt his present, including the trauma of his female abuser. For admission to the library, present a photo ID at the front desk.

About the Author: Nikkita Duke is a writer of diverse genres currently pursuing her MFA in Screen/Stage Writing from Northwestern University. Her poetry has earned her a commendation from the Poetry Society UK (Black Snow, 2009). Her short story “Edidiong” was shortlisted for the DWL Short Story Competition (2015) and her first stage play Affiong’s First Novel won second place in a Nigerian Playwriting Competition in 2016. In Chicago, she has had a reading at the Chicago Dramatists for her short play Before The War. This past summer, she was part of the Maria Fornés Workshop and also interned at the Fehinty African Theatre Ensemble.

In 2016, when millions of Americans voted for Donald Trump, many believed his claims that personal wealth would free him from wealthy donors and allow him to “drain the swamp.” But then Trump appointed several billionaires and multimillionaires to high-level positions and pursued billionaire-friendly policies, such as cutting corporate income taxes. Why the change from his fiery campaign rhetoric and promises to the working class? This should not be surprising, argue Benjamin I. Page and Matthew J. Lacombe: As the gap between the wealthiest and the rest of us has widened, the few who hold one billion dollars or more in net worth have begun to play a more and more active part in politics—with serious consequences for democracy in the United States. Join them as they discuss their book Billionaires and Stealth Politics. with Tony Chen of the Political Science Department at Northwestern. Cosponsored by the Northwestern University College Democrats and the Democratic Party of Evanston.

Investigative reporter Hannah Dreier will discuss her work with Northwestern Professor Patti Wolter. Dreier has won the 2019 John Bartlow Martin Award for Public Interest Magazine Journalism from Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. She was honored for “Trapped in Gangland,” a three-part series on the government’s failure to stop MS-13 gang violence in Suffolk County, New York. On April 15, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for the same ProPublica series.

At this special one-day exhibition at the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies, see artists’ books (curated by Gene Kannenberg, Jr.) and African literature (curated by Florence Mugambi). The exhibition is free and open to the public. At 6pm, a reading from Nigerian playwright Nikkita Duke will be held. For admission to the library, present a photo ID at the front desk.

One Book One Northwestern, Comix Revolution, and the Evanston Literary Festival present a discussion about the new graphic novel adaptation (March 2019) by Renee Nault of this year's One Book, One Northwestern selection, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. This panel will feature Terrence Gant (Third Coast Comics), Juan Martinez (author and Northwestern English professor) and Helen Thompson (English professor and Faculty Chair of One Book One Northwestern).  They will explore how the visual world of the graphic novel transforms this classic work of dystopian fiction.  How is Atwood’s dystopia reanimated by Nault’s visual text?  Does Nault’s graphic artistry speak to critical debates around the novel’s Hulu adaptation or appropriations of the handmaid figure as a template for feminist activism?   The panel will discuss how The Handmaid’s Tale's transformation into the medium of graphic artistry offers us new ways to inhabit Atwood’s dystopia.

Join author Elizabeth Cobbs as she reads from her newest historical novel, The Tubman Command, at Bookends & Beginnings. A book signing will follow the reading.

Please reserve a free ticket for this event (link here).

The Tubman Command tells the story of Harriet Tubman at the moment of her greatest gamble. Recruited as a spy for the Union army, Tubman- code name "Moses"- plots a spectacular plantation raid behind enemy lines, one so large and so daring it will turn the tide of the Civil War. But in order to succeed, Tubman must lead her team of black scouts up the Combahee River, where the dangers of alligators, sharpshooters, and slave catchers lurk. Her mission is complicated further by the hostility and skepticism of other Union soldiers. And yet, Tubman expects these men to underestimate her. It is, after all, why she is the perfect spy.

From the author of The Hamilton Affair, The Tubman Command brings to light the bravery and brilliance of American icon Harriet Tubman during her most daring mission yet.

For more information on The Tubman Command and Elizabeth Cobbs, please visit: www.elizabethcobbs.com

Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications will welcome five inductees into its Hall of Achievement and four of the inductees (Donna Leff, Brett Pulley, Don Schultz, and Mary Lou Song) will discuss their work.

As part of the Northwestern University Spring Writers’ Festival, join writer Lesley Nneka Arimah, whose debut story collection, What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky (Riverhead, 2017), offers a “humanizing portrait of both the Nigerian citizen and first-generation young female immigrant” (Liz von Klemperer). Evocative, wrenching, and subversive, this dazzlingly accomplished collection explores the ties that bind us–parents and children, husbands and wives, lovers and friends–to one another and to the places we call home. This event is held in conjunction with the Northwestern University English Department and the Block Museum.

So What? Press, Comix Revolution, and the Evanston Literary Festival present a discussion on how monsters, horror, and all kinds of spooky stuff aren't just the domain of TV and film--comics can scare you, too. We'll tackle how comics can be the perfect medium for such allegories, myths, and metaphors and how monsters and other manifestations can illustrate our fears and desires. Panelists include Tim Seeley (Hack/Slash), Corinne Halbert (Cursed Woman), and Dave Kelly (Tales of the Night Watchman).

The Mortality Book Club at Bookends & Beginnings reads and discusses books having to do with the important--but frequently avoided--issues we confront at the end of our lives. This month’s selection is Kaddish by Leon Wieseltier. Regular book club members include hospital and hospice workers, but also the adult children of aging parents, or just anyone who wonders about the many questions--medical, emotional, social, and philosophical--raised by human mortality. The book club facilitator is Jasmin Tomlins, herself in training as a death doula.

Join One Book, One Northwestern for a book talk with author and Northwestern Associate Professor of Medical Social Sciences, Medical Education and Obstetrics & Gynecology Katie Watson JD. Watson will discuss her new book, Scarlet A: The Ethics, Law & Politics of Ordinary Abortion. Scarlet A explains the law of abortion, challenges the toxic politics that make it a public football and private secret, offers tools for more productive private exchanges, and leads the way to a more robust public discussion of abortion. Planned Parenthood campus co-president Sloane Scott will engage Professor Watson in conversation before opening the program up for Q& A from the audience. This event is co-sponsored by Planned Parenthood Generation Action (PPGA).

A conversation about writing with all three of the Northwestern Spring Writers’ Festival visiting authors, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Layli Long Soldier, and Esmé Weijun Wang.

Hans-Joerg Tiede, senior program officer for the American Association of University Professors and the author of University Reform, discusses the threats to academic freedom under the Trump Administration in this event sponsored by the Northwestern AAUP chapter. Free lunch will be provided (Please RSVP for lunch by May 13).

Anyone can write a book. The question is, “How do you draw attention to it?” The Evanston Public Library is offering a service that aims to answer that question. Introducing Biblioboard. Learn how this and other related products can help you format, publish, and showcase your self-published materials. Want to get your ebook into the library? Now you can. Join Collection Development Manager Elizabeth Bird in a lecture format as she walks you through the process. Chicago Writers Association and Off-Campus Writers Workshop cosponsor this program.

About the Speaker: Elizabeth Bird is the Collection Development Manger of Evanston Public Library. Her blog A Fuse #8 Production is hosted by School Library Journal. Elizabeth reviews for Kirkus Reviews and the New York Times. She is the co-author of Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Children's Literature and the upcoming picture book The Great Santa Stakeout, out this September.

Shalini Shankar’s new book, Beeline: What Spelling Bees Reveal about the New American Childhood (Basic Books), is based on qualitative research funded by the National Science Foundation and the Wenner-Gren Foundation. The project investigates how spelling bees have grown into a mass-mediated, sport-like spectacles, factors contributing to the South Asian American winning streak, and how this model of competition is proliferating worldwide. It is comprised of interviews and observations with spellers and their families, spelling bee officials, lexicographers, and media producers, as well as archival research on spelling competitions and their media broadcasting.

About the Author: Shalini Shankar is a sociocultural and linguistic anthropologist at Northwestern who has conducted ethnographic research with South Asian American youth and communities in Silicon Valley, with advertising agencies in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, and with spelling bee participants and producers in various US locations. Shankar's previous books are, Advertising Diversity: Ad Agencies and the Creation of Asian American Advertising (Duke University Press, 2015) and Desi Land: Teen Culture, Class, and Success in Silicon Valley (Duke University Press, 2008).