Monday, April 9
at 7:30 p.m.
Doors open at 7 p.m.
Sappho's Salon Spring Open Mic
Co-hosted by Liz Baudler
& Eileen Tull
Wednesday, April 11
at 7:30 p.m.
Rachel Arndt
in conversation with
Aviya Kushner
Book Launch Party
Friday, April 13
at 7:30 p.m.
Jenny Boully
with special guests
Piper Daniels
and Alexis Pope
Book Launch Party
Wednesday, April 18
at 7:30 p.m.
Eloisa Amezcua
with special guests
Jose Olivarez
and Xandria Phillips
Poetry Reading
Thursday, April 19
at 7:30 p.m.
Nicole Hollander
Book Launch Party
Tuesday, April 24
at 7 p.m.
Meg Wolitzer
Reading and Book-signing
Wednesday, April 25
at 7:30 p.m.
Rebekah Frumkin
Book Launch Party
Thursday, May 3
at 7 p.m.
Samantha Irby
Please note: this ticketed event will be held at Wilson Abbey
(935 W. Wilson)
Tickets on sale soon!
Saturday, May 5
at 6 p.m.
Chelsey Clammer
with special guest
Deborah Siegel
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Family of Women Book Group
Sunday, March 4
at 2 p.m.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Sunday, March 11
at 5 p.m.
The Girl with the Red Balloon
by K. Locke
Feminist Book Group
Sunday, March 11
at 6:30 p.m.
Bird of Paradise
by Raquel Cepeda
Tuesday, March 13
at 7:30 p.m.
The Mothers
by Brit Bennett
(note date change)
Sunday, March 18
at 4 p.m.
Lower Ed
by Tressie McMillan Cottom
Monday, March 19
at 7:15 p.m.
Nights at the Circus
by Angela Carter
Discussion & Potluck
Sunday, April 8
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Suggested Reading:
Letter To My Daughter
by Maya Angelou
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Dear Friends of Women & Children First,
Have you heard the news? We're thrilled to be hosting Planned Parenthood's
Cecile Richards in conversation with David Axelrod this April! They'll be discussing Cecile's new book
Make Trouble. Buy tickets
HERE.
We're in awe of the young people who are putting necessary pressure on lawmakers to change America's gun laws. On March 24, student organizers are planning the
March For Our Lives. A statement on their website reads: "No special interest group, no political agenda is more critical than timely passage of legislation to effectively address the gun violence issues that are rampant in our country." Come join our
Feminist Craft Circle on March 6 as we knit gloves to wear to the
March For Our Lives. We will also have sign-making materials available. More details below.
This month, we hope you'll join us for some amazing free events with
Audrey Niffenegger, Hanif Abdurraqib in conversation with Jessica Hopper, and so much more!
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Barrie Jean Borich with special guests
Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m.
Book Launch Party
Apocalypse, Darling focuses on Borich's return to a decimated landscape--the steel-producing industrial heartland that become one of the most toxic places in the world--for an ill-fated family event. Borich asks: Can toxic landscapes be remediated, and can patriarchal fathers be forgiven? For this launch party, award-winning author Barrie Jean Borich has invited local authors Juan Martinez, Christine Rice, Tara Betts, and
T. Clutch Fleischmann to read alongside her on the theme of apocalypse.
Barrie Jean Borich is the award-winning author of Body Geographic and My Lesbian Husband. She is an associate professor of creative writing and publishing at DePaul University in Chicago, where she edits Slag Glass City, a digital journal of the urban essay arts. READ MORE
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Thursday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m.
Reading & Book-signing
After the birth of her first child, Eula, Molly Caro May experienced several health issues including pelvic floor dysfunction, incontinence, and hormonal imbalance. As she and her husband navigate new parenthood, Molly also moves between shock, sadness, and anger over her body's betrayal.
READ MORE
Molly Caro May runs writing workshops with the aim of democratizing writing. She is the author of The Map of Enough and co-founder of the Thunderhead Writers' Collective and received a writing fellowship at the Taft Nicholson Environmental Humanities Center. READ MORE
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Friday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Book Launch Party
In the fourteen powerful and diverse short stories in this collection, Lynn Sloan writes about people on the edge and ready to leap--a once-successful Lowcountry cook seeking a comeback with a popup restaurant, a failed actor assessing his life, a mother trying to connect with her estranged son, and a naive WWII army grunt trapped in a no-win battle with his superiors.
Lynn Sloan is a writer and photographer. Her stories have appeared in Ploughshares and American Literary Review, among other publications, and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. READ MORE
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Feminist Craft Circle
Evil Eye Fingerless Gloves
Tuesday, March 6 at 7 p.m.
Join us as we make these gloves to wear at the Chicago March for Our Lives to support gun control at Daley Plaza on Saturday, March 24th starting at 11am
.
The Evil Eye is an ancient symbol of protection,
representing an act of willful gazing, of not turning away. Wearing one glove, you can raise your hand in a "stop" gesture, as in "we must stop gun violence," "enough is enough." Or raise both hands above your head in the universal gesture of "hands up, don't shoot" as a reminder of how vulnerable we all are in a country where there are more guns than people.
This pattern
created by Kat Coyle is free on Ravelry and uses worsted weight yarn.
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Thursday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m.
Reading and Book-signing
Acclaimed legal scholar Michelle Oberman has studied the complex legal and ethical issues surrounding adolescence, pregnancy, and motherhood. Her work at the intersection of public health and criminal law focuses on domestic and international issues affecting women's reproductive health.
Michelle Oberman is the Katharine and George Alexander professor of law at Santa Clara University School of Law. Her book
When Mothers Kill won the Outstanding Book Award from the from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.
READ MORE
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Friday, March 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Poetry Reading
Come listen to four poets share their work, reflecting a world defined by gender, race, and identity. Together, they weave a narrative that strikes a balance between a grimmer reality and an increasing sensitivity to love and equity. READ MORE
Vann Harris
recently won the 2017 Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Award.
Rozina Kidari
is a creative writing fellow with the Luminarts Cultural Foundation.
Nicole Bond
is the winner of the 2016 Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Award.
Samina Hadi-Tabassum's
book of poems,
Muslim Melancholia,
was published by Red Mountain Press in 2017.
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Toddler Jam
Saturday, March 10 at 3 p.m.
Kids' Activity
Toddler Jam is a time for kids to let loose and caregivers to connect with one another. From the typical toddler tunes to toddlerized-mainstream music, there's something for everyone!
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Wednesday, March 14 from 6 to 8 p.m.
Open House & Open Mic
The Writer's Studio Open House and Open Mic includes a free mini-lecture, featured readers, and creative writing open mic. Writer's Studio instructor Randall Albers will present a craft mini-lecture on Play with a Purpose.
Randall Albers
is professor and chair emeritus in the Department of Creative Writing at Columbia College Chicago, was founding producer of the Story Week Festival of Writers, and is a recipient of Columbia's Teaching Excellence Award.
READ MORE
Jonathan Covert has a BFA in Writing, Literature and Publishing from Emerson College. READ MORE
Stephanie Friedman has had work published in Michigan Quarterly Review, among other publications, and a story included in the "distinguished" list in Best American Short Stories. READ MORE
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Audrey Niffenegger & Eddie Campbell
Tuesday, March 20 at 7 p.m.
Book Launch Party
With Bizarre Romance, internationally bestselling-author Audrey Niffenegger and her husband, graphic artist Eddie Campbell, have collaborated to create 13 quirky, irreverent vignettes about love, loss, fairies, regret, wanton wrongheadedness, cats, supernatural exterminators, and did we mention cats?
Audrey Niffenegger
is the author of the international bestsellers The Time Traveler's Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry as well as four illustrated books, including Raven Girl and The Night Bookmobile.
Eddie Campbell is an award-winning comics writer and artist. His work includes
From Hell with Alan Moore, as well as the autobiographical
Alec: The Years Have Pants and
The Playwright (with Daren White).
READ MORE
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Hanif Abdurraqib in conversation with Jessica Hopper
Wednesday, March 21 at 7:30 p.m.
Author Conversation, Reading & Book-signing
Join us for a not-to-be-missed author conversation featuring Hanif Abdurraqib and Jessica Hopper.
Hanif Abdurraqib
is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. He is the author of the poetry collection The Crown Ain't Worth Much and has had poems published in Muzzle, Vinyl, PEN American, and various other journals.
READ MORE
 Jessica Hopper
is, most recently, the author of The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic. She was formerly the editorial director at MTV News and senior editor at Pitchfork.
READ MORE
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Friday, March 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Poetry Reading
Javier Zamora was nine years old when he traveled unaccompanied 4,000 miles, across multiple borders, from El Salvador to the United States to be reunited with his parents.
Javier Zamora
earned a BA at the University of California, Berkeley; an MFA at New York University; and is a 2016-2018 Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.
READ MORE
 Eloisa Amezcua's debut collection,
From the Inside Quietly, is the inaugural winner of the Shelterbelt Poetry Prize selected by Ada Limón. A MacDowell fellow, she is the author of three chapbooks and founder and editor-in-chief of the
Shallow Ends.
READ MORE
 José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants, the co-author of the book of poems
Home Court, and the co-host of the poetry podcast, The Poetry Gods. He is a graduate of Harvard University and is the marketing manager at Young Chicago Authors.
READ MORE
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special guests Angela Just
Thursday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m.
Poetry Reading
Join us as we celebrate the winner of the 2017 Bird's Thumb Chapbook Contest, Matriarchetypes by Nina Sudhakar.
Nina Sudhakar
is an Indian-American writer, poet, and lawyer who lives in Chicago. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in such publications as Ecotone, Breakwater Review, and Big Lucks.
READ MORE
Angela Just
is a Chicago-based poet whose chapbook Everything I Own was recently published by Porkbelly Press. Her work has appeared in Bird's Thumb, Sow's Ear, MAKE, and other journals.
READ MORE
Suzanne Frank
designs residential landscapes and studies birds. Her poems have been published in Bird's Thumb, 10x3 plus, Another Chicago Magazine (ACM), and Stray Bullets: A Celebration of Chicago Saloon Poetry.
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Together We Rise
Organizer Panel Discussion
Friday, March 30th at 7 p.m.
In celebration of the one-year anniversary of the Women's March, Together We Rise offers an unprecedented chronicle of this galvanizing movement, with exclusive interviews with Women's March organizers, never-before-seen photographs, and essays by feminist activists.
READ MORE
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Kitty Curran & Larissa Zagerris
Wednesday, April 4 at 7:30 p.m.
Book Launch Party
Come celebrate the launch of the romance novel that lets you pick your path, follow your heart, and find happily ever after. Make choices, turn pages, and discover all the daring delights of the multiple (and intertwining) storylines. READ MORE
Larissa Zageris and Kitty Curran are the creative team of the viral series Taylor Swift: Girl Detective, as well as countless other zines and comics. Larissa is a writer, educator, and photographer whose work has appeared in
McSweeney's Internet Tendency, among many other internet places.
READ MORE
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Sandra Allen
in conversation with Jessica Hopper
Thursday, April 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Conversation and Book-signing
Sandra Allen did not know her uncle Bob very well. As a child, she had been told he was "crazy" and had spent time in mental hospitals. Then in 2009 Bob mailed Sandra his autobiography--sixty single-spaced pages of all-capped, error-riddled sentences. READ MORE
Sandra Allen grew up in Muir Beach, California. She attended Brown University and received an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Iowa. Her work has appeared in McSweeney's
Internet Tendency, among many other internet places.
READ MORE
Jessica Hopper is a Chicago-based music journalist and author.
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Christine Lahti in conversation with Bernardine Dohrn
Thursday, April 12 at 7 p.m.
Reading, Conversation, and Book-signing
Please note: this ticketed event will be held at the Swedish American Museum (5211 N. Clark St.)
We're thrilled to welcome Christine Lahti in conversation with Bernardine Dohrn in celebration of Christine's forthcoming essay collection, True Stories from an Unreliable Eyewitness: A Feminist Coming of Age.
Christine Lahti is an Academy, Golden Globe, and Emmy Award winning acclaimed director and stage, television, and film actor with a career that spans more than forty years. She most recently starred in Fucking A by Pulitzer Prize-winner Susan Lori Parks.
READ MORE
 Bernardine Dohrn, activist, academic, and children's and women's rights advocate, is a retired associate clinical professor at Northwestern University School of Law, where she was the director of the Children and Family Justice Center for 23 years. Dohrn is an author and co-editor of numerous books
READ MORE
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Big Announcement
Cecile Richards in conversation with David Axelrod
Please Note: This event will be held at Senn High School (5900 N. Glenwood). Buy tickets HERE.
Women & Children First is honored to host the only Chicago event on Cecile Richards' Make Trouble book tour. As a young woman, Cecile Richards watched as her mother, Ann, transformed from a housewife into the straight-talking, truth-telling Democratic governor of Texas.
READ MORE
Cecile Richards began her career helping garment workers, hotel workers, and nursing home aides fight for better wages and working conditions. She also served as deputy chief of staff to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.
READ MORE
 David Axelrod is a veteran of politics and journalism and the former chief strategist and senior advisor to President Barack Obama.
READ MORE
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