Past Events

Off-site: EXHIBIT G: Poems, Essays, and Photographs of Gaza by Fady Joudah

Join us as we welcome Fady Joudah for an off-site event at Haymarket House (800 W. Buena) in honor of the release of EXHIBIT G: Poems, Essays, and Photographs of Gaza.A Millions Most Anticipated 2026 Selection“This is poetry of the highest order, and a stunning reminder of what words can do.”—Omar El Akkad“Hold this book, read every word, study every picture, notice the prints you leave behind—a reminder that no one’s hands are clean.”—Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom DreamsFrom National Book Award Finalist Fady Joudah, a collection of poems, essays, and photographs that offers a Palestinian representation of not only the staggering grief, but the unwavering resilience and prevailing life force of a people and place enduring genocide.Fady Joudah writes from the split perspective of a Palestinian American physician caring for the sick while watching the destruction of Gaza from the United States, a nation complicit in that destruction. He locates the paradox of his position everywhere: in the seed a sparrow eats from his proffered hand; in his writing in English, the oppressor’s language; in the faces of Palestinian children receiving meals from aid kitchens—a glimpse into what his life could have been, and what is being lost in a war disproportionately impacting children and their families. Throughout the book, beauty insists on its survival not only through the Palestinian people, but also through the nonhuman world in which he takes occasional refuge from the devastation that humanity brings upon itself.By placing before readers a series of carefully chosen images from Gaza, Joudah presses his reader to comprehend that the experience of both the individual and the whole are integral to an explicitly Palestinian understanding of genocide, even if that rendering is a nearly impossible endeavor. Exhibit G insists on the immensity of Palestinian interiority, and finds in this collective act of creation a hyperpresent awareness. “By claiming what is being actively erased,” Joudah writes, “I become presence.”At once an indictment of genocide, a rendering of catastrophic loss, and “an affirmation of life instead of a staging of death” (Katherine Larson), Exhibit G insists that love exists in all its variousness, and that it is the only defense against a totalizing, destructive force.Fady Joudah is the author of […], a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, and Exhibit G.

Barbara Kingsolver - Partita

We're proud to partner with the Chicago Humanities Festival for this exciting event featuring Barbara Kingsolver, a Women & Children First favorite author of all time! Barbara Kingsolver is one of the most renowned and powerful writers of our time. She’s the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Demon Copperhead, the National Humanities Medal, and the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Kingsolver joins us to discuss her newest novel, Partita, which continues her literary legacy. It explores class barriers, the risks of ambition, and the power of art through the story of a woman’s modest life — and the shocking return of her painful yet passionate past. Kingsolver will read a few passages from the novel, accompanied by a classical pianist who will bring the passages to life. There will not be a book-signing for this event.

Women's Book Group

Women's Book Group The Women's Book Group is our longest-running book group, led by Women & Children First Co-Founder Linda Bubon (wcflinda@gmail.com). We meet on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:30 pm. SCHEDULE: March 17 - I Didn’t Come Here to Lie by Karen Lewis and Elizabeth Todd-Breland April 21 - You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson May 19 - Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche June 16 - The Turtle House by Amanda Churchill July 21 - On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder August 18 - Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green September 15 - Lawless by Leah Litman October 20 - The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai November 17 - Bad Bad Girl by Gish Jen December 15 - Annual Book Selection Night (This meeting only starts at 7 p.m.)

Book Launch: Monster in the Mirror by Janasha Prabhu

Join us for an event with Janasha Prabu to celebrate the release of her debut, Monster in the Mirror! Dark, twisty, and atmospheric debut thriller for readers of The Quiet Tenant and The Butcher.Her uncle was a serial killer. The town whispers, could she be a killer too?On the night Jiah Rai was found cradling her girlfriend Georgia's dead body at the bottom of Wailing Cliff, everyone suspected her. There wasn't enough evidence to charge her, but the town refuses to forget. Murder must run in the family. Jiah's uncle was a convicted serial killer, and while he died behind bars, his legacy lives on in Jiah and her sister. It doesn't matter that they've lived in Dumont their whole lives—they have never fit into the insular white community, and perhaps they never willBut legacy isn't done with Jiah just yet. A few years later, a threat from Georgia's brother threatens to crumble the shaky peace Jiah has rebuilt. Desperate to feel safe again, Jiah decides to take matters into her own hands and seeks support from her best friend, Estrella. After all, Estrella has been there for Jiah ever since they met after Georgia's death. But when Estrella never shows up to a dinner party, a series of texts lead Jiah to the beach below, where she finds a body positioned exactly how her uncle displayed his victims over a decade ago. The killer mocks Jiah, hinting they know about her secrets, too. But is Jiah really the monster Dumont thinks she is? As Jiah hunts the killer, she begins to realize she might be unable to save the next victim…and that she may not want to.Janasha Prabhu is a graduate of the University of Illinois with degrees in chemistry and computer science and is a fellow of the 2024 LitUp cycle through Reese’s Book Club.She has adored horror ever since picking up her first Goosebumps book as a kid and enjoys incorporating her experiences as a queer woman of color, her love for animals, and her interests in cooking into dark and twisted stories.Janasha currently lives in Chicago with her partner and their three cats—Grimm, James, and Harpo—and loves catching the latest horror movie, cooking a new recipe, or playing video games when she’s not writing.Accessibility: This event is hosted at the bookstore, which is a wheelchair accessible space. Masks are strongly encouraged for this event but not required. We have one industrial air purifier, two smaller air purifiers, and four ceiling fans throughout our space. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To request ASL interpretation for this event, please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com by no later than 14 days before the event. For other access needs please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com.

Book Launch: THE SPIRITS by Bonnie Jo Campbell

We are excited to welcome back Bonnie Jo Campbell for an event celebrating the release of her newest novel, The Spirits! For this event she will be joined in conversation by W&CF co-founder Linda Bubon. The best-selling author of The Waters returns with a tale of love, transgression, and the miraculous healing power of the holiday table.Bonnie Jo Campbell, a master of rural American fiction, brings us a hair-raising winter tale to warm us by the fireside. In this contemporary Christmas Carol, Campbell has created a gritty, spooky, and ultimately heartening holiday story that unfolds in an isolated farmhouse. It is the night before Christmas in a small town in Michigan, and a young woman is haunted by her father’s death. She has been silently penitent for nine years, but her guilt and grief have estranged her from her community and her family. She has taken refuge in the natural world of the plants and trees she tends, but on this anniversary of the tragedy, the supernatural landscape is rattling its chains.When a surprise guest appears at the (dreaded) Christmas Eve dinner, the family begins to open up and reveal dangerous secrets and crimes nobody is willing to face. Within this darkest chaos, a sliver of light appears, showing a way to reclaim communion and even a sense of humor. While redemption is never easy or wholesale, the story that a family creates together can heal wounds.Bonnie Jo Campbell is the author of The Waters, a Today Show “Read with Jenna” Book Club selection. Her other novels include Once Upon A River, a National Bestseller that was adapted into the award-winning film, and Q Road. Campbell’s short story collections include American Salvage, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award, and Women and Other Animals, an AWP Grace Paley Prize winner. She is a Guggenheim Fellow, and a recipient of the Eudora Welty Prize and Mark Twain Award. She lives outside Kalamazoo on a small farm with her husband and donkeys. Visit www.bonniejocampbell.netLinda Bubon is one of the founders of Chicago's Women & Children First bookstore. Accessibility: This event is hosted at the bookstore, which is a wheelchair accessible space. Masks are strongly encouraged for this event but not required. We have one industrial air purifier, two smaller air purifiers, and four ceiling fans throughout our space. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To request ASL interpretation for this event, please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com by no later than 14 days before the event. For other access needs please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com.

Weekly Morning Storytime!

Join us for Weekly Morning Storytime! Doors open at 10:15 a.m. and the program begins at 10:30 a.m. This is one half hour of stories, songs, and finger plays designed for ages 2 and up, but kids of all ages are welcome! Storytime is led by a rotation of seasoned readers and performers including teaching artist Miss Ruby and W&CF co-founder Miss Linda! Suggested donation of $3/kid.Featured Performers: Ruby Gibson (she/her) is a teaching artist, actor, and playwright who loves to tell stories full of music and magic! Since graduating from Northwestern University in 2022, she has worked with PlayMakers Laboratory, Chicago Children's Theatre, and Evanston Public Library as a teacher and performer. As a playwright, her adaptation of The Little Prince was developed for young audiences across Chicagoland with Improv Playhouse and the Actors Gymnasium. When she’s not playing pretend, you can find Ruby baking, gardening, or reading young adult fantasy novels.Miss Linda is the co-founder of Women & Children First, Chicago's feminist bookstore since 1979! Linda has led kids storytime for more than three decades! Now retired from running the bookstore, she spends her days reading whatever she wants, babysitting several amazing kids in the area, and following the Chicago Sky! She also continues to facilitate the Women's Book Group on the third Tuesday of every month.

Great Bakes: Modern Classic Recipes from the Midwest by Martin Sorge

We are excited to host Martin Sorge for an event celebrating Great Bakes: Modern Classic Recipes from the Midwest. For this event, Martin will be joined in conversation by Paul Fehribach. Martin Sorge, winner of The Great American Baking Show, guides readers through more than 100 recipes for sweet and savory bakes that celebrate the bounty of the Midwest, from modern classics to innovative show-stoppers.When Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith crowned Martin Sorge the winner of The Great American Baking Show in 2023, few would have guessed that his baking journey began with him setting the microwave on fire trying to make a biscuit. But after years spent in the kitchen, he had become a full-fledged "baking nerd next door"--the perfect guide to explain how to adjust a recipe for rye flour or perfect your pavlova without bogging you down with too many details.In this debut cookbook, Martin shares those tips and many more, in a collection of recipes that highlight the ease and enjoyment of wholesome ingredients and simple flavors, while encouraging readers to try new twists on familiar favorites. These breads, cookies, crisps, cakes, pies, pastries, and--yes--biscuits sneak surprising ingredients into the classics: Super-Soft Malted Cinnamon Rolls that elevate the childhood staple, Glazed Lemon Verbena Shortbread that gets a bit of zing from the window-box herb, Sweet Corn Milk Bread that highlights the perfection of an ear of summer sweet corn. From the Midwestern flavors of Chicago Dog Focaccia and Michigan Forest Cake to traditional Christmas Stollen and Swabian Soft Pretzels rooted in Martin's German heritage, Great Bakes welcomes bakers of every level with recipes they'll reach for again and again.Martin Sorge is a home baker, cook, writer, and recipe developer. His work has appeared in Food & Wine, the Chicago Tribune, Chicago magazine, WBEZ Chicago, Trink magazine, and more. He shares recipes, tips, and stories in his newsletter, also titled Great Bakes.Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith named Martin the winner of The Great American Baking Show in 2023. A native Hoosier, he lives in Chicago and Michigan's pinky finger with his husband and two cats.Paul Fehribach is an eight-time James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Great Lakes; and owner of the critically acclaimed Chicago restaurant, Big Jones. He was born and raised in the rolling wooded hills of Southern Indiana, and learned to hunt, fish, and find wild foods from an early age. Ample time spent on the family farms of relatives together with the woodland backdrop instilled a keen palate in him, reflected in the big, clean flavors he puts on the table along with a heated passion for true seasonal cooking. His book Midwestern Food: A Chef’s Guide to the Surprising History of a Great American Cuisine, with More Than 100 Tasty Recipes was named a book of the year by Food and Wine, Bon Appétit, and Eater. He is likewise the author of The Big Jones Cookbook: Recipes for Savoring the Heritage of Regional Southern Cooking, also published by the University of Chicago Press.Accessibility: This event is hosted at the bookstore, which is a wheelchair accessible space. Masks are encouraged but not required for this event. We have one industrial air purifier, two smaller air purifiers, and four ceiling fans throughout our space. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To request ASL interpretation for this event, please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com by no later than 14 days before the event. For other access needs please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com.

Banned Books Book Group

The Banned Books book group reads a mix of books that have been challenged or banned. Some are recent books that are facing challenges in classrooms and libraries right now; others are books that have been targeted over the decades. While we will spend most of our time discussing each book as a work of literature, we will also (at least briefly) discuss the efforts against it and why people feel threatened by the themes, characters, and/or events in it. By participating in the group, you are agreeing to listen respectfully to others’ ideas and opinions. If you tend to be in favor of restricting access to books for anyone, including children, this is probably not the group for you. WHERE: In-person at Women & Children FirstWHEN: The second Monday of every month, at 7PMHOW TO JOIN: Just come! Or, contact this book group's co-facilitator Karlee at karlee@womenandchildrenfirst.com.SCHEDULE: Sept 14: Two Boys Kissing by David LevithanOct 12: Beloved by Toni MorrisonNov 2: The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline Dec 14: Hood Feminism by Mikki KendallJan 11: Hurricane Child by Kacen CallenderFeb 8: The Awakening by Kate ChopinMar 8: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Children's Storytime: Razan Abdin & Aya Khalil

Join us for a morning storytime featuring authors Razan Abdin & Aya Khalil reading and signing copies of their beautiful new children's books.From debut author Razan Abdin, Splendidly Sawsan is an affirming, social-emotional learning picture book follows a vivacious little girl who sees the world differently—while offering a fresh, intersectional approach to neurodivergenceIn A Party of Colors, join Salem and Baba in an exploration of sequencing, color mixing and the carwash, because STEAM is everywhere and for everyone! Part of STEAMWORKS, a series of fiction board books for ages 0-3 that relate science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) to kids’ everyday livesRazan Abdin is a Palestinian writer who grew up in the American South and spent many summers in her ancestral homeland. She has been scribbling down stories since elementary school. When Razan isn’t busy arranging words on a page, she can be found exploring places near and far, filling her life with art (in all its forms), or daydreaming about a better world where everyone has what they need to thrive. She holds a masters degree in education and taught young children for a decade. Splendidly Sawsan is her debut book.Aya Khalil is an award-winning children’s book author. She holds a master’s degree in education. Her titles include The Night Before Eid, The Arabic Quilt, and A Party of Colors. Aya’s books have won numerous awards and honors including The Arab American Book Award and NCTE’s Charlotte Huck Award.Storytime is designed for ages 2 and up, but children of all ages are welcome! Children must be accompanied by a caregiver. Registration is encouraged, but not required. Doors open at 10:15 a.m. and stories begin at 10:30 a.m.. See you soon!

Weekly Morning Storytime!

Join us for Weekly Morning Storytime! Doors open at 10:15 a.m. and the program begins at 10:30 a.m. This is one half hour of stories, songs, and finger plays designed for ages 2 and up, but kids of all ages are welcome! Storytime is led by a rotation of seasoned readers and performers including teaching artist Miss Ruby and W&CF co-founder Miss Linda! Suggested donation of $3/kid.Featured Performers: Ruby Gibson (she/her) is a teaching artist, actor, and playwright who loves to tell stories full of music and magic! Since graduating from Northwestern University in 2022, she has worked with PlayMakers Laboratory, Chicago Children's Theatre, and Evanston Public Library as a teacher and performer. As a playwright, her adaptation of The Little Prince was developed for young audiences across Chicagoland with Improv Playhouse and the Actors Gymnasium. When she’s not playing pretend, you can find Ruby baking, gardening, or reading young adult fantasy novels.Miss Linda is the co-founder of Women & Children First, Chicago's feminist bookstore since 1979! Linda has led kids storytime for more than three decades! Now retired from running the bookstore, she spends her days reading whatever she wants, babysitting several amazing kids in the area, and following the Chicago Sky! She also continues to facilitate the Women's Book Group on the third Tuesday of every month.

Les Portes by Meredith Nnoka

Please join us to celebrate the poetry collection Les Portes by Meredith Nnoka, with Ashley Keyser and Crissonna Tennison.

A Spell of Heart & Havoc by Kristen Vale

We are excited to host local author Kristen Vale for a launch event celebrating the release of A Spell of Heart & Havoc ! For this event, Kristen will be joined in conversation by Danielle Jackson . The thief, the noblewoman, and the secrets they hide. Maerryl Kirim, a surly half-dwarf with the world on her shoulders, will do anything to save her deathly ill brother. Joining a guild of thieves to gather enough coin for his cure, she agrees to infiltrate a noble family. But acting as bodyguard for their haughty, spoiled daughter is no walk in the enchanted forest. Dove Wistrallo yearns for independence, not a babysitter. As the uncouth Maerryl loves to remind her, she lives a charmed life. . . though few know of the risky magical ability that Dove hides. Spending every moment together is infuriating—at first. But before long, the friction between the rogue and the lady becomes a spark they can’t ignore. Yet the clock is ticking for Maerryl to secure the family’s riches. Does their growing love stand a chance against Maerryl’s ruse, Dove’s secrets, and a den of thieves? Kristen Vale writes queer cozy fantasy romcoms filled with sweetness & spice. When not reading or writing, she can usually be found thrifting, playing D&D, or staring lovingly at trees. She lives in Chicago with her partner and her frenemy black cat, Opal. Danielle Jackson is an author, avid reader, lackluster-yet-mighty crafter, and accomplished TV binge-watcher. Danielle has had the unique experience of working on almost every side of the book business—as a publicist at a publisher, a managing editor of a book review website, a pop culture podcast co-host, an events coordinator at an independent bookstore, and now, an author. When she’s not writing, Danielle moderates and participates on industry panels and hosts a book club. Danielle lives in Chicagoland with her husband and daughters. Follow her on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky, @DJacksonBooks. Accessibility: This event is hosted at the bookstore, which is a wheelchair accessible space. Masks are strongly encouraged for this event. We have one industrial air purifier, two smaller air purifiers, and four ceiling fans throughout our space. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To request ASL interpretation for this event, please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com by no later than 14 days before the event. For other access needs please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com .

A Catalog Of Future Mercies by Serena Chopra

Please join us on Thursday, September 17th to celebrate the poetry collection A Catalog of Future Mercies by Serena Chopra. The author will be joined by Aditi Machado and Divya Victor. Please register for this free event. Advance registration is appreciated. In ghost stories and family history, this lyrical memoir explores mercy as resistance to generational violence.

Women's Book Group

Women's Book Group The Women's Book Group is our longest-running book group, led by Women & Children First Co-Founder Linda Bubon (wcflinda@gmail.com). We meet on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:30 pm. SCHEDULE: March 17 - I Didn’t Come Here to Lie by Karen Lewis and Elizabeth Todd-Breland April 21 - You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson May 19 - Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche June 16 - The Turtle House by Amanda Churchill July 21 - On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder August 18 - Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green September 15 - Lawless by Leah Litman October 20 - The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai November 17 - Bad Bad Girl by Gish Jen December 15 - Annual Book Selection Night (This meeting only starts at 7 p.m.)

Book Launch: Children of the Wolf by Abby Geni

We are always excited to welcome Abby Geni for an event! We will be celebrating the release of her newest novel, Children of the Wolf. For this event, Abby will be joined in conversation by Frances de Pontes Peebles.

Cultural Capital Doesn't Pay the Rent: A Queer Memoir by Jessica Lawless

Join us in welcoming author Jessica Lawless to discuss their memoir, Cultural Capital Doesn't Pay The Rent.

STAYING STILL by Hieu Minh Nguyen

Please join us on Wednesday, September 9th to celebrate the new poetry collection Staying Still by Hieu Minh Nguyen. The author will be joined by Fatimah Asghar.

Off-site Book Launch: BISQUICK: AN AMERICAN SEANCE by C. Russell Price

We are thrilled to be the official bookseller for the variety show cabaret celebrating the release of C. Russell Price’s Bisquick: An American Seance. Performances by Andrew Sa, Lucky Stiff, Odette, and more! See you there! Our Poetry Coordinator, H. Melt, says of Price's new collection: “Reading C. Russell Price's latest poetry collection feels like admiring flowers in the graveyard on a sunny day. It's the queerness of grief, the beauty and ache of longing to be loved by all our ghosts. It's pleasure and loneliness holding hands, with their fingers intertwined.”

Resurgency: Outlasting the War on Terror in Iraq with Kali Rubaii and Juan González

*Join Kali Rubaii and Juan González in a discussion about Rubai’s new release, Resurgency: Outlasting the War on Terror in Iraq.* About the Book Resurgency examines how Iraqi farmers outlast the long shadow of US military intervention as they return to repair their war-damaged homeland. Based on detailed ethnographic research, Kali Rubaii expands the temporal and descriptive definitions of war, displacement, and resistance. In Resurgency, Kali Rubaii offers detailed insight into how decades of war have affected everyday life in Iraq. Drawing on fieldwork in Anbar province and Iraqi Kurdistan in 2014–15 and 2021–24, Rubaii foregrounds the practices of displaced people who stubbornly outlast their occupiers, returning to homes that feel estranging, repairing war-damaged land, and surviving into futures to which they have been disinvited. Following Anbari farmers in their struggle to counter the social and environmental fallout from toxic military waste, depleted ecosystems, and transformed political economies, Resurgency expands the categories of what war is—and what resistance looks like. By asking what actions make sense when conditions of survival are diminished, and when today may be better than tomorrow, Rubaii offers new insights to those concerned about the possibilities of life amid environmental devastation, mass displacement, and the slow violence of the forever wars. *We ask that all in-person attendees wear masks in the event space during the program for the health and well-being of the speaker and other guests. We will have a reception afterwards with light refreshments and books available for purchase.* Speakers: Kali Rubaii is a cultural anthropologist at Purdue University whose scholarship focuses on displacement, health justice, and the environmental impacts of war and its chains of supply. She leads the Parts Per Million Project on environment and health justice and co-leads the War and Geos project on military supply chains. She is the author of Resurgency: Outlasting the War on Terror in Iraq and co-editor of The Social Properties of Concrete. Juan González is the co-founder and co-host of Democracy Now! since 1996. He was a staff columnist for New York’s Daily News from 1987 to 2016. He is the author of Harvest of Empire, News for All the People, Fallout , and Reclaiming Gotham. This event is sponsored by Haymarket Books and Women and Children First. While all of our events are freely available, we ask that those who are able make a solidarity donation in support of our important publishing and programming work.

Offsite with Haymarket House: Resurgency: Outlasting the War on Terror in Iraq with Kali Rubaii and Juan González

Join Kali Rubaii and Juan González in a discussion about Rubai’s new release, Resurgency: Outlasting the War on Terror in Iraq. Resurgency examines how Iraqi farmers outlast the long shadow of US military intervention as they return to repair their war-damaged homeland. Based on detailed ethnographic research, Kali Rubaii expands the temporal and descriptive definitions of war, displacement, and resistance. In Resurgency , Kali Rubaii offers detailed insight into how decades of war have affected everyday life in Iraq. Drawing on fieldwork in Anbar province and Iraqi Kurdistan in 2014–15 and 2021–24, Rubaii foregrounds the practices of displaced people who stubbornly outlast their occupiers, returning to homes that feel estranging, repairing war-damaged land, and surviving into futures to which they have been disinvited. Following Anbari farmers in their struggle to counter the social and environmental fallout from toxic military waste, depleted ecosystems, and transformed political economies, Resurgency expands the categories of what war is—and what resistance looks like. By asking what actions make sense when conditions of survival are diminished, and when today may be better than tomorrow, Rubaii offers new insights to those concerned about the possibilities of life amid environmental devastation, mass displacement, and the slow violence of the forever wars. We ask that all in-person attendees wear masks in the event space during the program for the health and well-being of the speaker and other guests. We will have a reception afterwards with light refreshments and books available for purchase. Kali Rubaii is a cultural anthropologist at Purdue University whose scholarship focuses on displacement, health justice, and the environmental impacts of war and its chains of supply. She leads the Parts Per Million Project on environment and health justice and co-leads the War and Geos project on military supply chains. She is the author of Resurgency: Outlasting the War on Terror in Iraq and co-editor of The Social Properties of Concrete . Juan González is the co-founder and co-host of Democracy Now! since 1996. He was a staff columnist for New York’s Daily News from 1987 to 2016. He is the author of Harvest of Empire , News for All the People , Fallout , and Reclaiming Gotham . This event is sponsored by Haymarket Books and Women and Children First . While all of our events are freely available, we ask that those who are able make a solidarity donation in support of our important publishing and programming work.

Offsite at Gerber/Hart:

Join us at Gerber/Hart on Saturday, August 22nd, at 1 PM to celebrate historian John D’Emilio’s newest book, Making Gay History: Memoir of a Scholar-Activist . Making Gay History recounts John D’Emilio’s career as a public historian, activist, and academic. Tracing his involvement in developing LGBTQ history from the 1970s to the 1990s, D’Emilio paints a queer history both personal and national that helps us understand how the LGBTQ movement has grown. Making Gay History continues John D’Emilio’s story, following his memoir of his early years, Memories of a Gay Catholic Boyhood . Here, D’Emilio recounts his career as a public historian, activist, and academic, relating his own queer history alongside the development of the LGBTQ movement in the United States. D’Emilio was part of the first burgeoning period of LGBTQ studies while still a graduate student in New York City. From there, he takes readers through his experiences as an out professor at UNC Greensboro, his activism in Washington, DC, and finally, his employment at the University of Illinois as an LGBTQ historian, a position that was unimaginable at the start of his career. At the same time, he narrates his own coming out, his successes and struggles with LGBTQ advocacy, and the loves and losses faced throughout his adult life, telling an intertwined personal and national history of queer hearts and minds. A pioneer in the field of LGBTQ history and the history of sexuality, John D’Emilio is the author of several books, including Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America; Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-70; and Memories of a Gay Catholic Boyhood: Coming of Age in the Sixties . He has served twice as president of the board of Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, and his book, Queer Legacies: Stories from Chicago’s LGBTQ Archives , is based entirely on research in Gerber/Hart’s collections.

Women's Book Group

Women's Book Group The Women's Book Group is our longest-running book group, led by Women & Children First Co-Founder Linda Bubon (wcflinda@gmail.com). We meet on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:30 pm. SCHEDULE: March 17 - I Didn’t Come Here to Lie by Karen Lewis and Elizabeth Todd-Breland April 21 - You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson May 19 - Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche June 16 - The Turtle House by Amanda Churchill July 21 - On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder August 18 - Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green September 15 - Lawless by Leah Litman October 20 - The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai November 17 - Bad Bad Girl by Gish Jen December 15 - Annual Book Selection Night (This meeting only starts at 7 p.m.)

Women in Translation: 2026 Panel Reading & Discussion

Please join us for the sixth almost-annual Women In Translation Month reading! We are thrilled to host members of Chicago’s own Third Coast Translators Collective to present their latest releases and fill you in on #WiTMonth developments. Everybody and every body welcome. This year's featured participants include Izidora Angel, Neil Blackadder, and Kathleen Maris Paltrineri, in conversation with Susan Harris. Izidora Angel is a Bulgarian-born memoirist, essayist and literary translator based in Chicago. Her translation of She Who Remains by Rene Karabash was shortlisted for the 2026 International Booker Prize . Izidora's writing has appeared in A Public Space, Astra Magazine , Electric Literature , Gulf Coast , and elsewhere, and anthologized in Best Literary Translations . She’s been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation, PEN/Heim, and others. Izidora is completing her debut memoir, Solomon’s Daughter, first excerpted in The American Scholar .

Book Launch: MAJESTIC HILLS by Dawn Turner

Please join us for a book launch celebrating Majestic Hills by Dawn Turner! For this event, Dawn will be in conversation with Heidi Stevens. A Black couple leaves their downtown Chicago condo for a new suburban subdivision, only to find themselves at the center of a maelstrom in this gripping page-turner from the award-winning author of Three Girls from Bronzeville. Tired of the daily drama in his emergency room, Dr. Langdon Blaque is in search of a place where he can leave the world behind. He loves his job and has no delusions about the suburbs being perfect, but he wants peace and quiet. His wife Josephine, a lawyer, grew up listening to her father’s stories about the Jim Crow South, and sundown towns. She prefers the city. Still, she agrees to move with the caveat that they stay for a year and reassess. The tight-knit, predominantly white group of neighbors in Majestic Hills initially welcomes them with open arms. But beneath the veneer of privileged harmony, tensions simmer. When a horrifying crime rocks the community, the illusion of safety is shattered, and Josephine and Langdon find themselves at the heart of a brewing storm that pits neighbor against neighbor, exposes deeply ingrained prejudices, and threatens to implode into violence. As their experiment in suburban living ticks toward the one-year mark, the Blaques are pushed to a breaking point. Can they find a way to make a home in Majestic Hills? Or has the move put their future, their marriage, and even their safety in jeopardy? Accessibility: This event is hosted at the bookstore, which is a wheelchair accessible space. Masks are strongly encouraged for this event. We have one industrial air purifier, two smaller air purifiers, and four ceiling fans throughout our space. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To request ASL interpretation for this event, please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com by no later than 14 days before the event. For other access needs please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com.

Banned Books Book Group

The Banned Books book group reads a mix of books that have been challenged or banned. Some are recent books that are facing challenges in classrooms and libraries right now; others are books that have been targeted over the decades. While we will spend most of our time discussing each book as a work of literature, we will also (at least briefly) discuss the efforts against it and why people feel threatened by the themes, characters, and/or events in it.

Spawning Season: An Experiment in Queer Parenthood by Joseph Osmundson

From the author of National Book Critics Circle Award and Lambda Literary Award finalist VIROLOGY comes an intimate chronicle of queer family-making. Since grade school, Joseph Osmundson dreamed of being pregnant. As he grew into the queer scientist he is today, the economic precarity of academia and the warming planet led to his decision not to reproduce. That is, until a lesbian couple he had known since college came to him with a proposition: would Joe be a bio-dad and would he co-parent alongside them? Soon everything was falling into place. But when the two partners communicated their need for a child to reflect their own racial backgrounds, Joe's whiteness exposed fault lines in their parenting journey. Spawning Season is a genre-bending memoir that treats the scientific as integral to the personal and that builds an entire species of the grief we carry in our bodies. In exploratory prose that builds on the work of Donna Haraway and José Esteban Muñoz, Osmundson considers the ethics of child-rearing in the 21st century, the brutal wonder of caregiving, and the joys and intricacies of building family beyond biology. Accessibility: This event is hosted at the bookstore, which is a wheelchair accessible space. Masks are strongly encouraged for this event. We have one industrial air purifier, two smaller air purifiers, and four ceiling fans throughout our space. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To request ASL interpretation for this event, please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com by no later than 14 days before the event. For other access needs please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com .

Weekly Morning Storytime!

Weekly Morning Storytime! Join us for Weekly Morning Storytime! Doors open at 10:15 a.m. and the program begins at 10:30 a.m. This is one half hour of stories, songs, and finger plays designed for ages 2 and up, but kids of all ages are welcome! Storytime is led by a rotation of seasoned readers and performers including teaching artist Miss Ruby and W&CF co-founder Miss Linda! Suggested donation of $3/kid. Featured Performers: Ruby Gibson (she/her) is a teaching artist, actor, and playwright who loves to tell stories full of music and magic! Since graduating from Northwestern University in 2022, she has worked with PlayMakers Laboratory, Chicago Children's Theatre, and Evanston Public Library as a teacher and performer. As a playwright, her adaptation of The Little Prince was developed for young audiences across Chicagoland with Improv Playhouse and the Actors Gymnasium. When she’s not playing pretend, you can find Ruby baking, gardening, or reading young adult fantasy novels. Miss Linda is the co-founder of Women & Children First, Chicago's feminist bookstore since 1979! Linda has led kids storytime for more than three decades! Now retired from running the bookstore, she spends her days reading whatever she wants, babysitting several amazing kids in the area, and following the Chicago Sky! She also continues to facilitate the Women's Book Group on the third Tuesday of every month.

Annual Basement Cleanout Sale!

As part of the Andersonville Sidewalk sale, we’ll be having our annual "Basement Clean-out Sale" benefiting the Women’s Voices Fund ! The sale runs from 11 AM to 5 PM on Saturday, July 25th and Sunday, July 26th. Swing by, say hi, and peruse a massive collection of super cheap books! We'll have fiction, nonfiction, art books, advanced reading copies, and kids book all priced at $5 to $10 suggested donations. Plus, this year we promise to have loads of new books on Sunday for those who can't make it on the first day. All proceeds benefit the Women's Voices Fund, which makes possible all of our events and programming all year-round. Cash & card accepted. Or until we run out of books!

Annual Basement Cleanout Sale!

As part of the Andersonville Sidewalk sale, we’ll be having our annual "Basement Clean-out Sale" benefiting the Women’s Voices Fund ! The sale runs from 11 AM to 5 PM on Saturday, July 25th and Sunday, July 26th. Swing by, say hi, and peruse a massive collection of super cheap books! We'll have fiction, nonfiction, art books, advanced reading copies, and kids book all priced at $5 to $10 suggested donations. Plus, this year we promise to have loads of new books on Sunday for those who can't make it on the first day. All proceeds benefit the Women's Voices Fund , our non-profit arm that makes possible all of our events and programming all year-round. Cash & card accepted. Or until we run out of books!

The New People by Andrea Uptmor

The New People by Andrea Uptmor Please join us for a book launch celebrating The New People by Andrea Uptmor! For this event, Andrea will be in conversation with Adrienne Gunn.

Weekly Morning Storytime!

Weekly Morning Storytime! Join us for Weekly Morning Storytime! Doors open at 10:15 a.m. and the program begins at 10:30 a.m. This is one half hour of stories, songs, and finger plays designed for ages 2 and up, but kids of all ages are welcome! Storytime is led by a rotation of seasoned readers and performers including teaching artist Miss Ruby and W&CF co-founder Miss Linda! Suggested donation of $3/kid. Featured Performers: Ruby Gibson (she/her) is a teaching artist, actor, and playwright who loves to tell stories full of music and magic! Since graduating from Northwestern University in 2022, she has worked with PlayMakers Laboratory, Chicago Children's Theatre, and Evanston Public Library as a teacher and performer. As a playwright, her adaptation of The Little Prince was developed for young audiences across Chicagoland with Improv Playhouse and the Actors Gymnasium. When she’s not playing pretend, you can find Ruby baking, gardening, or reading young adult fantasy novels. Miss Linda is the co-founder of Women & Children First, Chicago's feminist bookstore since 1979! Linda has led kids storytime for more than three decades! Now retired from running the bookstore, she spends her days reading whatever she wants, babysitting several amazing kids in the area, and following the Chicago Sky! She also continues to facilitate the Women's Book Group on the third Tuesday of every month.

Classics of Women's Literature Book group

Women's Book Group

Women's Book Group The Women's Book Group is our longest-running book group, led by Women & Children First Co-Founder Linda Bubon (wcflinda@gmail.com). We meet on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:30 pm. SCHEDULE: March 17 - I Didn’t Come Here to Lie by Karen Lewis and Elizabeth Todd-Breland April 21 - You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson May 19 - Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche June 16 - The Turtle House by Amanda Churchill July 21 - On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder August 18 - Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green September 15 - Lawless by Leah Litman October 20 - The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai November 17 - Bad Bad Girl by Gish Jen December 15 - Annual Book Selection Night (This meeting only starts at 7 p.m.)

Weekly Morning Storytime!

Weekly Morning Storytime! Join us for Weekly Morning Storytime! Doors open at 10:15 a.m. and the program begins at 10:30 a.m. This is one half hour of stories, songs, and finger plays designed for ages 2 and up, but kids of all ages are welcome! Storytime is led by a rotation of seasoned readers and performers including teaching artist Miss Ruby and W&CF co-founder Miss Linda! Suggested donation of $3/kid. Featured Performers: Ruby Gibson (she/her) is a teaching artist, actor, and playwright who loves to tell stories full of music and magic! Since graduating from Northwestern University in 2022, she has worked with PlayMakers Laboratory, Chicago Children's Theatre, and Evanston Public Library as a teacher and performer. As a playwright, her adaptation of The Little Prince was developed for young audiences across Chicagoland with Improv Playhouse and the Actors Gymnasium. When she’s not playing pretend, you can find Ruby baking, gardening, or reading young adult fantasy novels. Miss Linda is the co-founder of Women & Children First, Chicago's feminist bookstore since 1979! Linda has led kids storytime for more than three decades! Now retired from running the bookstore, she spends her days reading whatever she wants, babysitting several amazing kids in the area, and following the Chicago Sky! She also continues to facilitate the Women's Book Group on the third Tuesday of every month.

Banned Books Book Group

The Banned Books book group reads a mix of books that have been challenged or banned. Some are recent books that are facing challenges in classrooms and libraries right now; others are books that have been targeted over the decades. While we will spend most of our time discussing each book as a work of literature, we will also (at least briefly) discuss the efforts against it and why people feel threatened by the themes, characters, and/or events in it.

A Second Sight by Sarah J. Jackson

A Second Sight by Sarah J. Jackson Please join us for an event with Sarah J. Jackson in conversation with Moya Bailey to celebrate the release of A Second Sight: How the Wonder and Vision of Black Mediamakers Push America Toward Freedom on Wednesday, July 8th at 7pm CT. This event is free to attend and registration is requested.

Weekly Morning Storytime!

Weekly Morning Storytime! Join us for Weekly Morning Storytime! Doors open at 10:15 a.m. and the program begins at 10:30 a.m. This is one half hour of stories, songs, and finger plays designed for ages 2 and up, but kids of all ages are welcome! Storytime is led by a rotation of seasoned readers and performers including teaching artist Miss Ruby and W&CF co-founder Miss Linda! Suggested donation of $3/kid. Featured Performers: Ruby Gibson (she/her) is a teaching artist, actor, and playwright who loves to tell stories full of music and magic! Since graduating from Northwestern University in 2022, she has worked with PlayMakers Laboratory, Chicago Children's Theatre, and Evanston Public Library as a teacher and performer. As a playwright, her adaptation of The Little Prince was developed for young audiences across Chicagoland with Improv Playhouse and the Actors Gymnasium. When she’s not playing pretend, you can find Ruby baking, gardening, or reading young adult fantasy novels. Miss Linda is the co-founder of Women & Children First, Chicago's feminist bookstore since 1979! Linda has led kids storytime for more than three decades! Now retired from running the bookstore, she spends her days reading whatever she wants, babysitting several amazing kids in the area, and following the Chicago Sky! She also continues to facilitate the Women's Book Group on the third Tuesday of every month.

Fatimah Asghar's Daughter of the Mountains

Please join us in welcoming back Fatimah Asghar to celebrate the release of their new poetry collection Daughter of the Mountains at Xoco House Gallery in Chicago. Please note that this is a ticketed, offsite event. A tender, searching collection that breaks open notions of faith to ask how a daughter, alienated from kin, can find love and a home in the world, from the award-winning author of If They Come for Us and When We Were Sisters “There is, in Daughter of the Mountains, an almost supernatural sense of connectedness, compassion. It’s a blueprint and a manifesto. I sit in stunned gratitude at its guidance.”—Kaveh Akbar, New York Times bestselling author of Martyr!

Weekly Morning Storytime!

Weekly Morning Storytime! Join us for Weekly Morning Storytime! Doors open at 10:15 a.m. and the program begins at 10:30 a.m. This is one half hour of stories, songs, and finger plays designed for ages 2 and up, but kids of all ages are welcome! Storytime is led by a rotation of seasoned readers and performers including teaching artist Miss Ruby and W&CF co-founder Miss Linda! Suggested donation of $3/kid. Featured Performers: Ruby Gibson (she/her) is a teaching artist, actor, and playwright who loves to tell stories full of music and magic! Since graduating from Northwestern University in 2022, she has worked with PlayMakers Laboratory, Chicago Children's Theatre, and Evanston Public Library as a teacher and performer. As a playwright, her adaptation of The Little Prince was developed for young audiences across Chicagoland with Improv Playhouse and the Actors Gymnasium. When she’s not playing pretend, you can find Ruby baking, gardening, or reading young adult fantasy novels. Miss Linda is the co-founder of Women & Children First, Chicago's feminist bookstore since 1979! Linda has led kids storytime for more than three decades! Now retired from running the bookstore, she spends her days reading whatever she wants, babysitting several amazing kids in the area, and following the Chicago Sky! She also continues to facilitate the Women's Book Group on the third Tuesday of every month.

Poetry Reading: Bloodroom by Kay E. Bancroft

Poetry Reading: Bloodroom by Kay E. Bancroft Please join us on Friday, June 26th to celebrate the debut poetry collection Bloodroom by Kay E. Bancroft. The author will be reading with Séamus Isaac Fey and I.S. Jones.

Grafting by Rylan Hynes

Grafting by Rylan Hynes A luminous debut novel about second chances, forbidden love, and the courage to cultivate beauty in unforgiving soil.

The Very Definition of Love by Sophia Benoit

The Very Definition of Love by Sophia Benoit We are excited to welcome Sophia Benoit in conversation with Jen Prokop for an event celebrating the release of The Very Definition of Love!

Weekly Morning Storytime!

Weekly Morning Storytime! Join us for Weekly Morning Storytime! Doors open at 10:15 a.m. and the program begins at 10:30 a.m. This is one half hour of stories, songs, and finger plays designed for ages 2 and up, but kids of all ages are welcome! Storytime is led by a rotation of seasoned readers and performers including teaching artist Miss Ruby and W&CF co-founder Miss Linda! Suggested donation of $3/kid. Featured Performers: Ruby Gibson (she/her) is a teaching artist, actor, and playwright who loves to tell stories full of music and magic! Since graduating from Northwestern University in 2022, she has worked with PlayMakers Laboratory, Chicago Children's Theatre, and Evanston Public Library as a teacher and performer. As a playwright, her adaptation of The Little Prince was developed for young audiences across Chicagoland with Improv Playhouse and the Actors Gymnasium. When she’s not playing pretend, you can find Ruby baking, gardening, or reading young adult fantasy novels. Miss Linda is the co-founder of Women & Children First, Chicago's feminist bookstore since 1979! Linda has led kids storytime for more than three decades! Now retired from running the bookstore, she spends her days reading whatever she wants, babysitting several amazing kids in the area, and following the Chicago Sky! She also continues to facilitate the Women's Book Group on the third Tuesday of every month.

Women's Book Group

Women's Book Group The Women's Book Group is our longest-running book group, led by Women & Children First Co-Founder Linda Bubon (wcflinda@gmail.com). We meet on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:30 pm. SCHEDULE: March 17 - I Didn’t Come Here to Lie by Karen Lewis and Elizabeth Todd-Breland April 21 - You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson May 19 - Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche June 16 - The Turtle House by Amanda Churchill July 21 - On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder August 18 - Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green September 15 - Lawless by Leah Litman October 20 - The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai November 17 - Bad Bad Girl by Gish Jen December 15 - Annual Book Selection Night (This meeting only starts at 7 p.m.)

Offsite at Harold Washington Library: Terry Tempest Williams

Offsite at Harold Washington Library: Terry Tempest Williams Join Chicago Public Library and Women and Children First Bookstore for a conversation with author Terry Tempest Williams about her new book, The Glorians. Terry Tempest Williams is the a... Join Chicago Public Library and Women and Children First Bookstore for a conversation with author Terry Tempest Williams about her new book, The Glorians. How to Attend: Doors to the Multipurpose Room open at 5:30 p.m., and seating is first come, first served (200 capacity). Books will be available for purchase. This event will also take place live on CPL's YouTube channel and CPL's Facebook page. You'll be able to ask questions during the event as well! Can't make it to the live stream? We'll archive the video on YouTube to watch later. Automatic captioning is available via Facebook and YouTube's closed captioning setting. Need sign language interpretation or other accessibility assistance for this event? Please call (312) 747-8184 or email access@chipublib.org to request accommodations. Requests must be made at least 14 business days before the event. Date: Mon, 6/15/2026 Time: 6:00pm - 7:30pm Place: Harold Washington Library 400 S. State Street Multipurpose Room Chicago, IL 60605 CPL Pageto Offsite at Harold Washington Library: Terry Tempest Williams

Spawning Season: An Experiment in Queer Parenthood by Joseph Osmundson

Spawning Season: An Experiment in Queer Parenthood by Joseph Osmundson From the author of National Book Critics Circle Award and Lambda Literary Award finalist VIROLOGY comes an intimate chronicle of queer family-making.

Break the System: Criminalized Black Mothers and the Reproductive Politics of Abolition by Susila Gurusam

Break the System: Criminalized Black Mothers and the Reproductive Politics of Abolition by Susila Gurusam Join us on Wednesday, June 10th at 6:30pm for a discussion with Susila Gurusami to celebrate the release of Break the System: Criminalized Black Mothers and the Reproductive Politics of Abolition. For this event, Susila will be joined in conversation by Dr. Nadine Naber and Dr. Beth Richie. The United States has one of the highest rates of incarceration in the world, with Black Americans representing a disproportionate share of the imprisoned. Many view this statistic as evidence of a broken system. But sociologist Susila Gurusami argues that the carceral system that so disproportionately harms Black families is not broken at all. In fact, it works just as it was intended. Looking closely at the lives of formerly incarcerated Black mothers, Gurusami shows how state institutions—the criminal-legal, child welfare, and healthcare systems—keep Black mothers from their families, harming Black communities in the process. She also shows how Black women work towards conditions that seem impossible—and even utopian—as part of their everyday mothering labor, but find themselves criminalized for these same actions. Drawing on ethnographic data and interviews with formerly incarcerated Black women in South Los Angeles, Gurusami challenges dominant assumptions about mothering and criminal justice reform. Gurusami finds that criminalized Black women endure multigenerational political, social, and embodied assaults–what she calls “reproductive warfare”— and still, they build networks, practices, and theories of radical care that protect Black maternal life, legacies, and futures. With incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and system-impacted Black mothers at the forefront of the growing movement to abolish prisons and jails, Gurusami demonstrates how their everyday mothering work—what she calls “abolitionist motherwork”—is essential to imagining the end of incarceration and ultimately achieving it. Written with a tender and honest voice, Break the System shares moving vignettes that underscore why we must break the system, rather than reform it, and why we must imagine a future that is radically different than the one we’re told we must accept or salvage.

Banned Books Book Group

The Banned Books book group reads a mix of books that have been challenged or banned. Some are recent books that are facing challenges in classrooms and libraries right now; others are books that have been targeted over the decades. While we will spend most of our time discussing each book as a work of literature, we will also (at least briefly) discuss the efforts against it and why people feel threatened by the themes, characters, and/or events in it.

Offsite at Haymarket House: Tillie Walden SOLD OUT!

Offsite at Haymarket House: Tillie Walden We are thrilled to welcome Tillie Walden for an event celebrating the release of Charity and Sylvia. For this event, Tillie will be joined in conversation by Caroline Cash. This is a ticketed event that will be held offsite at Haymarket House (800 W Buena Ave).

Where You'll Find Us by Jen St. Jude

W&CF and Gerber/Hart Library & Archives are thrilled to co-present an event with Jen St. Jude to celebrate the release of their newest YA novel, Where You'll Find Us. For this event, Jude will be joined in conversation by Anna Sortino. In this beautifully profound YA novel, a trans teen finds a home where queer kids from all different decades have found refuge from hatred-and from time. Calla Quick has no future. At least, that's how it feels. Her parents disowned her via text message, and now she can't afford to go to an all-women's college with her girlfriend Ramona like they planned. But Calla wonders if maybe that's for the best-because even though Calla told Ramona her parents disowned her because they found out she's gay, the truth is, Calla has been questioning whether she's a girl at all. Calla wishes she had more time to figure everything out, and one night, her wish is seemingly granted. When Calla and Ramona stumble upon a mysterious farmhouse the woods, they meet five teens who claim they've lived there for decades. The land, which they call Amaranth, acts as a safe haven for queer kids throughout history-a place free of hate, free of violence, free of time itself. Here, Calla can be Cal, and they feel instantly accepted. They don't have to worry about the future because at Amaranth, it will never come-until one night when the clock strikes twelve. Now under a literal ticking clock, the housemates must find a way to stop time again or face going back to their harsh realities, but as Cal learns everyone's story, they begin to wonder what queer people lose when their history is lost to time. Jen St. Jude (they/them) is the author of If Tomorrow Doesn't Come and Where You'll Find Us. They live near Chicago with people (and an old dog) they love. Anna Sortino is the award-winning author of Give Me a Sign, On the Bright Side, and Stops Along the Way. Her stories center disabled characters living their lives and falling in love. She lives in Chicago with her dog. Founded in 1981, Gerber/Hart Library and Archives seeks to collect, preserve, and make accessible the history and culture of LGBTQ+ communities in Chicago and the Midwest in order to advance the larger goal of achieving justice and equality. We operate a free, public, lending library of books, ebooks, and audiovisual media that document and represent the richly varied histories and cultures of LGBTQ+ individuals and communities in the United States, with a geographic emphasis on Chicago and the Midwest. Open to everyone, Gerber/Hart is dedicated to promoting research, learning, exploration, and discovery in a safe and welcoming atmosphere that reflects the diversity of the communities that it serves. Volunteers have always been at the heart of our organization, and we continue to center community involvement and leadership in everything we do. Gerber/Hart believes that knowledge of LGBTQ+ history in all its diversity and complexity fosters understanding and constructive change in society. We envision a world in which justice, equality, respect, and inclusion describe how LGBTQ+ people and all members of society are treated. Accessibility: This event is hosted at the bookstore, which is a wheelchair accessible space. Masks are required for this event. We have one industrial air purifier, two smaller air purifiers, and four ceiling fans throughout our space. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To request ASL interpretation for this event, please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com by no later than 14 days before the event. For other access needs please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com. Date: Wed, 6/3/2026 Time: 7:00pm - 8:30pm Place: Women & Children First 5233 N. Clark St. Chicago, IL 60640