Women’s Voices Weekend

Posted on Tuesday, September 27

Women & Children First,  our nation’s largest feminist bookstore, is honored to present a diverse and accomplished group of writers that includes Cuban-born Chicago author Achy Obejas (Ruins), who is also a translator and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist; Korean-born, current Chicago author and professor Nami Mun, who captured the Whiting Award and Pushcart Prize for her first novel, Miles from Nowhere; local, award-winning author of children’s picture and young adult books Esther Hershenhorn (S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet); and Jamaican National author Staceyann Chin, praised by critics for her memoir The Other Side of Paradise, and for her co-writing and performing of the Tony Award-winning Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. Chin is also an award-winning LGBT and human rights activist.

EVENT SCHEDULE (Everyone welcome!)

SATURDAY, October 15 Workshops
Swedish American Museum
5211 N. Clark, $40 each ($35 students/seniors). *Each class limited to 15 students

10:30-Noon Conflict in Fiction: Achy Obejas, author, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist

“We’ll examine and work with ways to develop conflict in stories. We’ll discuss choices and stakes, the importance of tension, and ways to resolve stories without having characters kill themselves, live happily ever after, betray the rest of the story or do anything too terribly obvious.”

12:30-2:00 Finding the Tale in a Story That’s Still Unfolding: Staceyann Chin, author,

spoken-word poet/performer, award-winning LGBT/human rights activist

“We’ll look at how to carve the details of one’s life down to the bare essentials, how to chip away at the unnecessary, to get to the heart of the story you wish to tell.”

2:30-4:00      Taking Risks: Nami Mun, Whiting Award and Pushcart Prize-winning author

“We’ll explore ways in which we can take more risks in our writing by identifying our comfort zones (risk-taking differs from person to person—one man’s comfort is another man’s abyss) and stepping out of those zones (emotionally, thematically, syntactically, etc.), so that our sentences, our stories, our characters, and their dialogue surprise even us.”

2:30-4:00 Oh the Places You Can Go! Writing for Today’s Children’s Book World:

Esther Hershenhorn, children’s book author and writing coach & Linda Bubon, Women & Children First co-owner and host of the store’s popular “Storytime.”

“So you want to write a children’s book? Or better yet, you’ve written one but don’t know what to do now? Esther Hershenhorn introduces newcomers to today’s Children’s Book World – the markets, publishing opportunities, genres, and formats, sharing Rules of  the Road and a few tried-and-true shortcuts to kick-start any  beginner’s Children’s Book Writer’s Journey. Linda Bubon shares what she looks for in a children’s book as a buyer and storyteller.”

6:30-8:00  Cocktail Party,
Women & Children First Bookstore,
5233 N. Clark, $10

Enjoy delicious appetizers, desserts, drinks and conversation with authors, festival participants, and others from Chicago’s celebrated lit community.

 

SUNDAY, October 16,  AUTHOR READINGS/CONVERSATIONS:
4:30-6:00 pm

Achy Obejas, Nami Mun, Staceyann Chin

Host/interviewer: Donna Seaman, Booklist Sr. Editor, WBEZ Book Critic

Swedish American Museum, $10

*$55 package deal for 1 workshop, cocktail party, & reading.

To sign-up for festival events, drop by
Women & Children
5233 N. Clark
773-769-9299.

email: WCFWomensVoicesWeekend@gmail.com.