Join us for an evening of stellar contemporary nonfiction writing! Wendy Ortiz (author of Excavation: A Memoir), Dmitry Samarov (author of Where To?: A Hack Memoir), and Megan Stielstra (author of Once I Was Cool: Personal Essays) will be reading selections of their work followed by a short Q&A and book signing. Wine and light refreshments will be provided.
WENDY C. ORTIZ is the author of Excavation: A Memoir (Future Tense Books, July 2014) and Hollywood Notebook (Writ Large Press, November 2014). Wendy writes the column "On the Trail of Mary Jane" for McSweeney's Internet Tendency. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Nervous Breakdown, The Rumpus, PANK, Specter Magazine, and other journals. A recent essay that appeared on The Nervous Breakdown was translated into Italian for the online journal Abbiamo Le Prove. She has twice been a writer-in-residence at Hedgebrook, a rural writing retreat for women writers. Wendy is co-founder, curator and host of the long-running Rhapsodomancy Reading Series in Los Angeles. In addition, she is a mother and marriage and family therapist intern.
DMITRY SAMAROV was born in Moscow, USSR in 1970. He immigrated to the US with his family in 1978. He got in trouble in 1st grade for doodling on his Lenin Red Star pin and hasn't stopped doodling since. After a false start at Parsons School of Design in New York, he graduated with a BFA in painting and printmaking from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1993.
Upon graduation he promptly began driving a cab—first in Boston, then after a time, in Chicago—which eventually led to the publication of his illustrated work memoir Hack: Stories from a Chicago Cab by University of Chicago Press in 2011. His second book, Where To? A Hack Memoir is forthcoming from Curbside Splendor in September, 2014.
He has exhibited his work in all manner of bars, coffee shops, libraries, and even the odd gallery (when he's really hard up ).
He paints and writes in Chicago, Illinois. He no longer drives a cab.
MEGAN STIELSTRA is the author of Everyone Remain Calm and the Literary Director of the 2nd Story storytelling series. She's told stories for all sorts of theaters, festivals and bars including The Goodman, Steppenwolf, and The Museum of Contemporary Art. Stielstra's latest book, a collection of personal essays entitled Once I Was Cool, tackles topics ranging from beating postpartum depression by stalking her neighbor, to a surprise run-in with an old lover while on ecstasy, to blowing her mortgage on a condo she bought because of Jane's addiction; it is an Unabridged favorite! Stielstra's writing has appeared in Best American Essays 2013, The Rumpus, The Nervous Breakdown, and elsewhere. She teaches creative writing at Colombia College Chicago.