Reading Your Resistance + Writing Your Resistance with StoryStudio Chicago – Chicago, IL

Join StoryStudio Chicago for Reading Your Resistance/Writing Your Resistance on Tuesday, January 21st 7pm at Women and Children First! Update: as of 1/3/25, this event will now be held at the Swedish American Museum (5211 N Clark St.) to accomodate a larger capacity.

The panel and discussion is moderated by Rebecca Makkai and features Parneshia Jones, Adrian Matejka, Megan Stielstra, and Michael Zapata.

Please note: This panel is free to attend, but registration is requested! Masks are required at W&CF in-store events.

Rebecca Makkai is the author of the New York Times bestselling I Have Some Questions For You as well as four other works of fiction. The Great Believers was one of the New York Times’ Best Books of the 21st Century, was a finalist for both the 2019 Pulitzer Prize and the 2018 National Book Award, and was the winner of the ALA Carnegie Medal and the LA Times Book Prize among other honors. A 2022 Guggenheim Fellow, Rebecca teaches graduate fiction writing at Middlebury College, Northwestern University, and the Bennington Writing Seminars, and she is Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago.

Parneshia Jones is the author of Vessel, chosen as “One of 12 Books to Savor” by Oprah Magazine. Her work has been anthologized in She Walks in Beauty: A Woman’s Journey Through Poems, edited by Caroline Kennedy and The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South, edited by Nikky Finney, and has been received a Lannan Foundation Writing Residency, the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award, the Margaret Walker Short Story Award, and the Aquarius Press Legacy Award. She studied creative writing at Chicago State University, earned an MFA from Spalding University, and studied publishing at Yale University. A member of the Affrilachian Poets, she serves on the board of Cave Canem and Global Writers. Jones currently holds positions as Sales and Subsidiary Rights Manager and Poetry Editor at Northwestern University Press. She lives in Chicago.

Adrian Matejka‘s most recent collection of poetry is Somebody Else Sold the World. His other books are Map to the Stars; The Big Smoke, which was the winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and a finalist for both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize; Mixology, which was selected for the National Poetry Series; The Devil’s Garden (Alice James Books, 2003), winner of the New York / New England Award; and Last On His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century, a graphic portrait of the boxing legend Jack Johnson. Among Matejka’s other honors are fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and United States Artists. He served as Poet Laureate of the state of Indiana in 2018-19 and now lives in Chicago, where he is Editor of Poetry Magazine.

Megan Stielstra is the author of three collections: Everyone Remain Calm, Once I Was Cool, and The Wrong Way to Save Your Life. Her work appears in the Best American Essays, New York Times, The Believer, Poets & Writers, Tin House, Longreads, LitHub, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. A longtime company member with 2nd Story, she has told stories for National Public Radio, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and theaters, festivals, and classrooms across the country. She teaches creative writing in Chicago and is an editor at Northwestern University Press.

Michael Zapata is a founding editor of MAKE Literary Magazine and the author of the novel The Lost Book of Adana Moreau, winner of the 2020 Chicago Review of Books Award for Fiction, finalist for the 2020 Heartland Booksellers Award in Fiction, and a Best Book of the Year for NPR, the A.V. Club, Los Angeles Public Library, and BookPage, among others. He is a recipient of a Meier Foundation Artist Achievement Award. He is on the faculty of StoryStudio Chicago and the MFA faculty of Northwestern University. As a public-school educator, he taught literature and writing in high schools servicing drop out students. He currently lives in Chicago with his family.

Accessibility: This event is hosted at the bookstore, which is a wheelchair accessible space. Masks are required. 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 questions or access needs, please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com.