Friday 1/16: Non-profit writing and tutoring center 826CHI opens its doors for tours of its new home at 1276 North Milwaukee Avenue. Co-founder Dave Eggers joins “gypsy jazz” band Swang for an evening of writing activities, music, and refreshments. 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., free.
Powell’s Bookstore University Village holds the first Bad Grammar Theatre of 2015. Come and go as you please from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. for an evening of horror, fantasy, pulp fiction, science fiction, and the unexpected.
Saturday 1/17: Seminary Co-op hosts the Greatest Ever Chicago Book Tournament, round two. As the NCAA-style tournament progresses, readers can predict the tournament’s outcome online for a chance to win a trip to Mexico. Judges meet to defend and promote their choices to round three’s decision makers at 3 p.m.
Barbara Mahaney reads from Slowing Time: Seeing the Sacred Outside Your Kitchen Door, her recently published meditation about paying attention and discerning the daily divine. The Book Cellar, 5 p.m.
Monday 1/19: Guest host Nathalie Lagerfield joins Karen Shimmin to lead The Book Cellar’s Essay Fiesta at 7 p.m. Featured this month: SKALD Storytelling champion Erin Diamond, writer Ted Wesenberg, You’re Being Ridiculous host Jeremy Owens, and 1,001 Chicago Afternoons author Paul Dailing. All donations benefit 826CHI. Party on!
Tuesday 1/20: Welcome to the Neighborhood pairs authors with local performers and artists to present a live series of poems and stories by Chicago residents about Chicago neighborhoods. Readers include Dmitry Samarov, Megan Stielstra, and Rachel Hyman. Museum of Contemporary Art (free admission for Illinois residents), 6 p.m.
Pungent Parlour returns to Black Rock Pub and Kitchen for another evening of original readings in a salon setting at 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday 1/21: Chicago Women in Publishing invites writers to meet, mingle, and network with local authors, publishers, and career advisors from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at its first-ever publishing fair. Four40 building, registration costs vary.
Bold, brash, bad-ass: Guts and Glory at Lincoln Hall + Schuba’s. Hosted by Samantha Irby and Keith Ecker, January’s evening of storytelling features Kelsie Huff, Andrew Marikis, Jake Cowan, Claire Zulkey, and Mary Lorenz and begins at 7 p.m.
Thursday 1/22: Iranian journalist, translator, and commentator Nazila Fathi appears at The Book Cellar to read from The Lonely War: One Woman’s Account of the Struggle for Modern Iran. Co-sponsored by the Association for Women Journalists and the Committee to Protect Journalists in collaboration with Amnesty International, 7 p.m.