Come see us at Women & Children First bookstore next Wednesday, September 6 at 7:30 p.m.

John Craib-Cox is one of two writers who will join me on September 6.

Writers who are featured in Writing Out Loud come along to book events to read their own published essay from the book, and I am really looking forward to having Regan Burke and John Craib-Cox up in front with me at Women & Children First bookstore in Chicago next week. From the Women & Children First web site:

Author Reading: Beth Finke, WRITING OUT LOUD
For this event, Beth Finke will discuss her new book Writing Out Loud: What a blind teacher learned from leading a memoir class for seniors. In this memoir, readers learn the inside story on how one call from Mayor Daley’s Department on Aging changed Beth’s life and the lives of her students. John Craib-Cox and Regan Burke, two students from Beth’s memoir class, will join her to read excerpts from Writing Out Loud, too. The reading will be followed by a Q&A.

Beth Finke is an award-winning author, teacher, and journalist. She also happens to be blind. Beth’s Seeing Eye dog, Whitney, leads her through airports and hotels to events all over North America to speak on memoir writing, disability, workplace accessibility, and overcoming adversity. Beth leads writing workshops at Northwestern University Summer Writers’ Conference and at Chicago’s Printers Row Lit Fest. She is the recipient of a writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the ASPCA’s Henry Bergh award for children’s literature. The Lisagor Award Beth won for a radio piece about the Chicago White Sox makes her the only blind woman in America to be honored for sports broadcasting, and she appeared on the Oprah Show in a short segment about working as a nude model for university art students before her writing career took off. Beth is married to Mike Knezovich. They have one grown son, Gus, and live in the Printers Row neighborhood of Chicago.

Event date:
Wednesday, September 6, 2017 – 7:30pm
Event address:
Women & Children First
5233 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60640

Regan Burke, another writer from my class, will also join us.

About the writers appearing with me: John Craib-Cox has lived in Chicago’s historic Lincoln Park neighborhood since 1974. Known for his dapper dress style and the color of his socks, John has spent years as an interior designer retrofitting older buildings to bring them into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act while honoring the Guidelines for Historic Restoration.

Regan Burke is a lifelong civil rights activist and was Bill Clinton’s scheduler during his presidential campaign. She left Chicago to work in his administration for a few years before returning back home.

We’re expecting a number of other writers from the memoir classes I lead to be in the audience, too, so don’t miss this opportunity to schmooze with these senior stars. And just to be contrarian, when it comes to the guest readings, I may have John go first.