Signing for Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows November 29, 6:30 p.m.

Richard Cahan and Michael Williams will be at After-Words books on November 29, 2012, starting at 6:30 p.m., talking about and signing copies of their book, Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows (Cityfiles Press, $60, Hardback). Wine and nibbles provided. Vivian Maier, known as “the nanny photographer,” became an internet sensation after her work was put online soon after her death in 2009. Since then, Maier’s work has been shown throughout Europe and in major cities across the United States. Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows is the first book that tells her life store in pictures and words. To better understand Maier, authors Richard Cahan and Michael Williams studied census records, ship manifests and interviewed every person they could find who knew Maier, from her childhood days in the French Alps to the families whose children she cared for. They combined this biographical information, much of it unreported, with more than 300 photographs that she took starting in 1949 to create the first comprehensive record of her life story—in words and pictures. This book is based on the largely unseen collection of about 18,000 Maier negatives, owned by Jeffrey Goldstein of Chicago. This is the first time Maier’s life story has been paired with her photographs so that readers can understand the woman and the work that went viral soon after her pictures went online. This book presents her in a new light by showing more personal photographs. The book Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows is the eighth by the award-winning team of Richard Cahan and Michael Williams. They are the coauthors of Richard Nickel’s Chicago and Edgar Miller and the Handmade Home. Other titles can be found cityfilespress.com.

The Book Thief by Mark Zusak is the Fall Selection for One Book, One Chicago

Award-winning author Markus Zusak’s novel The Book Thief has been lauded by critics and audiences alike, and loved by readers of all ages around the globe. Through the eloquent and surprisingly sympathetic narrator Death, Zusak introduces us to Liesel Meminger, a young foster girl living outside Munich during World War II. As war shapes the world around her, she finds courage in books and in friendship with a Jewish man whom her foster family shelters in their basement. Author John Green reviewed the book in The New York Times, hailing it as “[b]rilliant” and “achingly sad,” and said of the heroine, “[t]he hope we see in Liesel is unassailable, the kind you can hang on to in the midst of poverty and war and violence.” This October the Chicago Public Library offers rare program opportunities to enhance the reading of this unforgettable novel. In addition to appearances by Markus Zusak on October 22, further offerings include an appearance by Rwandan activist Paul Rusesabagina in conversation with Jerome McDonnell on the atrocities of war, and panel discussions at DePaul University on the “History of Reading” and “The Book as Object.” Lastly, there is a chance to see the novel brought to life at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where the stage adaptation written by Heidi Stillman and directed by Hallie Gordon runs through November. One Book, One Chicago was launched in fall 2001 as an opportunity to engage and enlighten our residents, foster a sense of community and create a culture of reading in our city. By offering free public programming around each One Book, One Chicago selection and hosting dozens of book discussion groups in locations across the city, the Chicago Public Library aims to enrich the experience of reading for everyone, regardless of race, gender, age, income or the neighborhood they call home. For more information visit: http://www.chipublib.org/eventsprog/programs/onebook_onechgo.php

Banned Books Week

Every year we look forward to spreading the word about Banned Books Week. This is the 30th anniversary year and will be celebrated September 30−October 6, 2012. We participate by making a display on our large octagon table with books that have either been banned or challenged in schools or libraries sometime in their published history. These challenges go back to the 1500s and stretch throughout history up to and including this year. Every year books are challenged and banned. In every case, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom is there to defend the book under scrutiny. Support your local bookstores and libraries by reading a banned book. For more information you can visit: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned

Moleskine's Are In!

Due to popular demand, we are proud to add the Moleskine line to our inventory. We have lined and unlined, hardbound and paperback, small and large and a selection of colors. Stop by anytime to check out our display.

Coupon Faux Pas

Dear Customers, As some of you may know there was a printing mistake on the September birthday coupons. It states that the expiration date is the end of August. It does not expire until the end of September. Apologies for any confusion. Birthday coupons are good for the entire month of your birthday. If for any reason you do not get your postcard, whatever the month, and you are in our database you can come in anytime during that month and apply it to your purchase. Let us know about any updates to your address so that we can make sure that the coupons we do send will get to you. Thank you again for your understanding.

Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month

BACKBONES will be hosting a Scavenger Hunt in Chicago in honor of SCI Awareness Month. Groups will be required to have at least one person using a wheelchair for the duration of the hunt (if no one in the group is a wheelchair user, we will provide a wheelchair) with the purpose of educating people on SCI. In addition, all clues will be SCI or disability related. after-words is pleased to participate in this event by welcoming scavenger hunters on the afternoon of September 29th.

Visit their site to find out more about this remarkable organization.

www.BACKBONESONLINE.com

Or if you want to read more about living with spinal cord injuries, here are two recommendations:

Dear Marcus: A Letter to the Man Who Shot Me by Jerry Mcgill

Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence by Matthew Sanford

Groupon's Biggest Deal Ever by Frank Sennett book signing

Frank Sennett will be at After-Words books on June 14, 2012 at 7 p.m. reading from and answering questions about his book Groupon's Biggest Deal Ever: The Inside Story of How One Insane Gamble, Tons of Unbelievable Hype, and Millions of Wild Deals Made Billions for One Ballsy Joker (St. Martin’s Press/ Hardcover/ June 2012/ ISBN 978-1250000842 $25.99). Wine reception following.

In late 2010, Groupon completely lost its mind. Rather than take Google’s unheard-of $6 billion buyout offer, founder Andrew Mason turned the search giant down and decided to go it alone. The experts laughed at Mason’s audacious gamble. Groupon was little more than two years old at the time and staffed from top to bottom with inexperienced twenty-somethings.  There was no way they would ever be able to recoup that kind of money.

Well who’s laughing now?  An online discount service that offers a deal a day at local merchants in cities in more than forty-three countries, Groupon recently had the largest IPO by any Internet company since Google in 2004 and is currently the fastest-growing company in Internet history. Committed to innovating a new model for commerce, Groupon is renowned for an unorthodox office culture and editorial voice based on radical transparency and absurd humor.

Time Out Chicago Editor in Chief and author Frank Sennett has unprecedented access to Groupon and its executives including CEO Andrew Mason. His new book, Groupon's Biggest Deal Ever is the exclusive and unparalleled account of the incredible rise of discount giant Groupon and the compelling story of its offbeat founder Andrew Mason as he created a juggernaut of online commerce and ignited a consumer revolution.

FRANK SENNETT is the editor-in-chief and president of Time Out Chicago. He edited the first story ever published about Groupon and later wrote a Time Out cover story on the company that led to this book project. In the 17 months he spent reporting on the company, Frank was the only journalist with inside access to Groupon's top leaders during the SEC quiet period before the company went public; became the first and only reporter to get a full account of Groupon's sale negotiations with Google and Yahoo. He conducted the only joint interview founders Andrew Mason and Eric Lefkofsky ever gave recounting the company's first years and was the only reporter on the floor of the NASDAQ MarketSite on the day of Groupon's IPO. Frank is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of Montana and has published seven previous books in the past decade.