EVENINGS & WEEKENDS - by Oisín McKenna

Name: EVENINGS & WEEKENDS - by Oisín McKenna
Start: 2025-09-16T19:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-09-16T21:00:00-05:00
Location: Center on Halsted

Schedule

Tue Sep 16 2025 at 07:00 pm to 09:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

Center on Halsted | Chicago, IL

HAPPY LABOR DAY! Join us to Discuss our Monthly Book in September ...
---- Irish Book Awards shortlist ----
---- She Reads Best Debut Awd Nom ----
---- Irish Times best spoken word artist ----
A STUNNING 𝗗𝗘𝗕𝗨𝗧 THAT FOLLOWS A VIBRANT GROUP OF 𝗙𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗦 (𝗚𝗔𝗬,𝗕𝗜&𝗦𝗧𝗥𝟴) THRU A 𝗟𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗡 HEATWAVE, AS SIMMERING 𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 & 𝗦𝗘𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗦 COME TO A HEAD OVER A FEVERISH 𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘-𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗞𝗘𝗡𝗗.
- - Tomasz Jedrowski, 𝑆𝑤𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑎𝑟𝑘 (which we read & enjoyed) - -
“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘺 𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘹 𝘰𝘧 𝙯𝙚𝙞𝙩𝙜𝙚𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙮 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙤𝙧, 𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙙𝙤𝙢 & 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙨𝙩. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝙇𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙣 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘺.”

SUMMARY: The hottest summer in 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻 stops for no one. It’s 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟵, everyone converges on the city; & a 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀, who want more from life than they've been given, will cross paths at a party that will 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿.
𝗠𝗮𝗴𝗴𝗶𝗲, 30, a once-hopeful artist turned waitress, is 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗻𝘁, 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲 & preparing to move back with her 𝗯𝗼𝘆𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝗱 to the town she escaped, 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝘀 & the life she imagined for herself.
𝗘𝗱, coasting thru life, is ready for a 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 with Maggie & their baby, if only to leave behind his 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁 of hooking up with strange men in 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺𝘀 ... & his secret past with 𝗠𝗮𝗴𝗴𝗶𝗲’𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱, 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹.
𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹 sleepwalks thru his office job, lives for the weekend & is 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 Keith. But Keith 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗼𝘆𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱 & there might not be room for 3. Then there’s 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿, 𝗥𝗼𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗻, coming to tell Phil she has 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿, if she can ever get hold of him.
As temperatures soar & the party approaches, they will have to 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁 their shared pasts, current desires & limits of their future lives together 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿.
Strikingly 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁, 𝘀𝗲𝘅𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗱 & disarmingly 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰, a mesmerizing dive into the 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 & a critical look at the political, emotional & financial 𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗱𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀 trying to build lives & often 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 & 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀.

- - - - - The Guardian - - - - -
"𝙀𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙘 & 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚, 𝘢 𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭..𝘈 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙚𝙧 𝙇𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙣,.𝘢 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮 – 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘺 & 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘳𝘣𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦."
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