Julie Schumacher PATIENT, FEMALE

Tue May 19 2026 at 06:00 pm to 07:00 pm UTC-05:00

Bookends & Beginnings | Evanston

Bookends & Beginnings
Publisher/HostBookends & Beginnings
Julie Schumacher PATIENT, FEMALE Julie Schumacher discusses her latest book, PATIENT, FEMALE, with author Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
About this Event

May 19 | In-Store | 6:00 PM

Julie Schumacher, Patient, Female

We are still pinching ourselves to make sure it isn’t a dream: Bookends will host for her latest book! Schumacher, the bestselling author of  now brings us (Milkweed Editions), a collection of wryly funny stories about ordinary women—in all their complexity, fallibility, and humanity. Julie will be in conversation with . The event will be followed by a book-signing.

Doors and minibar open at 5:30PM

Getting here: We are located at 1620 Orrington Avenue, in downtown Evanston, just one block east of the Davis Street Metra and CTA public transit stops. There is metered street parking as well as numerous parking garages nearby.

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About the Book: An unsuspecting couple is treated to a luxury vacation by their deceased neighbor. After begrudgingly agreeing to volunteer at a nursing home, a middle school girl gambles over games of bridge with elderly residents. A single mother struggles to understand the unique bond between her autistic son and his dying grandmother. Four friends experience decades of highs and lows as pawns in The Game of Life. A professional gynecology patient runs into a high school flame while at work, undressed, on the job.

In this irreverent collection, celebrated novelist Julie Schumacher balances sorrow against laughter. Here, we experience story not only as narrative, but as syllabus and as board game. Each protagonist—ranging from girlhood to senescence—receives her own indelible voice as she navigates social blunders, generational misunderstandings, and the absurdity of the human experience. Exquisitely honest and expertly crafted, Patient, Female renders—with dark humor and wit—the foibles of human behavior and our endearing imperfections. 

“Shrewd, sage, and so darkly funny.” —Claire Lombardo, author of The Most Fun We Ever Had

About Julie: Julie Schumacher is the author of eleven books, including the national bestseller , winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Schumacher’s other works include two short story collections, a satirical coloring book, and five novels for young readers.

About Cheryl: Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan is the inaugural George R.R. Martin Chair in Storytelling at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. She is a Singaporean novelist, journalist, and the author of the novel (William Morrow, 2016) and the memoir (Hyperion, 2011). Both books were international bestsellers. She is the co-creator and co-editor of “Anonymous Sex” (Scribner Books, 2022), which was also an international bestseller, and the editor of the anthology “Singapore Noir” (Akashic Books, 2014). Her new anthology, "Key West Noir," which she co-edited with Stephen Kitsakos, will publish in March, 2027.

Event Venue

Bookends & Beginnings, 1620 Orrington Avenue, Evanston, United States

Tickets

USD 0.00 to USD 25.00

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