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Events Mon May 07 2012
Pie and Poetry
Bang Bang Pie Shop is sort of the most exciting thing that's happened to me since moving to Logan Square. The shop started as a food truck, but co-partners Megan and David Miller and Michael Ciapciak parked for good, opening the storefront at 2051 N. California Ave. in early April. The baked goods were thrilling enough, but then I discovered the place has its own reading series, Bang Bang Fiction & Poetry, which focuses on local readers and invites the well established and the burgeoning alike.
On a daily basis Bang Bang serves up delicious coffee, blended specially for the shop by one of its owners, David Miller, biscuits that achieve moistness unlike any other I've ever eaten, and pie that brought my anti-chocolate boyfriend back for seconds, hunched over the tin in our dining room with the lights off.
I am not, however, here to talk about food, tempting as it might be. The reading series is carried over from Ipsento Café, which David Miller co-owned before moving on to pie. Organizer Ryan Lang worked at Ipsento with Miller when Bang Bang was just an idea.
"I've tried to raise the bar here because at Ipsento, I could only do so much with the space--we had the coffee grinders going, and though we were in a separate room you could still here them," Lang said.
This month's edition, scheduled for May 10, will feature readers A.D. Jameson, who is pursuing a doctorate in creative writing from UIC. Jameson is the author of two books, has taught classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Lake Forest College and StoryStudio Chicago, among others and is the nonfiction and reviews editor of the online journal Requited. He also writes for HTMLGIANT.
Chicago Poet Annah Browning will join Jameson at the reading. Her work has appeared in numerous online publications including Anti-Poetry, The Diagram and The Kenyon Review Online. Plus, Lara Levitan, writer at Jealous Mag and contributor to the Logan Square Review, will be in the mix.
Bang Bang Fiction & Poetry is held at 2051 N. Califonia Ave. and begins at 7:30pm.