Author Archives: Nicole Barnett

Jim Ridings

Jim Ridings was born in Joliet, Illinois. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1976. He was a reporter for The Daily Times in Ottawa and The Beacon-News in Aurora. He won more than a dozen awards for investigative reporting at both newspapers, from the Associated Press, United Press International, Copley Press, Illinois Press Association, Northern Illinois Newspaper Association, Aurora Lions Club, SDX Society of Professional Journalists and other organizations. Jim Ridings was presented a Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award from the Illinois Humanities Council in 2006. Ridings has written and published 32 books of local Illinois history, nine of which have won awards from the Illinois State Historical Society. Find out more about Jim at his website below.

Kankakee Historical Gift Books | Author Jim Ridings | Illinois

These featured titles are now available at Rubber Rose!

Black Friday SALE

Literary Spectrum – Meets Every 1st Tuesday of the Month 6pm-7pm

Literary Spectrum is a “bring what you’re reading” style book club, in partnership with the Kankakee Area LGBTQIA+ Network, that encourages everyone to read what they love! This allows us to read at our own pace, while also having the opportunity to learn about tons of amazing books we may never have heard of. This is a safe space for the queer community, and all are welcome! These are a few pics from some of our most recent meetings. We would love to see you at the next one!

Interested in reading more books by queer authors or about queer characters? Click the following link to search all of the available LGBTQIA+ friendly books while supporting Rubber Rose! Bookshop.org gives 30% of the sale profits directly back to independent bookstores!

https://bookshop.org/search?keywords=lgbtq

We also carry a stock of new books by queer authors in store at all times!