Running with the Bulls and Bill Hillmann, at Boswell, Monday, July 27, 5:30 pm, Followed by a Special Screening "Chasing Red", if We Can Sell Enough Tickets on Tugg.

Boswell welcomes back Bill Hillmann, author of the The Old Neighborhood, with his new memoir about running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. With a journalist's ear for detail, renowned storyteller Buffalo Bill Hillmann narrates his decade-long journey of self-discovery in Mozos: A Decade Running with the Bulls of Spain, exploring his transformation from wasted ex-Golden Gloves champ lost in gang fights and cocaine deals on Chicago's streets to running with a world-renowned crew of "mozos" the masters of running with the bulls.

Publishers Weekly offers this recommendation: "In this gritty, tough-talking memoir, former Chicago boxing champion and novelist Hillmann chronicles his years participating in the Spanish tradition of 'encierro' (bull-running). Inspired by Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, 23-year-old Hillmann, after attending novelist Irvine Welsh's wedding in Dublin, decides to travel to Pamplona, Spain, to take part in the festival of the running of the bulls...In a terse, highly conversational tone, Hillmann recounts the ensuing years pursuing his new-found hobby, his personal struggles with anger and violence, his growth as a mozo (bull-runner), his entrance into and understanding of that a fiercely loyal brotherhood, a and his own progress as a writer."

The Old Neighborhood was named best novel of 2014 by the Chicago Sun-Times, selected by Library Journal as Top Indie Fiction for spring/summer 2014, and received strong reviews in Booklist, the Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Reader. Hillmann's journalism has appeared in Esquire, The Washington Post, and Salon.com. Enjoy hearing him talk about his latest work and please sign up for a special screening of Chasing Red, a film that features Hillmann. Details below.

Following our talk, we hope to cosponsor a screening of Chasing Red, 7 pm, at the Oriental Theatre, at 7 pm. Tickets are available now for $14. Here's a little more about the film.

Everyone has heard of Pamplona's Running of the Bulls, yet so few know much about it. Even fewer know that there is an elite group of runners who brave dozens of bull runs each year, risking their life to run inches away from the sharp horns of the 1000+ pound ferocious animals they revere. Chasing Red is a character-driven documentary following 4 runners across the eight bull runs of a single fiesta in Pamplona. Braving through injury and looming risk of death, they embark on an endeavor that will shape their lives forever.

Chasing Red won “Best of the Fest” Grand Prize at LA Indie Film Festival. The film festival served as the World Premiere of the film Shot over the course of several years, the movie’s principal cast includes Dennis Clancey, Bill Hillmann, Josiah Lloyd, and David Ubeda - all running with the bulls through the streets of Pamplona, doing their best to achieve greatness.

The way this works is like a Kickstarter campaign. There's one screening for Chasing Red, at the Oriental Theatre on Monday, July 25, 7 pm. In order for that screening to happen, 80 people have to buy tickets in advance, on Tugg by the deadline of July 20. Please help spread the word.

And below is a photo from our previous visit from Bill Hillmann, when he came to Boswell for The Old Neighborhood, including of course, the old low rider bicycle too.