Taking place in the Bechtel Plaza outside the Figge Art Museum, the autumnal Beaux Arts Fair will treat visitors to an outdoor celebration of visual arts and fine crafts on September 7 and 8, with the annual event featuring food vendors, live music, children's activities, and works for sale by more than four dozen artists from five states.

Appearing locally to discuss her most recent book, 2019's Pulitzer Prize nominee The Great Believers, Chicago-based author Rebecca Makkai delivers a presentation at the Moline Public Library on September 9, the New York Times Book Review having called her latest literary triumph “an absorbing and emotionally riveting story about what it's like to live during times of crisis.”

Performing in support of their 19th album and 38th year as international touring sensations, the alternative rockers of Osaka, Japan's Shonen Knife play the Rock Island Brewing Company on September 5, with the female musicians' 2019 release Sweet Candy Power, according to Spill magazine, a work that “proves they stand the test of time with their catchy, cheerful bops.”

New pieces by two gifted Illinois artists – both of whom create deeply personal works that reflect on experiences everyone can relate to – will fill the Quad City Arts Center gallery from August 23 through October 11, with Rock Island's Lisa Mahar presenting the mixed-media exhibition Rainbows & Sunshine, and Peoria's Jessica Bingham debuting paintings in her exhibit The Neighborhood Within.