Celebrate the Publication of Baldwin Lee (In-Person)
Join for a conversation between photographer Baldwin Lee and Imani Perry to discuss the work of Baldwin Lee (b. 1951) who left his home in Tennessee in 1983, with his 4 × 5 view camera for a series of road trips to photograph the American South. The subject of his pictures were Black Americans: at home, at work, and at play, in […]
Fun & Games with Russ Frushtick (virtual)
Russ Frushtick, Polygon co-founder and senior editor, talks about his new book, The Book of Fun: An Illustrated History of Having a Good Time, which features hysterical and historical stories about the origins of fun, with tips and fun facts about favorite video games, board games, theme parks, festivals, sports, and more! Moderated by BookToker […]
Iconic NYC: Jonas Mekas, Blues and the Creative City
2022 is the centennial of the late Jonas Mekas, poet, filmmaker and artist, who transformed avant garde film in the U.S. Join film writer and essayist Phillip Lopate and author and poet Charity Coleman for a discussion about Mekas’s time in NY and musician/ author Larry Simon and author John Broven (New York City Blues: Postwar Portraits from Harlem to the […]
A Major Ingredient Is the Cook
Three popular chefs talk about their new books: Cal Peternell (Burnt Toast and Other Disasters), chef of Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse; food and culture writer Matt Rodbard (Food IQ: 100 Questions, Answers, and Recipes to Raise Your Cooking Smarts, co-authored by Daniel Holzman) and Nicole A. Taylor (Watermelon and Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth […]
Secrets of the Stacks
Did you know that New York City’s top cultural institutions house some of the rarest, most unique books, manuscripts, and printed materials found anywhere? Join Julie Golia, Associate Director of Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books and Charles J. Liebman Curator of Manuscripts at the New York Public Library, Jesse Erickson, the Morgan’s Astor Curator of […]
Second Read: Miguel Angel Asturias’s Mr. President, presented by the Brooklyn Public Library
A close look at Mr. President with translator David Unger, novelist Rodrigo Fuentes, and scholar Vivian Arimany. In an unnamed country, an egomaniacal dictator schemes to dispose of a political adversary and maintain his grip on power. As tyranny takes hold, everyone is forced to choose between compromise and death. Inspired by life under the regime […]
FUN! Hula-Hooping, Games & More.
Join Polygon co-founder, Russ Frushtick, The Book of Fun, and professional, hula hooper, Ann Humphreys, The Tao of Hoop: On the Transformational Practice of Hula-Hooping (Seriously, Though) for an amusing and enlightening program about balancing out your life and enjoying a refresh with good old-fashioned fun. Moderated by Brian Vines, journalist and Festival board member.
Governing Gender
The fight for LGBTQ rights and, more broadly, toward an expansive approach to sexuality and gender identity, has always been closely intertwined with government and the law. Hugh Ryan (The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison) looks at the role of the carceral system in “policing queerness,” a terrible legacy […]
The Difficult Fate of Girls and Women
Emerging stars of Spanish-language literature—Andrea Abreu (Spain), Alia Trabucco Zerán (Chile), and Camila Sosa Villada (Argentina)—come together in conversation on bringing women’s experiences to the page without apology or filter. Their books, Dogs of Summer (translated by Julia Sanches), When Women Kill (translated by Sophie Hughes), and Bad Girls (translated by Kit Maude), bring us […]
Reinventing the Memoir: Margo Jefferson in Conversation with Ingrid Rojas Contreras
Your story is never just your own—so many other voices and stories have and will shape it. What are the limits of memoir? What can you find in the margins of and gaps in memory, story, and realities? And how, ultimately, does the memoirist pull self, family, criticism, and history together within the confines of […]
A Critical and Constructive Conversation About Elite Power and Change
From interminable inequalities and injustices to culture wars, our challenges can seem intractable and our discourse stubbornly fixed. Join Bill McKibben (The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon) and Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò (Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics, and Everything Else) as they look with fresh eyes at systemic elitism in […]
Dreaming of Abolition
Widespread outrage over recent instances of police violence has revealed that we may be in an unprecedented political moment: one in which people from all walks of life are re-evaluating the police, punishment, and prisons as solutions for harm. Join Mariame Kaba (No More Police: A Case for Abolition, co-authored with Andrea J. Ritchie), Derecka […]
Are We Doing It All Wrong? Searching for Satisfaction in Marriage and Parenthood
Heather Havrilesky (Foreverland: On the Divine Tedium of Marriage) will be in conversation with New York Times’s Jessica Grose about the fantasies, and the reality, of finding happiness at home. From the enormous economic burden of parenting (and general lack of social support available to families) to the assorted ruptures and reassessments ushered in by […]
Ways of Healing
The long tail of COVID-19 has brought into view several simultaneous health crises, as well as the inability of our health care system to sufficiently address them. Some are products of the last two years; others of decades of disregard and misunderstanding. Chloé Cooper Jones (Easy Beauty), Linda Villarosa (Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll […]
Finding Yourself In America
Qian Julie Wang (Beautiful Country) arrived in Brooklyn as a child without immigration papers, became a citizen in 2016, and turned away from a law firm partnership to choose her own path. Kendra James (Admissions) quit her job as an admissions officer for prep schools after she realized that what she took from her time […]
Rethinking Work, Who Is “Essential,” and the Labor Movement
The COVID-19 pandemic shone a rare light on class in America, particularly the stresses and indignities faced by low-income “essential workers.” Meanwhile, millions voluntarily quit their jobs, spurred by a reconsideration of the role and meaning of work in our lives. Perhaps most unexpectedly, a new labor movement emerged, with workers organizing and achieving major […]
The Legitimacy of Law at a Crossroads
From the Supreme Court to presidential administration, from local criminal courts to state election bureaus, Americans of all political leanings are increasingly voicing skepticism about the legitimacy of our laws and legal institutions. Authors William Araiza (Rebuilding Expertise), Wilfred U. Codrington III, (co-author of The People’s Constitution: 200 Years, 27 Amendments, and the Promise of […]
Reckoning with Personal History
Memoir has many functions, and among them is the opportunity to reckon with one’s personal history. Less often, it offers a chance to be surprised by it. When this happens, writers create space for shared experiences of both darkness and light, and forge a unique bond between author and reader. On this panel, memoirists Ada […]
AAWW Presents: Writing in Wartime
Writers from Korea, Iraq, Vietnam, and Bangladesh join the Asian American Writers’ Workshop to discuss writing about war and its aftermath and effects on the Asian diaspora in America. Crystal Hana Kim, Faleeha Hassan, Ly Tran, and Jennifer Chowdhury will share their distinct perspectives with Jafreen Uddin, Executive Director of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop.
Finding Ourselves and Our Tribe(s) in Popular Music
Danyel Smith (Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop) and Kelefa Sanneh (Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres) have lived, breathed, and written about music for decades—and their epic new books are both years in the making. But beyond the ambitious scope, what these projects share is […]
Granta’s Best Young Spanish-Language Novelists II
In 2010, Granta introduced a stellar new generation of Spanish-language writers destined to challenge the literary status quo. More than a decade later, they’ve assembled another era-defining list which reflects an even greater variety—geographically, linguistically, thematically. Join us for a conversation featuring David Aliaga, Alejandro Morellón, Irene Reyes-Noguerol, and Mateo García Elizondo. Moderated by Valerie […]
PEN Presents: The Writer as Migrant
PEN America presents Mexican novelist and founder of DREAMing Out Loud Álvaro Enrigue, co-editor of Somewhere We Are Human, Sonia Guiñansaca, alum of DREAMing Out Loud and a contributor to Somewhere We Are Human and t. jahan to celebrate new anthologies by undocumented or formerly undocumented migrants, refugees, Dreamers, and more. Moderated by PEN America’s […]
Genre & Exploding Form presented by the Whiting Foundation
Join us for a discussion with Anthony Cody (Borderland Apocrypha), Andrea Lawlor (Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl), and Nana Nkweti (Walking on Cowrie Shells), writers who are dissolving genre boundaries to bring new life to familiar literary forms. Moderated by Lincoln Michel (The Body Scout).
PEN Presents: The Writer as Migrant
PEN America presents Mexican novelist and founder of DREAMing Out Loud Álvaro Enrigue, co-editor of Somewhere We Are Human, Sonia Guiñansaca, alum of DREAMing Out Loud and a contributor to Somewhere We Are Human and t. jahan to celebrate new anthologies by undocumented or formerly undocumented migrants, refugees, Dreamers, and more. Moderated by PEN America’s […]
The Power of the Medical Narrative: Writing One’s Way Through Illness with Judith M. Ford and Kathleen Watt (In-Person)
Join Brooklyn Social Media for this discussion of the art of writing one’s way through catastrophic illness. In Fever of Unknown Origin: A True Tale of Medicine, Mystery and Magic, Judith M. Ford shows what it’s like to lose everything: health, career, family, and the prospect of the future due to a mysterious disease. In […]
Environmental Storytelling (In-Person)
How do environmental storytellers address income disparity, toxic ecologies, nationalism turning violent, climate crisis, or xenophobia? How do they put information into context, turn data into plot, or science into metaphor? How do storytellers marry the environmental with the social, or tether the precision of scholarship with literary prose, or look to the past to […]
Tables of Contents Reading Series (In-Person)
Our September reading series will feature authors Angie Cruz (How Not To Drown In A Glass Of Water), Clare Sestanovich (Objects of Desire: Stories), and Joseph Osmundson (Virology: Essays for the Living, the Dead, and the Small Things in Between). Each reading will be paired with a dish inspired by the passage, with a conversation […]
Writing and Reproductive Freedom (Virtual)
Join The Resort writing community in a discussion with Onnesha Roychoudhuri, Kim Gek Lin Short, and Erin Williams, about what happens when contemporary literature reflects our current reality in ways that illuminate and expand urgent conversations. Roychoudhuri, Short, and Williams are contributors to the multi-genre collection I Know What’s Best for You: Stories on Reproductive […]
Covid and the Creative Process (Virtual)
BLR editors Danielle Ofri and Doris W. Cheng are joined in conversation by poet Phillip B. Williams and novelist Weike Wang. With special guests: playwright Sarah Ruhl and scientist/writer Joseph Osmundson. Covid has generated unusual creative pressures: Must writers write about the pandemic? Does bearing witness to inequities impact creative output? How do we make […]
WORD Presents Hilary A. Hallett and Sarah MacLean (In-Person)
Join history professor Hilary A. Hallett and romance author Sarah MacLean to discuss Hilary’s new book Inventing the It Girl, a biography of early 20th century Hollywood tastemaker, Elinor Glyn. Seating is limited; RSVP below. Location: WORD Bookstore, 126 Franklin Street, Brooklyn, NY 11222
We’ll Cry if We Want To: A Lit Party for Muthas and Others (In-Person)
Readings, theater, comedy, and comics (read live on projector screen!) from writers and artists of MUTHA Magazine, co-sponsored by Pen Parentis, featuring the awesome line-up of Emily Flake (The New Yorker and author of Mama Tried), Ariel Gore (Hip Mama and author of The Wayward Writer), Cheryl E. Klein (celebrating her debut memoir Crybaby), Lisa […]
How Do We Win Public Power? (In-Person)
The climate emergency is unfolding all over the world, hitting those most vulnerable and least responsible hardest. How do we build the political power to beat fossil capitalism? What strategies are most likely to produce a just transition to a clean energy system, both here in NYC and the US, the belly of the capitalist […]
Latinx Authors ARE Breaking into the Publishing Industry (In-Person)
Four debut authors discuss why it’s important for Latinxs to tell their own stories and how they broke barriers to be published. Panel includes Elvira K. Gonzalez (Hurdles in the Dark), Xavier Navarro Aquino (Velorio), Cleyvis Natera (Neruda on the Park) and Vincent Tirado (Burn Down, Rise Up). Moderating is Patricia Gonzalez Armstrong. For more […]
Akashic All-Stars Party (In-Person)
Greenlight Bookstore is delighted to once again welcome Brooklyn-based publisher Akashic Books to our Fort Greene store to celebrate an evening of remarkable publishing with Akashic staff and authors. Akashic Books is an award-winning, Brooklyn-based independent publishing company founded in 1997. Join us in celebrating Akashic’s recent successes with an All-Stars reading event, featuring Michael […]
Literary Taboo: Stars in the Shadows (Virtual)
Queer Indie and the Writing Community Chat Show will host an interactive, live-streamed panel regarding the use of story as a tool to illuminate the invisible. Topics will include narrative explorations of death and grief, literary treatments of trauma and tragedy, writing as reflection, and approaches to diversity. Panelists include: Dr. Mario Dell’Olio, TT Banks, […]
Bookforum presents: Sports, Annotated (Virtual)
To celebrate Bookforum’s special issue on sports and literature, we’re inviting three authors to discuss their favorite players, their bitterest losses, and the best sports books around. Join us as poet Ross Gay, critic Lindsay Zoladz, and novelist Miranda Popkey talk to moderator Thomas Beller about the inner game of sports writing. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bookforum-presents-sports-annotated-tickets-406346562507
Stories from Brooklyn (In-Person)
A multidisciplinary gathering of authors explores what it means to live, write, and be in community with other writers in Brooklyn. “Stories from Brooklyn” brings together graphic novelists, poets, fiction writers, and essayists to discuss how the borough of Brooklyn inspires writing practice, encourages original literary work, supports writers and independent publishing, but can also […]
A Conversation with Caroline Elkins about Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire (In-Person)
Drawing on more than a decade of research on four continents, Caroline Elkins demonstrates how and why violence in Ireland, India, Palestine, Kenya and other colonies underwrote Britain’s empire and the country’s imperial identity at home. In short, the blood and bones on which liberal-democratic “civilizations” sit. Rigorous and passionate, exploding myths of Western paternalism […]
Survivor: (Former) Evangelical Millennials Edition (In-Person)
Vanessa A. Bee, author of Home Bound: An Uprooted Daughter’s Reflections on Belonging, and Jeanna Kadlec, author of Heretic: A Memoir, read from their forthcoming memoirs and discuss their experiences leaving the evangelical church, finding new definitions of home and community, and then writing about these experiences. From Astra House, in partnership with n+1. Location: […]
Writing Women’s Lives Through Food (In-Person)
Food is a terrific entry point into the lives of women, one that historians and biographers have increasingly explored. Yet writing about women’s lives through the lens of food presents specific craft challenges. This panel of writers discusses those challenges and opportunities, potential pitfalls and how they work to avoid them, and why this is […]
McSweeney’s: Personal Encounters (Virtual)
Join Courtney Zoffness (Spilt Milk) and Emerson Whitney (Heaven) for a conversation about the future of memoir writing and how each author broke through traditional formats to achieve both critically-acclaimed and highly-effective memoirs. Watch via Instagram Live. https://www.instagram.com/mcswys/
Who’s Afraid of Childhood? (In-Person)
Book bans are on the rise. Last year, the American Library Association tracked 729 attempts to remove library, school, and university materials, involving 1,597 titles—double the number in 2019. Shedding light on the most recent spate of censorship, “Who’s Afraid of Childhood?” explores books set in childhood to highlight denial and resistance to depicting its […]
Poets Punching Out Prose / Our Gooey Coddle (In-Person)
Join us for an eclectic evening of Scottish nonfiction and poetry, led by Michael Pedersen (Boy Friends; Oyster) with Glasgow/Cambridge-based poet and author Hollie McNish (Slug: and other things I’ve been told to hate) and New Zealand-based author, playwright and poet Dominic Hoey (Poor People with Money). Location: The Hunterian, 413 E 70th St, New […]
The Rumpus presents: Funny Women (In-Person)
The Rumpus celebrates its long-running “Funny Women” column and 1st-ever IRL Book Club event with readings by the column’s editor, Elissa Bassist (author of The Rumpus Book Club pick Hysterical), and a few of our favorite contributors, including Carmen Maria Machado (Her Body and Other Parties), Mia Mercado (The Cut, She’s Nice Though), and Jen […]
The Miss Manhattan Non-Fiction Reading Series Presents: New York Stories (In-Person)
The Miss Manhattan Non-Fiction Reading Series presents New York Stories, featuring city-inspired nonfiction writing. Created to amplify non-fiction voices, the reading is hosted and curated by Manhattan-based writer Elyssa Maxx Goodman. It is always absolutely FREE! This evening will feature NYT Bestselling Author Annabelle Gurwitch (You’re Leaving When?: Adventures in Downward Mobility); LA Times Bestselling […]
Dual Perspectives (Virtual)
A Public Space invites aspiring writers and editors to a conversation about the art of the editorial dialogue. Bring your questions and join APS managing editor Megan Cummins and Writing and Editorial Fellows Vivian Hu, Crawford Hunt, Taylor Michael, and Ruby Wang as they discuss their early experiences of working with either an editor or […]
