Event Genre: Poetry

New Works: A Poetry Reading

Poets Will Brewer (Nocturama), Peggy Robles-Alvarado (Burn Me Back), Maya C. Popa (If You Love That Lady), and R. A. Villanueva (A Holy Dread) read from their new volumes of poetry. Introduced by Parker Menzimer, Public Programs Director, Poetry Society of America.

Poetry in Motion: Read and Ride (In Person)

Join MTA Arts & Design for a Poetry in Motion: Read and Ride to the Brooklyn Book Festival! Poetry in Motion has brought poetry into New York’s transit system for more than 30 years, thanks to a long-standing partnership between the MTA and the Poetry Society of America. Riders will receive a free Poetry in […]

“Tastes of Memory”: An Evening of Readings (In Person)

What links food and memory? Can an herb, a spice, or a fruit be an archive of history? How does food divide us as well as unite us? Inspired by a phrase from Ligaya Mishan’s New York Times review of a Cambodian restaurant: “it turns out that people want this: good food, thoughtfully made, that […]

Language, AI, and the Future of African Writing (Virtual)

As AI transforms how writing is created, edited and judged, what does this mean for African literature? This timely conversation explores the implications of AI for authorship, originality, African languages, and creative practice. Organised by Literary Denizens, this panel features Nigerian linguist and language technologist Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún, Zambian writer and editor Mubanga Kalimamukwento, Sierra Leonean-American […]

Future Ancestors

Poets Fatimah Asghar (Daughter of the Mountains), Diamond Forde (The Book of Alice), Naomi Shihab Nye (Sidekick), and Meghan O’Rourke (Sun In Days) read and consider the futures we can imagine and carry forward or transform for those who come after us. Moderated by Hafizah Augustus Geter.

Reimagining America

What does it mean to imagine America otherwise? Poets Tina Chang (LION), Erika Meitner (Assembled Audience), and Jonah Mixon-Webster (Promise/Threat) read and discuss how poetry can remake ideas and realities about nation, identity, and belonging, finding new ways of imagining our lives. Moderated by Edgar Kunz (Fixer).

At the Gate

Poets Cornelius Eady (Proof: Inaugural Poem Suite), Adrian Matejka (Be Easy: New & Selected Poems), and Tracy K. Smith (Such Color: New and Selected Poems) read and reflect on what they have inherited from Lucille Clifton’s poetry and the possibilities her work continues to open for poets today. Moderated by Brooklyn Literary Council Co-Chair Camille […]

Banned, Challenged, Defended: Librarians Speak Out (Virtual)

Book challenges and bans continue to shape libraries and communities nationwide. Join librarians for a candid conversation about intellectual freedom, censorship, and the realities of responding to book challenges. Drawing on their professional experiences, they will discuss how librarians balance access, community concerns, and the freedom to read while serving the public. Moderated by Kate […]

Is Genre Necessary? (In Person)

Join the Long Island University Brooklyn Summer Writing Program for a lively discussion on best-selling and award-winning authors’ relationship to genre. How do they decide what bookshelf they belong on? How has genre limitations impacted their creative process, and their professional path? Is genre a necessary tool, or a diminishing construct in contemporary publishing? Featuring […]

The Literary Lounge (In Person)

Literary Lounge is a welcoming gathering for book lovers and the book-curious alike. Spend time in community through Rapid Reads (speed-style book chats), a DIY Bookmark Station, Design a Book Cover, and a Book Xchange where you can swap a gently loved book for a new read. Enjoy music, connect with fellow readers, discover your […]

Battle of the Genres (In Person)

Faculty and students of the St. Francis College MFA program will face off against each other in an all-out Battle of the Genres. Readers will alternate readings in different genres and the audience will vote on which genre won the battle at the end of the event. Who will win? Poetry? Nonfiction? Fiction? You’ll have […]

Seven Spouting Devils—One Night (In Person)

Spuyten Duyvil Press presents an evening of fiction and poetry. Join Spuyten Duyvil authors Vincent Czyz (Sun Eye Moon Eye), António Gomes (Love in the Shadow of Death), Caroline Hagood (Death and Other Speculative Fictions), John Madera (Nomad Science), Ian S. Maloney (South Brooklyn Exterminating), John Reed (Year of Valentines), and Greg Sanders (The Suffering […]

Back and Forth: The Relationship Between Authors and Editors (In Person)

Join A Public Space editors Louis Harnett O’Meara and Taylor Michael for a discussion with Writing Fellows Carolina Murriel and Joanna Yamakami about where the editing and writing processes meet. This panel offers an intimate look behind the scenes of the relationship between authors and editors. Facilitated by current Editorial Fellows Berta Coll Bosch and […]

Crown Heights Lit Night! (In Person)

Three popular Crown Heights series team up for a fun and enlightening evening at famed neighborhood bar the Crown Inn! The Franklin Park Reading Series, World Transsexual Forum, and the Crown Inn Reading Series host a showcase of fresh poetry and prose from a mix of established and up-and-coming writers: Naima Coster (Take What You […]

The World in One Borough (In Person)

Poets from the audio project QUEENSBOUND will come together to create an exquisite corpse poem on the theme of “Resonance.” Each poet will write a 7-line poem (for the 7 train) using only the last line of the previous poem as inspiration. We will reveal and read the whole poem at the event, as well […]

Mosaic: Sa’K Pasé, Haiti (In Person)

Join us for a special public reading celebrating Mosaic Literary Magazine issues #44 and #45. Featuring contributors from our James Baldwin issue (#44) and our Haiti issue (#45), the evening brings these two landmark editions into conversation through poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Together, the readings explore liberation, migration, identity, joy, and the enduring power of […]

Under Your Boot Soles: Catching Up With Walt Whitman (In Person)

“I am with you,” Walt Whitman pledged in “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”.  For this year’s Brooklyn Book Festival, performer Todd Blakesley sees to it that Brooklyn’s Literary Grandfather is true to his words! Meet Whitman’s modern-day incarnation, who will recite favorite poems and discuss the connections between his turbulent times and our own. This historic encounter […]

Celebrating Women-Owned Black Bookstores (In Person)

Join the Center for Black Literature as we celebrate Women-Owned Black Bookstores. Inspired by the NYC Black-Owned Women Book Store Crawl, held in March 2026, the Center for Black Literature is proud to celebrate these remarkable women-owned bookstores that continue to enrich New York’s literary and cultural landscape. Brooklyn is home to an incredible network […]

PSA Reading Series: Dara Barrois/Dixon & John Yau (In Person & Virtual)

Discover the Poetry Society of America’s Brooklyn storefront venue and immerse yourself in an evening of poetry. This event, part of the PSA’s monthly reading series highlighting the nation’s leading poets, features Dara Barrois/Dixon and John Yau. A reception and book signing will follow. RSVP required: in-person $10; livestream $5; free for members. Poetry Society […]

Gowanus Dawn Reading: Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe (In Person)

Join us for the 10TH ANNUAL Gowanus Dawn Reading! Readers in a canoe flotilla proclaim the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe to an audience on the Carroll Street Bridge over the Gowanus Canal. Poet Brad Vogel and performer Melody Bates lead a lively contingent in a beloved local custom with a spooky twist. If you’re […]

BAAAD: Black Authors Against AI & Data Centers (In Person & Virtual)

During NY Climate Week, join the Black Hive, the climate/environmental justice formation at the Movement for Black Lives, for BAAAD (Black Authors Against AI & Data centers). Aya de León, Tyehimba Jess, and Cleyvis Natera will read selections of their fiction and poetry alongside organizers sharing strategies to push back against the harms AI and […]

The Crucible of Self-Discovery: Finding Yourself Through Fiction (Virtual)

Join Queer Indie and The Writing Community Chat Show for this panel on toxic perfectionism, creativity in survival mode, neurodivergent imagination, alternative methods of productivity, writing through trauma, and unraveling self-doubt. This discussion features authors and content creators from Queer Indie’s directory: C. J. Aggett, Anna Bloom, Dr. Mario Dell’Olio, Ross Young, Halo Scot, Anya […]

Midnight, Jazz, and Langston: Navigating Kindred Spirits (In Person)

Join poet and spoken word performance artists Lorraine Currelley, Ngoma Hill, Betty Pierre, and multi-instrumentalist Tony Crawford for an evening of music, poetry, and spoken word performance. Rooted in ancestral memory, this event is a passionate, poetic, musical exploration of identity, shaped by a continuum of collective history, culture, ancestral wisdom, time, and place; a […]

National Book Critics Circle Panel Discussion on Literary Criticism (In Person)

The National Book Critics Circle presents a panel discussion on both the craft of literary criticism and new opportunities for book critics in today’s challenging environment. The conversation will range from practical tips to the art of the review, and will feature Joanna Biggs (Yale Review), Emily Greenhouse (NYRB), Joumana Khatib (NY Times), and Zoë […]

Behind the Pages: Rethinking Publishing with Asian Pacific American Editors (In Person)

What does it mean for an APA writer to work with an APA editor? What does it mean for an APA-identified editor to work with another writer of color? What experiences have APA editors have in mainstream publishing houses versus in independent and ethnically-focused publishing spaces? These are questions that Asian American editors Yuka Igarashi […]

In-Store: Indie Press Spotlight: New Poetry from Wave Books (In Person & Virtual)

Join us for an evening celebrating Wave Books with three acclaimed poets reading from their latest collections! The event features Joshua Beckman, Dorothea Lasky, and Edwin Torres, and will include readings by all three poets and a short Q&A, followed by a book signing. Tickets include either a copy of each poet’s book, or a […]

Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize Shortlist Reading (In Person)

This Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize event features the shortlisted authors for 2026. Past winners include Mosab Abu Toha, Kaveh Akbar, and Blair L.M. Kelley. This talk will feature current shortlist nominees reading their work and in conversation. The Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize was established in 2015 by the Brooklyn Eagles—young, engaged Brooklynites who […]

16th Annual Brooklyn Indie Party (In Person)

Greenlight is delighted to once again partner with the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP), as well as some of Brooklyn’s best independent book and magazine publishers, to throw a Brooklyn-sized party celebrating the spirit of literary independence in our borough. Partygoers are invited to have a drink, mingle with Brooklyn authors and publishers, […]

Between the Page & Stage: Staten Island Youth Open Mic & Author Reading (In Person)

That’s Right Open Mic teams up with Nuyorican Poets Cafe and Staten Island Urban Center to celebrate local voices. On Saturday, September 26th from 3:00-6:00 PM at the Staten Island Urban Center, local young creators (ages 12–24) will share their art and lived experiences. The evening continues with a reading and Q&A with NYC author […]

Odesa in Odyssey: Navigating Forms, Languages, and Cultures (In Person)

Odesa, Ukraine, is a city of wit, warmth, and, not for the first time, war. Panelists will read and discuss original work and translations rooted in the city. Natalya Sukhonos (Sunlight Trapped in Stone) explores her heritage, immigration, and Russia’s ongoing invasion in her latest poetry collection. Ian Ross Singleton reveals how Yuri Yanovsky‘s The […]

Around Asia and Back: A Reading in Harlem (In Person)

Four Asian authors bring news of the world: Singapore, Malaysia, Pakistan, Japan, and South Africa. Yu-Mei Balasingamchow (Names Have Been Changed), Sharmini Aphrodite (The Unrepentant), Roohi Choudhry (Outside Women), and Jee Leong Koh (To the Tune) read from their new books and discuss their writing as it relates to place, identity, migration, and resistance. Silvana […]

EGOBIBL: A Launch Event for Queens’s Newest Literary Journal (In Person)

Join contributors to the inaugural issue of EGOBIBL, as they launch this exciting new literary journal from the students of The Q Studio Lab in Queens. Led by Eric M. B. Becker, award-winning literary translator and longtime editor of Words Without Borders and Asymptote, with Gina Jung, the journal showcases poetry, fiction, and nonfiction from […]

Publishing Revolutionary Books (In Person)

Things are weird and terrible and complicated out in the world. Can books help connect people, share information, and create real change in the world? Haymarket, Street Noise Books, and Verso are dedicated to doing just that with their publishing programs. In this panel, publishers talk about the power of stories, and their place in […]

Between Earth and Water: Readings on Migration, Belonging, and Survival (In Person)

What does it mean to live between worlds—between countries, languages, identities, and selves? On September 20th, Sunday Salon NYC presents Between Earth and Water, a reading featuring four writers whose new and recent work explores migration, belonging, the body, and survival across borders and generations. Spanning hybrid memoir, poetry, fiction, and narrative nonfiction, their work […]

The Poem Remembers

Poets Kwame Dawes (Sturge Town), Kimiko Hahn (The Ghost Forest: New and Selected Poems), and Patricia Smith (The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems) will read poems that explore narrative, personal history, and beauty. Introduced by poet Tina Chang (Hybrida).

Notes on Living

Poets Cathy Linh Che (Becoming Ghost), Aracelis Girmay (Green of All Heads), and Pádraig Ó Tuama (Kitchen Hymns) discuss how poetry can be a vehicle to explore life’s larger questions, from family to history, god, grief, intimacy, and social upheaval. Moderated by Hafizah Augustus Geter, literary agent at Janklow & Nesbit and author of The […]

What The Poem Makes Possible

Franny Choi (The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On), Chet’la Sebree (Blue Opening), and Evie Shockley (suddenly we) read and discuss poems that explore interconnectedness and collective experience, and that search for meaning among uncertainty as they look toward possible futures. Moderated by Rob Arnold, Executive Director of Poets House.

New Works: A Poetry Reading

Poets Mia Kang (All Empires Must), Jimin Seo (OSSIA), and Emily Skillings (Tantrums in Air) read from their new volumes of poetry. Introduced by Parker Menzimer, Poetry Society of America.

Whitman on Walls (WoW!) at the Alice Austen House (In Person)

WHITMAN ON WALLS! (WoW!) is a hybrid project juxtaposing film and live performance in response to New York poet Walt Whitman’s radical “Song of Myself.” WoW! is a touring event that unites communities and local poets with Colombari performers on seven films. In collaboration with the Alice Austen House we will have a live screening […]

Literary Community Craft Lab (In Person)

Connect and create with authors, writing mentors, and multimedia artists in a simultaneously programmed Community Craft Lab organized by Literary Craft Society (led by multi-awarded author and literary activist, Juliet Diaz) in partnership with the Talking Writing podcast. Featuring: The Unbannable Library exhibit of big books created by NYC writer-artist collaborations and produced by artist […]

Collective Art-Making Under Repression and the Politics of Spectacle (In Person)

Radix Co-op presents a dialogue on art-making under state repression. We will feature a screening of Guy Debord’s Refutation of All the Judgements, Pro or Con, Thus Far Rendered on the Film ‘The Society of the Spectacle,’ followed by a discussion featuring Zein El-Amine (Is This How You Eat a Watermelon?), Kamelya Omayma Youssef (A […]

Walt Whitman, Live from New York!: Poetry in Performance (In Person)

Join the Walt Whitman Initiative for a dramatic double bill! At 12PM (Fulton Stall Market, 91 South Street, NYC): tour Whitman’s Literary Seaport with WWI president Karen Karbiener and declaim your favorite New York City – themed poems. At 2PM, join us at our Tane Library (upstairs at FSM) for a live performance of Goodby […]

15th Annual Brooklyn Indie Party (In Person)

Greenlight is delighted to once again partner with Community of Literary Magazines & Presses (CLMP), as well as some of Brooklyn’s best independent book and magazine publishers, to throw a Brooklyn-sized party celebrating the spirit of literary independence in our borough. Partygoers are invited to have a drink, mingle with Brooklyn authors and publishers, discover […]

Scrappy Reading Series (In Person)

Five emerging and established writers will answer this question at this month’s edition of the Scrappy Reading Series, supported by the Red Hook Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. Join us as these writers share how they interpret “scrappy,” and how they embody this in their writing lives, personal lives, love lives, and any other […]

Our New Histories: The Debut BIPOC Writers Reshaping Literature (In Person)

Restless Books, Tin House, Amistad, and Ecco present four ascendent authors whose first releases shook 2025. Camille U. Adams traces her family’s legacy of secrets and abandonment in the Trinidadian memoir How to Be Unmothered; individual longing and a Yoruba prophecy collide in Olufunke Grace Bankole’s intergenerational novel The Edge of Water; Tramaine Suubi follows […]

Radical Histories: A Roundtable of Korean/American Authors (In Person)

Moderated by Jane Yong Kim, Korean American authors Alice Sola Kim, Cathy Park Hong, Ed Park, Gina Chung, and Hannah Bae discuss their work in relation to the spirit of radicalism in the Korean diasporic imaginary as exemplified by the latest installments in Kaya Press’ Magpie Series for Korean Literature in Translation: Djuna‘s speculative fiction […]

Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship Reading (In Person & Virtual)

The Poetry Society of America celebrates twenty-three years of its Chapbook Fellowship with readings by three poet-fellows, past and present: David Gorin (2024), Isabella DeSendi (2019), and Cecily Parks (2005). The poets’ award-winning chapbooks will be available for purchase. Poetry Society of America – 119 Smith St, Brooklyn, NY 11201 – accessible entrance & restroom […]

St. Francis College New Releases (In Person)

This event will feature new releases in various genres and exciting work from St. Francis College faculty and students. Get ready to be transported through time and space by these lively narratives. Readers will include Theo Gangi, Caroline Hagood, Jive Poetic, Mitchell Levenberg, Jason Dubow, Marielena Gomez, and Clarence A. Haynes. St Francis College Auditorium […]

​​Gowanus Dawn Reading – 9th Annual Poetry in Canoes on Gowanus Canal (In Person)

Our 9th annual Gowanus Dawn Reading! We’ll proclaim poetry from Brad Vogel‘s book Find Me In the Feral Pockets in canoes on the Gowanus Canal! Readers: 7:00AM report time at Gowanus Dredgers Bunker Launch Site at 2 19th St., Brooklyn, NY. Request spot as a canoe reader in advance: poetsafloatnyc@gmail.com. Audience: 7:45AM arrival on 9th […]

Something Like a Circus or a Sewer: Lives of Downtown (In Person)

Between 1970 and 2000, New York was the most precarious and exciting arts capital on earth. Even as the city staggered from crisis to crisis, it was home to pioneering hip-hop artists, punks and poets, subway taggers, and gallerists who saw them as the next Big Thing. Join us in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn for a […]

Ctrl+Alt+Lit: Fan Fiction, Zines, and Independent Literature (In Person & Virtual)

From Tumblr threads to self-published novels, alternative literature is rewriting how we tell stories and who gets to tell them. Ctrl+Alt+Lit will explore how alt-lit remixes cultural narratives and creates community beyond traditional publishing, diving into a world shaped by parasocial relationships, the internet, and all of the media therein, including fan fiction, zines, newsletters, […]

The Harlem Writers Guild Celebrates 75 Years of Literary Excellence (Virtual)

Founded in 1950, the Harlem Writers Guild proudly celebrates 75 years of literary excellence and its mission to amplify African American voices. Join us for an unforgettable evening honoring the world’s oldest continuous organization of Black writers. Hear powerful readings from the works of legendary members—John Oliver Killens, Maya Angelou, Audre Lorde, Ossie Davis, Ruby […]

Under the BQE Flash Reading and Birthday Party (In Person)

Under the BQE Press invites the NYC writing and publishing community to help them celebrate their first year as an indie publisher at their favorite bar, which is as close to under the overpass as you can get – Mama Tried! Flash readings (under 5 minutes) from forthcoming and published novelists Judson Merrill, Brian Russ, […]

Behind the Pen (In Person)

Join A Public Space Editorial Fellows Yasmin Bashir and Theodore Heil for a discussion with Writing Fellows Kasia Nikhamina, Raina Wellman, and Yaw Atuobi about craft, language, translation, folklore, and literature that inspires their writing. This panel offers a look at how each of the writers’ work is thematically entangled with one another. Unnameable Books […]

Exquisite Corpse, Queens Edition (In Person)

Queens poets create a new exquisite corpse poem on the theme of “Renegade.” Each poet will write a 7-line poem (in honor of the 7 train) using only the last line of the previous poem as inspiration. We will reveal and read the whole poem during the event, as well as discuss Queens lit and […]

No, YOU Tell It! “Prom Queens” True-Life Tales with a Twist (In Person)

No, YOU Tell It! Storytellers work together to develop true tales on the page, then swap stories to embody their story partner’s culture, identity, and life experience on stage. For this Bookend Event, four contributors to the forthcoming Prom Queens: Celebrating Prom Poems & Stories by Queens Writers anthology from Poets of Queens (poetsofqueens.com) will […]

We are the Genre (In Person)

Writers Jordan E. Franklin, Caroline Hagood, Paula Cisewski, Matthew Daddona, and Jiwon Choi will embark on a candid exploration of how we embody our own forms of writing. Whether we’re engaged in poetry, fiction, memoir, biography, etc., we can’t help but go beyond the borders of genre to create work that endeavors to fully capture […]

a/wake in the water: voices in protest (In Person)

“Books and all forms of writing are terror to those who wish to suppress truth.” – Wole Soyinka. Join our community of poets, spoken word performers, writers, artists, and musicians for a gathering of community, performance, and artivisim, featuring performers Edward Currelley, Lorraine Currelley, and Betty Pierre. Mott Haven Library – 321 East 140th Street, […]

Franklin Park Lit Night (In Person)

Two popular series based at Crown Heights’s famed Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden team up for a fun and enlightening evening! The Franklin Park Reading Series and World Trans Forum host authors Amie Barrodale (Trip, You Are Having a Good Time), Zefyr Lisowski (Uncanny Valley Girls), Chet’la Sebree (Blue Opening), and Emily Zhou (Girlfriends) […]

A.I. and the Writer: An Unlikely Friendship – Presented with NYU’s 370J Project.

One novelist, one memoirist and one poet — all working with A.I. as muse, collaborator and inspiration from the early days of generative A.I. to ChatGPT and into an uncertain future. What are the possibilities of A.I. for writers, and what are the perils? Join essayist and author Ethan Gilsdorf (Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks […]

Four Hundred Years of Latino Poetry presented by BPL and Library of America. 

In this high-wattage panel discussion celebrating the new Library of America anthology Latino Poetry, anthology editor Rigoberto González and contributors Yesenia Montilla and Darrel Alejandro Holnes will discuss the political and poetic geographies of Latino identity and culture in and beyond New York and how these relate to their own work and trajectory. They will […]

New Works: A Poetry Reading  

Poets Kay Gabriel (A Queen in Bucks County), Frederick Joseph (We Alive, Beloved), Megan Pinto (Saints of Little Faith), and Margaret Ray (Good Grief, the Ground) read from their new volumes of poetry. Introduced by Nikay Paredes, Academy of American Poets.

Finding Home

Poets Hala Alyan (The Moon That Turns You Back), Diego Báez (Yaguareté White), Armen Davoudian (The Palace of Forty Pillars), and Jive Poetic (Skip Tracer) read from their work and discuss how the poem can investigate family, place, memory, and archives. Moderated by Sarah Aziza.

Playing with Form

Poets Timothy Donnelly (Chariot), Terrance Hayes (So To Speak), Diana Khoi Nguyen (Root Fractures), and Nicole Sealey (The Ferguson Report: An Erasure) read from their work and discuss how their use or form, the page, and procedural restraint opens new possibilities in their poetry. Moderated by Hafizah Augustus Geter

The Poetic Eye

Poets Catherine Barnett (Solutions for the Problem of Bodies in Space), Nick Flynn (Low), Marie Howe (New and Selected Poems), Dawn Lundy Martin (Instructions for the Lovers) share work that exemplifies poetry’s unique potential to observe everyday life, love, loneliness, and grief. Introduced by Parker Menzimer, Poetry Society of America.

NBF Presents: Archival (R)evolutions

National Book Award–honored authors consider the power of archives and evolution—within literature, across genres, and in the building of literary communities. Moderated by Ruth Dickey, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation. Presented in partnership with the Brooklyn Book Festival and the National Book Foundation.

New Works – A Poetry Reading 

Poets Aria Aber (Hard Damage), Diannely Antigua (Ugly Music), Ricardo Alberto Maldonado (The Life Assignment), and John Murillo (Kontemporary Amerikan) will read from their recently published volumes of poetry. Introduced by Nikay Paredes, Academy of American Poets.  

Poetry of Fiction 

Even in prose, some narratives are best expressed through the rhythms and techniques of poetry. Through precise and artful language, these innovative and observant poets and authors explore the nature of time, the experience of consciousness, and the aftermath of history. Join award-winning poet Carolyn Forché (In the Lateness of the World), Pulitzer Prize–winning poet […]

The Past is Present 

Poets Mark Bibbins (13th Balloon), Eduardo C. Corral (Guillotine), Hafizah Geter (Un-American), and Jonah Mixon-Webster (Stereo (TYPE)) read from their new collections, and discuss how history and legacy serve as a lens in their work, through which to view the present moment. Moderated by Tina Chang, Brooklyn Poet Laureate.  

Hope, Possibility, & Reckoning

Poets Camonghne Felix (Build Yourself a Boat), Taylor Johnson (Inheritance), Naomi Shihab Nye (Everything Comes Next: Collected and New Poems), and Khadijah Queen (Anodyne) will discuss how poetry provides us with new ways to reckon with and understand our intersecting pasts, presents, and futures, and in doing so, builds new pathways towards hope and possibility. […]

The Landscape of Loss

Grieving the loss of a loved one can feel like a tangle of contradictions: an experience at once intensely personal and subjective while also deeply, fundamentally human. Join Kat Chow (Seeing Ghosts), Adam Mansbach (I Had a Brother Once), and Nadia Owusu (Aftershocks) as they share their own journeys navigating this fraught yet fertile terrain—and […]

Richard Wright Today

Presented by the Center for Fiction and the Poetry Society of America. The work of Richard Wright has never felt more necessary and prescient, with the recent publication of his restored novel The Man Who Lived Underground and the launch of Seeing Into Tomorrow, a major public art project in Brooklyn featuring haiku he wrote […]

Notes on the Future: A Conversation with Toi Dericotte

The Brooklyn Book Festival proudly honors poet Toi Derricotte with its 2021 BoBi Award, the Festival’s highest honor, in recognition of her work as a poet and award-winning writer, and as the co-founder of Brooklyn-based Cave Canem. Award presentation by Literary Council co-chair Camille Rankine with readings and tributes by Hafizah Geter, and other guests.

Poetry in Times of Crisis

Poets Kendra Allen (The Collection Plate), Jorie Graham (Runaway), Donika Kelly (The Renunciations), and Mai Der Vang (Yellow Rain) discuss their explorations of survival and human resilience in the face of political and personal trauma/struggle. Moderated by Jamia Wilson (This Book is Feminist).

Uyghur Poetry in Exile

Uyghur poetry has flourished for many centuries, its richness reflecting the cosmopolitanism of a culture at the crossroads of Eurasia. Since 2017, the tradition has been critically threatened by China’s mass internment and cultural genocide of the Uyghur people. Join Uyghur poets Tahir Hamut Izgil and Muyesser Abdel’ehed Hendan, as well as historian and translator […]

Hanif Abdurraqib in Conversation

Poet, essayist, and critic Hanif Abdurraqib has been celebrated for the lyricism and intimacy of his writing, as well as the piercing clarity of his insights on music, race, and American culture. His newest work, A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance, is rightfully being lauded as his strongest to date. […]

Poetry and Play

Poets Chen Chen (Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency), Darrel Alejandro Holnes (Stepmotherland), Rachel Mannheimer (Earth Room), and Bianca Stone (What Is Otherwise Infinite) discuss how poems use humor, pop culture, and political histories as artistic strategy. Moderated by Gala Mukomolova (Without Protection).

Virtual Poetry Reading w/ Kaveh Akbar and Victoria Chang

Poets Kaveh Akbar (Pilgrim Bell), and Victoria Chang (The Trees Witness Everything) read from their new volumes of poetry. Introduced by the co-chair of the Brooklyn Book Festival’s Poetry Committee, Hafizah Augustus Geter (The Black Period: On Personhood, Race, and Origin).

Poets on Love, Sex & Desire

Poets Richie Hofmann (A Hundred Lovers), Cyrée Jarelle Johnson (Slingshot), José Olivarez (Promises of Gold), and Maggie Millner (Couplets) read from their work and discuss desire, the sublime, and heartbreak. Moderated by Parker Menzimer, Poetry Society of America.

Books Unbanned: A Night of Artivism (In Person)

Books Unbanned: A Night of Artivism is an afterparty with a purpose featuring live performances from acclaimed artists, activists and actors! The event will feature special guest authors including Ibram Kendi, Michael Harriot, Dr. Kaye Whitehead and more. Hosted by author and AAPF Executive Director Kimberle Crenshaw, the event will also feature music by a […]

Books Unbanned: A Night of Artivism (In Person)

Books Unbanned: A Night of Artivism is an afterparty with a purpose featuring live performances from acclaimed artists, activists and actors! The event will feature special guest authors including Ibram Kendi, Michael Harriot, Dr. Kaye Whitehead and more. Hosted by author and AAPF Executive Director Kimberle Crenshaw, the event will also feature music by a […]

Inventing Home: Poets on the Diaspora

Poets Marilyn Chin (Sage), Sahar Muradi (OCTOBERS), and Oliver de la Paz (The Diaspora Sonnets) read from their work and discuss how poems address ideas of displacement, exile, and what it means to carry “home” with you. Moderated by Hafizah Augustus Geter, Janklow & Nesbit.

Haunting Testimony

Poets LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs (Village), Rigoberto González (To the Boy Who Was Night), Sally Wen Mao (The Kingdom of Surfaces), and Courtney Faye Taylor (Concentrate) read from their work and discuss how the poem can serve as an archive of personal and political hauntings and history. Moderated by Ricardo Alberto Maldonado, Academy of American […]

New Works: A Poetry Reading

Poets Elisa M. Gonzalez (Grand Tour), Jen Levitt (So Long), and Airea D. Matthews (Bread and Circus) read from their new volumes of poetry. Introduced by Nikay Paredes, Academy of American Poets.

Poets on Love, Sex & Desire

Poets Richie Hofmann (A Hundred Lovers), Cyrée Jarelle Johnson (Slingshot), José Olivarez (Promises of Gold), and Maggie Millner (Couplets) read from their work and discuss desire, the sublime, and heartbreak. Moderated by Parker Menzimer, Poetry Society of America.

Choice, Chance, Escape (In Person)

Join up-and-coming indie publisher Awst Press for a celebratory reading showcasing Awst’s newest release Scenic Overlook, a stunning debut novel-in-stories by Brooklyn-based author Anne Ray. In addition to a warm reception, a lineup of Awst’s NYC-based authors will give readings exploring the hard choices, chance encounters, and new environments that forge our identities. Readers include […]

#YeahYouWrite (In Person)

#YeahYouWrite presents Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Chain-Gang All-Stars), Veronica G. Henry (The Foreign Exchange), Daniel Magariel (Walk the Darkness Down), Terese Svoboda (Dog on Fire), and James Frankie Thomas (Idlewild) in a friendly and relaxed yet high-energy atmosphere. Enjoy “The Bookend,” a Brooklyn-sourced #LiteraryCocktail (and take home the recipe), plus #LiteraryCocktails/Mocktails designed for each author’s work. […]

Lab[our] Issue Launch (In Person)

In partnership with the Brooklyn Book Festival, Lampblack invites you to share in the launch of our third volume: Lab[our]. Merchandise and copies of the issue will be available for purchase, along with drinks at the Center for Fiction café. There will be live readings from the magazine, featuring t’ai freedom ford, James Stewart III, […]

Annual Brooklyn Indie Party! (In Person)

On Friday night, Greenlight is delighted to once again partner with Community of Literary Magazines & Presses (CLMP), as well as some of Brooklyn’s best independent book and magazine publishers, to throw a Brooklyn-sized party celebrating the spirit of literary independence in our borough. Partygoers are invited to mingle with Brooklyn authors and publishers, discover […]

– CHANGED TO ZOOM – The New Voices of Arab American Literature (Virtual)

In the contentious battleground of political America, Arab American writers have strived to drown out the divisive rhetoric through compelling, evocative portraits of life in the Arab world, diasporic ache, and subversion of embedded stereotypes. We meet with five Arab American writers to learn the narratives that guide their work, how they write and recollect […]

The Shining by Dorothea Lasky (In Person)

Dorothea Lasky’s The Shining is an ekphrastic horror lyric that shapes an entirely unique feminist psychological landscape. In this collection, Lasky guides us through the familiar rooms of the Overlook Hotel, both realized and imagined, inhabiting characters and spaces that have been somewhat flattened in Stephen King’s text or Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptations. Dorothea Lasky […]

– CHANGED TO ZOOM – Brooklyn Poets Reading Series (Virtual)

Named one of the best reading series in NYC by Time Out New York, the Brooklyn Poets Reading Series takes place six times a year at 144 Montague St and via Zoom. Each reading features three poets, with at least one from Brooklyn and one from outside the borough, pairing emerging with more established poets […]

Boog City’s Poetry Talk Talk (In Person)

Boog City’s Poetry Talk Talk Series has featured various pairs of poets reading and in conversation with one another over the past three decades. This time around we’re excited to feature longtime collaborators and friends Todd Colby and Joanna Penn Cooper. We’ll also have a music set from Todd and guitarist Nick Didkovsky. Young Ethel’s, […]

Gowanus Dawn Reading: 7th Annual Poetry in Canoes on the Gowanus Canal (In Person)

Our 7th annual Gowanus Dawn Reading – we’ll perform Robinson Jeffers’ poetry in canoes on the Gowanus Canal! Readers: 7:00 am report time at Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club’s Bunker Launch Site at 2 19th St, Brooklyn. Confirm spot as a canoe reader: Brad.Vogel[@]gmail.com. Audience: 7:45 am arrival. Watch and listen from 9th Street Bridge over […]

Chapbook Fellowship Winners Reading (In Person)

Join us for a reading at the Poetry Society of America to celebrate the publications of PSA Chapbook Fellowship winners Lauren Aliza Green (A Great Dark House), Emily Lee Luan (I Watch the Boughs), and Margaret Ray (Superstitions of the Mid-Atlantic). Poetry Society of America, 119 Smith Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201  https://poetrysociety.givecloud.co/product/57C27E3/reading-series

The Rumpus Presents Sapphic Storytelling: Queer eQuinox (In Person)

The Rumpus presents Sapphic Storytelling: Queer eQuinox at McNally Jackson’s Seaport location. Featuring authors Hannah Beresford, Jaquira Díaz, CJ Hauser, Lars Horn, T Kira Madden, and Kelley Van Dilla. Moderated by Rumpus Editor, Alysia Li Ying Sawchyn. In this series, we present writers we adore and use the term “sapphic” as a tongue-in-cheek term to […]

Exquisite Corpse Queens Edition (Virtual)

Eight Queens poets will come together virtually to create and perform an exquisite corpse poem on the theme of revelation as well as discuss Queens lit and community. Featuring allia abdullah-matta, Moncho Alvarado, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, Sherese Francis, Abeer Y. Hoque, Dena Igusti, nadia misir, and René Sing-Brooks. Hosted by the Lewis Latimer House Museum […]

Schomburg Center and NBF Presents: The Poetics of the Archive (In Person)

National Book Award Winners Nikky Finney (Head Off & Split) and Robin Coste Lewis (Voyage of the Sable Venus) excavate and reimagine family and historical archives as poetry in their recent books Love Child’s Hotbed of Occasional Poetry and To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness. The authors join National Book Award Winner Jacqueline Woodson (Brown […]

Crown Heights Literary Celebration (In Person)

Come celebrate the thriving Crown Heights literary scene with a reading and mingle hosted by three of the neighborhood’s most exciting arts organizations: The Franklin Park Reading Series, Big Words, Etc., and The World Trans Forum. Hear poetry and prose from local authors Tyriek White (We Are A Haunting), danilo machado (This is your receipt […]

John Oliver Killens Literary Salon: A Celebration of Black Fire This Time (In Person)

The Center for Black Literature, in collaboration with MoCada, will present the Killens Literary Salon with contributors to Black Fire This Time: Keisha-Gaye Anderson (Gathering the Waters), James E. Cherry (Edge of the Wind), Judy Juanita (De Facto Feminism), Quincy Troupe (Duende: Poems), and moderator Heather Buchanan (Aquarius Press). Black Fire This Time by Kim […]

A Poetry Reading with Nauset Press (In Person)

Three poets, Caitlin McDonnell, Carolyn Steinhoff, and Betsy Andrews (who will be accompanied by art and music), will read from their books of poems published by Nauset Press. Each in her own way, these poets grapple with what it means to write from within the impossibly ramped-up state of perpetual crisis in which we all […]

Powerful and Dangerous: the Legacy of Audre Lorde (Virtual)

The Alice Austen House, nationally designated site of LGBTQ+ history, will host a virtual reading celebrating the legacy of Audre Lorde’s teaching. Join us as former students Kathleen Walsh D’Arcy, Donna Masini, Melinda Goodman, and Rosette Capotorto read their poetry and share memories of their time in Lorde’s literature program. https://aliceausten.org

VOICE: A Lens to Black Experiences (Virtual)

Diversity is a call to arms, challenging society to be inclusive. The Black community is richly diverse, comprising many villages. We compare the teachings of forefathers from other places and grandmothers who’d migrated north or across oceans by choice. We are the ancestors in our lineage. We perceive the world differently and filter those experiences […]

World in Verse: An Evening of International Poetry (Virtual)

Join Words Without Borders for a virtual multilingual reading and celebration of international poetry in translation, in partnership with the Academy of American Poets. Featuring Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles, Kristine Ong Muslim, Iryna Shuvalova, Uilleam Blacker, Xavier Valcárcel, Roque Raquel Salas Rivera, and more, introduced by Arthur Sze (winner of the 2019 National Book Award for […]

The Role of the Artist in a Time of Crisis (In Person)

From Booker Prize-winning poet, novelist, essayist, short-story writer, anthologist, aphorist, and playwright Ben Okri & Africa Center CEO Uzodinma Iweala, comes a fascinating discussion on the role of the artist in a time of crisis. Whether it be climate change, the refugee crisis, racism, philosophy, the pandemic, or any number of varied topics he takes, […]

Yearnings of a Chat Bot: Are Poets the Original Chat Bots? (In Person)

The romantic ideation of the half human/half robot is one that we have been musing since computerized sentience in woman/man/creature form has graced our movies and tv shows: Terminator, Blade Runner, Ex-Machina, Metropolis, etc. This longing to understand the Machine-Man, the Maschinenmensch, comes from the fact that we have always had relationships with machines, from […]

Tables of Contents Reading Series (In Person)

Tables of Contents welcomes Isle McEIroy (People Collide), Jamel Brinkley (Witness), and Rachel Eliza Griffiths (Promise) for our September reading series! The evening will feature readings from each author paired with small dishes inspired by their work, followed by a conversation among the authors moderated by Tables of Contents chef and founder Evan Hanczor. Tickets […]

Origin Stories (In Person)

Origin Stories aren’t just for superheroes. This reading from St. Francis College MFA faculty and students will feature an exciting lineup of writers reflecting on their own origin stories as writers, as well as the origin stories of their writing. Writers, authors, and poets Clarence A. Haynes, Jive Poetic, Keyshawn Griffith, Marielena Gomez, Caroline Hagood, […]

We Speak Our Names: Lived Narratives (Virtual)

Join Poets Network & Exchange and the Bronx Book Fair for an intergenerational collective of powerful voices and performances by poets/spoken word performance artists Edward D. Currelley, Lorraine Currelley, and Caroline Reddy. Please register in advance in the Zoom link provided. https://www.facebook.com/BronxBookFair/

Exploring Literary South Street Seaport with the Walt Whitman Initiative! (In-Person)

5pm Seaport Walking Tour CANCELLED 5-6:30pm Enjoy extra Open House Hours at the WWI Tane Poetry Library! Enjoy a visit to WWI’s Tane Poetry Library, where Curator/Librarian Jay Sherry and Assistant Librarian Emerald Sanjuro will introduce the collection and our cozy reading space. WWI Tane Poetry Library at Fulton Stall Market, 91 South Street, New […]