“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 […]
Other Things Unspoken: Celebrating the PEN Prison Writing Awards Anthology Series (In Person)
For over 50 years, PEN America’s PEN Prison Writing Awards have honored and amplified the work of writers incarcerated throughout the United States. Since 2018, award recipients have been published in an anthology series of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and drama. This event honors the writers published in the latest editions of the PEN Prison Writing […]
The Listening Room: Inside the Making of an Audiobook (In Person)
Audiobooks are publishing’s fastest-growing format and one of its least-discussed crafts. This Brooklyn Book Festival Bookend Event pulls back the curtain, bringing together narrators, producers, and authors for a candid, behind-the-mic conversation about how an audiobook gets made, and why some narrations unlock a book while others fall flat. Moderated by Brenda Copeland, the panel […]
Behind the Counter: Stories from the Dominican Bodega (Virtual)
For many Dominicans, the neighborhood bodega is more than a corner store. It is a gathering place, a cultural archive, and a second home. Join authors Hilda Eunice Burgos (the Bodega Cats series), Abel Veloz (The Last Bodega in Jersey, Vol. I), and Amaris Castillo (Bodega Stories) for a conversation on writing Dominican-owned bodegas as […]
Tables of Contents Reading Series: Amna! Brahme! Yu! (In Person)
Join us at Long Island Bar in Cobble Hill for a reading featuring Dur e Aziz Amna, Alexa Brahme, and Vincent Yu! Each ticket includes three small dishes inspired by the passages and one complimentary drink, mixed by our friends at Cocktails in Color. Additional drinks will be available for purchase, along with books by […]
Books & Bluegrass (In Person)
Join The Urbane Arts Club and High Line Literary Collective for a balmy Southern-inspired September night with special guests Erin Austen Abbott (Small Town Living) and Landon Bryant (Bless Your Heart), live music, and mingling over light bites and themed cocktails. It’s sure to be a magical evening at this Victorian mansion and former speakeasy […]
Art Spiegelman Discusses In the Shadow of No Towers (In Person)
Twenty-five years after 9/11, BPL Presents welcomes the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Maus, with a series of comix broadsides that captures the events of 9/11 and the calculated hijacking of that event by the Bush government. With this reissue of In the Shadow of No Towers, Art Spiegelman reminds us that politics, also, is the […]
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 […]
Selected Shorts: The Five Boroughs (In Person & Virtual)
Legendary New Yorker Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City, The Gilded Age) hosts a literary stroll across bridges (and onto one ferry), showcasing the diversity and breadth of our city through voices from all five boroughs. Join us for a storytelling snapshot of New York, as told by authors writing from five unique and beautiful […]
Under the BQE Equinox Jazz “Flash Reading” and Party (In Person)
Listen to live jazz, sip a discounted cocktail courtesy of Kings County Distillery and hear authors and friends of Under the BQE Press Judson Merrill, Amy Wilkinson, Elaine Yellow Horse, Sean Anderson, and Helen Georgas celebrate the great autumnal shift between beginnings and endings as they read flash segments (5 minutes or less) from their […]
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 […]
Cults, Conspiracies, and the Complexities of Belief (In Person)
In times of cultural upheaval, the search for meaning and belonging can leave people vulnerable to powerful narratives, charismatic leaders, and manipulation. New York has long been a crossroads for spiritual, religious, and wellness movements promising transformation, salvation, and purpose. This panel brings together authors who have experienced the seductive pull of cults and those […]
Patchwork Literary Salon: LGBTQ Debuts (In Person)
Patchwork Literary Salon brings together authors across genres and stages in their careers to create a colorful tapestry of literary community. This special BKBF Bookend event will spotlight LGBTQ debut fiction across genres, featuring brief readings, a panel discussion moderated by host Nadine Santoro, prizes, books for sale c/o Hive Mind Books, and BKBF-themed cocktail […]
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 […]
“The Midnight Special: The Secret Prison History of American Music,” With Colin Asher (In Person)
Colin Asher tells of the extraordinary music created within the highest and thickest walls of America’s brutal, racist prison system. With five compelling portraits of musical artists whose careers span the 20th century, from folk and blues singer Lead Belly, to jazz pianist Elmo Hope, to rap artist Tupac Shakur. A celebration of joyful, angry, […]
Lost and Found: MUTHA x Pen Parentis x Lofty Pigeon Get Lit(erary), from Panel to Party (In Person)
Family can be made and unmade, lost and found. MUTHA and Pen Parentis present a night out with authors who speak to the complexity (and hilarity) of family—and how we can unite as a creative community. Featuring cartoonist Emily Flake (All Toddlers Are Scorpios); journalist and memoirist Emi Nietfeld (Acceptance and No Contact); and artist […]
No, YOU Tell It! “Passage” True-Life Tales with a Twist (In Person)
No, YOU Tell It! storytellers collaborate 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 special Queens Bookend Event, produced in partnership with Culture Lab LIC, we’ve teamed up with New Women New Yorkers (nywomenimmigrants.org) in support of their mission […]
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 […]
From the Stage to the Page: When Playwrights Write Prose (In Person)
Kim Merrill (Red Girl Jumping), Steven Fechter (The Big Breeze), and Alvin Eng (Our Laundry, Our Town), three accomplished writers who began in the theater, discuss their journeys from playwriting to fiction and memoir. What is lost and what endures? How do playwrights translate the immediacy of performance into the interiority of prose? What happens […]
Radical Ahjumma x KQT Pungmul: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Dictee 서포트그룹 / Support Group (In Person)
Korean spirits, old and new… geonbae! Join Radical Ahjumma’s N. Jooyoun Kim (The Last Story of Mina Lee, What We Kept to Ourselves), Margaret Juhae Lee (Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History), and NEA Fellow S. Isabel Choi for an intimate celebration of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s DICTEE, a genre-challenging ode to grief, memory, […]
Belief, Belonging, and Breaking Free: Sex, Cults & Rock n’ Roll (In Person)
From a sexless marriage to a celibate cult community to the world of addiction and rock ’n’ roll, three authors discuss the courage it takes to tell the truth and write about the gritty underbelly of choices made. In this panel, memoirists Wendy B. Correa, Alisa Kriegel, and Priya Hutner explore themes of sexual repression, […]
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 […]
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 […]
The New Kids: 2025 Debut Authors Talk Process, Publishing, & Community (In Person)
Debut authors with books launching in 2025 discuss their books and the debut process – from the first idea to the actual launch. In addition to describing their different approaches to story and craft, they will share their experience with the community and support they found as they followed their paths to publication. Featuring authors […]
Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York City with the American LGBTQ+ Museum (In Person)
Historian Elyssa Maxx Goodman is joined by iconic New York City drag artists for a theatrical performance inspired by her National Bestseller book, Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York City. Following this never-before-seen interpretation of figures from the book’s ode to drag throughout the ages, both Goodman and the drag artists […]
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 […]
Writing with a Sense of Place: Celebrating The Common’s 15th Anniversary (In Person & Virtual)
The Common, a literary magazine that explores our sense of place, celebrates their 15th anniversary with a panel of writers discussing how themes of home, immigration, and belonging reverberate in their recent work, featuring Emily Everett, managing editor and author of the Reese’s Book Club Pick All That Life Can Afford; Olivia Wolfgang-Smith, former social […]
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 […]
Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize Shortlist Reading (In Person)
This BPL Book Prize event features the shortlisted authors for 2025. Past winners include Kaveh Akbar and Blair L.M. Kelley. This talk will feature current shortlist nominees in conversation with Jessica Harwick, prize judge and BPL librarian. The Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize was established in 2015 by the Brooklyn Eagles– young, engaged Brooklynites who […]
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 […]
Broadway Books: TV Pilot Screening (In Person)
NEW YORK PREMIERE: Set in New York City, Broadway Books is a sitcom about an independent bookstore struggling to survive using increasingly desperate measures. Starring Lauren Servideo, Ruby McCollister, Nick Naney, Eric Yates, and Carlos Dengler, the pilot follows the team as they try to raise the numbers for that night’s Malcolm Gladwell reading. (Meanwhile, […]
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 […]
Weaver of Dreams, Voice of Conscience: Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o (In Person)
In May, the groundbreaking Kenyan writer and activist Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o died. Ngũgĩ braved prison, exile, and beatings—and attacks on his family—to speak the truth about both colonial and “post-colonial” Africa. He wrote plays, novels, essays, poetry, and criticism. His novel Devil on the Cross was composed on toilet paper in prison. Ngũgĩ called on […]
Italian-American Immigrant Dreams (In Person)
Come join us at the Old Stone House of Brooklyn for a special Brooklyn Book Festival Bookend Event celebrating Italian-American immigrant stories. Authors Suzanne Uttaro Samuels (Seeds of the Pomegranate), F.K. Clementi (South of My Dreams: Finding My American Home), and Cathy Gigante-Brown (Immigrant Hearts) will read from and discuss their new novels and their […]
The Future is Latinx: New Generation (Virtual)
Join us for a discussion on the challenges faced by Latinx writers entering the literary world, and how they balance the pressure of writing for the Latinx community while still reaching wider audiences. Panelists and debut novels include: Veronica Chapa (Malinalli), Carolina Flórez-Cerchiaro (Bochica), Alejandro Heredia (Loca), and Sofia Robleda (Daughter of Fire). Moderated by […]
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 […]
Selected Shorts: Gary Gulman, On the Couch (In Person & Virtual)
It’s September, which means school is back in session and your shrink has returned from their August escape. Join us as actors Claire Danes (Homeland), Troy Iwata (The Daily Show), Kenice Mobley (The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon), and BD Wong (Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens) perform funny, stirring, and insightful stories about therapy, therapists, and that eternal search for inner peace. Hosted […]
What We Didn’t Expect: MUTHA x Pen Parentis x Lofty Pigeon Get Lit(erary), from Panel to Party (In Person)
Don’t believe what’s expected—reality is a shock in all aspects and stages of parenthood and partnership. MUTHA and Pen Parentis present a night out with parents who are writers/artists across genres that take on taboo topics: novelist Domenica Ruta (All The Mothers); cartoonist Rachel Deutsch (The Mother); and Hip Mama founder and memoirist Ariel Gore […]
Tour of Tove Jansson & The Moomins: The Door Is Always Open (In Person)
Join us for a guided tour of Tove Jansson and the Moomins: The Door Is Always Open, an exhibition that explores the queer Finnish author’s impact on children’s literature and social-emotional learning through her beloved Moomin characters, bold political cartoons, and reflective adult literature. The author’s niece, Sophia Jansson, will lead a tour, sharing reflections […]
Tables of Contents Reading Series: Alam! Schaefer! Park! (In Person)
Join us at MADE in Sunset Park for our next reading on Tuesday, September 16th! We have an amazing lineup featuring Rumaan Alam (Entitlement), Lucas Schaefer (The Slip) and Silvia Park (Luminous). Each ticket includes three small dishes inspired by the passages, and one complimentary cocktail mixed by our friends Sammi Katz and Olivia McGiff […]
Carousel: Comics Performances (In Person)
Join Carousel for readings of graphic novels, gag cartoons, and comics as performed by the writers and artists, with slide projections, followed by a book signing. Featuring Peter Kuper, Jesse Mechanic, Jamie Mustard, Ngozi Nwadiogbu, and Kelsey Wroten. Hosted by R. Sikoryak. Ticket Prices: General: $15; SI Members: $12; Students & Seniors: $10. Visit our […]
Amor Sin Fronteras: Latinx Love Stories That Break the Mold (Virtual)
Join acclaimed Dominican and Latinx romance authors Adriana Herrera, Lydia San Andres, Ambar Cordova, and Natalie Caña for a heartfelt conversation on writing love in all its complexity. This panel explores how culture, community, and identity shape stories of desire, joy, and healing. From steamy tropes to tender truths, these authors are redefining the genre […]
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) […]
#YeahYouWriteBKBF (In Person)
An evening of readings, #LiteraryCocktails, food, fun, #OpenMic, Rapid-Fire Q&A, and book sales/signing with Moon Unit Zappa, Lauren Morrow, and Princess Joy L. Perry. We’re celebrating the Brooklyn Book Festival’s 20th Anniversary and #YeahYouWrite’s 10th! Someday Bar NYC – 364 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217 – accessible entrance & restroom https://yeahyouwriteevents.com/
The Weather Report with Andrew Ross (In Person)
The grisly future of climate change has arrived sooner than forecasted and the parties responsible have no intention of walking away from their power or profits. This panel of leading writers on climate change will name the histories that brought us here, chart our own power and responsibility as we adapt to a climate-imperiled planet, […]
Played a Good Book Lately? (In Person)
We all remember Choose Your Own Adventures, but interactive stories have come a long way since the days of page-jumping pulp. What does it mean for a game to be literary in today’s media-saturated landscape? Join game designer and author Sharang Biswas, game editor and narrative designer Jess Haskins, Naomi Clark and game designer and […]
– POSTPONED – Literature to Life Presents: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (In Person)
LTL’s thrilling adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel chronicles the life of Oscar, an overweight science-fiction enthusiast who dreams of becoming the Dominican J. R. R. Tolkien. Growing up in Paterson, he obsesses over fantasy novels, falling in love, and the curse that has plagued his family for generations. Encapsulating magical realism and Dominican-American history, […]
– 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 […]
Spirit and Flesh: Our Bodies, Our Blackness, Ourselves (In Person & Virtual)
In her stunning 2022 debut, This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us, Cole Arthur Riley weaves three generations of family tales and contemplative reflections on belonging, dignity, and liberation. She joins Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts whose books Then They Came for Mine: Healing from the Trauma of Racial Violence and Black Joy: […]
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 – Let’s Get Mad: Celebrate a Mutha of a Decade (Virtual)
It’s a rager: mother-writers and artists get real, down and dirty, furious and funny about the lives of mothers (and others). Readings at Books are Magic Montague by Minna Dubin (Mom Rage), Amanda Montei (Touched Out), cartoonist Lisa Lim (A Darker Shade of Noir), and Deesha Philyaw (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies). Celebrating 10 […]
Queens, NY: Fact and Fiction (In Person)
Join authors and historians Rob MacKay, Seth Bornstein, and Rafael Herrin-Ferri as they dive into Queens history. They will discuss the borough’s built environment and how diversity influences our residences, the people, and their connection to our borough. Kew & Willow Books, 81-63 Lefferts Blvd, Kew Gardens, NY 11415 https://www.kewandwillow.com/
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 […]
And the Winners of the Literary Awards are . . . LATINXS! (Virtual)
Latinxs may be underrepresented in publishing, but their numbers are slowly and surely growing, and winning major literary awards like the Pulitzer, John Newbery Medal, National Book, PEN/ Jean Stein Award, Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize, Anthony awards, etc. Join us and meet our Latinx award-winning panelists, including Andrea Beatriz Arango, Juana Martinez-Neal, Alex Segura, […]
No, YOU Tell It! “Fly By” 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 partner’s culture, identity, and life experience on stage. For this special show, four curated storytellers are trading tales inspired by Queens history from the archives of The Greater Astoria Historical Society (astorialic.org). Plus, story trivia […]
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 […]
True Eco-Terror: Writing Frightful Economic and Ecological Dystopias and Disasters (Virtual)
What makes for true eco-terror? Join this panel discussion to consider the smart ways storytellers create vivid and disturbing, sometimes prophetic, reflections of our world and detail our small places in them. Insight will be offered by Damir Salkovic (Collapse Years), Theo Gangi (A New Day in America), and Jeff VanderMeer (Veniss Underground) and moderated […]
Selected Shorts: Ken Burns Presents Willa Cather’s America (In Person & Virtual)
Filmmaker Ken Burns hosts this sesquicentennial celebration of Willa Cather, one of the most significant and treasured American writers of the 20th century. This special evening of short fiction in performance brings to life the landscapes of the Pulitzer Prize–winning author so masterfully captured in her prose. With performances by Patricia Clarkson (She Said), mezzo-soprano […]
The Lost Sons of Omaha: An American Tragedy (In Person & Virtual)
On May 30, 2020, in Omaha, Nebraska, 38-year-old white bar owner and Marine veteran Jake Gardner fatally shot James Scurlock, a 22-year-old Black man protesting the murder of George Floyd. Following an indictment, Gardner took his own life. In The Lost Sons of Omaha: Two Young Men in an American Tragedy, Joe Sexton offers a […]
Radical Publishing in Political Headwinds (In Person)
Publishers from independent presses discuss the imperative of publishing books that uplift marginalized and insurgent voices, create and complicate representation, and spark and amplify movements. This is even more critical during challenging political times when marginalized communities are disempowered, scapegoated, and stripped of their rights. Margot Atwell (Feminist Press), Malav Kanuga (Common Notions Press), Ramsey […]
Easily Slip Into Another World: A Life in Music with Henry Threadgill (In Person)
Henry Threadgill is a towering figure of contemporary American music. His autobiography is a riveting account of the music scene in Chicago in the 1960s, his experiences as a Black soldier in Vietnam, and the ensembles he has led—and is a powerful meditation on history, race, capitalism, and art. Henry Threadgill is one of only […]
Kafka is the Rage (In Person)
Brooklyn Social Media invites you to an evening with Francis Levy, author of The Kafka Studies Department, in conversation with Rocco Landesman, Broadway producer and former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. The Kafka Studies Department, with illustrations by Hallie Cohen, is a highly original, quirky collection of short, parable-like stories infused with […]
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 […]
Foul Heart Huntsman: An Event with Chloe Gong (In Person)
Live and in person with the Astoria Bookshop, at the Tony Bennett Concert Hall, celebrate the conclusion of the Foul Lady Fortune duology by Chloe Gong! Joining her in conversation is Amélie Wen Zhao, author of Song of Silver, Flame Like Night and the Blood Heir Trilogy. This event is ticketed. Tickets include a seat […]
Starting Out: The Editor-Writer Relationship (In Person)
What is an editor’s role? How can an author work with an editor to elevate their writing? Join Writing and Editorial Fellows from A Public Space for a conversation about the editor-writer relationship. They’ll discuss lessons learned and insights gained, formative experiences, and their questions for each other about the surprises they found on their […]
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 […]