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 […]
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, […]
The New Voices of Arab American Literature (In Person)
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 […]
Let’s Get Mad: Celebrate a Mutha of a Decade (In Person)
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 […]
