Welcome back to Reading the City, a weekly newsletter of bookish events in and around NYC.
It’s a quiet week in book land with the holiday, but there’s a few treats still, with the launch of the much-anticipated I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself and Zach Williams in conversation with Jonathan Safran Foer. Also, a great lineup at the Rogue Loon Reading Series taking up shop at the lovely Salmagundi Club, and the start of McNally Jackson’s summer-long poetry series in Elizabeth Street Garden.
Enjoy the break and as ever send feedback, send help, send events I should have on my radar, say hi! And please share the love with your bookish friends.
Monday, July 1
Zach Williams: Beautiful Days
From New Yorker and Paris Review contributor Zach Williams comes Beautiful Days—a striking and savage debut story collection that confronts parenthood, mortality, and life’s broken promises. Zach will be joined by Jonathan Safran Foer.
$10.89, redeemable in-store; 7-8pm; Books Are Magic Montague 122 Montague Street, Brooklyn, and livestreamed free
Open Mic Monday
KGB’s weekly open mic for comedians, musicians, poets, writers and performers of any other inclination. Hosted by Matt Proctor. 2 drink minimum, sign up on instagram at @easyparadisemag.
Free; 8pm; KGB Red Room, 85 East 4th Street, New York
Jon Woodward and Natan Last
Jon Woodward reads from new poetry collection The Amber in the Ambrose along with Natan Last, poet and crossword creator for the New Yorker and New York Times.
Free; 7pm; Unnameable Books, 615 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn
Tuesday, July 2
Glynnis MacNicol: I'm Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself
Glynnis MacNicol (No One Tells You This) presents I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself—following a decadent, joyful, unexpected journey into one woman’s pursuit of radical enjoyment—in conversation with Marisa Meltzer (Glossy: Ambition, Beauty, and the Inside Story of Emily Weiss's Glossier).
$10.89, redeemable in-store; 7-8pm; Books Are Magic Montague 122 Montague Street, Brooklyn, and livestreamed free
East Village Wordsmiths Literary Salon
Local writers, poets and musicians share their original work based on the theme: “predicament.”
Free; 8pm; Book Club Bar, 197 East 3rd Street, New York
Wednesday, July 3
Rogue Loon Reading Series
The Coffee House welcomes the Rogue Loon Reading Series, hosted by J.T. Price, for a night of literature and music. Readings from Tara Isabella Burton (Here in Avalon), Martha Southgate (The Taste of Salt), Julian Tepper (Cooler Heads), Anna DeForest (Our Long Marvelous Dying) and Bo Lewis, with musical performance by Dan Nordquist. Drinks and/or dinner to follow downstairs at the bar and dining room of the Salmagundi Club.
Free; 6pm; Salmagundi Club, 47 5th Avenue, New York
Drink 'N Draft Creative Writing Workshop
Little Nights hosts this writing workshop offering guided prompts for laptop-free/handwriting exercises followed by opportunities to share your work. All genres are welcome, no matter your writing experience.
$22, including $8 toward any drink at the bar; 8-9.30pm; Book Club Bar, 197 East 3rd Street, New York
Friday, July 5
Wonder Press presents Hard Crush
Sarah Yanni’s Hard Crush is a chapbook about “queer yearning and placemaking.” The launch event by Wonder Press features Grace Byron, Matthew Bussa, Jacke Colquitt, Sammy Loren, Lena Melillo, and Terry Nguyen, and is hosted by Chariot Wish.
Free; 7.30-9.30pm; Powerhouse Arena, 28 Adams Street, Brooklyn
LJ Pemberton: Still Alive
LJ Pemberton on book tour with her debut novel Still Alive—described brilliantly by Full Stop as “queer Fight Club for the Millennial generation”—is joined in conversation by Mary South (You Will Never Be Forgotten).
Free; 7pm; Unnameable Books, 615 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn
Sunday, July 7
Join McNally Jackson for Poetry in Elizabeth Street Garden
The Poetry in the Garden series will be on alternating Sundays, biweekly until September 29, set in the idyllic ESG. Join as a poet or audience member. Poets can submit 2 or 3 poems connected to the theme of “breath” to art@elizabethstreetgarden.com and you will be informed on Saturday, July 6th, if you’ve been selected to read.
Free, no RSVP required; 4pm; Elizabeth Street Garden, entrance located on Elizabeth Street between Spring and Prince Streets
Quiet Reading Club
One hour of reading, one hour of discussion. Bring your own book!
Free; 9.30-11.30pm; Book Club Bar, 197 East 3rd Street, New York
Letters for Liberation: Building Community Via Collective Correspondence
Join Black and Pink NYC to answer letters from LGBTIA and HIV impacted prisoners to build community and support. No experience required. Here’s their mail processing guide for first timers. Snacks are provided, donations of stamps/envelopes are always welcome, and formerly incarcerated volunteers get a $20/hour stipend.
Free; 4pm; Bluestockings Cooperative Bookstore, 116 Suffolk Street, New York
NB. Please check all details before attending, the fact checker went awol.
I’m a Brooklyn-based writer, editor, and teacher, and the author of No Way Home: A Memoir of Life on the Run (St. Martin’s Press) and Amphibian (forthcoming from Virago and Ig). I’m here and here on Instagram. Get in touch with any bookish events you’d like me to include!
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