135. Reading the City
July 6 to 12
Welcome back to Reading the City, a weekly newsletter of bookish events in NYC.
This week, we have book launches from Rachel Aviv, Daniel Mason, De'Shawn Charles Winslow, and Laura Sims, also a poetry event with The Brooklyn Rail, and the Dream Baby Writing Club is back with Ricki Lake hosting.
For the month of July, in what is an awesome collaboration, every time you buy a book from Yu & Me Books, you an get a free cheeseburger from 7th Street Burger. And in other bookish news, Open Book Club NYC have announced they’re opening an IRL studio space in Chinatown to host their future events. Love a book club to book venue pipeline!
Lastly, it was a pleasure this week to be invited by Alexa Weiser of City Happenings to share some literary New York City tips with her readers. You can check that out here!
As ever, get in touch with events I should have on my radar (details on how to submit are here), and please share the love with your bookish friends!
Monday, July 6
SERIES | Crown Inn Reading Series
In the backyard of the Crown Inn, enjoy readings from featured authors Svetlana Satchkova (The Undead) and Sidik Fofana (Stories From the Tenants Downstairs), and emerging writers Amelia Beckerman, Divya Mehra, and A.J. Rodriguez. Hosted by Penina Roth of the Franklin Park Reading Series, Khaholi Bailey (The Miseducation of a 90s Baby), and Crown Inn co-owner Zhenya Kampanets.
Free; 7-9pm; Crown Inn, 724 Franklin Avenue, Brooklyn
LAUNCH | Scott Heim: Mysterious Skin
Greg Araki’s film adaptation of Mysterious Skin made a big impression on me, and with the film getting a 4K restoration this year, the original 1995 novel by Scott Heimm is being rereleased in paperback from Harper Perennial. This propulsive novel about abuse and its aftereffects in the lives of two teenage boys is an honest and searing exploration of memory, survival, friendship, and the power of truth. Heimm will be in conversation with Kyle Dillon Hertz (The Lookback Window).
$10; 7-8pm; Strand Book Store, 828 Broadway 3rd Floor, Rare Book Room, Manhattan
Tuesday, July 7
LAUNCH | Rachel Aviv: You Won’t Get Free of It
The New Yorker’s Rachel Aviv discusses her new book You Won’t Get Free of It: Stories of Mothers and Daughters—a collection of reported stories that explore the relationship between mothers and daughters—in conversation with Christine Smallwood (The Life of the Mind).
$10; 7-8pm; Strand Book Store, 828 Broadway 3rd Floor, Rare Book Room, Manhattan
LAUNCH | Laura Mayer: Tryhard
Longtime podcast executive Laura Mayer celebrates the launch of Tryhard, a unique, laugh-out-loud, and eye-opening book—part memoir, part mentoring, part confessional guide—that dissects the emotional ties that bind us to our desks. In conversation with Leigh Stein (Self Care).
Free; 6.30-8pm; Lofty Pigeon Books, 743 Church Avenue Brooklyn
Wednesday, July 8
LAUNCH | Daniel Mason: Country People
Pulitzer Prize finalist Daniel Mason (North Woods) celebrates the launch of Country People, a rollicking, lyrical novel following a year in the life of a family as they strike out into the unknown (aka Vermont), leaving all the comforts of home behind.
$5, redeemable in-store; 7pm; McNally Jackson Seaport, 4 Fulton St, Manhattan
LAUNCH | Julia Angwin & Ami Fields-Meyer: On Courage
Investigative journalist and author Julia Angwin and Ami Fields-Meyer, a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation, celebrate and discuss their book On Courage; How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear—“There has never been a more important time for this book” (Booklist). Angwin and Fields-Meyer will be in conversation with journalist and Senior Advisor at the Brennan Center for Justice Barton Gellman.
$10; 6.30-8pm; P&T Knitwear, 180 Orchard Street, Manhattan
WORKSHOP | Dream Baby Writing Club
The Dream Baby Writing Club is back this time with guest host Ricki Lake—yes, that Ricki Lake! The writing club is designed like an open mic, but you write everything on the spot with prompts designed to get you out of your head and write fun things. RSVP available to Dream Baby Press paid subscribers only.
Free; 7-9pm; Burger King, NYC
POETRY | I smell a miracle: A Rail Reading curated by Stacy Skolnik
Captivated by the Facebook updates of an old high school friend, Robert Frost, and his increasingly nomadic lifestyle, poet and novelist Stacy Skolnik (The Ginny Suite) has shaped these posts into new poems and an idiosyncratic and tender portrait of a life lived on the furthermost edges of American society. To celebrate the publishing of Robert Frost, Skolnik has curated a poetry reading with Courtney Bush (Leaning), Rob Fitterman (Saga), Shanzhai Lyric (Endless Garments), and artist and musician Otis Houston Jr. In collaboration with The Brooklyn Rail.
Free; doors, 6.30; 192 Books, 192 10th Ave, Manhattan
Thursday, July 9
LAUNCH | Laura Sims: The Man
Laura Sims (How Can I Help You) celebrates the launch of The Man—a singular take on the psychological suspense novel that follows a 1960s housewife turned amateur photographer who begins to fear for her life when she notices the dark silhouette of a man in the background of her self-portraits—in conversation with Vanessa Chan (The Storm We Made).
$10, redeemable in-store; 7-8pm; Books Are Magic Montague, 122 Montague Street, Brooklyn, and livestreamed free
LAUNCH | De’Shawn Charles Winslow: The Fervent Whites
De’Shawn Charles Winslow (In West Mills) celebrates the launch of his new novel, The Fervent Whites—a propulsive thriller that examines race, class, gender, and sexuality, The Fervent Whites takes place in a fictional Hudson Valley town called Fervent that has been upended by a shocking murder—in conversation with Samantha Hunt (The Seas).
$10; 7-8.15pm; The Center for Fiction, 15 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, and livestreamed
TALK | Women in Independent Publishing
Contributors to the collection Women in Independent Publishing: A History of Unsung Innovators 1953-1989, including Lee Ann Brown, Patricia Spears Jones, Susan Sherman, and editor Stephanie Anderson, will discuss their experiences with small press publications and the legacy of Hettie Jones’s magazine, Yugen. In the lovely Hawthornden’s front room.
Free with RSVP; 7-8.30pm; Hawthornden Brooklyn, Ditmas Park, Brooklyn
LAUNCH | B.K. Jackson: Relative Strangers
Editor B.K. Jackson presents her anthology Relative Strangers: Inheritance, Identity, and the Meaning of Kinship—28 acclaimed and emerging writers explore the transformative experience of encountering unknown close relatives—with readings from contributing writers, including Writing Co-Lab cofounder Brian Gresko, Sesame Street writer Kama Einhorn, Lisa Grunberger (For the Future of Girls), Laura Jenkins, and Christine Wolf .
$10; 6.30-8pm; P&T Knitwear, 180 Orchard Street, Manhattan
LECTURE | The Wisdom Bar: Melville and Moby-Dick
New to this newsletter is The Wisdom Bar, a series offering expert-led lectures in bars and creative spaces across NYC. For this iteration, Horst Rosenberg, an English educator, literary scholar, and all-around Moby Dick guy, offers a lecture on Melville and why that thick, obsessive, and wildly chaotic novel about a whale continues to linger across generations. Included in the ticket price is craft beer, light bites, an intimate room of curious people, a Q&A with the speaker, and post-lecture discussion with fellow attendees. Also “Something to take home” whatever that means!
$21.51; 6.30-8.30pm; Fabrik NYC, 12-16 Vestry Street, 4th Floor, Manhattan
Friday, July 10
LAUNCH | Sara Hinkley: The Red Sacrament
Costume designer Sara H celebrates the launch of her debut novel, The Red Sacrament—this “operatic debut … is a decadent, shimmering dive into 1869 Paris, where a vampire theater company faces dangers both personal and political” (Publishers Weekly)—in conversation with Nat Cassidy (Mary).
$10; 7-8pm; Strand Book Store, 828 Broadway 3rd Floor, Rare Book Room, Manhattan
SERIES | TNS After Hours
The reading series for New School writers and friends, hosted by Rebecca Baldwin and Elise Hyrak, this month features Helen Schulman (This Beautiful Life) as the headliner. Other readers TBA.
Free (two-drink minimum); 7-9pm; KGB Red Room, 85 East 4th Street, Manhattan
Saturday, July 11
READING TOGETHER | Quiet Reading Party on the Patio
Hosted by Quiet Reading, bring your own book to quietly read for 45 minutes, and then have the option to engage in conversation for 45 minutes with other book lovers on the second-floor patio of Sunset Park Library. Seating includes benches and yoga mats (available on a first-come, first-serve basis).
Free; 2-4pm; Sunset Park Library, 5108 4th Ave, Brooklyn
Sunday, July 12
POETRY | Poetry in the Garden
Elizabeth Street Gardens’ bi-weekly summer poetry program in partnership with McNally Jackson Bookstore. Hosted by Joseph Reiver and Yvonne Brooks.
Free; 5-6pm; Elizabeth Street Garden, Elizabeth Street, Manhattan
SWAP | Book Swap @ Central Park
Join fellow readers in Sheep Meadow, Central Park to exchange books, meet new friends, and discuss your recent reads. This is a drop-in/drop-out event. All book genres, sizes, and conditions welcome. Leftover books will be recycled for future book swap events.
Free; 11am; Sheep Meadow, Central Park, Manhattan
This post was written by a human. Please check all details before attending.
I’m a Brooklyn-based journalist and author. My debut novel Amphibian is out now. My first book, No Way Home: A Memoir of Life on the Run followed my childhood as the daughter of an international pot smuggler and federal fugitive. I’m here and here on Instagram.
this is a great list, thanks so much for compiling