Welcome back to Reading the City, a weekly newsletter of bookish events in and around NYC.
This week we have Sandra Cisneros at Hunter as part of Hispanic Heritage Month and Deborah Levy in town to launch a new book. Also, a great lineup at #YeahYouWrite tonight for the final evening of Brooklyn Book Festival’s Bookends events. And finally, at the end of this newsletter you’ll find our first ever reader offer, thanks to writer (and subscriber!) Bobbie Armstrong!
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, September 30
#YeahYouWriteBKBF
This #YeahYouWrite is an official Brooklyn Book Festival Bookends event. Hosted by Lisa Amico Kristel and Robin Luce Martin, enjoy an evening of literary cocktails, food, and Brooklyn-themed open mic, with readings from Michael Cunningham (Day), Crystal Hana Kim (The Stone Home), Nora Lange (Us Fools), and Komail Aijazuddin (Manboobs). And help create the 2024 #YeahYouWriteBKBF Zine!
Free; 6.30pm; Someday Bar, 364 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn
BKBF: GROUP CHAT: When Friends Become Family
Enjoy a short film screening, panel conversation, and community book swap, in this celebration of chosen family and communal care. Bring a book from your shelf that you are ready to part with. Guests include: Lola Milholland (Group Living and Other Recipes); Lilly Dancyger (First Love); Amrita Vijay, and Andrew Stephens, and moderated by Shane O’Neill, the Washington Post Style writer.
From $8.46; 7-8pm; Caveat, 21 A Clinton St, New York
BKBF: Adèle Rosenfeld & Jeffrey Zuckerman: Jellyfish Have No Ears
Join author and translator Adèle Rosenfeld and Jeffrey Zuckerman to discuss Jellyfish Have No Ears—the story of Louise and her decision to get a cochlear implant, which would give Louise a new sense of hearing, but it would be at the expense of her natural hearing, which has shaped her unique relationship with the world—in conversation with Hilary Leichter (Terrace Story).
Free; 6pm; Albertine, 972 Fifth Avenue, New York
Herbal Supplements Reading Series
Jules Rivera’s Herbal Supplements celebrates its 1st birthday with reading from Molly McGhee (Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind), , Drewe Goldstein, and Kamara, music from Harlem Farr, and cake!
Free; 8pm; Cherry On Top, 379 Suydam St, Brooklyn
World Transexual Forum
This month Anton Solomonik and Jeanne Thornton’s World Transsexual Forum features author/psychoanalyst Griffin Hansbury, discussing Some Strange Music Draws Me In—emotionally gripping novel about friendship, family, and transgender awakening in a working-class American town—followed by an open mic.
Free; 7pm sign-up, 8pm readings; Franklin Park, 618 St Johns Place, Brooklyn
Tuesday, October 1
American Voices: The Sandra Cisneros Symposium at Hunter College
As part of the commemoration of Hispanic Heritage Month, the renowned Sandra Cisneros (The House on Mango Street) will be in interview with Today’s Jenna Bush Hager, followed by a reception. The evening session is booked, but there are spaces still available for the morning and afternoon sessions.
Free; various; Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, 47-49 East 65th Street, New York, and livestreamed
How Women Made Music: NPR Music - Panel Discussion
A panel discussion of How Women Made Music: A Revolutionary History from NPR Music, with special guest contributors including Ann Powers, Alison Fensterstock, Jill Sternheimer and Marissa Lorusso.
$7.81; 7-8pm; Strand Book Store, 828 Broadway 3rd Floor, Rare Book Room, New York
Wednesday, October 2
New Works Reading Series
Experience the newest poetry collections from Sophie Cabot Black (Geometry of the Restless Herd) and Marie Howe (New and Selected Poems) through poems that capture visions of the pastoral and glimpses of the quotidian. The evening’s readings and conversation between the artists will “reveal two extraordinary takes on the human and the spiritual.” Reception to follow in the Viscusi Reading Room.
Free; 7-9pm; Elizabeth Kray Hall, Poet’s House, 10 River Terrace, New York
Nora Lange: Us Fools
Nora Lange celebrates her debut novel Us Fools—a tragicomic, intimate American story of two precocious sisters coming of age during the Midwestern farm crisis of the 1980s—in conversation with Claire Donato (Kind Mirrors, Ugly Ghosts).
$10, redeemable in-store; 7-8pm; Books Are Magic Montague, 122 Montague Street, Brooklyn, and livestreamed free
Thursday, October 3
Rally Reading Series
The Rally Reading Series, created by Ryan D. Matthews to celebrate overtly political literature, kicks off election season with John Manuel Arias (Where There Was Fire), Prachi Gupta (They Called Us Exceptional: And Other Lies That Raised Us), and Anjali Khosla (Ghostbot). Following live readings, writers engage the audience in brief conversation.
Free; 7pm; Pete's Candy Store, 709 Lorimer St, Brooklyn
Double book launch w/ Jessica Valenti and Renee Bracey Sherman
Jessica Valenti launches Abortion—a stirring and succinct examination of post-Roe America—and Renee Bracey Sherman launches Liberating Abortion—a galvanizing history of abortion recentering people of color to put forth a timely argument that we must liberate abortion for all—in a joint event.
$10, redeemable in-store; 7-8pm; Books Are Magic Montague, 122 Montague Street, Brooklyn, and livestreamed free
Deborah Levy: The Position of Spoons and Other Intimacies
Deborah Levy (The Man Who Saw Everything) presents The Position of Spoons and Other Intimacies—a feast of observations about everything from the particular beauty of lemons on a table, to the allure of Colette, to the streets of Paris—in conversation with Jamieson Webster (On Breathing).
$5 redeemable in-store, RSVP required; 7pm; McNally Jackson Seaport, 4 Fulton St, New York
Jamie Quatro: Two-Step Devil
Jamie Quatro (I Want to Show You More) presents her latest book, Two-Step Devil—a propulsive and philosophical examination of fate and faith that dares to ask what salvation, if any, can be found in our modern world—in conversation with Sloane Crosley (Grief Is for People).
$10; 7-8.15pm; The Center for Fiction, 15 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, and livestreamed
Friday, October 4
Scrappy Reading Series
This month, Farah Faye’s Scrappy Reading Series will be the official kick-off event for Red Hook Open Studios! Guests will also get a visit from House of Speakeasy's Bookmobile distributing free books published by the authors of the evening. Readers include Deborah Copaken (Shutterbabe and substack:
), (First Love), Dean Haspiel (Billy Dogma), and Jax Preyer (substack: ) and Niguel Dottin, with live music by local musician, Ethan Woods, and drinks and snacks.Free, register to attend; 7-9pm; Compère Collective, 351 Van Brunt Street, Brooklyn
Sunday, October 6
Chapbook Release Party
A chance to check out the newly opened Crown Heights bistro book bar Word of Mouth, at RtC reader Michy Woodward’s chapbook release party for That’s the very nature of Saturn, with readings from Zoë Bodzas, Matt Starr, jason b crawford, Jada Gordon, and Noelle Payongayong.
Free; 4.30-6.30pm; Word of Mouth, 942 Bergen St, Brooklyn
It's A Jungle In Here: The Family & Friends Show - READER OFFER!
NYC’s funniest writers from The New York, McSweeney’s, and late night read satire + humor about their friends and family. Featuring Emily Flake, Carlos Greaves, JiJi Lee, Felipe Torres Medina, and hosted by RtC reader Bobbie Armstrong. And readers of RtC can enjoy a discount of $5 off ticket price with the code FAMILY.
From $23; 5pm; Caveat, 21A Clinton St. New York
Booking Ahead…
The Masquerade of the Neon Death
This annual literary masquerade supports nonprofit publisher Electric Literature, this year in celebration of their 15th birthday. Authors Emma Copley Eisenberg, Vanessa Chan, Deesha Philyaw, and Clare Sestanovich, along with EL’s editors, host an evening of drinks and dancing for all book lovers, writers, readers, and their kin. Ticket price includes an open bar, free books and masks, a photobooth, and more!
From $65.74; October 18, 8-11pm, Littlefield, 635 Sackett Street, Brooklyn
NB. Please check all details before attending, the fact checker went awol.
I’m a Brooklyn-based journalist and author. My debut novel Amphibian is forthcoming from Ig on October 22, Virago (UK), and dtv (Germany). My first book, No Way Home: A Memoir of Life on the Run (St. Martin’s Press, 2018) followed my childhood as the daughter of an international pot smuggler and federal fugitive. I’m here and here on Instagram. Get in touch with any bookish events you’d like me to include!