Welcome back to Reading the City, a weekly newsletter of bookish events in and around NYC.
There are more Sally Rooney midnight release parties than I can handle, so good luck with that. The Brooklyn Book Festival is in full swing with dozens of Bookends events—I’ve picked just a couple to highlight here. It’s also Banned Books Week, and, at a time of unprecedented book bans across the U.S., a reminder to support organizations fighting to protect access to information and knowledge however you can.
There are launches from Paola Ramos, M. L. Rio, and Jami Attenberg, but I ran out of space…
Lastly, me! I’m giving an early reading from Amphibian at the Urbane Arts Club BKBF event on Thursday. Come say hi!
Monday, September 23
BKBF: Franklin Park Lit Night
The Franklin Park Reading Series and the World Trans Forum team up to present readings and a panel discussion on identity, sexuality, displacement, and community-building in a time of political upheaval, as seen through the eyes of immigrant and trans authors. The lineup features Annell López (I’ll Give You a Reason), Tuck Woodstock (Gender Reveal Podcast), Ledia Xhoga (Misinterpretation), and Joan Zahra Dark (Cartoonist Cooperative).
Free; 7pm; Franklin Park, 618 St. Johns Place, Brooklyn
Tuesday, September 24
Les Bleus Literary Salon
Hosted by Paige McGreevy, this iteration welcomes Caroline Johnson, Crystal Hana Kim (The Stone Home), Regina McBride (Stranger From Across The Sea), Joseph Earl Thomas (God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer), and Simon van Booy (Sipsworth).
Free; 7pm; Union Square, RSVP to lesbleusnyc@gmail.com for the address
BKBF: The Best Year in Music: GenX Writers Reflect on the Music of 1994
On the 30th anniversary of the best year in music (fact!), GenX writers Temim Fruchter (City of Laughter), Julian Tepper (Cooler Heads), and Lisa Ko (Memory Piece), who grew up before digital music downloads were a thing, spend an evening responding to the groundbreaking albums of 1994. Hosted by Catherine LaSota of The Resort writing community.
Free; 8pm; LIC Bar (carriage house), 45-58 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City, Queens
Wednesday, September 25
BKBF Bookends: Selected Shorts: Banned Books with Host Judy Blume
Hosted by none other than Judy Blume, actors Jelani Alladin (Fellow Travelers), Jessica Hecht (Special), Troy Iwata (The Daily Show), Maulik Pancholy (30 Rock), and Amy Ryan (Only Murders in the Building) will bring to life stories on frequently censored topics, from authors whose books have been the target of bans, from Roxane Gay to David Sedaris.
From $19; 7pm; Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at 95th St. New York, and livestreamed for $26
Ditmas Lit
Hosted by Lena Valencia and Sarah Bridgins, Ditmas Lit welcomes readers Colin Dickey (Under the Eye of Power: How Fear of Secret Societies Shapes American Democracy), Ananda Lima (Craft: Stories I wrote for the Devil), Olivia Wolfgang-Smith (Glassworks), and, this week, Lena herself with her debut story collection Mystery Lights.
Free, with RSVP; 7.30pm; The Urbane Arts Club, 1016 Beverley Road, Brooklyn
Thursday, September 26
Banned Books Week Panel: Fighting Book Bans w/ Banned Authors
Banned Books Week partners with the ABA, the BPL, and Books Are Magic to discuss how to fight books bans and support banned authors here in NYC, featuring Maureen Johnson (13 Little Blue Envelopes), (We Alive, Beloved), illustrator Niña Mata, Eliot Schrefer (The Darkness Outside Us), and ABA’s Philomena Polefrone, PhD. 100% of Eventbrite donations will go to BPL's Books Unbanned initiative.
Free; 6-7pm; Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Heights, 286 Cadman Plaza West, Brooklyn, and livestreamed
BKBF Bookends: An Urbane Metamorphosis
A transformative night of readings from M Lin (The Memory Museum, forthcoming), Jasmine Mans (Black Girl, Call Home), Rachel Lyon (Fruit of the Dead), and Tyler Wetherall (Amphibian, me!). Also, enjoy music from Existential DJ Skye Cleary, themed cocktails, and an art show from Katie Kuzin.
Free, RSVP required; 7pm; The Urbane Arts Club, 1016 Beverley Road, Brooklyn
Friday, September 27
BKBF: Beyond the Acclaimed Debut
The National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize celebrates the year’s best first book. But, for acclaimed debut authors, how do they get back to work within the limelight and with a new host of expectations? 2022 finalist Zain Khalid (Brother Alive) and 2022 finalist Tess Gunty (The Rabbit Hutch) address these lucky obstacles with NBCC board member Lauren LeBlanc.
Free; 6pm; Community Bookstore, 143 7th Ave, Brooklyn
BKBF: Celebrating James Baldwin’s Centennial: Women in Baldwin’s Fiction
Regina Porter (The Rich People Have Gone Away), Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois), Kim Coleman Foote (Coleman Hill), and Shayla Lawz (speculation, n.) come together for a panel conversation, moderated by Francesca Momplaisir (My Mother’s House), around Baldwin’s female characters and how his depictions of womanhood can both complicate his work and allow readers to understand Baldwin’s literature in new ways.
Free; 7pm; The Center for Fiction, 15 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, and livestreamed
BKBF: Rock-A-Bye Worlds: Mothers get Lit(erary)
MUTHA and Pen Parentis bring together writers and artists (who are also parents): Helen Phillips (Hum), LaToya Jordan (To the Woman in the Pink Hat), (Dear Edna Sloane), Nicole Haroutunian (Choose This Now), and New Yorker cartoonist Liana Finck (How to Baby), moderated by MUTHA’s Meg Lemke and Pen Parentis’s M. M. De Voe (Book and Baby). After-party at Hinterlands.
Free; 7pm; Lofty Pigeon Books, 743 Church Ave, Brooklyn
Sunday, September 29
BKBF: Festival Day
More than two hundred authors are presented in panel discussions and book-signings across a variety of outdoor stages and partner venues. The Literary Marketplace features 200 plus publishers of every size and genre.
Free; 10am-6pm; various, Brooklyn
BOMB Fall Issue Party
A celebration of BOMB’s Fall issue and a new subscription bundle with the Los Angeles Review of Books.
Free with RSVP; 6.30-10pm; Powerhouse Arena, 28 Adams Street, Brooklyn
Thinking ahead … to the morning of Monday, September 30
BKBF: Gowanus Dawn Reading
It’s the 8th Annual Poetry in Canoes event! Love this. Request a spot as a canoe reader in advance to Brad.Vogel[@]gmail.com. Or be a spectator perched on 9th Street Bridge over the Gowanus Canal. Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Captain Emeritus Brad Vogel and performer Melody Bates lead the crew.
Free; 7.45am; 9th Street Bridge, Gowanus, 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!