Welcome back to Reading the City, a weekly newsletter of bookish events in and around NYC.
Tonight, get over to Franklin Park early for the paperback launch of Leslie Jamison’s Splinters, alongside some great readers; tomorrow night, I’d go check out the conversation between poets Ariana Reines and Eileen Myles at Pioneer Works; and then this weekend there’s a bunch of cute Valentine’s adjacent readings and events that I’ve highlighted below with a ❤️ just cause.
Have fun out there, and, as ever, please share the love with your bookish friends.
Monday, February 10
Franklin Park Reading Series
In celebration of the paperback release of Leslie Jamison’s memoir Splinters, she will be joined by authors (Fruit of the Dead), Sarah Perry (Sweet Nothings: Confessions of a Candy Lover), Anelise Chen (Clam Down: A Metamorphosis), and Jessica Hoppe (First in the Family). Hosted by founder Penina Roth, enjoy drink specials and a shot at winning the readers' latest books in the free raffle.
Free; 8-10pm; 766 Franklin Avenue, 618 St Johns Pl, Brooklyn
An evening of Pleasure Lists
Inspired by a poem from playwright Bertolt Brecht, The Pleasure Lists began with a post online—a prompt calling for people to catalogue their pleasures. The outpouring of entries, led to
. Meant to be fun, delightful, and pleasureful, it is a reflection on the things that bring you joy. The evening will begin with writing your own lists, followed by readings from Pleasure Lists founder Dalya Benor and friends: (Dead Weight); ; (Barbie Dreamhouse); the New Yorker’s (Syme's Letter Writer); Paris Review web editor ; and (Or Something).$5 redeemable in-store, RSVP required; 7pm; McNally Jackson Seaport, 4 Fulton St, Manhattan
Chris Hayes: The Sirens' Call
Emmy Award–winning TV host Chris Hayes presents The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource—a powerful wide-angle reckoning with how the assault from attention capitalism on our minds and our hearts has reordered our politics and the very fabric of our society—in conversation with Jia Tolentino (Trick Mirror).
$32, including the book; 7.30pm; St. Joseph's University, 245 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn
Alice Oswald: Nobody
Co-presented with the Authors Guild Foundation and the Academy of American Poets, a rare U.S. appearance by Alice Oswald from the UK, reading Nobody, her latest book of poems, in which she returns to Homer, this time fixing her gaze on a minor character in the Odyssey—a poet abandoned on a stony island—and the sea that surrounds him.
$5; 7-8pm; Strand Book Store, 828 Broadway 3rd Floor, Rare Book Room, Manhattan
Edgar Gomez: Alligator Tears
Edgar Gomez (High-Risk Homosexual) celebrates the launch of their second book, Alligator Tears—a fiercely defiant memoir-in-essays charting Gomez’s quest to claw their family out of poverty by any means necessary and exposing the archetype of the humble poor person for what it is: a scam that insists we remain quiet and servile while we wait for a prize that will always be out of reach. Gomez is joined by John Manuel Arias (Where There Was Fire).
$5, redeemable in-store; 7-9pm; Powerhouse Arena, 28 Adams Street, Brooklyn
Tuesday, February 11
Must Love Memoir
A monthly reading series dedicated to telling personal stories, hosted by Krystal Marie Orwig, featuring Irvin Weathersby, Jr. (In Open Contempt), Jodi M. Savage (The Death of a Jaybird: Essays on Mothers and Daughters and the Things They Leave Behind), Rebecca Suzuki (When My Mother Is Beautiful), Hope Elizabeth Kidd, Connor Renfroe, and Kori Crosson.
Free; 7.30pm; Jake's Dilemma, Oak Cellar Room, 430 Amsterdam Avenue, Manhattan
Father & Son: Ariana Reines and Eileen Myles in Conversation
In celebration of Ariana Reines’s urgent new book, Wave of Blood, Pioneer Works hosts the author alongside poet and activist Eileen Myles for a gathering in honor of poetic kinship, queer family, horrible and legendary fathers, and life after death. This is part of PW Broadcast’s Author Talks series.
From $15; 7-9pm; Pioneer Works, 159 Pioneer Street, Brooklyn
Hisham Matar: My Friends
Hisham Matar presents My Friends—a Booker Prize long-listed novel of friendship, family, and the unthinkable realities of exile, from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Return. (Alternatively, Hisham will also be in conversation with Darin Strauss the following night for NYU’s New Fiction Salon).
$10, redeemable in-store; 7-8pm; Books Are Magic Montague, 122 Montague Street, Brooklyn, and livestreamed free
Wednesday, February 12
Justin Haynes: Ibis
Justin Haynes celebrates the launch of Ibis—a cross-generational Caribbean story of migration, superstition, and a search for family, from a bold, witty, magical new voice in fiction—with Jenny Offill (Weather).
Free; 7-8pm; St. Francis College (Room 6116), 179 Livingston Street, Brooklyn, and livestreamed
Creative Writing Lecture with Alexandra Kleeman
The Creative Writing Lecture Series brings distinguished writers to Columbia for original talks on craft. Tonight welcomes Alexandra Kleeman (Something New Under the Sun). Guest registration for non Columbia students required.
Free; 7.30-9pm; Doge Hall, Columbia University, 2960 Broadway, Manhattan
Selected Shorts: A Century of Fiction in The New Yorker
Selected Shorts honors the tradition of short fiction published by The New Yorker, which this month celebrates its hundredth anniversary. This evening, hosted by the magazine’s longtime editor, Deborah Treisman, features an ensemble of actors, including Ann Harada (Schmigadoon!), Fred Hechinger (Gladiator II), Cynthia Nixon (The Gilded Age), and Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan), who will bring to life a selection of iconic stories. Each reading is taken from newly published anthology A Century of Fiction in The New Yorker.
From $19; 7pm; Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, Manhattan
Michel Nieva: Dengue Boy
Argentine author Michel Nieva discusses his newest book, Dengue Boy—(translated from Spanish by Rahul Bery) a gaucho-punk, sci-fi novel set in 2197, the year in which the last of the Antarctic icecaps melted, offering an explosive interpretation of an ultra-capitalistic society on the brink of climate collapse.
$5, redeemable in store; 6.30-8pm; P&T Knitwear, 180 Orchard Street, Manhattan
Rich Benjamin: Talk to Me
Cultural critic, scholar, and author Rich Benjamin (Searching for Whitopia) celebrates the release of his memoir, Talk to Me—a powerful account of his family’s past, Benjamin details the coup that ended his grandfather’s presidency in Haiti, which he knew little about as a child, and how his relationship with his mother, Danielle, fractured beneath the weight of this secrecy. Dani Shapiro (Signal Fires) joins in conversation.
$10; 7-8.15am; The Center for Fiction, 15 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, and livestreamed
❤️ The Tortured Bloggers Department Nonfiction Reading Series
This month’s Tortured Bloggers Department storytelling soiree shares messy, raw, and laugh-until-you-cry tales of dating, sex, love, and heartbreak, featuring readers Paulette Perhach (Welcome to the Writer's Life), “spiritual hype woman” and writer Lauren Courtney Unger, (Fragments Of Wasted Devotion), life and relationship coach Christina King (Chemistry, forthcoming), , and Melissa Meier, the cocktail maven of Kings County. Hosted by author, empowerment coach, and creator of , .
Free, register to join; 6.30-9.30pm; The Gatehouse, Kings County Distillery, 299 Sands St, Brooklyn
Yang Shuang-Zi: Taiwan Travelogue
Yáng Shuāng-zǐ presents National Book Award-winning Taiwan Travelogue—a bittersweet story of love between two women, nested in an artful exploration of language, history, and power—in conversation with Lin King.
Free; 7-8pm; Yu and Me Books, 44 Mulberry Street, Manhattan
Patchwork Reading Series
Patchwork Literary Salon brings together authors across genres and stages in their careers to create a tapestry of Brooklyn’s writing community. Curated and hosted by Nadine Santoro, it features brief readings, lively conversation, drink specials, and an opportunity to connect with fellow writers and readers. In February, Patchwork welcomes assistant editor at Feminist Press Kameel Mir, , and one more author.
Free, RSVP appreciated; 7pm; Sisters, 900 Fulton St., Brooklyn
Thursday, February 13
Eiren Caffall: All the Water in the World
Musician and author of the memoir The Mourner’s Bestiary Eiren Caffall presents All the Water in the World—set partly on the roof of New York’s Museum of Natural History in a flooded future, her debut literary thriller is told in the voice of a girl gifted with a deep feeling for water; this novel is both a meditation on what we save from collapse and an adventure story—in conversation with Kelly McMasters (The Leaving Season).
Free; 7.30pm; Greenlight bookstore, 686 Fulton Street, Brooklyn
❤️ Tadpole Bar: A Love Reading
A Valentine’s Eve reading celebrating love in all its forms, featuring poems and stories from Chris Gonzalez (I'm Not Hungry But I Could Eat), Eleanor Panno, Jazzy Smith, and Tyler Raso, and hosted by Chelsea Fonden and Isabella Esser Munera. Donations encouraged to Sylvia Rivera Law Project in support of trans rights. Natural wine, talented writers, love-note making, and more
Free, donations encouraged; 7-9pm; Tadpole Bar, 358 Marcus Garvey Blvd, Brooklyn
❤️ Village Story Salon: Foreplay
Hosts Cheryl J. Fish and Jonathan Vatner welcome DeMisty D. Bellinger (All Daughters Are Awesome Everywhere), Alejandro Varela (The People Who Report More Stress), and Paul Lisicky (The Narrow Door) to this month’s still newish Village Story Salon, themed “foreplay” in “a wink to the Valentine’s Day industrial complex.”
Free; 6-7.15pm; pm; Hudson Park Branch, New York Public Library, 66 Leroy Street, Manhattan
Rita Omokha: Resist
A timely and urgent conversation with Rita Omokha, the author of Resist: How A Century of Young Black Activist Shaped America—which chronicles the inspiring story of young Black activists who have fought tirelessly at the helm for justice over the last century, from the 1920s to the Trayvon generation—and Conor Tomás Reed (New York Liberation School: Study and Movement for the People’s University).
From $5; 7-8.30pm; Cafe con Libros, 724 Prospect Pl, Brooklyn
Friday, February 14
❤️ Tense Presents: Rapture A Valentine's Day Soiree
An evening of theater, performances, and readings, hosted by Rachel Rabbit White and Nico Walker, and featuring Maya Martinez, Valley Latini, Dorothea Laskey, Kyla Ernst Alper, and more.
$20; 8-11pm; KGB Bar, 85 East 4th Street New York
Saturday, February 15
❤️ Blind Date with a Book
Bring a book you love (wrapped up) with a few hints about the story and labeled with the genre and swap it for a surprise book, while hanging out with fellow book lovers. So cute.
Free; 5-7pm; Yu and Me Books, 44 Mulberry Street, New York
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 available now from Ig, as well as Virago in the UK, and forthcoming from dtv in 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!
Thank you so much for including The Tortured Bloggers Department! ❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥