Welcome back to Reading the City, a weekly newsletter of bookish events in and around NYC.
In a week in which you might be in need of both community and distraction, there’s a lot of literary goings-on. There’s three new salons: the first-ever Cusp Reading Series, Heat Lightning Poetry, and the new-to-this-newsletter Limousine Reading Series, as well as a handful more. And this Saturday brings the annual Les Bleus and HIP Lit New Year Salon, which is always a good time, now held at the gorgeous Urbane Arts Club.
Also, a heads up, next week I’m reading at #YeahYouWrite on Monday evening and I’d love to see you! RSVP here.
And finally, for writers impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires the Authors Guild has shared a list of resources here.
As ever, send events I should have on my radar and please share the love with your bookish friends!
Monday, January 20
Wine and Pine Volume 14
Wine and Pine, a reading series about desire, welcomes , Marisa Crawford (Diary), Simon Wu (Dancing on My Own), and Sarah Blakley-Cartwright (Alice Sadie Celine) to read, hosted by with books for sale from Hive Mind Bookstore.
Free; 7-9pm; Ten Degrees Bar, 121 St. Marks Place, New York
Easy Paradise Open Mic Night
The Easy Paradise Open Mic Night this week pays special tribute to the late great David Lynch. DM to sign up.
Free; 8pm; KGB Red Room, 85 East 4th Street, New York
Tuesday, January 21
Must Love Memoir
A monthly reading series dedicated to personal stories, hosted by this month features Katie Bartz, , Kori Crosson, Cami Talbot, and Ann Van Epps.
Free; 7.30pm; Jake's Dilemma, Oak Cellar Room, 430 Amsterdam Avenue, New York
Victoria Wilson & Jane Friedman
The Coffee House Club welcomes two of America’s leading voices in publishing, Jane Friedman and Victoria Wilson, to the Salmagundi Club to discuss their experience in the publishing industry and vision for what lies ahead. Dinner to follow.
$12.51 (for non-members); 6.30-7.30pm; Salmagundi Club, 47 5th Avenue New York
Cynthia Weiner: A Gorgeous Excitement
Weiner celebrates the launch of her debut novel, A Gorgeous Excitement—a reimagining of NYC’s summer of 1986 that ended with the notorious “Preppy Murder,” through the eyes of an 18-year-old girl who has no idea the danger she's in. Cynthia is joined by Daisy Alpert Florin (My Last Innocent Year).
$5, redeemable in-store; 7-9pm; Powerhouse Arena, 28 Adams Street, Brooklyn
My So-Called Literary Life
The second installment of ’s party for writers themed on the 90’s TV classic My So-Called Life (the inspiration for me dying my hair red at 12). Expect snacks and clips from the show as well as themed prompts for group writing time.
Free; 8-10pm; LIC Bar (carriage house), 45-58 Vernon Blvd, Queens
Todd Almond: Slow Train Coming
Performer and playwright Todd Almond discusses his newest book, Slow Train Coming: Bob Dylan's Girl from the North Country and Broadway's Rebirth—the incredible journey of Bob Dylan's hit musical, from potential disaster to success, and an inside look at a perilous moment for Broadway—in conversation with A.M. Homes (The Unfolding).
$5, redeemable in store; 6.30-8pm; P&T Knitwear, 180 Orchard Street, New York
Henry Alford: I Dream of Joni
Humorist and journalist, and longtime New Yorker contributor, Henry Alford launches I Dream of Joni, fifty-three essays exploring the singer-songwriter’s life, psyche, and evolving legacy, observed via the artists, friends, family, and lovers she encountered along the way, including James Taylor, Leonard Cohen, Georgia O’Keefe, Prince, and, most significantly, Kilauren, the daughter Mitchell gave up for adoption at birth but then reconnected with decades later.
Free; 6-7.30pm; The Corner Bookstore, 1313 Madison Avenue, New York
Wednesday, January 22
Elizabeth L. Block in Conversation with William Roka
Another public event from The Coffee House Club, this time welcoming art and cultural historian Elizabeth L. Block to discuss her book, Beyond Vanity: The History and Power of Hairdressing, with Village Preservation's Director of Programming, William Roka.
Free, RSVP required; 6.30-7.30pm; Salmagundi Club, 47 5th Avenue New York
Pico Iyer: Aflame
Pico Iyer, author of 17 books, discusses his latest: Aflame: Learning from Silence—eerily timed as it begins with his escape from a California wild fire, this memoir draws profound lessons from over three decades of subsequent retreats to a Benedictine monastery in Big Sur. Iyer is joined by William Green (Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World's Greatest Investors Win in Markets & Life).
$15 (non-members); 6.30-8pm; Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue, New York
Letters & Sodas: LIC Reading Series
This Letters & Sodas, hosted by (Build Your Own Romantic Comedy), will feature Jeremiah Budin, Ronuk Johal, (Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York City), Brittany Miggs, (Fragments of Wasted Devotion), and Nat Towsen (of The Tonight Show).
$5; 7-9.30pm; The Greats of Craft, 10-15 43rd Avenue, Queens
Ditmas Lit
Hosted by Lena Valencia (Mystery Lights) and Sarah Bridgins (Death and Exes), Ditmas Lit welcomes readers (This Great Hemisphere), Amanda Miller (One Breath, Then Another: A Memoir), Nicole Treska (Wonderland: A Tale of Hustling Hard and Breaking Even), and (Open Contempt Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public Space).
Free, with RSVP; 7.30-10.30pm; The Urbane Arts Club, 1016 Beverley Road, Brooklyn
Rosa Kwon Easton: White Mulberry
Rosa Kwon Easton launches her debut novel, White Mulberry—a rich, deeply moving portrait of a young Korean woman in 1930s Japan, inspired by the life of Rosa’s grandmother, who is torn between two worlds and must reclaim her true identity to provide a future for her family—in conversation with Hyeseung Song (Docile: Memoirs of a Not-So-Perfect Asian Girl).
$5, redeemable in-store; 6-8pm; Powerhouse @ Industry City, 220 36th St., Building #2, Brooklyn
Thursday, January 23
The Cusp Reading Series
The inaugural event from The Cusp Reading Series, featuring writers (who also offers dating and relationship advice for “weirdos, artists, and writers” each month in Dear PolyHannah), Michael Colbert, , and Mia Arias Tsang (Fragments of Wasted Devotion, forthcoming). Sun Moon Rising will be hosting a small free wine tasting of four wines (one representing each element) while supply lasts.
Free; 7pm; Word of Mouth, 942 Bergen St, Brooklyn
Manuel Betancourt: Hello Stranger
Queer Colombian culture writer and film critic Manuel Betancourt discusses his latest book Hello Stranger: Musings on Modern Intimacies—exploring modern queer romance and the expansive possibilities of ephemeral intimacies—in conversation with Mathew Rodriguez (Tough Guy, forthcoming).
$5; 7-8pm; Strand Book Store, 828 Broadway 3rd Floor, Rare Book Room, New York
Marcos Gonsalez: Revolting Indolence
Marcos Gonsalez discusses his newest book, Revolting Indolence: The Politics of Slacking, Lounging, and Daydreaming in Queer and Trans Latinx Culture—a case for laziness as an aesthetic-political strategy, arguing that slacking off, lounging, daydreaming, and partying are liberatory practices and exploring how queer and trans Latinx artists refute discourses in which work is a moral good—in conversation with Barrelhouse fiction editor Christopher Gonzalez (I’m Not Hungry But I Could Eat).
$5, redeemable in store; 6.30-8pm; P&T Knitwear, 180 Orchard Street, New York
Cynthia Weiner: A Gorgeous Excitement
The Manhattan launch of Cynthia Weiner’s A Gorgeous Excitement, this time in conversation with editor Amy Einhorn, SVP, Publisher of Fiction at Crown Publishing Group.
Free; 6-7.30pm; The Corner Bookstore, 1313 Madison Avenue, New York
Virginia Sole-Smith: Fat Talk
launches Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture—a narrative about the daily onslaught of body shame that kids face from peers, school, diet culture, and parents themselves, and a provocative look at how families can change the conversation around weight, health, and self-worth—in conversation with The New Yorker’s Helen Rosner.
$10, redeemable in-store; 7-8pm; Books Are Magic Montague, 122 Montague Street, Brooklyn, and livestreamed free
Limousine Reading Series
Not new but new to this newsletter, is the Limousine Reading Series, which also has a podcast. Featuring (on his birthday!), Iva Dixit, Jeremy Gordon (See Friendship), , and Zefyr Lisowski, and hosted by Heather Akumiah (Bad Witches) and Leah Abrams. (Ticket price used to pay the writers).
$5; 7pm; Berry Park, 4 Berry Street, Brooklyn
Friday, January 24
Álvaro Enrigue: You Dreamed of Empires
In celebration of its paperback release, Álvaro Enrigue (Sudden Death) presents You Dreamed of Empires—a hallucinatory, revelatory colonial revenge story.
Free; 7-8pm; Community Bookstore, 143 7th Avenue, Brooklyn
Saturday, January 25
Les Bleus and HIP Lit’s New Year salon
It’s time for the eighth annual Les Bleus and HIP Lit post-holiday salon, hosted at the Urbane Arts Club. This year welcomes Kiran Bath (Instructions for Banno), Christina Cooke (Broughtupsy), and Nicole Treska (Wonderland: A Tale of Hustling Hard and Breaking Even, with musician Daphne Gale. At the event, donations will be collected for Baby2Baby, distributing emergency supplies for vulnerable children and families who have lost everything in the Los Angeles fires.
Free, RSVP required; 6.30-10pm; The Urbane Arts Club, 1016 Beverley Road, Brooklyn
Sunday, January 26
Heat Lightning Poetry
A new poetry reading series soft launches this afternoon at dear friend books with Stephanie Niu (I Would Define the Sun), Joshua Garcia (Pentimento), Yagmur Akyurek, and Ahmed Zaid reading, and hosted by Zoë Bodzas and Michy Woodward.
Free; 4pm; dear friend books, 343A Tompkins Ave, 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 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!
Incredible round-up of author events and readings happening in NYC this week (which is an especially good week for literary distraction / celebration, given all that is going on) — Thank you Tyler. I'm especially excited for Cynthia Weiner's launch events for her debut novel A Gorgeous Excitement — 1/21 at powerHouse Arena (Dumbo) and 1/23 at The Corner Bookstore (Upper East Side).
Thanks so much, Tyler!!