Welcome back to Reading the City, a weekly newsletter of bookish events in and around NYC. Here with you on a Tuesday because yesterday I was busy taking naps and drinking tea.
Looking ahead, I’d like to bring your attention to Creative Lives, a film series in memory of the late David Burr Gerrard, a brilliant writer and the most generous and inspiring friend, as well as an avid cinephile. Curated by David’s wife, Grace Bello, and made possible through donations from his family and friends, the program of screenings will celebrate David’s creative spirit by showcasing some of his favorite movies about artists and the lives they lead. Taking place at the Jacob Burns Film Center, it starts on Monday June 3rd with Sunset Boulevard, presented in 35mm, followed by a Q&A with film critic Sheila O’Malley. I hope you’ll attend and support this beautiful endeavor.
As ever, get in touch with events I should have on my radar or just say hi! And please share the love with your bookish friends.
Tuesday, May 28
Sarah Thornton: Tits Up
Author and sociologist Sarah Thornton (Seven Days in the Art World) discusses her newest book, Tits Up—an investigation of the five strange worlds that worship women’s chests, including strip clubs, operating rooms, the nation’s oldest human milk bank, and the fit rooms of bra designers—in conversation with the Wall Street Journal’s Emily Bobrow.
$5, redeemable in store; 7pm; P&T Knitwear, 180 Orchard Street, New York
José Vadi: Chipped
José Vadi (Inter State: Essays from California) discusses his memoir-in-essays, Chipped—about how skateboarding re-defines space, curates culture, confronts mortality, and affords new perspectives on and off the board—in conversation with The New Yorker’s Hua Hsu (Stay True).
$10, redeemable in-store; 7-8pm; Books Are Magic Montague 122 Montague Street, Brooklyn, and livestreamed free
Rachel Khong: Real Americans
Rachel Khong (Goodbye, Vitamin) discusses Real Americans—an exhilarating novel of American identity that spans three generations in one family and asks: What makes us who we are? How inevitable are our futures? And how far would you go to shape your own destiny? Rachel is joined by Weike Wang (Joan is Okay).
Free; 6.30-8pm; Yu and Me Books, 44 Mulberry Street, New York
Wednesday, May 29
R.O. Kwon: Exhibit
I’m excited about this one: R. O. Kwon celebrates the New York launch of Exhibit—an exhilarating, blazing-hot novel about a woman caught between her desires and her life. R.O. Kwon is joined by Mary H.K. Choi (Emergency Contact), and the Hip Hop Re:Education Project will be DJing and running sound. Co-sponsored by Yu & Me Books and Kundiman.
Free; 7-8.30pm; New Design High School Rooftop, 350 Grand Street 6th floor, New York
Clara Drummond: Role Play
Clara Drummond presents Role Play—a fresh satire narrated by a wealthy young woman in Rio on the verge of a class-consciousness awakening—in conversation with Stephanie LaCava (I Fear My Pain Interests You).
$5 for RSVP, redeemable in-store; 7pm; McNally Jackson Soho, 134 Prince St.
Lucas Mann: Attachments
Lucas Mann, author and owner of the Riffraff Bookstore + Bar in Providence, discusses his newest book, Attachments: Essays on Fatherhood and Other Performances—in which Mann chronicles his own life with his young daughter, but also looks outward to the cultural and political baggage that surrounds and permeates these everyday experiences—in conversation with Leslie Jamison (The Empathy Exams).
$5, redeemable in store; 7pm; P&T Knitwear, 180 Orchard Street, New York
Garth Risk Hallberg: The Second Coming
Garth Risk Hallberg (City On Fire) presents The Second Coming—an intimate epic that plunges us deep into the lives of a teenage girl and her father as they navigate love, grief, betrayal, and redemption—in conversation with Christopher Beha. Wine reception to follow.
Free; 7.30pm; Greenlight bookstore, 686 Fulton Street, Brooklyn
Vaishnavi Patel: Goddess of the River
Vaishnavi Patel discusses her new book Goddess of the River—a powerful reimagining of the story of Ganga, goddess of the river, and her doomed mortal son—in conversation with Shannon Chakraborty (Daevabad Trilogy).
From $7.81; 7-8pm; Strand Book Store, 828 Broadway 3rd Floor, Rare Book Room
Thursday, May 30
Epilogue: Authors Guild Foundation Gala After Party
Don’t have a spare $1,000 for a ticket to the Gala? Well, skip the fancy ceremony and attend the after party for just $35 instead. Drinks, dancing, and light bites in celebration of the evening’s honorees: W. Paul Coates and Black Classic Press, Suzette Baker, Heather Cox Richardson, and Jesmyn Ward.
$35; 9.30pm; Pier Sixty, 60 Chelsea Piers, New York
Robert Plunket: Love Junkie
Adored by the likes of Amy Sedaris, Madonna (who optioned the film rights), and Gordon Lish, Love Junkie is Robert Plunket’s cult novel of the heady heyday of gay New York at the dawn of the AIDS epidemic: scandalously long out of print, it is now gloriously reissued for a new generation of readers. Robert Plunket is joined by New York Magazine’s Brandon Sanchez.
Free; 7-8pm; Community Bookstore, 143 7th Avenue, Brooklyn
Emma Copley Eisenberg: Housemates
Emma Copley Eisenberg (The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia) discusses her new novel Housemates—two young housemates embark on a road trip to discover themselves in a fractured America in this sparkling novel of love, friendship and chosen family—in conversation with Torrey Peters (Detransition, Baby).
From $7.81; 7-8pm; Strand Book Store, 828 Broadway 3rd Floor, Rare Book Room
Teddy Wayne: The Winner
Whiting Award winner Teddy Wayne reads from his latest novel The Winner, a dark, explosive literary thriller that brilliantly skewers the elite.
Free; 6-7.30pm; The Corner Bookstore, 1313 Madison Avenue, New York
Joel Whitney: Flights
Joel Whitney (Finks: How the CIA Tricked the World's Best Writers) presents Flights: Radicals on the Run—the archetypal hero's journey of a group of progressives whose struggle for truth, and for freedom from persecution, sent them into exile, both literal and metaphorical, told through the lives of the American Century's most talented and stubborn dissidents—in conversation with Bhaskar Sunkara, the editor of Jacobin.
$5 for RSVP, redeemable in-store; 7pm; McNally Jackson Seaport, 4 Fulton St, New York
Someplace Generous Romance Anthology Book Launch
Celebrate the launch of Someplace Generous—a vibrantly diverse and inclusive anthology of romantic short stories—with editors Elaina Ellis and Amber Flame hosting readings from anthology contributors Temim Fruchter, Ayla Vejdani, Brionne Janae, Sabrina Stuart Smith, Mystery Post, and Max Delsohn. This is the first book from Generous Press, a new imprint committed to changing the face of romance genre-fiction
$21 with book; 7-9pm; Ripped Bodice, 218 5th Ave, Brooklyn
Friday, May 31
Emma Cline: The Guest
Emma Cline (The Girls) celebrates the paperback release of The Guest in conversation with Sloane Crosley (Grief Is for People).
$5 for RSVP, redeemable in-store; 7pm; McNally Jackson Seaport, 4 Fulton St, New York
Saturday, June 1
Eco-Poetry Writing Activity on Governors Island
Climate Cafe NYC, a community that helps you face your climate anxiety and connects you to impactful local activism, is hosting an eco-poetry writing workshop in the Climate Imaginarium on Governors Island. Imagine a healthy future for humans and nature in poetry. On Sunday, there’s also a climate fiction writing workshop.
Free; 11am-1pm; Climate Imaginarium, 406A Comfort Road New York
Sunday, June 2
Quiet Reading
Quiet Reading is taking residence on the first Sunday of every month at Book Club Bar. One hour of reading, one hour of discussion. Bring your own book.
Free; 9.30-11.30pm; Book Club Bar, 197 East 3rd Street
45:15 Writing Sessions
The Center for Fiction invites you to join fellow writers and work toward your word count goals. As the name suggests, the first 45 minutes of writing begins at 6pm, followed by a 15-minute break, and then another 45-minute session, before some self congratulation.
$25; 5.45pm; Center for Fiction, 15 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn
NB. Please check all details before attending, the fact checker went awol.
I’m a Brooklyn-based writer, editor, and teacher, and the author of No Way Home: A Memoir of Life on the Run (St. Martin’s Press) and Amphibian (forthcoming from Virago). I’m here and here on Instagram. Get in touch with any bookish events you’d like me to include!