Reading the City
October 7 to 13
Welcome back to Reading the City, a weekly newsletter of bookish events in and around NYC.
This week, Richard Powers joins Marlon James in conversation at the NYPL, Daniel Saldaña París discusses his new book, and Luis Jaramillo launches The Witches of El Paso. Want to get into the spirit of spooky season? I think the live radio play performance of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein at Brooklyn Poets might do the trick. And finally, very cool: at PioneerWorks on Sunday, Jordan Kisner is recording the Thresholds podcast live with Garth Greenwell.
As ever, feel free to hit me up with your own upcoming events or just say hi. And please share the love with your bookish friends.
Monday, October 7
Miss Manhattan Non-Fiction Reading Series
Join Miss Manhattan for McKenzie Wark, Elizabeth Teets, and Brian Gresko hosted and curated by (Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York City).
Free; 7.30pm; Niagara, 112 Avenue A, New York
Jesse Ball: The Repeat Room
Absurdist writer Jesse Ball (Census) launches The Repeat Room—Franz Kafka meets Yorgos Lanthimos in this provocative new novel, in which Abel, a menial worker, is called to serve in a secretive and fabled jury system—in conversation with Will Chancellor (A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall).
$10, redeemable in-store; 7-8pm; Books Are Magic Montague, 122 Montague Street, Brooklyn, and livestreamed free
Cherry Lou Sy: Love Can’t Feed You
Cherry Lou Sy launches her debut novel Love Can’t Feed You—about intergenerational fractures and coming of age, it follows a young woman who immigrates to the U.S. from the Philippines and finds herself adrift between familial expectations and her own burning desires—in conversation with (Hold Still).
$5, redeemable in-store; 7-9pm; Powerhouse Arena, 28 Adams Street, Brooklyn
Author Panel | Queerness Through the Generations
This is cool. From Yu & Me Books, three authors—Lester Fabian Brathwaite (Rage), Jiaming Tang (Cinema Love), and Asha Thanki (A Thousand Times Before)—discuss queerness and writing in their generational novels.
Free, registration required; 7-8.30pm; New Design High School (Library), 350 Grand Street New York
Mary Jones: The Goodbye Process: Stories
Mary Jones celebrates her debut book, The Goodbye Process—a story collection examining the painful and sometimes surreal ways we say goodbye, through characters who themselves are facing the ends of things: relationships, health, and innocence—in conversation with Brandon Taylor (The Late Americans and substack:
).$5, redeemable in store; 7pm; P&T Knitwear, 180 Orchard Street, New York
Tuesday, October 8
Richard Powers with Marlon James: Playground
Richard Powers (Overstory) returns to New York to discuss his latest novel, Playground, which intertwines tales of technology, race, friendships, and the environment. In conversation with Marlon James (A Brief History of Seven Killings).
Free; 7-8pm; Celeste Bartos Forum, The New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, 42nd Street & 5th Avenue, New York
Daniel Saldaña París: Planes Flying Over a Monster
Daniel Saldaña París discusses his new book Planes Flying Over a Monster—a cosmopolitan and candid essay collection exploring life in cities across the world and reflecting on the transformative importance of literature in understanding ourselves—with Chloé Cooper Jones (Easy Beauty).
Free; 6.30-7.30pm; The New York Public Library, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library | 1st Floor, 455 5th Avenue, New York
Must Love Memoir
A monthly reading series dedicated to telling personal stories, hosted by , featuring Samantha Hernandez, Aurora Wells, Jonathan Corcoran (No Son of Mine), Wendy Barnes (Landscape with Bloodfeud), and Stephanie Davies (Other Girls Like Me).
Free; 7.30pm; Jake's Dilemma, Oak Cellar Room, 430 Amsterdam Avenue, New York
Hilary Leichter: Terrace Story
Hilary Leichter celebrates the paperback release of Temporary—an intimate exploration of time, a fable about love, an epic daydream for a broken-hearted world—with .
Free; 8-9pm; Book Club Bar, 197 East 3rd Street, New York
Lisa Gornick and Roxana Robinson
Lisa Gornick (Ana Turns) and Roxana Robinson (Leaving) come together for a reading and conversation.
Free, register online; 7pm; Book Culture, 536 W 112th St, New York
On America: The Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership
Part of a series on housing, land, and the policies that shape America, Brea Baker, the author of Rooted: The American Legacy of Land Theft and The Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership, confronts one of this nation’s first sins: stealing, hoarding, and commodifying land, in conversation with Amy Godine (The Black Woods).
$10; 7-8.30pm; The Center for Fiction, 15 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, and livestreamed
Wednesday, October 9
Luis Jaramillo: The Witches of El Paso
Luis Jaramillo (The Doctor’s Wife) launches The Witches of El Paso—A lawyer and her elderly great-aunt use their supernatural gifts to find a lost child in this richly imagined and empowering story of motherhood, magic, and legacy—in conversation with Marie-Helene Bertino (Beautyland).
$10, redeemable in-store; 7-8pm; The Invisible Dog Art Center, 51 Bergen Street, Brooklyn, and livestreamed free
The Kenyon Review 85th Anniversary Reading
The Kenyon Review celebrates the milestone with a reading from Lucy Ives (An Image of My Mind Enters America) and Iain Haley Pollock (Ghost, Like a Place), and a special presentation by Daisy Desrosiers, the director and chief curator or The Gund at Kenyon College.
$10; 7pm; The Center for Fiction, 15 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn
Thursday, October 10
Mariana Enríquez: A Sunny Place for Shady People
Argentinian author Mariana Enríquez (Our Share of Night) celebrates her new collection of unnerving tales, A Sunny Place for Shady People in conversation with her translator Megan McDowell for a discussion about writing characters who seek meaning and hope against a backdrop of horror. Melissa Lozada-Oliva (peluda) will moderate.
$10; 7-8.15pm; The Center for Fiction, 15 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, and livestreamed
Kate Greathead: The Book of George
Kate Greathead (Laura & Emma) reads from her new book The Book of George, a razor-sharp but big-hearted excavation of millennial masculinity.
Free; 6-7.30pm; The Corner Bookstore, 1313 Madison Avenue, New York
Friday, October 11
NYU Fiction Reading: Garth Greenwell
A reading by , the author of What Belongs to You and most recently Small Rain, followed by a conversation and Q&A with Darin Strauss (Half a Life). Open to the public.
Free, RSVP required; 5-7pm; Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House, 58 West 10th Street, New York
MAD Company presents Frankenstein: Live
I don’t know if I fully understand this, but it sounds awesome: Experience Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in a new format, as MAD Company presents a live radio play performance, with a small cast of actors and the help of a live foley artist to bring the gothic masterpiece to life. Doors will open for a wine reception.
Free; 6-8.30pm; Brooklyn Poets, 144 Montague Street, Brooklyn
Saturday, October 12
Beg | Mid | End
Writer, professor and RtC reader Alexandra Dos Santos has a few spots left on a generative creative writing workshop she’s co-hosting (along with Ishaan Goel) as a special for spooky month—she’s a horror writer herself!—themed on the “The Uncanny.”
Free; 1pm; Peace Cafe, 23 Marcus Garvey Blvd, Brooklyn
Sunday, October 13
Thresholds Live with Garth Greenwell and Jordan Kisner
As part of the charming open studios day that is PioneerWorks Second Sundays in Red Hook, Jordan Kisner (Thin Places and on substack at
) is taking the recording of the always illuminating Thresholds podcast live. Peruse the exhibits, and then sit in on her conversation with Garth Greenwall (Small Rain).Free; 4-5pm, PioneerWorks, 159 Pioneer Street, Brooklyn
Robert Raasch: The Summer Between
A book launch in kind with National Coming Out Day. Robert Raasch reads from his debut novel, The Summer Between—a bittersweet, unsparingly honest coming-of-age saga set in New York City’s vibrant Greenwich Village in 1978—along with Christopher Bram, the author of twelve books, including the novel that became the Academy-Award-winning movie, Gods and Monsters.
Suggested donation, $10; 3pm; Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, room 210 of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., New York, also livestreamed
Fall Cleaning Sale
Local to Ditmas Park? Lofty Pigeon Books are having a clear out and offering 10% off the entire store, as well as a galley giveaway!
Free; 10am-6pm; Lofty Pigeon Books, 743 Church Avenue 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!