Since today marks the beginning of New York Book Week, we’d like to feature some events that are open to the public and might be of interest to you, dear reader. Most of them are free, so all you have to do is wander in and enjoy. If you’d like more information, head over to BookExpo America’s website here, where you’ll find a ton of readings, signings, and roundtable discussions across the city this week.
Monday
Tonight from 6 to 10pm come get classy with us atop The Standard Hotel, for a joint Flavorpill/Electric Literature bash at Le Bain. There’s cocktails, DJs, and hopefully some dirty dancing to start the week off right. Details are here.
Also tonight: a roundtable discussion at 7pm at The Center for Fiction. John Freeman, the tousle-headed editor of Granta, will be joined by Valerie Miles and Aurelio Major, the founding editors of Granta en Español, as well as a slew of authors who were featured in the “Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists” issue last year.
Tuesday
If you’re not working on Tuesday afternoon at 12:30pm, swing by the Bryant Park Reading Room (in the park, next to the 42nd Street library) for the Word for Word Book Club discussion of The Pale King by David Foster Wallace. Matthew Gallaway, author of Metropolis Case, and Seth Colter Walls, a former Newsweek culture reporter, will break down the themes of the weighty novel for us. They’re even giving away free copies of The Pale King, so come early to snag one.
Wednesday
After work, head over to Symphony Space to see Cynthia Nixon, Colum McCann, and Eilin O’Dea read from Edna O’Brien’s new collection of short stories, titled Saints and Sinners. Tickets are $15 for those under 30, and $27 for those over that magic number.
Thursday
“10 stories, 3 teams of judges, 1 winner.” The Moth StorySLAM! is back at Housing Works and the theme is technology. Tickets are $8 at the door, which opens at 7pm. Since Moth events are wildly popular, they almost always sell out, so get there early to hear true stories performed by a range of people who will be judged on their locutionary talents.
Friday
At 7:30pm, Red Lemonade, Richard Nash’s awesome new publishing venture, is hosting a reading and Q&A with Lynne Tillman (Someday This Will Be Funny) and Vanessa Veselka (Zazen) at Word in Greenpoint. (Nash is the former editorial director of Soft Skull Press and is now at the helm of Red Lemonade, so ask him about indie publishing after the reading.)
This is the launch of Veselka’s first novel, and we’re pretty much in love with her on the basis of her bio alone: “Veselka has been, at various times, a teenage runaway, a sex-worker, a union organizer, a student of paleontology, an expatriate, an independent record label owner, a train-hopper, a waitress, and a mother.” Tillmann is the fiction editor at Fence and is the author of a number of novels, essays, and short stories.