TUESDAY
Love Thyself, Kunt: A Night with Badlands Unlimited
April 12 at 7 p.m. at KGB Bar, 85 East Fourth Street.
When Badlands Unlimited’s “New Lovers” series is involved, you know what to expect: no-holds-barred erotica with a surreal or even sick twist. Tamara Faith Berger will read from her new novel, Kuntalini, a story about a young woman named Yoo-hoo who experiences sexual awakening in her yoga class and embarks on a wild journey from there. Michael Robbins, author of poetry collection Alien vs Predator and Lynne Tillman, whose sixth novel Men And Apparitions is out next year, will also read.
WEDNESDAY
Patrice Nganang presents Mount Pleasant with Chiwoniso Kaitano
April 13 at 7 p.m. at WORD Bookstore, 126 Franklin St., Greenpoint
Mount Pleasant takes readers to the birth of modern Cameroon in the early twentieth century. Amid the tangled backdrop of colonialism, the story follows a young girl given to an exiled sultan. Through her eyes, the artistic and cultural life of his declining court come alive. Nganang will be joined by Chiwoniso Katiano, co-founder and editor-in-chief of africaredux.com.
THURSDAY
Jack Bender presents The Elephant in the Room
April 14 at 7:30 p.m. at Greenlight Bookstore, 686 Fulton St., Ft. Greene.
Jack Bender may be one of the most celebrated TV directors of our time (Felicity, The Sopranos, Lost, Game of Thrones…the list goes on) but he somehow also finds time to be a noted visual artist as well. Now he’s published a “picture book for adults” called I Am the Elephant in the Room. It’s filled with wacky animal paintings paired with witty and in-your-face spins on clichés. Bonus: Bender will be joined by Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Desi of Girls).
FRIDAY
Technologies of the Self, by Haris Durrani. In conversation with Sahar Ullah
April 15 at 6 p.m. at McNally Jackson, 52 Prince St., Soho.
There’s always room for a new novel exploring immigrant-American identity in our jumbled-up country and it’s about time the Latino-Muslim experience got some attention. In his debut, Technologies of the Self, Haris Durrani conjures a character much like himself–a super-hyphenated Dominican-Pakistani-Muslim-American (who is unfortunately named Jihad) coming of age in Post-9/11 Washington Heights. Spoken of as “in the tradition of Junot Díaz,” it’s an impressive debut from someone who just graduated from college last year (and if that weren’t enough to make you feel bad about yourself, it was with an applied physics degree). He’ll be joined by Sahar Ullah of Hijab Monologues.