TUESDAY
Book Launch: The Mandibles: A Family by Lionel Shriver
June 28 at 7 p.m. at Powerhouse Arena, 37 Main Street (DUMBO).
Perhaps watching the firestorm of a Donald Trump-infused election PLUS the xenophobia-motivated Brexit this past week is enough dystopia for you. But if you’re getting weirdly addicted to following the fallout of major geopolitical twists and turns, then Lionel Shriver’s latest novel might be for you. The Manibles: A Family, set in the not-too-distant future (2029), is family saga in the midst of the sudden devaluation of the American dollar. With the Mandible inheritance essentially eviscerated, each family member must come to terms with a new way forward–alone, or together. Bret Stephens, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for the Wall street Journal, will join in discussion.
WEDNESDAY
Reclaiming Girl Talk with Kody Keplinger and Gabby Rivera
June 29 at 7 p.m. at McNally Jackson, 52 Prince Street.
Does girl talk get a bad rap for being catty and gossipy because of the patriarchy? That’s what young adult fiction authors Kody Keplinger (Run) and Gabby Rivera (Juliet Takes a Breath) say, and on Wednesday they’ll discuss why (plus a whole lot of other topics). Both of their work, geared towards younger women, focuses on increasing the visibility of female voices of all shapes, sizes and orientation as well as emphasizing female characters who break out of stereotypes to shape their own roles and stories.
Vol.1 Brooklyn Presents the Greatest 3-Minute Pizza Stories
June 29 at 7 p.m. at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby.
Pizza. You might think there’s not a whole lot to say about it other than “I love it”– but you’re wrong. Tomorrow night 11 writers and editors will pour out their greasy, saucy pizza stories (from memories of well-made Sicilian pies to meditations on what makes a perfect topping combination) in bite-sized three-minute portions. Storytellers include Silvia Killingsworth. Brenna Ehrlich, Pilot Viruet. Niina Pollari, Julia Bainbridge and Jaya Saxena. Just a tip–you might wanna plan your post-pizza escape in advance.
THURSDAY
Blink 182’s Travis Barker
June 30 at 6:30 p.m. at The Strand, 828 Broadway.
Blink 182’s drummer has had more than few close encounters with death–and, at 39 years old, he has lived to tell the tale. Get the inside look with his new memoir, Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums, following his rise to superstardom with one of America’s most popular punk-pop bands. It also delves into his battle with drugs and his struggle to cope with after-effects of narrowly surviving a plane crash in 2008 that killed four of the six passengers. And if you head to his talk at Strand, perhaps you can even finally get a definitive answer on whether or not the band is ever going to reunite for a full-on comeback?