Housing Works Bookstore Cafe

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Performance Picks: Literary Roasts, Asian Drag, 100 People In A Room

WEDNESDAY

(image via Drunk Education / Facebook)

Drunk Education: Roasts of ‘Great’ Literary Men
Wednesday, January 16 at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 7 pm: FREE

The books you read in school growing up (and maybe even now) were most likely written by (white) men, save for a few exceptions. There were plenty of opportunities to discuss this work, usually mandatory, but most of the time this involved parsing through the analytical layers of it all, marveling at what a multifaceted creation had come into existence at the hands of these men. Wednesday’s Drunk Education is a little different. Notable literary men will be the central topic, yes, but they’ll be roasted by three women writers (Rolling Stone’s Brittany Spanos, Observer’s Helen Holmes, and freelancer Becca Schuh) until nothing is left but some charred remains. More →

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Cool Off And Get Cultured At These Seven June Book Talks

(credit: Amazon)

Michael Eric Dyson + Shaun King + Harry Belafonte
Monday, June 4 at The New School, 7 pm to 8 pm.

Michael Eric Dyson joins The New School and The Strand to unveil his book What Truth Sounds Like: Robert F. Kennedy, James Baldwin, and Our Unfinished Conversation About Race in America. The book follows his New York Times bestseller Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America. Acclaimed singer and advocate Harry Belafonte, along with activist and The Intercept columnist Shaun King, join Dr. Dyson in conversation about his important and timely book. More →

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4 Readings: Honest Abe Takes on Trump, A White Rapper’s Tale, and Hot Dog Cartoons

WEDNESDAY

26195970Mychal Denzel Smith presents: Invisible Man, Got the Whole Word Watching
June 15 at 7 p.m. at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street
Growing up black in 21st century America can have its own sense of vertigo–the president is African-American but police brutality and incarceration still disproportionately affect men with your skin color. In his debut book, Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man’s Education, Mychal Denzel Smith (Knobler Fellow at The Nation Institute) tries to make sense of the political and social landscape he’s grown up in and come to terms with his own education. He’ll be joined by fellow writers Ashley C. Ford and Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib.

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Four Readings: Moby’s Memoir, Sex-Positivity in Action, and Notes From a ‘Loud Woman’

TUESDAY

action

Amy Rose Spiegel’s Action Launch
May 17 at 7 pm at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street
Ever wondered how to manage a threesome? How to actually pick someone up at an IRL bar (without resorting to creepy pick-up lines)? What about that weird thing you Googled last week (well, at least you remembered to close your porn tabs before screenshotting)? Finally, there’s a sex book for our current Swipe-Right Age, and one that you won’t be  embarrassed to tote on the subway (there’s no provocatively shaped fruit on the cover).

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4 Talks: Biblical Prosties, a Mag for Dads, and Edward Mapplethorpe’s Cute Babies

TUESDAY

MARY-WEPT_NYWORD Presents: Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus with Chester Brown
April 26 at 7 p.m. at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street
Comics, prostitution and the Bible. What better combination? Cartoonist Chester Brown is known for his 2011 graphic novel, Paying for It: A Comic-Strip Memoir About Being a John. Now he returns with Mary Wept over the Feet of Jesusa controversial look at biblical women and representations of prostitution, from Bathsheba to the Virgin Mary. By re-examining the Bible’s moral code in comic strip format, it’s bound to raise some eyebrows. Brown will be joined by Dr. Melissa Ditmore (Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work) and Ceyenne Doroshow (Cooking In Heels).

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4 Talks + Readings – Rebecca Traister, Larry Kramer, and a Beat Generation Fest

WEDNESDAY

singleVulture Insider’s Book Club with Rebecca Traister
April 6 at 7:30 p.m, at The Strand, 828 Broadway
New York magazine’s own Rebecca Traister recently published  All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nationa knock-out investigation into the history of single-woman-dom and its implications in today’s society. As the age of marriage climbs (today only 20 percent of Americans tie the knot before age 29) women are gaining more power and more options than ever before. Traister, who also frequently writes about feminism and culture for Vulture, will speak with Vulture’s book editor, Boris Kachka.

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4 Talks: Brown is the New White, Daniel Clowes, and More

TUESDAY
younger meDear Younger Me: The Advice I Never Forgot
March 1 at 7 p.m, at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street.
We’ve all had a few words of wisdom (and misguided attempts at it) stick with us over the years. Join six writers, MCed by Chiara Atik, to laugh and cringe over the best and worst advice they ever received. Then pick up a copy of Dear Emma, a novel by Buzzfeed senior editor Katie Heaney that follows a young advice columnist as she charts tricky waters at college.
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4 Talks and Readings: Well-Read Black Girl, Future of Whiteness, and More

TUESDAY

BetterThanMe pb c.thumbnailBonnie McFarlane + Jim Gaffigan
Feb. 23 at 7:00 p.m at The Strand, 828 Broadway
Bonnie McFarlane has made a career out of opening her mouth when she probably should have kept it shut, making people cringe in places like Last Comic Standing and The Jim Gaffigan Show. Her new book, You’re Better Than Me, follows in the footsteps of the popular genre of female comedian tell-alls (Mindy Kaling etc). With biting and hilarious prose it lays bare “the good, the bad and the ugly” of her life, with chapters covering everything from McFarlane’s childhood as a fish out of water on a Canadian farm, to finding “her people” in comedy. She will be joined by fellow comedian Jim Gaffigan.

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