The super stylish Hyperallergic, the online magazine for all your arts-and-culture-related thinkpiece needs, will come to life tonight at Housing Works for the second time as three Hyperallergic writers (Seph Rodney, Claire Voon, and Carey Dunne), as well as three editors (Elisa Wouk Almino, Jillian Steinhauer, and Hrag Vartanian) read from some of their pieces and bring your favorite self-proclaimed “Art Blogazine” to the masses.
Dave Isay presents Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work May 4 at 7:30 p.m. at Greenlight Bookstore, 686 Fulton Street.
Feeling unmotivated at work lately? Find some inspiration in Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work, the new book out byStorycorps founder Dave Isay. Born 13 years ago, the oral-history project’s intimate interviews have grown to be a mainstay of American public life and podcasting. The new book draws upon audio interviews of average Americans toiling in the trenches of the nation’s workforce (public defenders, salmon slicers, science teachers and more) to try to understand what motivates people in their work every day and how they got there. Some of the storytellers themselves will speak at the event.
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 AndApparitions is out next year, will also read.
The Rumpus & Electric Literature Present It’s Too Cold for This: A Holiday Reading Tuesday December 15, 7 pm at Housing Works Bookstore Café. 126 Crosby Street
Is it really too cold for this? Really? To be fair, our two favorite online lit rags could not have predicted the unseasonably high temperatures (is it really in the 60s?) so we’ll give them a pass. Anyway, we bet their gathering of minds will top your awkward office holiday party.
Argos Books Five Year Anniversary Celebration Friday Nov. 20th, 7 pm at Wendy’s Subway, 722 Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg
Yassss to readings with a cause for celebration. And, like, the word “celebration” is even right there in the title, so it’s gotta be good. You know for sure there’s gonna be drinks and it’s gonna get loose. Hell, there’s even a lineup of three DJs for dance inspiration. You might even consider leaving your flask at home for this one. Maybe. But for real, Argos Books, the lil Brooklyn-based indie press that could, deserves a congrats-grad affair in proving that it’s not small presses that we have to worry about, it’s the mega-publishing houses that are floundering.
TUESDAY All aboard “The Poetry Ville Express!” Four poets are inviting you to embark on an adventure at KGB Bar; according to the lounge’s website they want you to follow “their muses through the untamed realms of Poetry Ville – from avant romantic to nouveau commentary.” It’s “urbane grit served up with a side of Southern charm and a big old heaping of ‘holy shit.’” The poets: Lee Ann Brown, author of this year’s Other Archer as well as a string of other acclaimed works, including Polyverse, winner of the 1996 New American Poetry Competition; Wanda Phipps, author of Wake-Up Calls: 66 Morning Poems and coordinator for three years at The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church (bringing us epic New Years marathon readings each year); Mark Statman, whose most recent books include That Train Again and A Map of the Winds; and eco-activist Jeffrey Cyphers Wright (Party Everywhere), who published Cover Magazine until 2000 and currently publishes Live Mag! Tuesday, Sept. 22 from 7 to 9 p.m. KGB Bar, 85 East 4th Street (East Village). More →
Robert Goolrick’s most recent novel, The Fall of Princes, finds retired 1980s ad man Rooney writing his memoir after an era of American Psycho-style unrepentant debauchery and greed (but without the murdering). Join the author for a discussion with the undeniably fabulous author and actress Joan Juliet Buck. (She played Madame Elisabeth Brassart in Julie & Julia and wrote an essay about being intimidated by Nora Ephron during the audition, and she’s written for a bunch of fancy publications, including Vogue, W, and The New Yorker.) And Algonquin’s publisher Elisabeth Scharlatt will be there, too. Aug. 25, at 7 p.m. Strand Book Store, 828 Broadway (Noho).
Wednesday
If the Frying Pan’s “Rocking Dead” isn’t enough undead to get your fix of braaaains this spring then don’t miss what’s sure to be a lively discussion between authors of the zombie genre at WORD Bookstore. The event celebrates the release of David Wellington’s latest novel, Positive, an epic tale set in a world where “positives” are segregated from society and marked with a plus sign on their forehead, signifying that at any time they could break out with a virus that turns people into ravenous monsters. The panel also includes Max Brallier (Can YOU Survive the Zombie Apocalypse?), and John Campbell (Drifters). Wednesday, April 29, 7 p.m. WORD Bookstore, 126 Franklin Street (Greenpoint).
All subjects you can contemplate at this week’s thrilling selection of readings and talks.
Friday, September 5
We, The Outsiders Opening Reception We, The Outsiders is an art exhibition that explores several perplexing questions: “Can it be said that art has a consciousness of its own? And if such a consciousness were independent of us, where would it place us in relation to itself?” I have no idea what that means, but I do know that the exhibition revolves around a gigantic egg—which probes, like the classic chicken-and-the-egg conundrum (I prosaically assume), where consciousness begins and ends when it comes to art. More →
Novelists Jon McGoran and Linda Davies will be reading from recent work. McGoran has written about food and sustainability for many years, but has a burgeoning book-writing business on the side. His recently released second novel Deadout, injects his passion for environmental issues into a deftly-handled detective story, complete with genetically modified super bees and dastardly biotech corporations. “McGoran fluidly blends science and suspense in his outstanding second eco-thriller,” according to Publisher’s Weekly. Davies, meanwhile, is a former investment banker, whose debut novel Nest of Vipers has now sold over 2 million copies. Vipers is a financial industry thriller, driven by a risk-taking female foreign exchange trader stuck between a rock (the Mafia) and a hard place (the British SIS). The evening will be hosted by Richie Narvaez.
Dave Isay presents Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work
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