July 11, 2014
In Do Not Sell At Any Price, Amanda Petrusich describes approaching a roomful of 78 rpm records “like a chimpanzee devouring a pile of ripe bananas.” Made of shellac and producing 78 revolutions per minute (modern CDs spin 200-460 times per minute), with grooves so large that the discs can only hold 3 minutes of music per side, these rare records were last seen commercially in the mid-1950s. Petrusich, a music critic for the New York Times and Pitchfork, joins fellow 78 collectors Nathan Salsburg and Chris King, as well as the old-timey Strung Out String Band, under the glass ceiling of Brooklyn’s favorite literary greenhouse to celebrate these nearly-extinct artifacts and the eccentrics who hunt them down. Before 1925, artists sang directly into the horns of gramophones in order to record 78s acoustically. 78s recorded before that year have yet to be discovered, but the evening promises a similar intimacy. @ BookCourt, 163 Court Street, Brooklyn, New York, 7:00 p.m.
July 14, 2014
Franklin Park Reading Series: Travels and Journeys
Time for a vacation — and our annual “Travels and Journeys” reading! We’re thrilled to welcome back three fav alums with widely hailed new novels: EMMA STRAUB (The Vacationers), TIPHANIE YANIQUE (Land of Love and Drowning), and COURTNEY MAUM (I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You). They’ll be joined by acclaimed debut novelist BORIS FISHMAN (A Replacement Life) and masterful short fiction writer AARON BURCH (Backswing), founder of the legendary lit journal HOBART. Along with great fiction, we’ll have a $4 draft drink special and raffle for the authors’ books! @ Franklin Park, 618 St. Johns Place, Between Classon and Franklin Avenues, Crown Heights, Brooklyn, 8:00 p.m.
July 16, 2014
The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee
Author Marja Mills was given a rare opportunity to know Nelle Harper Lee, to be part of the Lee’s life in Alabama. Through this she was able to discover how To Kill a Mockingbird affected their lives, and why Nelle Harper Lee never wrote another novel. @ Barnes and Noble, 150 East 86th Street, 7:00 p.m.
July 17, 2014
Chew on This – MPA Lunch Series
Ever wondered why some things catch on and become popular while others falter? How to generate more word of mouth for a product or initiative you’re working on? Jonah Berger has the answers. He’s a marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the recent New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller Contagious: Why Things Catch On. Dr. Berger has spent the last decade studying how social influence works and how it drives products and ideas to catch on. He’s published dozens of articles in top-tier academic journals, consulted for a variety of Fortune 500 companies, and popular outlets like the New York Times and Harvard Business Review often cover his work. @ MPA Boardroom, 757 Third Avenue – 11th Floor (between 47th and 48th streets), 12:30 p.m.
The Sun Also Rises: The Hemingway Library Edition
Presented by the Hemingway family, with supplementary material from the Hemingway Collection at the John F. Kennedy Library, this edition provides readers with wonderful insight regarding Hemingway’s first great literary masterpiece. @ Barnes and Noble, 150 East 86th Street, 7:00 p.m.