July 27 – Book(less) Dystopias and Linguistic Armageddons
Greenlight Bookstore
686 Fulton street
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Time: 7:30pm
As writers create stories of other worlds – future, fantastical, or alternate – many engage with the question of story itself. How might our relationship to language, words, and books themselves be different in a different context, and what might that tell us about our own world? Tonight at Greenlight, a panel of writers discusses the place of language and literature in their fictional universes. In Alena Graedon’s The Word Exchange, the creators of the last print dictionary in an entirely digital age find themselves running afoul of the powers that be. Jonah Kruvant’s The Last Book Ever Written tells the story of a future officer of the law who goes undercover with an illegal community of writers, and finds that the faux-manuscript he has created takes on more significance than he intended. The Only Words That Are Worth Remembering, Jeffrey Rotter’s novel of a near-future America, is narrated in the mutated English of a post-literate age. The discussion is moderated by Justin Alvarez, former digital editor of the Paris Review and media editor of Guernica, now a publisher at Lucky Peach.
July 28th – Women’s/Trans Poetry Jam & Open Mic
Bluestockings Bookstore
172 Allen Street
New York, NY
Time: 7:00pm
In Amy Barone’s new poetry chapbook, Kamikaze Dance, she write about nature, music, and the essence of place, including her Pennsylvania hometown, Rio, the Greek Island of Zante and Italy. And she also touches on family conflict and relations In Carol Rosenfeld’s novel The One That Got Away a barely-out-of-the-closet bridal consultant confronts love, lust, dyke drama and not having a date for New Year’s Eve.
This series, started in 1999, is hosted by Vittoria repetto – the hardest working guinea butch dyke poet on the lower east side Open mike ( for women & trans only) – sign-up at 7 pm – 8 minute limit. Bring your poetry, your prose, your songs, and your spoken word.
This event costs $5
July 30th – Writing War
Brooklyn Historical Society
128 Pierrepont St.
Time: 6:30pm
After more than a decade of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, an impressive cadre of writers has emerged from the ranks of America’s military to put stories of war and homecoming on paper. BHS welcomes National Book Award winner Philip Klay (Redeployment), former U.S. Army Captain Matt Gallagher (Kaboom), author Sara Novic and poet and playwright Maurice Decaul for a discussion moderated by Brandon Willitts, Executive Director of Words After War.
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August 1 – Brooklyn Small Press Flea
10 Grand Army Plaza
Brooklyn, NY
Time: 10am-4pm
This pop-up book fair features Brooklyn’s finest indie presses, including A Public Space, Archipelago Books, BELLADONNA*, Electric Literature, Futurepoem, Guillotine, Melville House, One Story, Ugly Duckling Presse, and many more.
Co-presented with BOMB magazine.