[title]
Because sometimes the cure for writer's block is a stiff drink. On Saturday, Sept 13, join the ranks of bookish boozehounds like Ernest Hemingway and Anne Sexton, and celebrate all things on the page or in a tumbler. Any day of the week, you can indulge at the best literary bars—or, for that matter, at any bar in NYC—but only once, at the end of summer, does your drink come with a curated dash of fiction or wedge of poetry. Lit Crawl NYC, now in its seventh year, honors the spirited artistic heritage of the East Village and Lower East Side by inviting local writers and organizations to host short programs at various venues around the neighborhoods, including institutions like KGB and St. Mark's Bookshop. This year's installment features 25 events for the literature-loving reveler, from games of literary Taboo and Pictionary to a lexicological cabaret (you'll have to stop by to find out what the hell that means), plus an after party where you may end up doing shots with one of our favorite New York authors.
Here's the full schedule for your perusal, and keep in mind, kids: This is a literary bar crawl so all events are 21 and over unless noted otherwise.
Phase 1: 6 – 6:45 pm
1. Electric Literature and Black Balloon Present Literary Taboo; Solas, 232 East 9th Street
Can you describe The Goldfinch without saying “Donna Tartt,” “painting,” “Las Vegas,” “The Secret History” or “Pulitzer Prize?” Team captains Catherine Lacey and Kevin Clouther challenge the dexterity of your lit knowledge.
2. Bibliocrunch Presents Indie Crossword; Scratcher Café, 209 East 5th Street
Join Bibliocrunch for a game of “indie crossword"; they'll be testing your self-publishing knowledge...and giving out prizes!
3. Center for Fiction presents Fake It!; KGB, 85 East 4th Street
Authors are challenged to dream up the best first lines based on book titles. Audience participation welcome.
4. La Pluma y La Tinta: I Dreamed of New York; King’s Cross, 356 Bowery
Readings from non-native NYers on why they came here, and how that journey led them to writing and the literary culture in NYC. Some readings in Spanish.
5. An Evening with One Teen Story; think coffee (all ages), 1 Bleecker Street
One Teen Story presents authors Ted Thompson, Julie Buntin, and Martin Wilson reading from their stories, which were published by One Teen Story in the last year.
6. Found in Translation: New York Review of Books Classics; Crime Scene Lounge, 310 Bowery
Sexual awakening in Italy, Sicilian seduction, a babysitter and charge on the run in France; translators read works from Alberto Moravia, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and Jean-Patrick Manchette.
Phase 2: 7 – 7:45 pm
7. Prompt. Write. Share. Rinse. Repeat. Write-In with Gotham Writers Workshop; Scratcher Café, 209 East 5th Street
Gotham Writers Workshop’s Melissa Petro invites you to lose your literary anxiety and pick up a pen. Three writing prompts will be provided.
8. An Evening with PEN America & Guernica; Swift Hiberian Lounge, 34 East 4th Street
Readings from Eric Boyd, Phil Klay, Abeer Hoque, Ali Power and Genya Turovskaya in support of the Guernica/PEN Flash Series and PEN Poetry Series.
9. Rare Bird Books: Mundanity, Oligarchy, and Anarchy; Von Bar, 3 Bleecker Street
Maxwell Neely-Cohen, Julian Tepper and David Burr Gerrard read from novels covering everything from the middle-age mundanity to a frenetic glimpse of youth culture.
10. Smartly Funny with Dan Wilbur; Crime Scene Lounge, 310 Bowery
Dan Wilbur (Better Book Titles, Someecards editor) brings his favorite writer/comedians to the stage for the smartest comedy the world’s ever seen.
11. Filthy Goddam Lies from Liars’ League NYC; Botanica Bar, 47 East Houston
Join Liars’ League NYC as they expose three of the dirtiest, most salacious stories from their archives, featuring writers Thaddeus Rutkowski, Rachel Mann and Jennifer Haskell-Smith.
12. TALE; Three of Cups, 83 1st Avenue
A taste of of the monthly reading series TALE, with readings from Ted Rall, Harmon Leon and Susie Felber, and music by Afterbirth Monkey.
13. Living Out Loud; Spiegel Restaurant (all ages), 26 1st Avenue
Join seasoned essayists as they read their warm and humorous slice-of-life stories under the theme, “Living, Out Loud: Writers Riff on Love, Sweat & Fears.”
14. Susan Shapiro’s From Essay to Book Deal; St. Mark’s Bookshop (all ages), 136 E 3rd Street
Did you know you could launch a book with a 3-page essay? This panel, with agents, editors, and authors Kenan Trebincevic and Laura Silver, will tell you how.
15. InDigest Presents Projections & Poetry
2A, 25 Avenue A
Poetry and art, featuring artwork created for specific poems, stand-alone videopoetry, 35mm silent projections.
Phase 3: 8:15 – 9 pm
16. Dirty Laundry: Loads of Prose/Lights, Camera, ACTION!; Gentle Wash (all ages), 97 Avenue A
Writers inspired by television production jobs read from novels, memoirs and stories populated by monsters, followers of Sun Myung Moon, a colorful meteorologist and a roadside accident report.
17. Sinister Wisdom: OUT LATINAS; Arrow Bar, 85 Avenue A
Celebrate lesbian Latina authors in this release party for the Spring 2015 Sinister Wisdom literary and art journal, featuring all-new poetry, prose, comedy, and a posthumous interview with tatiana de la tierra.
18. Literacy Partners: Learning to Read and Reading to Learn; Two Boots Pizzeria (all ages), 42 Avenue A
Hear stories of adults who have struggled to learn something many of us take for granted. Celebrate and support them as they read passages from their favorite books.
19. Starry Island: New Writing from Singapore; St. Mark’s Bookshop (all ages), 136 E 3rd Street
The New York launch for Starry Island: New Writing from Singapore, which features essays, fictio, and poetry by 30 Singaporean writers and translators. Five readers will dazzle you tonight.
20. Cambridge Writers’ Workshop: Literary Masquerade; One Mile House Bar, 10 Delancey Street
Gregory Crosby, Diana Norma Szokolyai, Jonah Kruvant, Elizabeth Devlin, Rita Banerjee and Nicole Colbert present readings, performances, musings. There will be masks. There will be paint and skin.
21. Hyphen Presents: A R/Evolutionary Reading; Dixon Place, 161 Christie Street
Cathy Linh Che, Alexander Chee, Jason Koo, Sally Wen Mao, and Melissa Sipin celebrate community and evolution by reading pieces inspired by...each other!
22. The National Book Foundation Presents: Literary Pictionary; Fontana’s, 105 Eldridge Street
Tiphanie Yanique, a National Book Foundation 5-under-35 honoree and author of Land of Love and Drowning, hosts literature-inspired Pictionary. Win free books and tote bags!
23. The Bedpan Confessionals: Tall Tales of Truth By Nurses, For Everyone; Berkli Parc Cafe (all ages), 63 Delancey Street
Yes, they empty bedpans. But you’ll be surprised by what else nurses do. Original stories by nurse writers, collaboratively edited, bedpans not included.
24. Return of The Savage Detectives; Leftfield, 87 Ludlow Street
Farrar, Straus and Giroux presents an evening of readings and rock & roll, featuring Sarah Ruhl, Shelly Oria, and FSG’s house band, The Savage Detectives.
25. Burlesque Beat presents “Stripping the Written Word”; Babeland, 94 Rivington Street
Writers begin with the naked page. ln burlesque, naked is the destination. A lexicological cabaret with Jo “Boobs” Weldon, Bastard Keith, Hazel Honeysuckle, Cyndi Freeman and J.D. Oxblood.
After party from 9pm on; The Magician, 118 Rivington Street