Monday 04/29:
The PEN World Voices Festival is celebrating its ninth year and kicks off tonight with a reading titled Bravery. Hosted by comedian and author Baratunde Thurston, the reading will feature readings from “Najwan Darwish, ‘one of the 39 best Arab writers under the age of 40’; Joy Harjo, a formidable voice in the second wave of ‘Native American Renaissance’; Mikhail Shishkin, one of the best contemporary Russian writers; award-winning Caribbean writers Jamaica Kincaid and Earl Lovelace; 2012 German Book Prize winner Ursula Krechel; Air Force Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force David Frakt whose defense counsel of Guantanamo detainee Mohammed Jawad earned him an international reputation as a champion of human rights; Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve Darrel Vandeveld, former prosecutor for the U.S. Military Commissions, from which he resigned to protest the lack of due process afforded to the Guantanamo detainees; up-and-coming Nigerian writer A. Igoni Barrett, whose Love Is Power, Or Something Like That, is due in May; and Vaddey Ratner, survivor of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime and author of the New York Times bestseller In the Shadow of the Banyan.” The Great Hall at Cooper Union, 7pm, $25.
When Austin Grossman isn’t writing novels he’s creating video games like Epic Mickey,Tomb Raider: Legend, and others. Tonight he presents his new novel You
The Poetry Project presents Howe Across Reading: Part One – Imri Sandström. Sandström discovered the writing of Susan Howe in 2000 and has been a dedicated reader since. The night will “present Part One of Sandström’s extensive reading of [Howe’s] New England narratives, in relation to the language and history of Västerbotten in northern Sweden–a link between regions arrived at, gradually, in and through Howe.” St. Mark’s Church, 8pm, free.
Tuesday 04/30:
Eve Ensler celebrates the release of her memoir In the Body of the World
Vol. One Brooklyn and Community Bookstore will present a reading with Renata Adler Tuesday night. Adler’s contemporary classics Pitch Dark
Wednesday 05/01:
Bomb Magazine and the Strand Bookstore presents a conversation between Rachel Kushner, Hari Kunzru, and Rivka Galchen. This is the first in a new series co-hosted by Bomb Magazine at the Strand. Strand Bookstore, 7pm, free with book purchase.
Thursday 05/02:
Sam Lipsyte, whose short story collection The Fun Parts
Friday 05/03:
Now in its fifth year, the CUNY Chapbook Fest takes place Friday and Saturday. The festival hosts panels, workshops, and a book fair that is an under-appreciated annual gem of the New York literary world. The festival celebrates the chapbook as art object, community builder, and cornerstone of modern poetry. Locations and times vary.
The Poetry Project hosts a reading featuring Jackie Clark and Bianca Stone. St. Mark’s Church, 10pm, free.
Saturday 05/04:
Totem brings in poets Vanessa Place, Cecilia Corrigan, and Felix Bernstein. Cantina Royal, 8pm, free.
Sunday 05/05:
The Bellevue Literary Review hosts a reading featuring Jenna Le, Edward Hamlin, and Catherine Lewis. NYU / Bellevue Medical Housestaff will also read from personal accounts of the hospital evacuation during Hurricane Sandy. These stories will appear in a special section of the Spring 2013 issue. Bellevue Hospital Rotunda, 5pm, free.
