Saturday 10/26: Junot Diaz comes to the Brooklyn Library to discuss his short story collection This is How You Lose Her (September 2012). As with all Diaz events, expect large crowds. Central Library, Dweck Center, 4pm, free.
Joan Retallack reads poetry as part of the Segue Reading Series. Zinc Bar (pdf), 4:30pm, free.
Emanuel Xavier launches Nefarious, his fourth poetry collection. La Casa Azul, 6pm, free.
Sunday 10/27: Chandrahas Choudhury reads from Arzee the Dwarf (October 2013). Book Thug Nation, 7pm, free.
Margaret Randall reads fragments from her new book Che on My Mind. Bowery Poetry Club, 4pm, $5.
Monday 10/28: Rebecca Solnit and Rebecca Snedeker, co-editors of Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas (November 2013), will discuss the collection of essays and 22 full color maps. BookCourt, 7pm, free.
Gabriel Roth reads from his novel The Unknowns (July 2013), with Kristopher Jansma, author of The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards (March 2013). Center for Fiction, 7pm, free.
Tuesday 10/29: Lincoln Michel, Maggie Shipstead, and Ali Simpson take part in the Fiction Addition reading series, sponsored by Electric Literature, an independent digital publisher. Maggie Shipstead is the author of the novel Seating Arrangements (June 2012) and the forthcoming Astonish Me (April 2014). Lincoln Michel coedits Gigantic Magazine. All three have been published in Electric Literature’s weekly fiction series Recommended Reading. 2A (upstairs bar), 8pm, free.
Will Self, author of the 2012 Man Booker shortlisetd novel Umbrella, will be joined by Martin Amis. McNally Jackson, 7pm, free.
The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) hosts a spelling bee and pits authors against each other as a fundraiser to support the non-profit organization. Jonathan Burnham, Rosanne Cash, Carmela Ciuraru, Rigoberto González, Lev Grossman, Tayari Jones, Robert Levine, Colum McCann, Patrick McGrath, Sara Nelson, Arthur Phillips, Elissa Schappell, Darin Strauss, Adelle Waldman, Rebecca Wolff, and Hanya Yanagihara will compete. Ben Greenman will emcee and Jesse Sheidlower, Editor-at-large of The Oxford English Dictionary, will judge. CLMP provides supporting resources to independent literary journals, authors, and presses. The Standard-High Line, 7pm, $40 to $250 (tax deductible).
Jean-Christophe Valtat reads from the second novel in his Mysteries of New Venice series, Luminous Chaos (October 2013). 192 Books, 7pm, free.
Donna Tartt reads from her new novel The Goldfinch (October 2013) with Maud Newton. Community Bookstore, 7:30pm, free.
Wednesday 10/30: Kate Manning and Natalee Caple will discuss how they create strong female characters; both Manning’s novel My Notorious Life (September 2013) and Caple’s In Calamity’s Wake (September 2013) feature strong female protagonists. Center for Fiction, 7pm, free.
Jan Beatty, David Groff, and Michael Waters share poems of the body. Housing Works, 7pm, free.
Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore presents her memoir The End of San Francisco (March 2013).
Bluestockings, 7pm, free.
Thursday 10/31: Village Halloween Parade 6th Avenue, 7pm, free.
Friday 11/1: Kim Triedman, Julia Fierro, and Kelly Braffet will read from their debut novels. Braffet’s Save Yourself (August 2013) and Triedman’s The Other Room (October 2013) are available now while Fierro’s Cutting Teeth will be released in May 2014. KGB, 7pm, free.
Nick Sturm, Matthew Rohrer, and Monica McClure will read poems as part of the Brooklyn Poets reading series. McClure curates The Atlas Review reading series. Studio 10, 7pm, free.
Daniel Tiffany, Molly Bendall, and Eric Amling read poems as part of the Multifarious Array reading series. Pete’s Candy Store, 7pm, free.
