To leave, or not to leave New York City is a question suddenly in the literati’s zeitgeist. Talk of leaving New York City began either in 1968 with the publication of Joan Didion’s essay “Goodbye to All That” or in October with the publication of a collection of essays Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York. The collection was edited by Sari Botton and immediately joined the conversation with a launch party at Powerhouse Arena.

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In the semester before entering Grad School, I worked as a youth mentor for an HIV/AIDS organization in downtown New York City. This position required outreach, fieldwork, knowledge, and comfort within queer communities of color, as well as group facilitation (all of which were within my wheelhouse). The organization’s mission was one I could easily […]

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The experience of art became the focus of the evening when Geoff Dyer and Ben Lerner came together for a reading and conversation moderated by Lorin Stein, editor of The Paris Review at McNally Jackson Books. Dyer read from his book, Zona: A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room (November 2013), that looks at the personal experience of viewing Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Stalker. Ben Lerner read from his novel Leaving the Atocha Station (2011).

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France and Portugal advanced to the World Cup last night in solid victories. But on this side of the Atlantic, novelist Jonathan Wilson was reading from Kick and Run, his new memoir tracing the importance of soccer throughout his life. He was at Housing Works Bookstore, joined by Rosie Schapp, author of Drinking with Men (2013) and Péter Zilahy, author of The Last Window-Giraffe (2008).

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The Poetry Society of America brought together poets Ana Božičević and Ann Lauterbach for a reading at McNally Jackson Books. The reading was the third in a series organized by the Poetry Society of America. Previous readers from the series included Angelo Nikolopoulos paired with C. K. Williams and Nick Laird paired with Meghan O’Rourke.

Ana Božičević read from her latest collection, Rise in the Fall, published by Birds. Božičević and her little dog Klaus took to the stage to read, Klaus secure in her purse. She explained that she snuck the dog in, and that it was his first poetry reading. Klaus was well behaved.

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Charles Dubow’s Indiscretion follows a wealthy couple seduced by a young neighbor during a summer holiday in the Hamptons. He read from the novel along with Tara Conklin at WORD Bookstore in Brooklyn.

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Tara Conklin’s The House Girl follows two divided narratives — part historical fiction set in 1852 Virginia and part contemporary novel set 2004 New York. The narrative switches between an escaped slave and a young associate lawyer. She read at WORD Bookstore with Charles Dubow.

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The future of the periodical seems very much secure within the monumental walls of the New York Public Library, a grand space with carved wood trim and oil paintings of iconic publishing houses like Hearst, McGraw Hill and Harper’s. But the evening is not about the past or the monuments to publishers of the past. Instead, the night is about the future. The editors of three journals at the vanguard of the New York City literary scene are joined by their contributors to discuss the origins and future of the magazines.

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