Lit Week in New York

With all the ranting and raving about Fashion Week, Fashion's Night Out, and who will be where, wearing what, and taking it off later with whom, it's easy to forget (maybe you never knew?) that this weekend is also stuffed with awesome and free-booze-filled literary events. Saturday night is LitQuakeNYC, a literary bar-and-readings crawl around downtown NYC that will end with a big drunken party. On Sunday, we’ve got the Brooklyn Book Festival, an annual extravaganza featuring readings and talks from pretty much every writer you can think of and vending booths from every indie press you’ve never heard of but can’t wait to be introduced to. To help you navigate this weekend of authorial madness, I’ve come up with a rigorous itinerary.
1diggdigg Thursday 7pm - Tao Lin Book Party
If you want to start your weekend off early, come by BookCourt bookstore in Cobble Hill for the launch party for Tao Lin’s new novel, Richard Yates. There will be free wine, attractive hipsters, and a brief introduction from yours truly.
Friday 7:30pm - Brooklyn Indie Party
BookFest unofficially begins Friday night with a welcome party at Fort Greene’s Greenlight bookstore hosted by a bunch of indie presses like Akashic Books, A Public Space, and Electric Literature, and featuring food, drinks, and special guest DJs Johnny Temple (from Girls vs. Boys), and Dave Tompkins (author, How To Wreck a Nice Beach). Come dance awkwardly!
Saturday 6pm - Lit Chicks vs. Book Boys: Literary Trivia with Harper Perennial
Head to KGB Bar early to test your knowledge with hosts Neal Pollack, Jason Mulgrew, and the lovely Rachel Shukert.
Saturday 7pm - Welcome to the Jungle: Urban Lives Revealed
Stephen Elliott, Eddy Portnoy, Henry Chang, and Jack Boulware read giddy tales of city life at the Yippie Museum Cafe. (The Yippie Museum!?)
Saturday 8:15-9pm Sweet Home New York, Bomb-aoke, Paris Review Sneak Preview
The toughest time slot of the weekend in terms of too much good stuff to choose from. Gigantic and Open City host a party at Home Sweet Home featuring New York-related readings from great writers including Stephen O’Conner, Anya Yurchyshyn, Leopoldine Core, and Bryan Charles. Bomb mag is doing a bizarre lit-karaoke thing, in which contestants re-enact interviews from old issues of Bomb. It’s judged by po-mo-sweet-lady-of-the-moment Rivka Galchen, and the infinitely badass Nick Flynn. There’s also a Paris Review throwdown for those that want some serious schmoozing, copies of the new issue, and some great readings from unannounced special guests.
Saturday, 9pm After Party
Head to Fontana’s to find all the other lit-crawlers drunk and dancing, looking for lit-love.
Sunday 10am
Out of bed, coffee, bloody mary, etc, make your way to St. Francis auditorium for a rock and roll breakfast reading featuring an impressive trifecta: Colson Whitehead, Jennifer Egan, Steve Almond.
Sunday 11am
Talk Kafka with Joshua Cohen, Francine Prose, Matthew Sharpe, and Liesl Schillinger. St Francis Maroney Screening Room.
Sunday 12pm
See Sam Lipsyte and other honchos of humor discuss what it’s like to live in the world (or something...). St. Francis Reading Room.
Sunday 1pm
Pack a lunch and check out Paul Auster in conversation with John Ashberry. This is a weird and amazing combo, and is not to be missed. St Francis Auditorium.
Sunday 2pm
Mary Gaitskill, Ben Greenman, and Simon Van Booy discuss primal impulses, whatever that means. St. Francis Auditorium (At this point, accept that you’ve been in the St. Francis Auditorium all day.)
Sunday 3pm
Sarah Silverman does her thing on the main stage.
Sunday 4pm
Salman Rushdie talks Indian Diaspora with Tishana Doshi, author of The Pleasure Seekers. St Francis Auditorium.
Sunday 5pm
Gary Shteyngart and others read at the International stage.
Sunday 6pm
Still going? Head back to Manhattan for one last event: Tag Reading Series at the Cell Theater featuring Justin Taylor, Elissa Bassist, James Yeh, and Chloe Cooper Jones—all excellent readers and writers who won’t disappoint.
This is just a small but highly recommended sampling of the many events. For full Litquake and BookFest Schedules, go here and here. I probably won’t make it to all of these, but I’ll certainly try. Feel free to say hi. I’ll be the shaven-headed man standing in the corner, looking cool. Follow me on twitter @bubblesdepot for up-to-the-minute reports on the goings-on. See you there!