If it’s 7 p.m. in New York City, there’s a chance that somewhere a reading is about to start. There’s nothing like the particular warmth and community that happens around readings that bring us into one place—low-lit dive bars and art-filled galleries, storied cultural venues and bookstore backyards, and of course, Pratt’s own performance spaces. 

“Writing is a solitary activity, but at a reading, writers are with their audience, talking about what matters most to them,” writes Kate Gavino, BFA Writing ’11, in her book Last Night’s Reading: Illustrated Encounters with Extraordinary Authors. The book is based on her illustrated project of the same name, which chronicles Gavino’s observations at readings across New York City. Among them, a reading in Green-Wood Cemetery’s catacombs and the host of literary happenings at the annual Brooklyn Book Festival—“I couldn’t believe so many authors were in one place for free,” Gavino writes. “At the end of the day, I was both exhausted and inspired, a combination of feelings I now can’t help but equate with love.”

Here are some standout series and venues recommended by students, faculty, and alumni in our story “Literary City” (read the full article here).

CRUSH

Based out of Woodbine, an experimental space in Ridgewood, Queens, this reading series describes itself as finding “in common language the textures of our lives and the sensibilities of our world.” In the words of Laura Henriksen, BFA Writing ’12, visiting assistant professor of writing, the series serves “as an example of community building based in mutual aid.”

Woodbine, 585 Woodward Ave, Ridgewood

Desperate Living

Described by Henriksen as a “wonderful DIY series,” Desperate Living embraces a range of readers working across mediums and forms, including multimedia artists like Jacolby Satterwhite, performers like Elliot Reed, and Pratt faculty member writers such as Jackie Ess and Benjamin Krusling, both visiting assistant professors of writing.

Singers, 30 Kosciuszko St, Brooklyn

Franklin Park Reading Series

This Crown Heights mainstay’s second-Mondays reading series has hosted literary luminaries for over a decade, including James Hannaham, professor of writing. Hannaham said, “Franklin Park has long been one of the best, with a huge, loyal, diverse crowd and a great roster. Glad to see it still going.”

Franklin Park, 766 Franklin Ave, Brooklyn

Greenlight Bookstore

Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene is one of the most accessible and commutable bookstores for Pratt students who love literature. This comfortable spot is just a short walk from campus and is the home to a bevy of author events each week, including book launches for Pratt community members such as Adrian Shirk, BFA Writing ’11, adjunct associate professor (CCE), and Samantha Hunt, professor of writing. 

686 Fulton St, Brooklyn

Pete’s Reading Series

The classic Williamsburg venue Pete’s Candy Store has been host to a swath of writing department faculty, including Claire Donato, assistant chairperson of writing; Anna Moschovakis, adjunct associate professor (CCE); and Hannah Lillith Assadi, visiting instructor of writing. Their reading series has gone on for more than two decades and announces itself boldly as one in which “today’s literary icons and tomorrow’s stars take the stage regularly.”

Pete’s Candy Store, 709 Lorimer St, Brooklyn

The Poetry Project

This East Village institution based at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery has been a beacon for poets across the city since the 1960s. Mirene Arsanios, adjunct assistant professor of writing, recently took over the role of program director of The Poetry Project from Henriksen, who attests to the vital energy of their literary gatherings. “I’m biased,” says Henriksen, “but The Poetry Project is a totally exceptional community-centered literary space, both steady and various, welcoming and vibrant. . . . [Its] programming takes so many forms, lectures, classes, readings, publications, and all of it is sliding scale (if not free). It’s a real ‘something for everyone’ situation.”

St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, 131 E 10th St, Manhattan

Segue Reading Series

A longstanding program hosted in the legendary Artists Space gallery, the Segue Reading Series, praised by Henriksen as a “classic, indispensable series,” announces itself as “among the longest running and best preserved reading series,” which has supported “the contemporary avant-garde since 1976.”

Artists Space, 11 Cortlandt Alley, Manhattan

Unnameable Books

When the cofounder of Twenty Stories bookshop, Alexa Trembly, BFA Writing ’16, was studying at Pratt, she found the readings at Unnameable Books in Prospect Heights particularly illuminating. Those experiences would influence those she and partner Emory Harkins, BFA Writing ’16, would hold at their Providence-based store. “Their events were held in the small, low-ceiling basement of the bookstore,” Trembly says. “The events at Unnameable Books taught me so much about the writing community. They taught me that readings should be treated with the same kind of ceremony no matter if they’re small and intimate or a room packed full of strangers.”

615 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn

Wendy’s Subway

As a staple of New York’s independent literary culture, Wendy’s Subway is, according to its mission statement, a “reading room, independent publisher, and writing space . . . [supporting] emerging artists and writers in making experimental, urgent work.” In the words of Henriksen, it also curates a series of “endlessly exciting programming,” hosting readings from boundary-pushing writers across the city and around the globe.

379 Bushwick Ave, Brooklyn

This post contains content adapted from Prattfolio’s 2022 story “Literary City,” in the Power of Place issue.

Do you have a suggestion of a reading series in New York City that we should consider adding to this list? Email Assistant Editor Nikolas Slackman at nslackma@pratt.edu.


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