Friday, June 17, 2011

Writing Groups week of June 20

Writing groups are open to New York Society Library members only.

Monday, June 20, 3pm
Memoir Group - please note that this group is now full. A new group will be forming in the Fall. Details on the new group will be provided in the Fall Events newsletter.

Tuesday, June 21, 5pm
Fiction Group I

Wednesday, June 22, 11am
Fiction Group II

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Call 311 today to support NYC's public libraries

As I've mentioned in other blog posts, New York City's public libraries are again facing staggering budget cuts. Let Mayor Bloomberg know that the programs and services that the New York Public Library, Queens Library, and Brooklyn Public Library provide are crucial to you and the city.



At noon today, Thursday, June 16, call 311 (call 212- 639-9675 if you're outside the city).

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Thursday: Erica Jong and Molly Jong-Fast read from Sugar in My Bowl

Mother and daughter (and NYSL members) Erica Jong and Molly Jong-Fast read from the new anthology Sugar in my Bowl: Real Women Write About Real Sex at McNally Jackson Books.


Thursday, June 16, 7pm
McNally Jackson Books
52 Prince St

Monday, June 13, 2011

Tuesday: Barnet Schecter at New York Historical Society

NYSL member Barnet Schecter will join Barry Lewis and moderator Harold Holzer for a discussion about the 1863 draft riots.

New York City’s only "Civil War Battle" was the 1863 Draft Riot—a convulsive, racially-motivated street fight for the very soul of Manhattan. Experts provide a frank, no-holds-barred account of the sickening excesses of the bloody struggle, its lasting impact on New York politics, the efforts of the mayor, governor, and President Lincoln himself to quell the frightening disturbance, and what it all meant to the future of New York.

Barnet Schecter is an historian and the author of several books, including The Devil's Own Work: The Civil War Draft Riots and the Fight to Reconstruct America and George Washington's America: A Biography Through His Maps. Barry Lewis is an architectural historian and the host of a popular series of walking tours on PBS. He currently teaches at Cooper Union Forum and the New York School of Interior Design. Harold Holzer (moderator) is Chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation and served as co-chair of the U. S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission for nine years. He is the author, co-author, or editor of 41 books on Lincoln and the Civil War era.

Tuesday, June 14, 6:30pm, $20
The New York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
www.nyhistory.org

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Dolores Rice's Mr. Benn - A Femoir

Member Dolores Rice, artist in residence at Tribeca Performing Arts Center, will be presenting her newest work Mr. Benn - A Femoir: An exploration of life, with one costume change to the next on Monday, June 13.

Emerging from an on-screen world of costumes is an on-stage world into which Dolores Rice steps into multiple costumes as she travels through her semi-fictional life aided by story and song. This is an adaptation of the popular TV series Mr. Benn from 1971. Mr. Benn visits a fancy-dress costume shop where he is invited by the mustachioed, fez-wearing shopkeeper to try on a particular outfit. When he leaves through a magic door at the back of the changing room, he enters a world where he has an adventure before the shopkeeper reappears to lead him back to the changing room, and the story comes to an end. Mr. Benn returns to his normal life, but is left with a small souvenir of his magical adventure. Dolores Rice is a playwright, film-maker and novelist.


Monday, June 13th, 7pm, $10
Tribeca Performing Arts Center
Chambers St.between Greenwich and West Side Highway
For tickets online click here or call 212-220-1460

Monday, June 6, 2011

NYPL's Magathon

Arrange your reading slot at the 24 Hour Read-In to save New York City libraries so you don't miss NYPL's Magathon, also being held this coming weekend.

If you love literary magazines, you gotta be there. This is the 12th year that NYPL and CLMP have hosted this event. In honor of NYPL's centennial, editors will read a favorite selection from their magazine's very first issue.
The Magathon
Saturday, June 11, 4 - 6:30pm

New York Public Library's DeWitt Wallace Periodical Room, 5th Ave. at 42nd St.
FREE!

On Sunday, June 12, 11am-4pm, load up on discounted lit mags at the Giant Lit Mag Fair!
Housing Works Used Book Café, 126 Crosby Street

It's that time again

It's that time again. Funding for New York City's public libraries is again on the chopping block. We need public libraries now more than ever. Here's how you can help:

Starting at 4pm Saturday, June 11 and running through Sunday, June 12, the advocacy group Save NYC Libraries is hosting another We Will Not Be Shushed 24-hour Read-In on the steps of the Brooklyn Public Library's Grand Army Plaza branch. Sign up here to read or just come by to show your support. Over 1,200 people attended last year's read in to support New York City libraries.

Download and print an advocacy letter and bring it by the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue on June 15 between 5 and 7 p.m. Get 25 or more library lovers to sign advocacy letters and you'll receive a free NYPL Centennial book.

If you can't make these events, you can still do your part by writing, calling, or emailing your New York City council member. Do it now. You'll be doing a great service to our great city.