Ellen Datlow has announced that, after six years, Gavin J. Grant is stepping down as co-host of the monthly KGB Fantastic Fiction Reading Series. Datlow says “We wish to thank him for the bang up job he’s done, for the dedication he has shown to the authors and their work.”
Replacing Grant, Datlow welcomes a new co-host: writer/editor Matthew Kressel. Kressel is the publisher of Senses Five Press and Sybil’s Garage.
Author Terry Bisson and Playboy fiction editor Alice K. Turner started the reading series in the late 1990s, as an attempt to bring together mainstream writers with writers of speculative fiction in order to show, in Turner’s words, “that at a certain level they were plowing exactly the same field.” Datlow took over for Turner in Spring 2000; Grant replaced Bisson in August 2002.
The KGB Fantastic Fiction readings—”in addition to showcasing many of the major voices of the field—regularly bring together the members of New York City science fiction, fantasy, and horror communities where writers, editors, and readers can mingle and promote excellent fiction.” The free readings are held on the third Wednesday of each month at 7PM at KGB Bar, 85 East 4th Street (just off 2nd Avenue, upstairs).
For a full schedule, see www.sensesfive.com/kgb.php. The reading series’s Yahoo mailing list is available for subscription at this link.