The upcoming New York City readings are, as usual, good places to meet and hear the writers you like (or will come to like), meet and talk with fellow fans, and have a nice dinner with a crowd of like-minded people.
The New York Review of Science Fiction (NYRSF) Reading Series at the South Street Seaport Museum will be on 3 June. The doors will open at 6:30PM for the usual 7 o’clock start time. This month’s readers will be Karen Russell and Thomas M. Disch.
Karen Russell, a native of Miami, has been featured in both The New Yorker‘s debut fiction issue and New York magazine’s list of twenty-five people to watch under the age of twenty-six. She is a graduate of the Columbia MFA program and is the 2005 recipient of the Transatlantic Review/Henfield Foundation Award; her fiction has recently appeared in Conjunctions, Granta, Zoetrope, Oxford American, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, and The New Yorker. Her recent collection, St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, has received rave reviews and has selections turning up in several “Best of the Year” anthologies. Twenty-five years old, she lives in New York City.
Thomas M. Disch is the author of such diverse publications as The Prisoner, The Dreams Our Stuff are Made Of, Camp Concentration, and The Brave Little Toaster. A renowned poet and book critic, Disch’s reviews, criticism, and essays have been published in The Nation, Harper’s, the Washington Post, the LA Times, and Entertainment Weekly. He has received the Pushcart Prize and the John W. Campbell and O’Henry awards. He lives, and writes, in New York City. With his latest novel, The Word of God, Disch reveals his sudden elevation to Godhood—but to retain it, he must do battle with the recently reincarnated Philip K. Dick.
The NYRSF Reading Series takes place the first Tuesday of every month at the South Street Seaport’s Melville Gallery, 213 Water Street. Admission is free, but $5 donations are encouraged to offset costs and buy dinner for the readers. The producer and executive curator is radio producer and talk show host Jim Freund. For more information, see www.hourwolf.com/nyrsf.
Then there’s the Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series, hosted by Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel. On 18 June, they’ll be presenting Terri Windling and Howard Gayton. As always, readings start about 7, but arrive early if you want to get a seat (the bar is kind of small).
Terri Windling has written and edited over forty books, winning eight World Fantasy Awards, and the Mythopoeic Award for her novel The Wood Wife. Her most recent book is the The Coyote Road, co-edited with Ellen Datlow. Two novels, The Moon Wife and Little Owl, are forthcoming from Tor and Viking.
Howard Gayton is a writer, performer, and director of The Ophaboom Theatre Company in London.
Fantastic Fiction at KGB is held in the KGB Bar, 85 East 4th Street (just off 2nd Avenue, upstairs) the third Thursday of every month. Mobile Libris is usually present to sell readers’ books. For more information on the location, see www.kgbbar.com; for information on the reading series, see their web site or their Yahoo group. Co-host Datlow also usually takes and posts many photos of the events. Her photos from the 21 May reading (Ekaterina Sedia and Jack O’Connell) are available at this link.