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Phase 1: East Village – 7:00-7:45 PM
1. Muumuu House Cash-Money-Obama Millionaires
Botanica Bar
47 E Houston (between Mulberry and Mott)
Muumuu House (est. 2008) presents Brandon Scott Gorrell, Zachary German, and Abigail Lloyd in a wonderful evening of poetry and perhaps fiction. Muumuu House is a publishing company founded by Tao Lin; its first two publications are debut poetry-collections by Ellen Kennedy and Brandon Scott Gorrell.
Zachary German was born in 1988. Melville House will release his first novel, “Eat When You Feel Sad,” in February 2010. He lives in Brooklyn.
Brandon Scott Gorrell (b. 1984) is the author of “During My Nervous Breakdown I Want to Have a Biographer Present” (Muumuu House, June 2009). He lives in Seattle.
Abigail Lloyd lives in Queens. Her website is www.alloyd2.blogspot.com.
2. Single Woman of a Certain Age
The Lounge
310 Bowery (between Houston and Bleeker)
Litquake co-founder Jane Ganahl, Ellie Slott Fisher, Irene Sherlock and Anne Buelteman – will read from the re-released anthology, “Single Woman of a Certain Age.” In essay topics that range from attending one’s first dance in decades to taking a midnight sail in Singapore harbor, expect worldly and witty observations about the joys and pitfalls of la vida sola, midlife-style.
Anne Buelteman is a stage actress who spent 11 years on the road with a major musical. A zealous diarist who is writing a memoir, her essay in “Single Woman of a Certain Age” is her first published work.
Ellie Slott Fisher is the author of “Mom, There’s a Man in the Kitchen and He’s Wearing Your Robe” and “Dating for Dads.” She is a contributor to “Single Woman of a Certain Age” and lives in Yardley, PA.
Jane Ganahl is the author of the memoir “Naked on the Page: the Misadventures of My Unmarried Midlife,” editor of the anthology “Single Woman of a Certain Age” and co-founder of the Litquake festival.
Irene Sherlock teaches at Western Connecticut State University. Her poems and essays have been published in many places, including Poetry Motel and the New York Times, and her words have been broadcast on NPR.
3. BOMB Magazine Presents: BOMB-aoke!
UPDATED VENUE!!
Gallery Bar
120 Orchard St. (between Rivington and Delancey)
Join the editors of BOMB Magazine for the much-anticipated return of live BOMB-aoke! Help re-enact classic interviews from BOMB’s 28 years in a karaoke-style format. Act out Jonathan Safran Foer interviewing Jeffrey Eugenides (BOMB #81), or Willem Defoe by Frances McDormand (BOMB #55). The best performance wins a free vintage issue of BOMB worth lots of dough! Special guest poet & videomaker Brandon Downing shows projections of new video works that combine homophonic translation, cultural inadequacy, smoking jive tunes and curatorial practice with the cloying and destroying energy of FLARF, incurring joy, curiosity and a degree of fear!
Brandon Downing is a videomaker, visual artist, and writer originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. He now lives in New York City, where he works as an exhibit designer and writer. An online gallery of much of his recent photographic work can be seen at www.brandondowning.org. A feature-length DVD collection of recent video works, DARK BRANDON // ETERNAL CLASSICS, was released in 2007, and a monograph of his literary collages, LAKE ANTIQUITY, will be published by Fence in 2009.
4. Silk Ties vs. Black Eyes: A Night of Sartorial and Pharmacological Literary Trivia with Harper Perennial
KGB
85 E 4th St. (between Bowery and Second Avenue)
Match wits with Tony O’Neill, the lord of the underground lit scene, who writes “like a man with his tongue in a light socket and his toe in a puddle of spilled blood” (Jerry Stahl), and Simon Van Booy, the tweed-clad professor who muses on the classics and authors short stories that are “chillingly beautiful” (LA Times). Test your breadth of literary knowledge with Harper Perennial, from the gritty, dark streets and hellish demons of cult fiction to the tender empathy and time-honored backlog of classical works. Winners get a silk tie (or an amazing prize package!), losers get a black eye. Just kidding. No violence will be inflicted on losers, just a loss of dignity and bragging rights.
Simon Van Booy grew up in the mountains of Wales and in Oxford. His journalism has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Post and he lectures regularly at the School of Visual Arts, Long Island University, and Southampton Library. His first collection of short stories, the critically acclaimed The Secret Lives of People in Love, has been translated into eight languages. His second collection, Love Begins in winter, will be published by Harper Perennial in May. He lives in Brooklyn.
In addition to his novels, Tony O’Neill is the author of several books of stories and poems, including Seizure Wet Dream and Songs from the Shooting Gallery. He is a survivor of heroin, crack, rehab, fatherhood, and stints as a musician in the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Kenickie, and Marc Almond’s band. A founding member – along with Ben Myers and Adelle Stripe – of the Brutalist literary movement, he lives in New York with his wife and daughter. Down and Out on Murder Mile, his first novel, was published by Harper Perennial last year.
5. French Writers Unite!
Arrow Bar
85 Ave. A (between 6th and 7th Street)
A Lit Crawl first, French Writers Unite! features three French writers speaking in their native tongue. Expect to hear powerful tales from some of France’s best writers–established and emerging—currently living in New York City: Régis de Sá Moreira, Jean-Eric Boulin and Fabrice Robinet.
Jean Eric Boulin a 31 ans, il vient de Marseille. Il a publie deux romans, Supplement au roman national en 2006 et La question blanche en 2008 aux editions Stock. Il fait partie du collectif Qui fait la France qui a publie en 2007 le recueil de nouvelles Chroniques d une societe annoncee. Depuis novembre 2008, il vit a New York.
Régis de Sá Moreira est né en 1973, il vit aujourd’hui à Brooklyn. Traduit en allemand, russe et portugais, il est l’auteur de quatre romans : Pas de temps à perdre, Zéro tués, Le Libraire, Mari et femme publiés aux éditions Au diable Vauvert.
Fabrice Robinet est né à Montpellier. Il a vingt-neuf ans et vit désormais à New York.
6. YourTango presents Reading Between The Sheets: Love And Sex Writers Tell All
Bowery Electric
327 Bowery (at Second Street)
Relationship writers share tales of love, marriage, sex, breakups and everything in between. Hear from some of the hottest writers who aren’t afraid to bare all – from the heart, in the bedroom, and on the page. Writers read pieces from YourTango and discuss just how far they will, and won’t, go when writing about the crazy thing called love.
Craig Bridger is a freelance writer and author of the book, Surviving Groomzilla: A Bride’s Guide. He’s written for the New York Times, The New York Observer, GQ, Men’s Health Living, men.style.com, and is a frequent contributor to Men’s Health.
Jill Provost is a sex and health writer whose work has appeared in Glamour and Women’s Health. Before going freelance, she worked at Good Housekeeping, where “dirty talk” pertained to feather dusters and countertops.
Susan Shapiro, a Manhattan journalism teacher, is author of six books including Five Men Who Broke My Heart and Lighting Up. Her first novel Speed Shrinking debuts in August.
Genevieve Lill is the Associate Editor of YourTango.com, a Web site dedicated to love, sex, dating and relationships. She edits essays, features and the site’s signature news and trends blog.
Phase 2: Lower East Side – 8-8:45 PM
7. Gigantic Microreading
Home Sweet Home
131 Chrystie St. (between Kenmare and Broome)
Less is more. More is also more. Please join Gigantic, a new magazine of short prose and art, for three minute readings and/or artistic presentations from Gigantic #1 contributors Tao Lin, James J. Williams III, Yuka Igarashi, Ben Blum, Andrew Bulger, Matt Di Paoli and possibly others.
Ben Blum holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Berkeley. He is a fiction intern at The New Yorker and teaches writing to second graders at PS 110.
Andrew Bulger is a Brooklyn based artist and philosopher. He received a graduate degree in Philosophy from the London School of Economics and has since been exploring his preoccupations in art’s own language.
Yuka Igarashi is an MFA candidate in fiction at Columbia University. Her work has appeared in Quick Fiction and Gigantic. She lives farther out than you do in Brooklyn.
Tao Lin (b. 1983) is the author of the forthcoming novella SHOPLIFTING FROM AMERICAN APPAREL (Sept. 2009, Melville House) and four previous books.
James J. Willams III is an artist and curator. He has had solo exhibtions in New York, Paris, London, Berlin and Miami. James is seeking help for his growing Law and Order addicton.
Matthew Di Paoli is a native New Yorker. At Boston College, he received the Dever Fellowship and recently completed his MFA at Columbia.
Shane Jones is the author of the novel LIGHT BOXES (PGP 2009). His next book, THE FAILURE SIX, will be published by Fugue State Press in January 2010.
8. New York Tyrant presents “Two Gallants”
Fontanas
105 Eldridge St. (between Grand and Broome)
The New York Tyrant presents a reading like no other: Two Gallants. Have you ever been read down to? Down to from like 20 feet up? Well, you will tonight. And it will be amplified as loud as #@&%. Justin Taylor and Robert Lopez. Need I say more?? If I do, then you’re stupid.
Justin Taylor is the co-editor of The Agriculture Reader, an arts annual. His first book, Everything Here Is The Best Thing Ever, will be published by Harper Perennial next year.
Robert Lopez is the author of Part of the World and Kamby Bolongo Mean River, forthcoming from Dzanc Books in September.
9. Opium: Opium Live!
Happy Ending
302 Broome St. (between Forsyth and Eldridge)
Opium Live features seven-question interviews with today’s most innovative and exciting authors and artists. Usually set on the first Tuesday of every month at Manhattan’s Happy Ending, Opium Live features an hour-or-less of sharp and easy banter with plenty of twists (including audience participation).
Jack Boulware has written a couple of books, started a couple of magazines, and is co-founder of this Litquake thingie. His next book, an oral history of punk rock in the Bay Area, comes out this October from Penguin. www.jackboulware.com
Christopher Kennedy’s most recent book is Encouragement for a Man Falling to His Death (BOA Editions, Ltd., 2007). He directs the MFA Program at Syracuse University. He can be reached at chriskenne@gmail.com. He resides in Camillus, NY, near an industrious family of giant woodchucks. He has made a conscious decision to favor paratactical constructions. His stories also appear in Opium4: Live Well Now! (No Matter What).
10. The Crowd Goes Wild: Literary Basketball League Reads from Hoops Classics
Envoy Gallery
131 Chrystie St. (between Kenmare and Broome)
Members of WORD bookstore’s new basketball league take their competition off the court and onto the page as they read aloud from classics of basketball literature. Will their reading skills be better than their basketball skills? For your sake, we certainly hope so. Featuring members of such teams as The Virginia Wolves, A Tree Dunks in Brooklyn, and Mrs. Balloway.
11. FSG Presents: Ground Up and Consumed
Gallery Bar
120 Orchard St. (between Rivington and Delancey)
FSG Presents: Ground Up & Consumed featuring Michael Idov and some of the nice folks who contributed to Ad Nauseam: A Survivor’s Guide to American Consumer Culture. This is an evening about the American Dream, how it woos you, and how it can bite you in the ass.
Michael Idov is a staff writer for New York magazine and the editor in chief of the literary quarterly Russia! Ground Up is his first novel, inspired by the author’s own failed attempt at opening a coffeehouse.
Damian Chadwick is a writer and comedian based in New York. He writes for the Upright Citizens Brigade house sketch team Gramps and performs around town with the long-form improv group Sherpa.
Gaylord Fields, the senior editor at AOL Music, has previously worked at Rolling Stone and Spin. He also currently hosts a free-form radio program on WFMU in Jersey City every Sunday evening.
Carrie McLaren is the editor of Ad Nauseam. For over a decade, she published Stay Free!, a nonprofit magazine focused on American media and consumer culture. Her latest venture is Adult Education, a monthly “useless lecture series” that she curates for Union Hall in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
After Party – 9 PM – 1 AM
Fontanas
105 Eldridge St (between Grand and Broome)




4 responses so far ↓
Jack Boulware » Archive » Litquake New York! // May 5, 2009 at 11:51 pm |
[...] will be appearing at the Litquake Lit Crawl NY on Saturday May 16th, as part of the Opium Live onstage interview series, along with Christopher [...]
Lit Crawl Twitters @litcrawlnyc « Lit Crawl NYC // May 10, 2009 at 1:22 am |
[...] View the Complete Schedule ← BOMB Magazine Presents: BOMB-aoke! @ Bowery Poetry Club [...]
Literary Mayhem « Around the World in Gold Stilettos // May 12, 2009 at 11:26 pm |
[...] However, most of my free time lately has been devoted to yet another labor of love. The second Lit Crawl NYC is taking place this weekend and it’s going to be leaner, meaner and a whole lot of fun. We [...]
<HTMLGIANT> > Blog Archive » Tomorrow is LitCrawl NYC (!!!!) // May 15, 2009 at 9:47 pm |
[...] This is just a friendly reminder that tomorrow night is LitCrawl NYC, masterminded (in part) by Opium master-chef Todd Zuniga, and sponsored by Harper Perennial and LitQuake (the SFCA literary festival, gone bicoastal). The promotional bookmarks they gave me promise 40 authors giving 11 readings over the course of 2 hours, to be followed by 1 afterparty. Phase 1 begins at 7 Pm and is the East Village Phase. My top picks for this round are either Muumuu House at Botanica (readers are Zachary German, Brandon Scott Gorrell and Abigail Lloyd) or Harper Perennial’s “Silk Ties vs. Black Eyes” at the KGB, where my man Tony O’Neill will be teaming up with Simon van Booy for a nnight of “sartorial and pharmacological trivia.” Sure, why not? Phase 2 is the Lower East Side Phase, and begins at 8 PM. (The idea is you bolt from one thing to the next, bar-crawl style.) This time there’s a clear favorite choice. Is it Opium’s trademark OpiumLive show at Happy Ending? No. Is it the Gigantic magazine microeading at Home Sweet Home, featuring Ben Blum, Shane Jones, Tao Lin, and more? Almost…but no. I’m going to have to go ahead and nominate the New York Tyrant reading at Fontana’s, featuring Robert Lopez and…who is that other guy? Oh yeah! It’s me. Gian (aka Mr. Tyrant) tells me they’ve got it set up so Lopez and I will be on a balcony, reading down to/at/on the crowd, like a true tyrant addressing his loyal subjects, possibly while deciding how many of them to slaughter. Does fun get funner than this? Only at the afterparty, which is ALSO at Fontana’s, so if you come to the NyTy reading you get the double bonus of already being where the blow-out’s at. To see the full schedule, including complete list of readers and directions to all the bars, click here. [...]