Last year, Lit Crawl rolled through Cobble Hill and brought joy to all the reading and drinking boys and girls in the neighborhood. So of course they’re doing it again this year, and now that they’ve gotten help from you nice people, they’re ready to announce the schedule of events for the crawl, on Saturday May 18. It landed in our inbox this morning, and it looks great! On tap: stories of freelance horror, your life in six words and more literary trivia battles. And just like last year, it’s all free.
There’s plenty to do of course, but our favorites from a quick look-over are stories about underwear told in an actual laundromat, Atlantis Super Wash Center, on Atlantic Avenue, stories about the horrors of freelancing that will be going down at Camp and the Six Word Memoir Slam at BookCourt, where contestants are challenged to compress their lives into one six word memoir. The full schedule is as follows:
Phase 1: 5 – 5:45 pm
1. Getting Personal with A Public Space
A Public Space (All Ages)
323 Dean Street
A Reading with A Public Space and Graywolf Authors, including John Haskell, Brett Fletcher Lauer, J. Robert Lennon, Fiona Maazel, and others.
2. One Teen Story: Celebrate NYC’s Teen Writers!
Nunu Chocolates (All Ages)
529 Atlantic Avenue
Join One Teen Story for the launch of its annual fiction contest, with readings from contributors and area teens, plus tips for submitting your work from the editors.
3. The Lost & Found Show and Dirty Laundry Present: The Naughty Bits
Atlantis Super Wash Center
472 Atlantic Avenue
Hold on to your tights! A laundromat sets the stage for stories about underwear, featuring confessions from the lives of authors, bloggers, and burlesque stars.
4. You Are Not Alone with Lost Lit
Grumpy Bert (All Ages)
82 Bond Street
Somewhere between birth & death (call it life), you’re in darkness. You feel alone. Writers unite to unveil the hidden truth: You Are NOT Alone.
Phase 2: 6:15 – 7:00 pm
5. Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop Talks Unlikable Characters
Brooklyn Buschenschank (21+)
320 Court Street
From Humbert Humbert to Gone Girl’s Amazing Amy, “unlikable” characters are essential to great literature. Sackett Street Writers Jamel Brinkley, Roxane Gay, Alex Gilvarry, and Marissa Levien celebrate the tragically (and comically) flawed.
6. Monkey Business: Monkeying Around in Japan
Dassara Brooklyn Ramen (All Ages)
271 Smith Street
Japanamerica author Roland Kelts and Yoko Sawai of The Hard Nips host readings and performances from the English edition of the acclaimed Japanese literary magazine, Monkey Business.
7. Liars’ League: Yet More Lies
People’s Republic of Brooklyn (PRB) (21+)
247 Smith Street
Three favorite stories taken from the archives of Liars’ League NYC, the monthly reading series featuring original short fiction read by professional actors.
8. Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Circus Cabaret
Verde on Smith (All Ages)
216 Smith Street
Ringleaders Max March-Steinman and Diana Norma Szokolyai host a night of high-flying, interactive writing acrobatics drawing from literary treasure boxes of prompts, dialogue, and other surprises.
9. Prompt. Write. Share. Rinse. Repeat. Write-In with Gotham Writers’ Workshop
Ceol (21+)
191 Smith Street
Gotham Writers’ Workshop’s Melissa Petro invites you to lose your literary anxiety and pick up a pen. Three writing prompts will be provided.
10. Vol. 1 Brooklyn: Five Minute Tales of Freelance Terror
Camp (21+)
179 Smith Street
Vol. 1 Brooklyn calls together six readers to tell five-minute stories of late paychecks, stolen ideas, and other writer heartbreaks.
11. Down the Rabbit Hole with Out of Print Clothing
Musician’s General Store (All Ages)
177 Smith Street
Join Out of Print in Wonderland! We’ll play Literary Celebrity – part charades, part password, all fun. Surprises await.
12. An Evening with PEN American Center
BookCourt (All Ages)
163 Court Street
Join us for a night of literature and conversation at Brooklyn’s beloved BookCourt, where writers and PEN Members Elliott Holt and Alina Simone will read from their new work and engage the audience in conversation.
Phase 3: 7:15 – 8:00 pm
13. Bernice Eats Brooklyn
Last Exit (21+)
136 Atlantic Avenue
Experience the selected works of the Oh, Bernice! Reading Series, with Peter Vanderberg, Deborah Fried-Rubin, Rajiv Mohabir, and John Reid Curry.
14. Tin House hosts Fighting Words Trivia!
The Brazen Head (21+)
228 Atlantic Avenue
We’ll incite rivalries and rub salt in wounds with a trivia game about literary feuds and insults. Prizes galore!
15. SMITH Magazine’s Six-Word Memoir Slam
BookCourt (All Ages)
163 Court Street
Storytellers each tell a Six-Word Memoir, followed by a backstory in six minutes. An audience participation Six-Word Slam follows—with prizes.
16. NY Writers Coalition Poetry Heroes
Urban Folk Art Gallery (All Ages)
99-101 Smith Street (door at Brooklyn Tattoo)
NY Writers Coalition presents Michael Cirelli, Angel Nafis, and Jon Sands: poets who inspire us for their poetic bravery, innovation, and dedication to honest dialogue.
17. Rough Magic
Micro Museum (All Ages)
123 Smith Street
Join Rough Magic, the five-piece band (Cornelius Eady, Robin Messing, Emma Alabaster, Concetta Abbate, Charlie Rauh, and Leo Ferguson) in the zone where spoken word and song craft kiss.
18. My Apocalypse with Sock Monkey Press
Boat Bar (21+)
175 Smith Street
If the world were going to end, how would you want to go? We bring the apocalypses of 3 authors and 78 RPM atomic bomb songs.
19. Queens College MFA Program Presents: Queens Transfer
Recession Art (All Ages)
51 Bergen Street
Join Queens College MFA candidates Mike Baugh, Faye Sakellaridis, Olivia Mammone, Gabriel Cabrera, and Eric Becker as they take readers across a literary and geographic expanse.
20. Armchair/Shotgun’s Old-Timey Radio Show
61 Local (21+)
61 Bergen Street
Armchair/Shotgun performs a radio drama. Live! On Stage! “With Sound Effects and Everything!” It’s the Armchair/Shotgun Old-Timey Radio Hour. (Or rather, 45 Minutes…)
After Party
8 p.m. until…
61 Local (21+)
61 Bergen Street
FREE, Open to all Crawlers