The solitary writing life lends itself to the lonely drinking life, but even the most anti-social writer has to interact with humanity once in a while. And what better place than a bar? Hemingway had La Closerie de Lilas, Thomas the White Horse Tavern. Brooklyn writers have Literate Sunday, the anonymous writing salon where readers and writers can enjoy a beer and read fiction by local writers. Well, they had it, because Literate Sunday’s longtime headquarters in Williamsburg, The Plank, unexpectedly shuttered at the end of October, leaving the literary salon sans sanctuary. Although its first home is gone, Literate Sunday is growing fast; and they need your help in finding a new place to live.
Just over a year old, Literate Sunday started as “literary experiment between local Brooklyn writers who each wanted to share their work with each other,” according to founder Matthew D’Abate. It has since published the work of famous and amateur writers alike, and was even profiled in the Times last September. Everyone who submits is judged by his writing alone, and not his name, age, or notoriety. “That’s what makes it so much fun,” D’Abate says. Visitors can read one of the five stories printed up each week and write their comments on the back.
Literate Sunday also has a successful website, where over 1,000 subscribers from Omaha to Riyadh read and critique each week’s story, as well as receive inspirational emails from D’Abate. But there’s something about gathering in a central place every week to mingle with other readers that can’t be recreated with a website. So Literate Sunday is dedicated to finding a public space in Brooklyn (and soon other cities across the world) where anyone can visit for a drink and a story.
If you know a bar that wants a weekly cadre of thirsty writers who’ll buy drinks and readers discussing the merits of anonymous great fiction, contact Literate Sunday at literatesunday [AT] gmail.com. In the meantime, you can participate in Literate Sunday online by signing up at their website.