Tonight, writer Jonathan Franzen will be at BookCourt (163 Court Street) to promote his much-lauded new novel Freedom. He will read excerpts from the book and stick around to sign copies. The reading gets underway at 7pm, but will likely fill up, so arrive early.
Archive | Literature RSS feed for this section
FREE Theater Starts Next Week!
Smith Street Stage, a brand new Brooklyn-based theater company, will take the stage next week with their condensed rendition of Romeo & Juliet. The William Shakespeare play that consists of 20 characters will be played by five actors and streamlined to 90 minutes. The shows will be performed at Carroll Park August 16th-20th and 26th-28th at 6:30pm. It’s free of charge, and audience members can bring their own seating.
Using Carroll Park as their only set and eliminating elaborate costumes, Smith Street Stage hopes to put emphasis on the language by having it spoken by classically trained actors. The cast consists of locals from NYU Tisch, UConn Drama, and Yale Grad Acting.
Fore more information, including cast info, albums, and directions to the park, visit www.smithstreetstage.org.
Book Club at Book Court
The Slow Food NYC Book Club debuted this evening at Book Court, featuring David Kirby’s latest, Animal Factory: The Looming Threat of Industrial Pig, Dairy and Poultry Farms on Humans and the Environment. Featured as special guest star was the author himself, which made it a hybrid book club/author appearance event. Kirby spoke quite passionately (and graphically) about the horrific conditions farm animals endure before they’re slaughtered, and how the industry wreaks havoc on its employees’ physical and mental states as well.
The event was a shocking look at an industry whose secrets had at one time even surprised the author (e.g. arsenic in chicken feed to give the meat that pearly look; “no added growth hormones” means they’re usually not added in the feed but via injection). Kirby also challenged the Obama Administration to make good on the promises that helped get him elected. (Kirby pointed out that Barack Obama won Iowa largely with his anti-factory farming campaign, while Hilary Clinton turned Iowans off by cozying up to the agri-business pork producers.) I didn’t think it could be possible to relate tales of the agri-business through provocative storytelling, but Kirby did it.
The event itself came from Slow Food member Carol Dacey-Charles, who chose this book because “it carries our same philosophy [and] shows the social, health and environmental impact of large-scale industrial farming.” And in keeping with the desire to harvest local talent, the author resides in Brooklyn.
So how does the story end? You’ll have to pick up the book—I sure did. You can also learn more about Slow Food NYC here. On tap for next month will be Diet for a Hot Planet with another local author, Anna Lappé.
Little Kids, Big Fun at Book Court
Real Housewives of NYC stars and some of CHB’s favorite neighbors Alex McCord and Simon van Kempen were at Book Court last night to read from their newly published book Little Kids, Big City. Both parents raved about the advantages of living in “the village” that is Cobble Hill. Though, as they pointed out in chapters like “Don’t Listen to the Well-Meaning Morons,” New York is a challenging city for raising a family; it is, as they described, “a place where children will be tempted to lick the credit card machine in the back of a taxi.”
Little Kids, Big City takes a humorous and informative look at parenting and is filled with stories of the family’s many adventures around the city. Their inspiration behind the book, sons François, age 6, and Johan, age 4, were in the crowd last night with a cadre of friends, listening attentively – or as attentively as can be expected from two young boys hopped up on doughnuts.
I’m sure our dear readers have endless stories about the hilarious and terrifying work of child-rearing in New York. In joining in the spirit of Alex and Simon’s book, how about sharing some of your most memorable moments? The comment section is open!
Nabe Chatter