MONDAY, 9.13: Get chummy when perfect little package, One Story magazine, hosts its monthly get-together at Arlene Grocery, and provides that classic balm for the writer’s soul: half-off hooch. Monday evening’s reader, David Gates, is the author of Jernigan and Wonders of the Invisible World. Go for the $3 Maker’s Mark special, and maybe make a friend or two, preferably the bartender. 6:30pm, FREE.
TUESDAY, 9.14: When I started a reading series a year ago with a couple of friends, I had no idea how much work such an endeavor would entail, or how much fun I would have in the process. Tuesday night, expect the latter when Cupcake, the reading series for New York’s best women writers, brings you an evening with nine amazing ladies who blog: Jami Attenberg, Nathalie Chicha, Eurotrash, Emma Garman, Blaise K, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Maccers, and Elizabeth Spiers will read, with introductions courtesy of guest hostess with the mostess, Maud Newton. 7:00pm, FREE.
WEDNESDAY, 9.15: Show off your school spirit at a benefit for the Hetrick-Martin Institute, home of Harvey Milk High. Hornito author Mike Albo, singer-songwriter (and Drag Queens of New York field guide author) Julian Fleischer, and Kenny Mellman (Herb, of “Kiki & Herb” fame), get by at Fez with a little help from their many, talented friends. 7:00pm, $20.
THURSDAY, 9.16: Accept that you can’t change, tell your girl, and travel on, for yet another reading this week, as Dogwalker author and documentary filmmaker Arthur Bradford, and Buenos Aires-based writer Maxine Swann, author of Serious Girls (her story, “Flower Children,” won the Cohen Award, The O. Henry Award, the Pushcart Prize and was included in The Best American Short Stories, all in one year – 1998), convene for a literary event par excellence at Freebird, man. 7:00pm, FREE.
FRIDAY, 9.17: The Central Eurasia Project of the Open Society Institute presents a talk by Washington Post reporter, and Blood From Stones author, Douglas Farah, who, “exposes the financial network that stretches from the diamond fields of West Africa and commodities markets in Europe and the Middle East to terrorist-front charities based in U.S. cities…[and]… argues that al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations have long followed a financial diversification strategy that has rendered almost useless the crackdown by the U.S. government and other governments.” Well, snap! 12:30-2:00pm. Appears free, but the OSI site lacks complete information (sigh). Call 1-212-548-0600 for details.
SATURDAY, 9.18: Right now I’m reading Alistair Horne’s Seven Ages of Paris, which is so dense and detailed that I can only get through a few pages a day, meaning that devouring this book, however slowly, qualifies as an ongoing current obsession of mine. It’s also revived my occasional interest in illuminated manuscripts and truly antiquarian books. Here are a few on display around town that have Saturday viewing hours: The Hours of Etienne Chevalier, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art; The Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux, at The Cloisters; and the first Gutenberg Bible to come to the United States, at the New York Public Library. Futurists, behold the dawn of a new age at ArtBots: The Robot Talent Show. Times vary.
SUNDAY, 9.19: Sunday Salon returns from its summer break with a bang as four authors read from their work on Sunday night: Stephanie Elizondo Griest (Around The Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing and Havana), Merrill Feitell (Here Beneath Low-Flying Planes), Brenda Lin (Wealth Ribbon: Taiwan Bound, America Bound), and Kristan Ryan (Strange Angels: The Book of Damaris). 7:00pm, FREE.
The Smart Set is a weekly column, edited by Lauren Cerand, that appears Mondays and highlights the best of the week to come. Special favor is given to New York’s independent booksellers and venues, and low-cost and free events. Please submit details to lauren@maudnewton.com by the Thursday before publication for consideration.
