Talk to Me

"World leaders need to answer to artists." This was the rallying cry of Natalia Kaliada, artistic director of the Belarus Free Theatre, at a benefit for the embattled dissident troupe organized by the PEN American Center that was held at Le Poisson Rouge on Wednesday. She added “politicians do not have steps; they have just words.”

At last month's True Story: Non-Fiction at KGB Bar, famed essayist, journalist and critic Vivian Gornick talked about womanhood, working and life as a woman worker. KGB curator Erin Edmison introduced the night with a story of how she came to first read Gornick's work.

Two is a famously bad age for toddlers, but it seems to be a prime number for a reading series marking a rite of passage—in this case, the celebration this past Wednesday of the Happy Ending Music and Reading Series’ two-year anniversary at Joe’s Pub. 

The theme of the Happy Ending event at Joe's Pub on November 10th was dreams and ambitions. Jennifer Egan, Julia Holmes and Teddy Wayne read from their new novels, which offer unconventional views of success, explore what it means, and consider whether success can make us happy.

In the latest episode of KGB's non-fiction reading series, Dan Charnas read from his forthcoming book "The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop." Charnas' book, out next month, examines how hip-hop originated in the ghettos of 1970s New York to become one of the world's predominant pop-culture as well as a multi-billion dollar businesses. Also at KGB, Sara Marcus read from her book "Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrl Movement Revolution." The book tells the brash story of the early '90s music and feminism that became the Riot Grrl movement.

Lady Antonia Fraser recently took the New York Public Library (NYPL) stage elegantly poised and eager to spellbind the audience with tales from her memoir, "Must You Go? My Life with Harold Pinter." 

When it comes to things that go bump in the night, or things that bump each other off in the night, Otto Penzler is the man. The proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop purveys classic and contemporary crime novels, chillers, and thrillers, but in recent years has also become a kind of anthology Master of Ceremonies, rounding up choice selections in such genres as pulp and vampire fiction. Most recently, he has curated two volumes in Houghton Mifflin’s “Best American” series—“The Best American Mystery Stories 2010” (with Lee Child) and “The Best American Noir of the Century” (with James Ellroy).

When did the undead become so popular? Vampires used to lurk on the fringes of pop culture: but these days they are heroes, heartthrobs, and the family next door.

This year’s New Yorker Festival featured a panel on gay marriage--an appropriate topic given this month's onslaught of gay hate crimes, suicides and statements from elected officials about gay rights. The longstanding fight over same-sex marriage between gay rights activists and conservative politicians is now more heated than ever. The New Yorker Festival’s panel on gay marriage was a timely discussion that laid out current arguments from both sides.

In the latest episode of KGB's non-fiction reading series, Moustafa Bayoumi read from his book, "How Does it Feel to be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America."