I’m happy to announce I’ve signed on with the Shipman Agency, for whom I’ll be conducting a one-stop-shop seminar on a topic close to my heart. (There are two scholarships available, too.)

Come by for a vinyl set of boogie, disco, and pop from around the world. I recommend the Mirador martini and the tosta matrimonio.

If it pairs well with sun and Italian cocktails, we’ll be playing it at our beloved Darlings.

The great Nora Lange is returning to the Hudson Valley for her short story collection Day Care (Two Dollar Radio), which follows her award-winning debut novel Us Fools. Perhaps you saw “Hot Spot” in The New Yorker last summer?

Nora’s a longtime friend, and it’s so rewarding to see her talents flourish. Come out for a special Sunday at Brunette, in coordination with Rough Draft. (Thanks Drew and Jessie!)

Nora Lange's debut novel Us Fools was awarded the The Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction, named a best book of 2024 by The Boston Globe and NPR, a Los Angeles Times bestseller, and a New York Times Editors’ Choice pick. Her writing has appeared in The Believer, BOMB, Hazlitt, and elsewhere. Her project “Dailyness” was longlisted for the 2014 Leslie Scalapino Award for Innovative Women Performance Writers. She has received fellowships from Brown University and is a fellow at USC’s Los Angeles Institute of the Humanities. She recently moved to Salt Lake City with her family.

I’ll be playing a vinyl set of pure vernal sunshine for Hamilton & Adams’ big spring party. Come on out, drink drinks, shop wares, shake hips.

Adam Ross will be stopping by his alma mater (and my employer) for a reading from his exceptional novel Playworld, which, incidentally, just won the Los Angeles Times Isherwood Prize.

This will be held in Vassar’s Taylor Hall, rm 102.

Adam Ross is the author of the short story collection Ladies and Gentlemen and the novel Mr. Peanut, which was selected as one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Economist. He has been a fellow in fiction at the American Academy in Berlin and a Hodder Fellow for Fiction at Princeton University. He is editor of The Sewanee Review. Born and raised in New York City, he now lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with his two daughters.

I’m playing a vinyl set of all late-’90s and early-’00s tracks at Skate Time.

If the world is a vampire, and girlfriends, they don’t understand, but you want it harder, better, faster, stronger, then ask, What’s being cooler than being cool? (Alright alright alright alright…) Come on down to Skate Time.

I’ll be interviewing Ben on the occasion of his book Cave Mountain, which grew out of his incredible Harper’s piece on his cousin’s disappearance in the Ozarks. Ben’s novelistic talents imbue his nonfiction work on the largest missing persons case in Arkansas history.

Benjamin Hale is the author of the novel The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore and the collection The Fat Artist and Other Stories. His writing has appeared in Harper’s Magazine, Paris Review, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Conjunctions, and has been anthologized in Best American Science and Nature Writing. He is a senior editor at Conjunctions, teaches at Bard College and Columbia University.

If you co-owned a skating rink, why wouldn’t you host your book party there? I’ll be DJing ‘90s vinyl in honor of Stefan’s memoir Homeschooled (Hanover Square Press). Come one, come all.

Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hours: “Stefan Merrill Block’s Homeschooled is a love story and a domestic horror story, so insightfully written that you can’t always separate its loving aspects from its horrifying ones. Its depiction of familial terrors, all inflicted in the name of devotion, driven by the all-too-human need for more devotion, and yet more, raised the hairs on the back of my neck. I didn’t fully realize I’d read it in a single sitting until it became clear that dusk had fallen, and it was time to turn the lights on.”—

About Stefan: Stefan grew up in Plano, Texas. He is the author of Homeschooled, a memoir, as well as three novels: The Story of Forgetting, The Storm at the Door, and Oliver Loving. Stefan’s fiction has been translated into ten languages, and his stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker Page-Turner, The Guardian, NPR’s Radiolab, GRANTA, and many other publications.

I’ll be in conversation with my friend Justin Taylor to celebrate the paperback of his acclaimed novel Reboot (Vintage). This will be an off-site with Rough Draft Bar & Books, held at Brunette wine bar.

Reboot is a comic marvel. Sure, I’m biased. Perhaps the New York Times will convince you: “[Taylor’s] book is, in part, a performance of culture, a mirror of America complete with its own highly imagined myths . . . . It’s a performance of wit and rigor freed of the familiar polarizing semantics, making legible . . . just how much conspiracy theory and pop culture have fused. Not just QAnon and Russiagate, but Kate Middleton and Birds Aren’t Real.”

About Justin: He’s the author of the novel The Gospel of Anarchy, the story collections Everything Here Is the Best Thing Ever and Flings; and the memoir Riding with the Ghost, His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, Bookforum, and the Oxford American. He is a contributing writer to The Washington Post Book World and the director of the Sewanee School of Letters. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Spend Friday with some italo disco, courtesy of Paul Stankus, and pop nostalgia, courtesy of yours truly.

Isn’t it nice when one of your oldest friends becomes a great novelist? Kevin is coming to town to launch his second novel Mỹ Documents. He’ll be in conversation with the wonderful Marie-Helene Bertino; I’m DJing records afterward. Come on out.

Sponsored by Rough Draft, to be held at Camp Kingston.

I’m DJing records at the wonderful Hamilton & Adams in uptown Kingston. Come by, grab a drink, congratulate Andrew and Clark, buy stuff.

I’ll be interviewing the great Ariel Dorfman about his new novel Allegro at the BPL’s Dweck Center. Come on out. (Details)

About the book:

This thrilling historical mystery starring Mozart tells of friendship and betrayal, and how music allows us to defy death—from the acclaimed author of Death and the Maiden and The Suicide Museum.

In 1789 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart visits the grave of Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig, looking for a sign, a signal, an answer to an enigma that has haunted him since childhood: Was Bach murdered by a famous oculist? And years later, was Handel a victim of the same doctor?

Allegro follows his investigation, from the salons of London to the streets of Paris, recreating an enthralling and turbulent time, full of rogues and brilliant composers, charlatans and presumptuous nobles. Running parallel to this search is the rise of Mozart, his knowledge and fame, his trials and losses.

About Ariel Dorfman:

Ariel Dorfman is a Chilean-American author, born in Argentina, whose award-winning books in many genres have been published in more than fifty languages and his plays performed in more than one hundred countries. Among his works are the plays Death and the Maiden and Purgatorio, the novels The Suicide Museum (Other Press, 2023), Widows, and Konfidenz, and the memoirs Heading South, Looking North and Feeding on Dreams. He writes regularly for The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Review of Books, The Nation, The Guardian, El País, and CNN. His stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper’s, The Threepenny Review, and Index on Censorship, among others. A prominent human rights activist, he worked as press and cultural advisor to Salvador Allende’s chief of staff in the final months before the 1973 military coup, and later spent many years in exile. He lives with his wife Angélica in Santiago, Chile, and Durham, North Carolina, where he is the Walter Hines Page Emeritus Professor of Literature at Duke University.

Come on out for an afternoon of community, booze, bites, and music. We’ll have a raffle with all proceeds going to Planned Parenthood.

A hearty thank you to our friends for donating some truly great prizes: Arrowood Farms, BOMB, Siglio Press, Dia: Beacon, Upstate Films, Al Olender (go to her Alentine’s Show!), Skate Time, Rough Draft, and Little, Brown Books.

Vinyl DJ sets from yours truly and buddies: Will Rauscher, Grand Format, DJ Harlan, Eric Amling, Paul Stankus, and Rob Davis. (Check out Rob’s brand-new record shop Freakout Spot in Accord!)

My beloved Darlings is doing a champagne and fried chicken celebration from 12-9. I’ll be playing records in the evening. Come on down.

Kingston’s beloved bar-bookstore is turning seven. Come out and celebrate with me. I’ll be DJing and high-fiving all comers.

Thrilled to be returning to the Brooklyn Book Festival on their official festival day, paneling with Hari Kunzru (Blue Ruin) and fellow upstater Adelle Waldman (Help Wanted).

Here’s the official event info:

“Not All That Glitters Is Gold”
Borough Hall Courtroom, 209 Joralemon St

Hari Kunzru’s Blue Ruin, Adelle Waldman’s Help Wanted, and Ryan Chapman’s The Audacity probe the dynamics of class in our ever-modernizing world. Blue Ruin follows an art school graduate whose promising future comes crashing down during the pandemic. Help Wanted follows the low-wage employees of Team Movement, whose lives cycle through grueling days of few hours, multiple jobs, and early shifts—until the store manager announces he’s leaving. In The Audacity, the implosion of a multibillion-dollar health startup provides insight into life for the .0001% under late-stage capitalism. Join these three authors for a conversation on class, race, the modern American workplace, and the trials and tribulations of trying to make a living. Moderated by Kate Tuttle, past president of the National Book Critics Circle and an editor at the Boston Globe.

I’m thrilled to be in conversation with my friend Nora Lange for her debut novel Us Fools (Two Dollar Radio). She’s already garnered quite a bit of pre-publicity buzz, as is deserved. Join us at Oblong, and please RSVP in advance.

Playing records at my beloved Darlings. Think Panda Bear, Prince, & Prince Buster.

I’m chatting with Julian Tepper (Cooler Haads) at the esteemed Salmagundi Club about art, the allure of members clubs, and financial catastrophes. Should be a fine time! RSVP at the link.

Aaron Hicklin of One Grand Books has assembled New York’s most exciting literary festival. Excited to be a part of this year’s edition. The theme: Another Eden.

Other authors include Jamaica Kincaid, Masha Gessen, Lydia Millet, Nell Painter, and Vivian Gornick.

Justin’s repping Reboot, I’m flogging The Audacity. We’ll chat a bit and toast our return to beautiful Sewanee.

I’m participating in my friend Stephen Cummings’s new event series. RSVP for location.

ABOUT SALAD: This multimedia concert, exhibition, and performance is curated to showcase the work of artists spanning multiple genres and disciplines. The next Salad will feature:

• performances by Emily Foley and Taurean Parker

• music by Chammeili and Alden Muller

• photography by Tahmid Alam

• artwork by Amy Osika

• reading by Ryan Chapman from his new novel, “The Audacity”

Doors open at 6:30pm and performances begin at 7:00.

… And yes, there will be Salad. Salad is designed to facilitate connections between artists and across artistic practices, and to encourage cross-pollination and collaboration. So join us to revel in the work of these talented performers and creators and stick around after the show to find your next inspiration.

$15 entrance fee will help cover costs of the show for artists and curators. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Soak your Friday night in negronis with the New York launch of The Audacity. I’ll be in conversation with Amitava Kumar, whose own novel My Beloved Life publishes this spring. There will be plenty of surprises and at least one after-party.

RSVP here; your $5 ticket cost can be put toward a copy of the book or a drink at the bar.

AMITAVA KUMAR is a writer and journalist. He was born in Ara, and grew up in the nearby town of Patna, famous for its corruption, crushing poverty and delicious mangoes. Kumar is the author of several books of non-fiction and four novels. For 2023-24, he is a Cullman Center Fellow at the New York Public Library. In 2016, Kumar was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship (General Nonfiction) as well as a Ford Fellowship in Literature from United States Artists. He has also been awarded writing residences by Yaddo, MacDowell Colony, the Rockefeller Foundation at Bellagio, the Norman Mailer Writing Center, Writers Omi at Ledig House, and the Lannan Foundation.

Kumar lives in Poughkeepsie, in upstate New York, where he is the Helen D. Lockwood Professor of English at Vassar College. He serves on the board of the Corporation of Yaddo.

Kumar’s new novel, My Beloved Life, will be published in February, 2024 by Knopf. His last novel, A Time Outside This Time, was published in October, 2021 by Knopf. It was published by Hamish Hamilton in Canada, Aleph in India, and  by Picador in the UK. The New Yorker described it as “a shimmering assault on the Zeitgeist.” His earlier novel Immigrant, Montana: A Novel, published by Faber in the UK, Knopf in the US, and in translation by other publishers worldwide, was named a notable book of the year by The New York Times, a book of the year by The New Yorker, and listed by President Barack Obama as one of his favorite books of 2018. The book came out in India under the title The Lovers: A Novel.

Get ready for the most fun Tuesday of 2024. We’ll mark publication day with a big party at Darlings. Literature! Cocktails! Music! Scams!

I’ll be in conversation with the great Halimah Marcus, executive director of Electric Literature, followed by a vinyl set by DJ Harlan and general revelry. Books will be available for sale via Rough Draft Bar & Books.

HALIMAH MARCUS is the Executive Director of Electric Literature, a nonprofit digital publisher, and the editor of its weekly fiction magazine, Recommended Reading. She is also the editor of Horse Girls (Harper Perennial, 2021), an anthology that reclaims and recasts the horse girl stereotype, which was a New York Times “New and Noteworthy” pick. Her short stories have appeared in Indiana Review, Gulf Coast, One Story, BOMB, The Literary Review and elsewhere. Andrew Sean Greer selected her short story, “The Party Goers,” from the The Southampton Review as a distinguished story in Best American Short Stories 2022. Halimah has an MFA from Brooklyn College, and lives in Kingston, New York.

I’m DJing the best costume party in all of literary New York.

From Electric Literature:

This year we’re paying homage to Edgar Allan Poe’s story, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” by celebrating novels that feature houses—haunted, alive, or just plain creepy—as characters. Join us for an evening of drinks and dancing in support of Electric Literature!

Early bird tickets are on sale now for $50 before September 30. The ticket price will increase to $75 on October 1. EL members receive a 10% discount.

We’ll have free cocktails all night and a curated book giveaway table featuring In the Dream House, The Haunting of Hill House, The Shining, Bluebeard’s Castle, and more!

Get Your Ticket Here