As the holiday season picks up, New York does not forget the gift of words. Check out these bookish December events.

December 2: The Half King Reading Series
Featuring: Jeffrey Lewis, “The Inquisitor’s Diary”

Jeffrey Lewis is the author of Meritocracy: A Love Story, The Conference of the Birds, Theme Song for an Old Show, and Adam the King—four novels that comprise The Meritocracy Quartet, to be published as one volume in 2013 by Haus—and Berlin Cantata. He has twice been the recipient of the Independent Publishers Gold Medals for Literary Fiction and has won two Emmys and the Writers’ Guild Award for his work as a writer and producer on the critically acclaimed television series Hill Street Blues.

Where: The Half King, 505 w. 23rd Street
Time: 7pm
Price: Free

December 2: The New York Review of Science Fiction Reading
Featuring: Ellen Kushner & Delia Sherman

Now in its twenty-third year, this lit club has conjured its own far-fetched alternate universe, one where horror, fantasy, and sci-fi writing—lofted by the likes of Walter Mosley, Peter Straub, and Jonathan Lethem—ratchets up to a higher(brow) plane of consciousness. Host Jim Freund’s Hour of the Wolf program on WBAI rebroadcasts most readings. — Elizabeth Cline

Where: Soho Gallery for Digital Art, 138 Sullivan St., New York, NY 10012
Time: 6:30pm
Price: $7 suggested donation

December 3: Distinguished Writers Series at Hunter College
Featuring: Victoria Redel
Where: Hunter College, Faculty Dining Room, West Building, 8th floor, Lexington Ave at 68th St. (southwest corner)
Time: 7:30pm
Price: Free
RSVP: to [email protected] or 212-772-4007. This reading is free and open to the public but reservations are required.
TIP: Give yourself a few extra minutes for transit due to construction on the F stop.

December 4: DISH at Housing Works
Featuring: Ivan Orkin, Apothecary Cocktails, Nietzsche’s Angel Food Cake, and Robicelli’s

DISH is a sumptuous 4-course feast of readings and stories, as told by New York’s hottest chefs, restauranteurs, mixologists, food authors, bloggers and critics, presented by Kimberly M. Wetherell of Spirited and David Gutowski of Largehearted Boy.
Where: Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street New York, NY 10012
Time: 7:00pm
Price: $5 suggested donation
All proceeds from the event will benefit Housing Works’ programs to assist men, women, and children living with or affected by homelessness and HIV/AIDS
RSVP: on Facebook at https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fevents%2F470628329722128&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEqcQdpI_U7kEI39A4mHrAl08lBHA

December 9: The Half King Reading Series
Featuring: Jonathan Miles “Want Not”
Jonathan Miles’s first novel, Dear American Airlines, was named a New York Times Notable Book and a Best Book of 2008 by the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Amazon.com, and others. It was also a finalist for the QPB New Voices Award, the Borders Original Voices Award, and the Great Lakes Book Award, and has been translated into six languages.Where: The Half King, 505 w. 23rd Street
Time: 7pm
Price: Free

December 8: KGB Bar Sunday Night Fiction
Featuring: Wayne Koestenbaum and Filip Noterdaeme

The KGB Bar Sunday Night Fiction showcases the finest in contemporary fiction from new and emerging writers.

Poet and cultural critic Wayne Koestenbaum earned a BA at Harvard University, an MA at the Johns Hopkins University, and a PhD at Princeton University. Koestenbaum’s work often explores the male body and the emotional, sexual, and social weight of its exposure. In an interview for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Koestenbaum described his writing process as a kind of bodily endeavor: “I extrude my vulnerable inner lining. I purge. And then I examine the contents—my expulsed interior—and begin the bloody interrogation.” He reads from: My 1980s & Other Essays.
Filip Noterdaeme reads from his book: The Autobiography of Daniel J. Isengart with a Foreword by Penny Arcade. ”A lovely romp with the absurd, beguilingly ironic about art and social mores, and quietly sincere about love… It’s hard to imagine anything more charming” — Andrew Solomon
Where: KBG Bar, 85 East 4th St., NYC 10003
Time: 7:00-9:00pm
Price: Free
For more Information email: Suzanne Dottino/fiction curator, [email protected]

December 10: The Moth StorySLAM: Trap
10 stories, 3 teams of judges, 1 winner.

Where: Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street New York, NY 10012
Time: 7:00pm
Price: $8 at the door
Tip: This event always sells out. Arrive early!

December 12: Qlovi & Authors (Q&A)
Featuring: Dianne de las Casas, Tim Tingle, Maria Andreu, Andrea Pinkney, Adam Rex, Elizabeth Kiem, Eric Velasquez, Jewell Parker Rhodes, Gene Luen Yang, London Ladd, Lisa Yee, and Greg Takoudes.

On Dec 12 Qlovi joins with the Children’s Book Council to bring 12 amazing authors streaming LIVE to K-12 classrooms via Hangouts On Air.

Don’t miss this amazing opportunity to hear from a diverse range of authors, and experience how technology can help authors and publishers reach new readers.

Where: Stay tuned for YouTube Link.
Time: 10am-12pm; 1pm-3pm
Price: Free to the public
Tip: Let the teachers in your life know about this event!

December 13: Booked Breakfast Series by Ideasmyth
Featuring: Best American Poetry’s Stacey Harwood

Ideasmyth continues its Booked Breakfast series of casual book-club-meets-book-signing-meets-quality-nosh-confab featuring Stacey Harwood, the Managing Editor of the award winning Best American Poetry blog. Join Ideasmyth at The Writers Room to get the inside story on how the BAP blog has developed into what NPR’s Ken Tucker calls a “lively and energetic” resource for writers. Stacey will discuss how a group blog can be an effective means to complement and build a brand, foster lasting relationships among writers, and provide a platform for established and emerging writers to explore their passions without editorial interference. One guest blogger’s book had its genesis in a series of blog posts; another’s was included in the annual Best American Music Writing. The Best American Poetry blog is regularly ranked among the top sites for poetry and poetry lovers and draws a wide international readership. This series is graciously hosted by The Writers Room, located just south of Astor Place, and will take place 8:30-10am.Where: The Writers Room, 740 Broadway, 12th Floor
Time: 8:30am-10:00am
Price: Free
RSVP: at http://ideasmyth.com/contact

December 13: KGB Bar Reading
Featuring: Lisa Borders, Ron MacLean, and Courtney Elizabeth Mauk

Lisa Borders’ second novel, The Fifty-First State, was published by Engine Books in October, 2013. Her first novel, Cloud Cuckoo Land, was chosen by Pat Conroy as the winner of River City Publishing’s Fred Bonnie Award, and received fiction honors in the 2003 Massachusetts Book Awards. Lisa has received grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Somerville Arts Council and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and fellowships at the Millay Colony, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Hedgebrook and the Blue Mountain Center. Her short stories have appeared in Washington Square, Black Warrior Review, Painted Bride Quarterly and other journals, and her essay, “Enchanted Night” was published in Don’t You Forget About Me: Contemporary Writers on the Films of John Hughes. Lisa lives near Boston and teaches at Grub Street.
Ron MacLean is author of the novels HEADLONG (2013) and Blue Winnetka Skies (2004), and the story collection Why the Long Face? (2008). His fiction has appeared in GQ, Narrative, Fiction International, Best Online Fiction 2010, and elsewhere. He is a recipient of the Frederick Exley Award for Short Fiction and a multiple Pushcart Prize nominee. He holds a Doctor of Arts from the University at Albany, SUNY, and teaches at Grub Street in Boston. Learn more at www.ronmaclean.net.
Courtney Elizabeth Mauk is author of the novels Spark (Engine Books, 2012) and Orion’s Daughters (forthcoming in May 2014). Her writing has appeared in The Literary Review, PANK, Wigleaf, and FiveChapters, among other publications. She has an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University and teaches at Juilliard and The Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop. She is an assistant editor at Barrelhouse and lives in Manhattan. More information can be found at www.courtneymauk.com.
Where: KBG Bar, 85 East 4th St., NYC 10003
Time: 7:00-9:00pm
Price: Free

December 14: The Story Pirates Greatest Hits
Holiday Edition

The Story Pirates Greatest Hits Show celebrates creative writing by students from coast to coast in a sketch comedy musical performed by professional actors. A collection of some of the best stories and songs adapted from stories written by elementary students, Story Pirates will delight and surprise with puppets, enlivening songs and outrageous sketches, all the while motivating kids to pick up a pencil and write down their own fantastic adventures. Story topics run the gamut, from kung fu ninja babies fighting crime to cats flying and tickle monsters who rule the world.
This 30-minute performance features a cast of 6 actors, a pianist, and colorful sets, costumes, and props that all come together to form a hilarious theater experience that everyone will enjoy and no one will forget!
Where: Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street New York, NY 10012
Time: 10:30am-11:00am

December 14: What the Dickens? Fourth Annual A Christmas Carol Marathon
Join dozens of terrific writers and performers for a reading of Charles Dickens’s holiday classic, A Christmas Carol.
Drop in early and often to catch a few surprise performers or linger through the afternoon for the whole, spirited tale. All books are 10 percent off, and the cafe will be stocked with seasonal specials. Finish your Christmas shopping with unique literary finds, have some festive treats from our cafe with a hot cocoa or a glass of wine and enjoy!
Festivities will kick off at noon with Christmas caroling from members of the New York City Master Chorale. The reading of A Christmas Carol will begin at 1 PM inside the bookstore.
Our thanks to Penguin Classics for donating beatiful editons of Charles Dickens, which will be for sale the day of the event with proceeds benefiting Housing Works.
Where: Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street New York, NY 10012
Time: 1:00pm

http://www.housingworks.org/events/detail/what-the-dickens-fourth-annual-a-christmas-carol-marathon/

December 14: Second Settlements

An evening of film, art, literature, and music, Second Settlements features artists whose work arises out of a necessity to resettle spaces, both real and imagined. Second Settlements is an exploration of places and experiences long lived out by the artists, that still weigh heavily in their creative work. In the work of each of these artists, a sense of their individual and collective past becomes a palimpsest onto which new ideas of global citizenry are etched and made alive. ALI ABIDI – PRODUCER, AMITAVA KUMAR – WRITER, ASA WILKS – DRUMMER, CHEE MALABAR – RAPPER, DAISY ROCKWELL – PAINTER, DAX-DEVLON ROSS – JOURNALIST, PETER MONTALBANO – BASSIST, TANUJ CHOPRA – FILMMAKER. Presented by the Vanderbilt Republic and the Asian American

Where: Gowanus Loft, 61 9th Street, Brooklyn, NY
Time: 8:00pm
Price: n/a

December 16: The Moth High School Grand Slam: Face to Face

The Moth’s newest education program, The Moth High School StorySLAM, brings the thrill of competitive storytelling to high schools across New York City. Coached and supported by Moth instructors, students join their school’s StorySLAM team to compete in school-wide StorySLAM events. On Monday, December 16th, join us for the first-ever Interschool GrandSLAM Competition, featuring all-star storytellers from five participating schools. Ten student storytellers, three teams of judges, one winner!
The Moth is an acclaimed not-for-profit organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling, and a recipient of a 2012 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation MacArthur Award for Creative & Effective Institutions (MACEI). Through its ongoing programs— The Moth Mainstage, The Moth StorySLAMs, The Moth Community Education Programs: MothSHOP and High School StorySLAMs and Moth Corporate Programs: MothSHOP and Events —The Moth has presented more than three thousand stories, told live and without notes, to standing- room-only crowds worldwide. The Moth podcast is downloaded more than 15 million times a year, and the Peabody Award-winning The Moth Radio Hour, produced by Jay Allison and presented by PRX, The Public Radio Exchange, airs weekly on radio stations nationwide. The new Moth Mobile App for iOS and Android, and the book, The Moth: 50 True Stories (Hyperion), are available now. themoth.org
Where: Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street New York, NY 10012
Time: 7:00pm
Price: $5 suggested donation
All proceeds from the event will benefit Housing Works’ programs to assist men, women, and children living with or affected by homelessness and HIV/AIDS.

December 19: The Moth StorySLAM: Hooked
10 stories, 3 teams of judges, 1 winner.

Where: Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street New York, NY 10012
Time: 7:00pm
Price: $8 at the door.
RSVP: n/a
Tip: This event always sells out. Arrive early!