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Free Events, Free Things to Do in New York City! Read More
Are you looking for literary events like book readings, book signings, poetry readings? Then you came to the right place. Start using these unique New York City opportunities today!
Are you looking for literary events like book readings, book signings, poetry readings? Then you came to the right place. Start using these unique New York City opportunities today!
Join the Club!
The quality and quantity of
free events,
free things to do
that happen in New York City
every day of the year
is truly amazing.
So don't miss the opportunities
that only New York provides:
stop wondering what to do;
start taking advantage of
free events to go to,
free things to do in NYC
today!
The quality and quantity of
free events,
free things to do
that happen in New York City
every day of the year
is truly amazing.
So don't miss the opportunities
that only New York provides:
stop wondering what to do;
start taking advantage of
free events to go to,
free things to do in NYC
today!
27 free poetry readings, book signings, author readings in New York City (NYC) Thu, 09/24/2026 - and on...
Not a day goes by in New York City (NYC) without a free poetry reading or a book signing or a book reading by a famous or not yet famous author. Don't miss the opportunities that only New York provides!
Author Reading | Innovative Culture Writers Share Their New Work (+ Q&A & Signing)
A reading by Christine Hume and Justine Lextrait, followed by a conversation/Q&A with Claudia Rankine. The event will conclude with a reception/signing with books for sale. Christine Hume is a feminist writer of nonfiction and poetry with a strong interest in the intersections between social justice and art. Her essays have been published and reviewed in New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, Hyperallergic, McSweeney’s, The Boston Review, Full Stop, Harper’s, Electric Literature, Disabilities Studies Quarterly, Conjunctions, Architecture and Culture, and many other venues. Justine Lextrait writes, studies, edits, draws, cuts, and moves around. They are the author of the fragmented novel Loading Room and the scrapbook zine Everyone Is Layered .
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Thu, Sep 24
12:00 pm
free, RSVP required
12:00 pm
free, RSVP required
Poetry Reading | Evening of Local Poetry
Enjoy an evening of poetry with local poet and playwright Galinsky, with "Five Minute Features" from a dozen poets of all styles.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Thu, Sep 24
8:00 pm
free, no reservation required
8:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Author Reading | New Yorker-Featured Author Reads from His New Book, Ambivalence
Ambivalence is a memoir of the author’s native city of Dublin in the 1980s and ’90s, a portrait of the author as a young man, and an intimate defense of radical thinking about literature and life. In vivid, present-tense passages, Dillon describes his first encounters with writers such as Virginia Woolf, Walter Benjamin, Roland Barthes, and Jacques Derrida. He recalls being seduced by androgyny, ambiguity, and ambivalence on the page and in the life he hoped his reading would transfigure.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Fri, Sep 25
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Author Reading | Renowned Composer Shares Her New Book, Mirror: A Novel in Reflections
Lera Auerbach, writer, composer, and artist, reads an excerpt from her book. The book is a genre-defying Russian-language novel in reflections, where memory transcends time and prose moves with the architecture of music. Subtitled A Novel in Reflections, Mirror is not a conventional novel. It is diary and monodrama, confession and labyrinth, musical score and mythic theatre. Composed in twenty-four preludes and twenty-four postludes, with trios, mirrored returns, inversions, and a final coda, the book transforms literary form into an act of reflection. One part answers another; one image reappears altered; one memory casts a shadow across another. The result is a work in which prose behaves like music.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Wed, Sep 30
5:00 pm
free, no reservation required
5:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Poetry Reading | Pushcart Prize-Winning Poets Share Their Work(+ Reception & Signing)
Aracelis Girmay, Donna Masini, and Malena Mörling poetry reading, hosted by Catherine Barnett. The event will conclude with a reception/signing with books for sale. Aracelis Girmay is the author of four full-length poetry collections, including the recently published Green of All Heads. Donna Masini is the author of the collections Did You Find Everything You Were Looking For? and 4:30 Movie, among others. Malena Mörling is the author of two books of poetry: Ocean Avenue and Astoria. Her third book, Lumina Station, was published in 2026.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Thu, Oct 1
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
Poetry Reading | Evening of Local Poetry
Enjoy an evening of poetry with local poet and playwright Galinsky, with "Five Minute Features" from a dozen poets of all styles.
Manhattan, New York, NY
Join the Club!
Thu, Oct 1
8:00 pm
free, no reservation required
8:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Author Reading | Award-Winning Writers Celebrate Their Latest Work
A fiction reading by Denne Michele Norris, and Patrick Ryan. The event will conclude with a reception/signing with books for sale. Denne Michele Norris is the editor-in-chief of Electric Literature, winner of the 2022 Whiting Literary Magazine Prize. Patrick Ryan's novel, Buckeye, was published in2025. It became a New York Times bestseller, Amazon’s Best Book of 2025, a finalist for Barnes & Noble’s Book of the Year, and a Book-of-the-Month Club Selection.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Fri, Oct 2
5:00 pm
free, RSVP required
5:00 pm
free, RSVP required
Reading | Storytelling Party & Open Mic
Eric Vetter brings New York’s best established and emerging authors and storytellers to this bookstore for this storytelling party. This event is curated and co-hosted by author/storyteller Michele Carlo, the author of FISH OUT OF AGUA: My life on neither side of the (subway) tracks. The show will also include a “Magic Hat Open-Mic” where audience members can sign up for a chance at four minutes of stage time to share their own stories.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Tue, Oct 6
7:00 pm
free, donations welcome,...
7:00 pm
free, donations welcome,...
Poetry Reading | Artist/Poet Shares Her Latest Pieces
A reading by Alice Attie in celebration of her newest collection, Maybe. About the book: A collection of poems that explores transformation, dissolution, and renewal—and how language itself can become a site of regeneration.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Wed, Oct 7
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
Author Reading | Vivian Gornick Shares Her Nonfiction Works
A reading by bestselling journalist, essayist, and memoirist followed by a conversation/Q&A with Parul Sehgal. he event will conclude with a reception/signing with books for sale. Vivian Gornick is a critic, journalist, essayist, and memoirist. She has published work in the New York Times, The Nation, and the Atlantic Monthly. Her numerous books include Taking a Long Look: Essays on Culture, Literature, and Feminism in Our Time, Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader, The Odd Woman and the City, and more.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Thu, Oct 8
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
Poetry Reading | New York Foundation for the Arts Award Winning Writers' Reading Verse (+ Reception/Signing)
A poetry reading by Kazim Ali, Jill Bialosky, and Tina Chang. The event will conclude with a reception/signing with books for sale. Kazim Ali's most recent book is Sukun: New and Selected Poems, which Publisher's Weekly called "dazzling." Jill Bialosky's newest work of prose is The End is the Beginning: A Personal History of My Mother. Her most recent volume of poetry, Asylum: A Personal, Historical, Natural Inquiry in 103 Lyric Sections, was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. Tina Chang is the author of the poetry collections Hybrida, Half-Lit Houses, and Of Gods & Strangers. She is also co-editor of the Norton anthology Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Fri, Oct 9
5:00 pm
free, RSVP required
5:00 pm
free, RSVP required
Author Reading | New York TImes-Featured Writer Shares Her New Criticism of Everyday Subjects
A reading and conversation with Wendy S. Walters for her new book, A Dead White: An Argument Against White Paint. About the book: An impassioned, boundary-pushing work of criticism traversing an array of subjects, from fine arts to design to architecture, taking aim at the ubiquity of white paint in our society and what its prevalence reveals about our values.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Tue, Oct 13
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
Poetry Reading | Poetry Open Mic: Share Your Work or Listen to Emerging Writers
Participants can share their original work for up to five minutes. Space is limited to 15 readers; show up on time to get a slot!
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Thu, Oct 15
5:30 pm
free, register for...
5:30 pm
free, register for...
Poetry Reading | Latinx Poetry Salon
A poetry reading by Diannely Antigua, Francisco Aragon, and Mandy Gutmann-Gonzalez. The event will conclude with a reception/signing with books for sale. Diannely Antigua is a Dominican American poet and educator. She is the author of two poetry collections, Ugly Music, which was the winner of the Pamet River Prize and a 2020 Whiting Award, and Good Monster. Francisco Aragón's books include, After Rubén, Glow of Our Sweat, and Puerta de Sol. Mandy Gutmann-Gonzalez is a Chilean poet and novelist working at the intersections of text, performance, archive, and translation. They are the author of La Pava and A/An.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Thu, Oct 15
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
Poetry Reading | Prize-WInning Poets Celebrate the Release of Book-Length Poem on the Arboreal
A reading by Jay Gao to celebrate the release of The Dead One, the Unconscious One, Thundering in Your Ear, Thriving Slumber. He will be joined by the poet Lynn Xu. Their reading will be followed by a conversation with Patricia Dailey. About the book: Part ecopoetic inventory, part dream vision, The Dead One, The Unconscious One, Thundering in Your Ear, Thriving Slumber is an experimental book-length poem on the arboreal.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Thu, Oct 15
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
Poetry Reading | Multilingual Poetry Night: Quantum Age
Discover the concepts of Quantum Age Poetry and Quantum Poetics with this multilingual poetry event exploringinnovative poetic frameworks.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Wed, Oct 21
6:30 pm
free, registration required
6:30 pm
free, registration required
Poetry Reading | New Books of Poetry: 4 Readings
Celebrate new work from Four Way Books press! Featuring David Orr and M.M. Kelly, with additional readings by Howard Levy and Donna Masini.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Wed, Oct 21
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
Reading | Pushcart Prize-Winning Writers Share Prose & Poetry
A reading by James Ciano, Sara Elkamel, Michelle Phương Hồ, Kyle Carrero Lopez, Migwi Mwangi, and Lindsay Turner, hosted by Matthew Rohrer. The event will conclude with a reception/signing with books for sale.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Fri, Oct 23
5:00 pm
free, RSVP required
5:00 pm
free, RSVP required
Poetry Reading | Poetry & Music Celebrating Award-Winning Writer Sonia Sanchez
The legendary group Sweet Honey in the Rock joins Tracy K. Smith, Danez Smith, Jessica Care Moore, and Ursula Rucker to honor the "Poet Laureate of the Planet!" Yolanda Wisher hosts, with special appearances by Ama Birch, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, Cornelius Eady, and Pamela Sneed.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Fri, Oct 23
7:30 pm
free, RSVP required
7:30 pm
free, RSVP required
Poetry Reading | Haiku Poetry Performance Party
Experience the collective effervescence of radical poetic co-creation at the HAIKU SLAM! Every audience member will get to participate and have their moment to SHINE, seventeen syllables at a time. This competitive yet oh-so-collaborative haiku slam is facilitated by Lisa Ann "LAMarks" Markuson, founder and Chief Poetic Officer of Ars Poetica, the haiku gal trained by Japanese monks in the art of perfectly balanced micro-poetry. Get ready for prizes and poetic surprises in this fun poetry performance party.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Sat, Oct 24
6:00 pm
free, donations welcome,...
6:00 pm
free, donations welcome,...
Poetry Reading | Poetry Prize Reading Celebrating Outstanding Poems by Indigenous U.S. Poets
A celebration for the winners of the sixth edition of the James Welch Prize. This is an initiative established by Poetry Northwest to recognize two outstanding poems by Indigenous U.S. poets. With readings from this year’s judge, Santee Frazier, and winning poets Casandra López and Alexis Clifton.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Tue, Oct 27
7:00 pm
free, donations welcome,...
7:00 pm
free, donations welcome,...
Author Reading | Discover Contemporary European Literature
An evening of contemporary literary luminaries from 11 different countries addressing themes like time, authoritarianism, community, and more. European Literature Night (ELN) presents an evening of voices from across Europe through discussions, readings, and performances. For one evening, New York becomes a meeting place for acclaimed authors, translators, publishers, and readers from across Europe. Enjoy live readings, engaging conversations moderated by PEN America, book signings, a curated selection of featured titles, and a festive reception.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Wed, Oct 28
6:00 pm
free, RSVP required
6:00 pm
free, RSVP required
Poetry Reading | Acclaimed Voices in Ukrainian Poetry Read Their Work + English-Language Translations
Poet as Witness brings together acclaimed Ukrainian poets and the English translators of their works to share readings and discussion on how poetry bears witness to a nation at war. Yaryna Chornohuz and Lesyk Panasiuk — two of the most vital voices in contemporary Ukrainian poetry — will read from their work, followed by English-language translations by Amelia Glaser, Ilya Kaminsky, and Katie Farris, offering audiences a rare opportunity to hear these poems both in the original Ukrainian and in translation. This event will be moderated by Amelia Glaser. Chornohuz, a soldier and 2024 Shevchenko Prize laureate, writes from the front lines with a soldier’s sober eye, turning the strange and the ordinary alike into moments of startling clarity; Panasiuk‘s work moves fluidly between the intimate and the historical, tracing how war reshapes language itself. The evening will also honor the poetry of Maksym Kryvtsov, the poet and soldier killed in action in January 2024, whose work has come to stand as one of the defining testimonies of this war: poems written in the trenches that speak with extraordinary clarity about loss, brotherhood, and what it means to fight for one’s homeland. Translated by Larissa Babij, his work will be published in 2027 by Jantar Press.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Wed, Oct 28
7:00 pm
free, donations welcome,...
7:00 pm
free, donations welcome,...
Poetry Reading | Multilingual Collective Poetry Reading (+ Live Music)
An Incidental Chorus is an attentive listening and reading event facilitated by Como un lugar. It brings together Latin American writers in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. Pages and fragments from a body of texts circulate through the room, and anyone present is invited to read aloud whenever the moment calls for it. A musician, serving as a kind of conductor for the piece, allows for pauses, silences, and swells, creating a dialogue with the audience’s voices as they rise and recede. The collective reading will be a composition built from listening as much as from the poetry itself.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Thu, Oct 29
7:00 pm
free, donations welcome,...
7:00 pm
free, donations welcome,...
Poetry Reading | Pulitzer Prize Finalists Share their Words in Verse
A poetry reading by Robin Coste Lewis and Adrian Matejka. The event will conclude with a reception/signing with books for sale. Robin Coste Lewis won the National Book Award for Voyage of the Sable Venus, her first collection of poetry. The book was also a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Award, and it was named one of the best books of the year by The New Yorker and The New York Times. Adrian Matejka is the author of The Devil’s Garden, which won the New York / New England Award, and Mixology, a winner of the 2008 National Poetry Series.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Thu, Oct 29
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
Poetry Reading | Poems of Persecuted Poets, Read Aloud
This event gathers poets Kwame Dawes, Heid E. Erdrich, Camonghne Felix, Uche Nduka, Naomi Shihab Nye, José Olivarez, Jimin Seo, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, and Anselm Berrigan, inviting them to read and reflect on the work of poets who wrote during times of oppression.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Fri, Oct 30
7:00 pm
free, donations welcome,...
7:00 pm
free, donations welcome,...
Poetry Reading | Tibetan, Sierra Leonean, & Venezuelan Poets & Musicians Celebrate New York City's Mother Tongues
“Language City," hosted by Ross Perlin, author of Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York, featuring Sierra Leonian poet-historian Kewulay Kamara, Tibetan poet Tsering Gyaltso, and community scholar Nawang Gurung, and Venezuelan llanera singers Luis “El Cacique” Garcia and Mafer Bandola, with harp and maraca accompaniment. Followed by a discussion about minority languages in New York City.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Sat, Oct 31
1:00 pm
free, donations welcome,...
1:00 pm
free, donations welcome,...
Join the Club!
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Regular Price: $50CFT Member Price: $0.00
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