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free things to do in New York City
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Free Events, Free Things to Do in New York City!
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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!
26 free poetry readings, book signings, author readings in New York City (NYC) Fri, 10/16/2026 - 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!
Poetry Reading | A Living Poem Centering the Multidimensionality of Black Embodiment: Multimedia Experience
Created collaboratively with flutist and composer Jane Rigler, Rachel Eliza Griffiths’s performance combines original experimental soundscapes of the natural world with poems, including those by Lucille Clifton, Roberta Flack, Federico García Lorca, and Muriel Rukeyser. This event also features movement along with video projections that collapse the past, present, and future of a recovered spiritual and ancestral village. Participants are invited to witness and meditate in a space of bodily rhythm, imagery, and sound.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Fri, Oct 16
6:30 pm
free, registration required
6:30 pm
free, registration required
Author Reading | Artists Discuss the Relationship between Writing & Artmaking in Their Practices
A reading and conversation with artists Jasmin Benward, Lily Jue Sheng, Nat Pyper, and Allie Tsubota. With practices spanning photography, film, music, and performance, each of the artists turns to writing as a central component of their work, and as a means of storytelling, speculation, seduction, revelation, disclosure, political insurgency, and all actions in between. Moderated by Steffani Jemison, artist and co-founder of at Louis Place, the conversation will draw on the ethos of the at Louis Place Artist Publishing Cohort--a fellowship in which the artists all took part between 2025-2026--to center thinking and writing in community as a liberatory practice that activates networks across traditional creative and intellectual silos. The artists will share excerpts from recent and ongoing works before collectively discussing the relationship between writing and artmaking in their practices.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Sat, Oct 17
2:00 pm
free, RSVP required
2:00 pm
free, RSVP required
Poetry Reading | Poetry in the Garden
Enjoy an outdoor poetry reading hosted in partnership with McNally Jackson. Submit your work at the link provided to read at the event!
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Sun, Oct 18
4:00 pm
free, no reservation required
4:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Poetry Reading | Korean Poetry in Translation Reading & Discussion with Award-Winning Writers
An evening of readings and conversation celebrating the Moon Country Korean Poetry series, which brings contemporary Korean poetry to the forefront. The program will explore the poems themselves as well as the intimate, collaborative work of carrying voice, image, rhythm, and cultural context across languages. Through readings and discussion, the participants will offer a glimpse into the choices, discoveries, and productive tensions that shape poetry in translation. The evening will be moderated by Black Ocean founder and publisher Janaka Stucky.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Wed, Oct 21
6:30 pm
pay-what-you-wish, tickets required
6:30 pm
pay-what-you-wish, tickets 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
Poetry Reading | Allen Ginsberg's "Howl": Beat Poetry Performed Live (with Jazz Accompaniment) (In Person AND Online!)
Featuring MSM Jazz Arts musicians, narrated by Justin Jay Hines. "Howl" is a foundational text of the Beat movement and is widely taught for its innovations in form, its critique of postwar American conformity and capitalism, and its influence on subsequent generations of poets and musicians. Its raw language is intentional and central to its artistic and historical significance; the poem was the subject of a 1957 obscenity trial that became a landmark First Amendment case. This poem, written in 1955-56, contains explicit and sustained references to drug use, sexuality (including graphic depictions), mental illness and institutionalization, suicide and self-harm, profanity, and racially charged language reflecting its era. It also engages frankly with psychiatric treatment (including electroshock therapy) and addiction. Readers who may be sensitive to depictions of psychiatric crisis, addiction, or suicidal ideation should feel free to step out or engage with the material at their own pace.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Wed, Oct 21
7:30 pm
free, no reservation required
7:30 pm
free, no reservation 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,...
Reading | Sylvia Plath's Poetry, Read by Her Editor
Leading Plath scholar and co-editor of the new definitive edition of Plath's poetry, Amanda Golden, Ph.D. Amanda Golden is Professor of English at New York Institute of Technology and a Research Affiliate at Smith College. She has co-edited The Poems of Sylvia Plath (2026) with Karen V. Kukil, a project supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Copies of The Poems of Sylvia Plath will be for sale, with the editor signing directly following the event.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Tue, Oct 27
7:00 pm
free, tickets required
7:00 pm
free, tickets required
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,...
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, Nov 3
7:00 pm
free, donations welcome,...
7:00 pm
free, donations welcome,...
Poetry Reading | Poetry & Music: Ilya Kaminsy Reads His Award-Winning Work
Experience words and music from around the globe. This salon will feature a reading by poet Ilya Kaminsky, accompanied by singer Carrie Erving and cellist Chris Loxley. A printout will be available for attendees to follow along with Kaminsky's poetry during the reading. Following the reading, Kaminsky will be interviewed by event host Patricio Ferrari. Ilya Kaminsky was born in Odessa, former Soviet Union, in 1977, and arrived to the US in 1993, when his family was granted asylum by the government. He is the author of Deaf Republic and Dancing In Odessa and co-editor and co-translator of many other books. His work was a finalist for the National Book Award and won the Los Angeles Times Book Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the National Jewish Book Award, the Whiting Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Metcalf Award, and Poetry magazine’s Levinson Prize, and was also shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Neustadt International Literature Prize, and T.S. Eliot Prize (UK). He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Lannan Fellowship, an Academy of American Poets’ Fellowship, and an NEA Fellowship.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Wed, Nov 4
6:30 pm
free, registration required
6:30 pm
free, registration required
Reading | Readings & Musical Performances Inspired by Howard Zinn
A night featuring actors Wallace Shawn, Jessica Hecht, and Arian Moayed, comedian Hari Kondabolu, musician Ali Dineen, poet Staceyann Chin, and other special guests to be announced. The night is inspired by author Dave Zirin’s acclaimed new biography, The People's Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn, and will feature selections from Zinn’s own writing and speeches, as well as work that deeply inspired him; narrated by Dave Zirin and Haley Pessin. There are two ways to access this event: 1. General Admission, first-come first-served. Just show up! 2. Fast Track opening the Monday before the event at noon.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Thu, Nov 5
7:30 pm
free, fast-track option...
7:30 pm
free, fast-track option...
Poetry Reading | National Book Critics Circle Award-Winning Writer Shares Her Poetry
A poetry reading by Claudia Rankine, hosted by Terrance Hayes. The event will conclude with a reception/signing with books for sale. Claudia Rankine is the author of eight books, three plays, and numerous video collaborations. She is also the co-editor of several anthologies. In 2016, Rankine co-founded The Racial Imaginary Institute (TRII). Among her numerous awards and honors, Rankine is the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Forward Prize, the LA Times Book Award, the Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, the Poets & Writers’ Jackson Poetry Prize, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, United States Artists, DAAD, The American Academy in Rome, The American Academy in Berlin, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Thu, Nov 12
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
Poetry Reading | In Search of Mary Low Tri-lingual Poetry Reading
Celebrating the life and work of surrealist poet Mary Low, with a reading in Spanish, English, and French. In Search of Mary Low represents the first complete collection of Mary Low’s published poetry (1939–2000), edited and translated by the eminent Cuban-American scholar, poet, and literary critic Enrico Mario Santí.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Tue, Nov 17
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
7:00 pm
free, no reservation 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, Nov 19
5:30 pm
free, register for...
5:30 pm
free, register for...
Author Reading | Pulitzer Prize Finalist Shares New Material
A reading by Nathan Englander followed by a conversation/Q&A with Darin Strauss. The event will conclude with a reception/signing with books for sale. Nathan Englander's most recent novel is kaddish.com. He is also the author of Dinner at the Center of the Earth, the collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, as well as the internationally bestselling story collection For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, and the novel The Ministry of Special Cases. He was the 2012 recipient of the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for What We Talk About. His short fiction and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post, Vogue, and Esquire, among other places.
Manhattan, New York, NY
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Thu, Nov 19
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
7:00 pm
free, RSVP required
Poetry Reading | Jazz-Inspired Poetry Celebration
Brooklyn poet Patricia Carragon has a special celebration of her latest poetry collection, Stranger on the Shore (Human Error Publishing, 2026). Inspired by the rhythms and improvisational spirit of jazz, the afternoon will feature Carragon and invited readers performing selections from her collection, followed by a discussion and audience Q&A.
Manhattan, New York, NY
Join the Club!
Sun, Nov 22
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Join the Club!
Complimentary Tickets
to shows, concerts ... (CFT Deals!)
Classical Music | J.S. Bach and Beethoven by Prominent Orchestra
Regular Price: $30CFT Member Price: $0.00
Concert | "Electrifying, Groove-Heavy" Band at Revered Venue
Regular Price: $35CFT Member Price: $0.00
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