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What's happening at WORD?


 
Authors at the Brooklyn Bridge
Tania James, Rajesh Parameswaran, Charles Yu, Jim Shepard, and Robin Black (from left to right) at the Brooklyn Bridge Park for our Short Story Night. 

 

Hey teachers, librarians, and educators: we've got a lot of good news! There's now a special email list just for you, so you can get updates on new and noteworthy kids' books, info on our Educator Nights, events for kids and families, free giveaways, and more. We also have a new Educator Discount Program: eligible teachers and librarians can now receive 15% off on all WORD purchases. Click through for the details and to sign up. And last but definitely not least, we're throwing you a party on October 10 (also known as Educator Night)! You'll get a sneak peek at brand new children's books, meet special guest R.J. Palacio (author of the highly acclaimed new children's novel Wonder), and go home with some prizes and giveaways -- because it's not a party without swag.

And for everyone out there with kids (or a very active inner child), we highly recommend this month's Comics Jam with Michel Levesque (August 5) and Storytelling Workshop with Ryan Sias (August 19).
This month's featured event:
Mondays in August, 7 p.m.
Words by the Water, presented by WORD and the Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn


  Mortal Terror  Red Jade  Fear Artist  How to Wreck a Nice Beach

The Books Beneath the Bridge series is turning out to be so much fun, we decided that North Brooklyn needs its own version. We're delighted to announce the Words by the Water series at the East River State Park, which focuses on highlighting great local presses.
  The Brother's Lot   A Mind of Winter   Boundaries   Portland/Brooklyn
fullThis month at WORD!


Feminist Ryan Gosling The BookFor feminists:
Thursday, August 2, 7 p.m.
Hey Girl: Tumblr presents Feminist Ryan Gosling at Housing Works


Hey girl, put down that Derrida just long enough to celebrate the release of Feminist Ryan Gosling The Book at Housing Works. Book sales courtesy of WORD; free drinks courtesy of Tumblr!

(Facebook RSVP encouraged, but not required.)
levesqueMichel LevesqueFor the artistically inclined:
Sunday, August 5, 3 p.m.
Comics Jam with Michel Levesque


Educator and artist Michel Levesque presents an all-ages Comics Jam! Attendees will create a collaborative comic together, led by Levesque, and will discuss storytelling and the art form. All supplies will be provided.

Michel Levesque is a community art educator and scholar dedicated to exploring comics as a medium for self-expression, community-building, and scholarship. As an art educator, Michel teaches individuals how to make comics in community-based programs for creative and artistic development.

(Facebook RSVP encouraged, but not required.)
For fans of smart fiction:
Tuesday, August 7, 7 p.m.
Katie Kitamura and Adam Rapp, in conversation with Sarah Weinman


The Children and the WolvesGone to the ForestJoin us for the Brooklyn launch of Katie Kitamura's new novel and staff favorite, Gone to the Forest. She'll be joined by award-winning author Adam Rapp (The Children and the Wolves), and the two will be in conversation with Sarah Weinman, news editor for Publishers Marketplace.

Jenn says: "In Gone to the Forest, a family falls apart at the same time as their country's political strife comes to a head. With a sharp eye (not to mention sharp prose), Kitamura examines the fault-lines in ourselves and our nations and what it takes to split them wide open."

In The Children and the Wolves, 3-year-old Frog is held hostage by three teenagers -- but barely notices, as she immerses herself deeper and deeper into a video game. Instead, it's the teenagers that start to crack. Rapp is the Printz Honor-winning author of Punkzilla.

(Facebook RSVP encouraged, but not required.)
Last BohemiaFor the historically-curious:
Tuesday, August 14, 7 p.m.
Robert Anasi presents The Last Bohemia


Anasi lived in Williamsburg from the early '90s to the late 2000s and witnessed firsthand the rapid changes in the neighborhood. Come talk local history with him as he presents his memoir The Last Bohemia.

Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is now so synonymous with hipster culture and the very idea of urban revitalization that it's easy to forget how just a few years ago it was a very different neighborhood: a spread of factories, mean streets, and ratty apartments that the rest of New York City feared. But Robert Anasi hasn't forgotten, and he'll talk us through the shift from $300/month apartments to the current high-rises and boutiques.

(Facebook RSVP appreciated, but not required.)
Boozy BrunchFor brunchers and aspiring mixologists:
Saturday, August 18, 2 p.m.
Daytime Drinking with Peter Joseph


For those bored with Bloody Marys and mimosas, Peter Joseph offers his book Boozy Brunch, containing more than a hundred drink recipes, plus food pairings and brunch trivia. He'll be presenting his book (and some drinks!) in an event sponsored by local gin and whiskey crafters Breuckelen Distillery.

(Facebook RSVP appreciated, but not required.)
Zoe and RobotsiasFor young artists and doodlers:
Sunday, August 19, 1:30 p.m.
Storytelling for Kids Workshop with Ryan Sias


Author/artist Ryan Sias (Zoe and Robot) presents an interactive workshop on the process of putting together a story with both words and pictures. Kids will draw and create a comic during the class! All supplies will be provided.

(Facebook RSVP appreciated, but not required.)
For movers and shakers and writers and bakers:
Wednesday, August 22, 7 p.m.
Potluck with Work It Brooklyn


Are you a writer looking to meet and mingle with your fellow scribes? Work It Brooklyn, a coalition of inspired creatives, invites you to join them for a Meet and Eat potluck at WORD. Come to connect with other writers in an intimate setting, where you can share ideas, pitch stories to one another, and form workshops to help you move your projects forward.

(Facebook RSVP appreciated, but not required.)
Blood PoetryFor those who enjoy a spectacle:
Wednesday, August 29, 7 p.m.
A Night with Phantasmagoria


Phantasmagoria blurs the lines between literature and performance, with episodes consisting of a combination of readings, dance, interactive presentation, and more, created by poet/performer Leland Pitts-Gonzalez. Organized around his novel The Blood Poetry, the event will feature Pitts-Gonzalez and several collaborators, including actor Michael Bakkensen and dancer Belinda He.


(Facebook RSVP appreciated, but not required.)
For teens and teens-at-heart:
Thursday, August 30, 7 p.m.
YA Night with Meagan Brothers, Patricia Dunn, and Louise Rozett


                      Supergirl Mixtapes  Rebel by Accident  Confessoins of an Angry Girl

WORD is delighted to be hosting three YA authors for a joint reading and Q&A: Meagan Brothers (Supergirl Mixtapes), Patricia Dunn (Rebels by Accident), and Louise Rozett (Confessions of an Angry Girl). They'll be reading from their novels, as well as discussing the trials and triumphs of the writing life, teen literature, and more!

In Supergirl Mixtapes, Meagan Brothers introduces us to Maria. She's visiting her estranged, artistic mother in New York City -- quite a change from boring South Carolina -- and taking advantage of every second. But how much is her newfound freedom worth? Brothers is also the author of Debbie Harry Sings in French, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults.

Patricia Dunn's Rebels by Accident follows sixteen-year-old Mariam, sent to live with her grandmother in Cairo after a party gets out of hand and lands her in a jail cell. She's always prided herself on being an American, despite the prejudice she faces at school, but in Egypt she discovers it's not that simple.

You could say that Rose Zarelli, the protagonist of Rozett's Confessions of an Angry Girl, has some anger management issues. Smart but totally adrift when it comes to the social world of high school, alienated from her mother and best friend, missing her father, Rose's life is pretty much falling apart at the seams -- and she's got the rage to prove it. Rozett is a playwright and producer; this is her first novel.

(Facebook RSVP appreciated, but not required.)
All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.
Every time you attend an event, you get a chance to
enter
our event book raffle for a signed set of featured books!
Facebook RSVPs appreciated but certainly not mandatory.

Book groups

AuroraramaBook Group's Summer of Indie Presses is wrapping up, and what better way than with a steampunk drawing-room drama from Melville House? Meet Aurorarama, the first in series chronicling the antics of the society of New Venice, high up in the Arctic. Debauchery, drugs, politics, high society, a zeppelin full of anarchists-for-hire, Eskimos: this book is truly weird and riotous. Jenn says, "It reads kind of like if Jane Austen had taken a ton of 'shrooms and gotten lost in a snowstorm with the Marquis de Sade." Discussion will be on Saturday, September 1, at noon.

Exploits and Adventures of Brigadier GerardNext up for Classics Book Group is our beloved Arthur Conan Doyle! But contrary to what you might expect, we'll be finding out what Doyle got up to after he killed off Sherlock Holmes. Exploits and Adventures of Brigadier Gerard features the Napoleonic soldier you never knew you were missing. The discussion will be on Saturday, September 8, at noon -- bubble pipes encouraged. (Can't wait to find out what else we have planned for this year? The full list is up online!)

Love Rock RevolutionMusic Writing Book Group is leaving the '60s behind and exploring the independent record labels that sprung up in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1980s and early 1990s via Mark Baumgarten's Love Rock has Revolution: K Records and the Rise of Independent Music. K Records fostered some of independent music's greatest artists, including Beat Happening, Built to Spill, Beck, Modest Mouse, and the Gossip. It has also galvanized the international pop underground, helped create the grunge scene that took over pop culture, and provided a launching pad for the riot grrrl movement that changed the role of women in music forever. Come and discuss on Saturday, September 8, at 3 p.m.

 

As always, all book group picks are 10% off in the month before their discussion. And if you need help remembering to mark your calendar, or can't make the discussion but still want to complain about that thing that happened on page 210, you can join our Facebook groups! There's one for the regular group, one for Classics, and one for Music Writing

WORD's July bestsellers  

Messy
  1. Messy, Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan (ebook available)
  2. How to Get Into the Twin Palms, Karolina Waclawiak
  3. Tiny Beautiful Things, Cheryl Strayed (ebook available)
  4. A Storm of Swords, George R.R. Martin (ebook available)
  5. Fifty Shades of Grey, E.L. James (ebook available)
  6. A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin (ebook available)
  7. Office Girl, Joe Meno
  8. Lucky Peach #4 
  9. Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn (ebook available)
  10. The Nervous System, Nathan Larson

Quick links

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This has been another production of the book-lovin' fools at:

WORD 126 Franklin St Brooklyn NY 11222

Open for your reading needs from: 11am to 9pm, seven days a week

Available during those hours at: 718.383.0096

And always open at: wordbrooklyn.com