The Sassoons, known as “the Rothschilds of the East,” were one of the richest families in the world during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Baghdadi Jewish family built a vast financial and trade empire that spanned continents, became members of British Parliament, and owned some of Britain’s leading newspapers. In his new book The […]

In this program, poet David Mills will read from and reflect upon the research behind his poetry collection, Boneyarn, a book of poems about slavery in New York City. For this reading, Mr. Mills will focus on the poems about enslaved women in his collection. The collection also includes a suite of poems dedicated to […]

Dr. Gisella Perl was a Hungarian Jewish gynecologist who was imprisoned at Auschwitz. While there, she acted to address the terrors that were visited upon women by the Nazi regime, as happened in all concentration camps. If a woman was discovered to be pregnant, she was often beaten or killed; Dr. Perl vowed to help […]

Book discussion group. All are welcome.

Delve into the events leading up to the Alhambra Decree and what happened to the Jewish community in the wake of the edict in this panel discussion. On March 31, 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain issued the Alhambra Decree, also known as the Edict of Expulsion, which gave Jews until the end […]

Lecture. Between 1776 and 1783, Great Britain hired more than thirty thousand German soldiers to fight in its war against the American rebels. Collectively known as Hessians, the soldiers and […]

Artificial intelligence (AI) has impacted many industries around the world—banking and finance, pharmaceuticals, automotive, medical technology, manufacturing and retail. But it has only just begun its odyssey toward cheaper, better […]

Livestreamed. Thirty-five years after this landmark of urban history – originally titled We're Still Here in a 1986 first edition – Jill Jonnes continues to chronicle the rise, fall, rebirth, […]

Lecture. China’s growth over the past four decades has positioned state capitalism as a durable foil to the orthodoxy of free markets, to the confusion of many in the West. […]

Founded in 1420, the Forbidden City in Beijing had served as the center of Chinese royal power for five centuries. Following the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, the […]

Abdul Ali, Hananah Zaheer and Rosalia Scalia read from their work during this month's virtual salon.

In the summer of 1781, after spying on the British troops in Manhattan for six weeks, General Washington and General Rochambeau made a critical decision. They would not attack the […]

In Our Shoes: On Being a Young Black Woman in Not-So "Post-Racial" America is a memoir in essays about young Black women and the stereotypes and preconceived notions they are […]

Inspired by the adventurous spirit of The NYRB Classics series, NYRB Poets features the work of poets from around the world, classical and modern, ancient and contemporary, in elegant, pocket-size […]

The 80th anniversary of the beginning of the momentous Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is on April 19th this year. In this talk, Dr. Zachary Mazur will reflect on the Warsaw Ghetto […]

In May 1923, when Shanghai publisher and Chicago Tribune reporter John Benjamin Powell bought a first-class ticket for the Peking Express, he pictured an idyllic overnight journey on a brand-new […]

Screenwriter Lu Wei, often referred to as “China’s top screenwriter,” is the mastermind behind the initial drafts and storylines of some of the most iconic films in Chinese cinema, including […]

Art Spiegelman’s Maus remains as poignantly relevant today as it was when it was first published serially beginning in 1980, and then in two book volumes in 1986 and 1991. […]

Maritime-themed book club. In partnership with McNally Jackson Books—located at 4 Fulton Street, just a few doors down from the Museum entrance—Seaport Museum staff and special guests will stir up […]

Economists endlessly debate the nature of legal tender monetary systems—coins and bills issued by a government or other authority. Yet the origins of these currencies have received little attention. Dror Goldberg tells the story of modern money in North America through the Massachusetts colony during the 17th century. As the young settlement transitioned to self-governance […]

Reading and discussion. Celebrated Cavafy scholar and a noted translator of his work Daniel Mendelsohn will engage in conversation with acclaimed poet Jana Prikryl on Cavafy’s stature as a “poet of the world,” which will consider the poet’s biography, the global influences on his work, as well as the art of translation, and the process […]

Livestreamed. Constructed in eleven months, the 1250-foot Empire State Building, the world's tallest skyscraper from 1931 to 1971, was a marvel of modern engineering. The frame rose more than a story a day; no comparable building since has matched that rate of ascent. The construction was orchestrated by general contractors Starrett Brothers & Eken, premier […]

A moving and wickedly funny memoir about one woman’s life as the daughter of a Warhol superstar and the intimate bonds of mother-daughter relationships.

Emanuel Rosen, author of If Anyone Calls, Tell Them I Died, and Noah Lederman, author of A World Erased: A Grandson’s Search for His Family’s Holocaust Secrets, both reflect on the Holocaust in their writings as descendants of Holocaust survivors. They each explore how losses suffered by one generation, and the holes left by the […]

Reading and discussion. Celebrated Cavafy scholar and a noted translator of his work Daniel Mendelsohn will engage in conversation with acclaimed poet Jana Prikryl on Cavafy’s stature as a “poet of the world,” which will consider the poet’s biography, the global influences on his work, as well as the art of translation, and the process […]

Reading. After years away from her family's homeland, and reeling from a disastrous love affair, actress Sonia Nasir returns to Haifa to visit her older sister Haneen. This is her first trip back since the second intifada and the deaths of their grandparents: while Haneen made a life here commuting to Tel Aviv to teach […]

In the 1920s, Berlin was home to a thriving transgender community, with trans-focused magazines, famous drag clubs, and Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute for Sexual Science, where some trans people went for […]

Spend the evening in Battery Park City listening to eclectic voices presented by Asian American Writers’ Workshop. This event will be a reading with a conversation with poets on their […]

In celebration of Pride month, BPCA presents Drag Story Hour, a fun and fabulous educational experience that celebrates gender diversity and all forms of difference to build empathy and give […]

Yan Phou Lee (李恩富) was the first Chinese American to publish a book in the United States, When I was a Boy in China (1887). He first came to the U.S. at the age of 12, as a member of the Chinese Educational Mission (CEM), which ran from 1873 to 1881. Lee returned to the […]

Lecture. In this lecture, Christopher Minty focuses on the origins of the American Revolution in New York City from the perspective of those who became loyalists. It argues that longstanding political partisanship played a hitherto underappreciated role in determining their allegiance during the Revolution. In person and via Zoom.

Pop up author collaborations.

The elegant Chinese lifestyle is a concept that encompasses a refined way of living that is rooted in traditional Chinese culture and values. It emphasizes simplicity, harmony, balance, and an appreciation for beauty and nature. At its core, the elegant Chinese lifestyle is about cultivating a sense of inner peace and contentment through living in […]

In partnership with McNally Jackson Books—located at 4 Fulton Street, just a few doors down from the Museum entrance—Seaport Museum staff and special guests will stir up lively discussions informed by our shared love of literature, history, and preservation. This month's selection: The Engineer’s Wife: A Novel of the Brooklyn Bridge by Tracey Enerson Wood.

Part architectural guidebook and part critique, Sky-High documents the pencil-thin, supertall towers that are transforming New York City's skyline and streets. A new book by Eric P. Nash, author of Manhattan Skyscrapers, illustrated with stunning photography by Bruce Katz, Sky-High captures the city's penchant for building skyward – from the Woolworth and Chrysler buildings of […]

Calligraphy is deemed the highest expression of Chinese visual art. At this lecture, master calligrapher Cui Xuelu will share his insights into the close relationship between Chinese calligraphy and the concepts of nature, humanity, and self-spirituality. In exploring this quintessential Chinese art form, Mr. Cui will delve into the historical evolution of Chinese calligraphy styles, […]

Discuss Masks by Fumiko Enchi, translated from Japanese by Juliet Winters Carpenter

Alias Anna: A True Story of Outwitting the Nazis is the moving true story of how young Ukrainian Jewish piano prodigies Zhanna (alias “Anna”) and her sister Frina outplayed their pursuers while hiding in plain sight during the Holocaust. Award-winning author Susan Hood will read the first few pages of the book, which introduces Aimee’s […]

Reading. In The Vegan, Andrew Lipstein challenges our notions of virtue with a brilliant tale of guilt, greed, and how far we’ll go to be good.

One night in New York City’s Chinatown, a woman is at a work reunion dinner when she excuses herself to buy a pack of cigarettes. On her way back, she runs into a former boyfriend. And then another. And… another. What would normally pass for coincidence becomes something far stranger as our heroine, the recently […]