Discuss The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. Repeated January 16 at 2pm.

New York City experienced explosive growth between the 1880s and the 1930s, when nearly a million buildings, dozens of bridges and tunnels, hundreds of miles of subway lines, and thousands of miles of streets were erected to meet the needs of an ever-swelling population. The new book Building the Metropolis: Architecture, Construction, and Labor in […]

Book reading and signing by Michael Cannell, author of Blood and the Badge.

Online lecture. The Republican era of China was a period of remarkable cultural and political dynamism, producing many luminaries and historical figures. However, the true images of many of these individuals have been obscured. Ken Wang (Wang Geng) is one such figure. As a distinguished graduate of West Point and a recipient of the Boxer […]

Explore the world of maritime history and theatre with the Seaport Museum and Robert A. Richter, Treasurer of The Eugene O’Neill Society, as we discuss the profound impact maritime communities had on the life and work of Nobel Prize-winning playwright Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953). In this engaging discussion, discover how O’Neill’s experiences with seafarers and maritime […]

In her new book, Movement: New York’s Long War to Take Back Its Streets from the Car, Nicole Gelinas presents a gripping account of how the automobile has failed New York City and how mass transit and a revitalized streetscape are vital to the city's post-pandemic recovery. In a history that spans a century, Gelinas […]

Book reading and signing by Jonathan Ames, author of Karma Doll.

Book reading and signing by Steve Wick, author of The Ruins.

Reading. Walter Mosley presents Been Wrong So Long It Feels Like Right, with Kellye Garrett. In the latest from “mystery master” Walter Mosley, a family member’s terminal illness leads P.I. Joe King Oliver to the investigation of his life: tracking down his long-lost father, and meanwhile, a new case pits King’s professional responsibility against his […]

Visit the 29th comprehensive exhibition celebrating new poetry publications from 2022 and 2023 and enjoy a community reading hosted by poet Bea Gates.

Community reading of 2022 and 2023 poetry authors, featuring Beatrix Gates, Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, Emily Lee Luan, Marwa Helal, and others.

The Middle East is in a period of radical transformation and shifting power dynamics in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. Bernard Haykel, Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, returns to the 9/11 Memorial Museum in conversation with Museum Director Clifford Chanin to disentangle the latest turns in the region. From proxy conflicts […]

Inspired by a poem from playwright Bertolt Brecht, The Pleasure Lists began with a simple post online — a prompt calling for people to catalogue their pleasures. The outpouring of entries, an unexpected response to a humble exercise, led to The Pleasure Lists. Meant to be fun, delightful, and pleasureful, it is a reflection on […]

Discuss The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. Repeated February 13 at 2pm.

This month, read and discuss She's Always Hungry by Eliza Clark.

Book reading. Ann Goldstein presents Alba De Céspedes's There's No Turning Back, in conversation with Joumana Khatib. Discover the astonishingly powerful debut novel by the beloved feminist author of the “brilliant” (The Wall Street Journal) Forbidden Notebook and the “courageous” (The Washington Post) Her Side of the Story that was so subversive, it was banned […]

An evening with acclaimed author and journalist Peter Hessler, whose works have illuminated the intricate connections between people, cultures, and history. Hessler will join Susan Yuqing Feng, Director of Programs at the China Institute in America, for an engaging discussion about his latest book, Other Rivers. In Other Rivers, Hessler delves into the lives and […]

Symposium. Every American President passed through New York City. Some were born here such as Theodore Roosevelt. Some lived here including Herbert Hoover who spent his post Presidential years residing in the Presidential Suite at the Waldorf Astoria. Some were married here. In 1844, for instance, John Tyler wed Julia Gardiner at the Church of […]

Book reading. Mohammed El-Kurd presents Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal, in conversation with Fred Moten. Perfect Victims is an urgent affirmation of the Palestinian condition of resistance and refusal―an ode to the steadfastness of a nation.

At 3pm tour the African Burial Ground National Monument, 290 Broadway. At 5pm, attend a symposium at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square. Much of Black history in New York revolves around Foley Square. This is a two-part event. First, we will have a tour of the African Burial Ground with its […]

Book reading and signing by William Boyle, author of Saint of the Narrows Street.

In Hamilton Heights and Sugar Hill, Davida Siwisa James leads readers through four centuries of the storied New York neighborhood where George Washington headquartered in 1776, Alexander Hamilton built his country home, George Gershwin wrote his first hit, young Norman Rockwell learned to draw, and Ralph Ellison wrote Invisible Man. Her history focuses on the […]

Celebrate the inimitable Audre Lorde (1934 – 1992), a self-described “Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet,” on February 18, her birthday. Poets JP Howard, I.S. Jones, Zora Satchell, and Brad Walrond will read favorite poems or passages by Lorde alongside their own work, celebrating her visionary influence on their lives and work. Hosted and curated by […]

Book reading. Eric Puchner presents Dream State, in conversation with Dinaw Mengestu. Written with humor, precision, and enormous heart, both a love letter and an elegy to the American West, Dream State is a thrillingly ambitious ode to the power of friendship, the weird weather of marriage, and the beauty of impermanence.

Book reading. Susan Morrison presents Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live. The definitive biography of Lorne Michaels, the man behind America’s most beloved comedy show.

Long before their country joined the war, American aid workers were active in rescue efforts across Europe. In this presentation, renowned Holocaust scholar Debórah Dwork will focus on such Americans, many of whom were women. Some, followed by Nazi agents, learned secrecy as they spirited people across borders. Others negotiated with government representatives. The new […]

Online lecture. In recent years, Wang Yangming and his philosophy of the mind have become highly popular topics in both traditional media and online discourse among Chinese communities. Some hail Wang as a near-perfect figure of the past 500 years—a man of extraordinary intellect and capability, who excelled in governance and military strategy. Admirers argue […]

Book reading. Katie Naymon presents You Between the Lines, in conversation with Hannah Orenstein. In this "brilliant, poignant love story perfect for fans of Emily Henry," a former sorority girl starts a prestigious poetry MFA program only to discover that one of her classmates is her high school crush-turned-nemesis—​and he can't stop writing about her. […]

Maritime-themed book club.

Celebration of Imani Elizabeth Jackson and Gabrielle Octavia Rucker’s collections that explore Black diasporic experiences through the topographical and the surreal.

Walk and writing session led by author and poet Jon Curley.

George Washington and Samuel Fraunces developed skills of risk-taking, judgement, and leadership through their entrepreneurial ventures that would later advantage them and the new nation when they chose to join the cause of American patriots. In this lecture, John Berlau will spotlight the successes and struggles of both men in their respective business careers that […]

Book reading and signing by Adrian McKinty, author of Hang On St. Christopher.

Book reading and signing by Kemper Donovan, author of Loose Lips.

Following the 9/11 attacks, young people around the world created art in response to the violence they had witnessed. This program will explore the role of art-making and art therapy to process grief and trauma, with a focus on two organizations created in the wake of 9/11: The World Trade Center Family Center and America’s […]

Book reading and signing by Elizabeth Crowens, author of Bye Bye Blackbird.

This lecture traces the formation of Pillsbury’s collection during a period when the antiquities market shifted from Europe to the United States, leading American collectors to recognize bronze as one of the most brilliant achievements of Chinese civilization.

Reading. Sloane Crosley presents Grief Is for People, in conversation with Meghan O'Rourke. How do we live without the ones we love? After the pain and confusion of losing her closest friend to suicide, Sloane Crosley looks for answers in philosophy and art, hoping for a framework more useful than the unavoidable stages of grief.

Arie Tabak was born in Sighet, Romania in 1922. He found work as a printer in Budapest in 1943 until he was forced to escape home only to find himself living in a ghetto with his sister and two children. They were sent to Auschwitz in 1944 where his sister and children were murdered. He […]

The legendary pioneer of New Journalism will discuss the art of city writing with NYT reporter Alex Vadukul and sign copies of his new collection A Town Without Time. There will be readings from special guests and drinks in the wine bar downstairs.

Walk and writing session led by author and poet Jon Curley.

Join the Seaport Museum and celebrated historian Russell Shorto for a presentation focusing on Shorto’s newly-released book Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America. The presentation will tell the riveting story of the birth of New York City as a center of capitalism and pluralism, a foundation from which America […]

Discuss The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. Repeated March 13 at 2pm.

Conversation with Craig Allen, former President of the U.S.-China Business Council, and Brad W. Setser, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, as they sit down with Susan Yuqing Feng, Director of Programs at the China Institute in America, to examine the lasting impact of U.S. tariff policies, the evolving landscape for American businesses […]

Book reading and signing by Gary Krist, author of Trespassers at the Golden Gate: A True Account of Love, Murder, and Madness in Gilded Age San Francisco.

In She-Wolves: The Untold History of Women on Wall Street, Paulina Bren tells the story of how women infiltrated Wall Street starting in the swinging sixties, when "No Ladies" signs hung across the doors of its luncheon clubs and, more discreetly, inside the brokerage houses and investment banks.

This month, read and discuss Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson.

Winner of the Windham-Campbell Prize for poetry and current Poet Laureate of Jamaica, Kwame Dawes discusses the life and work of acclaimed novelist and poet and former director of the Institute of Jamaica, Neville Dawes (1926–1984), whose radical writings broke new ground in the development of Caribbean writing.

My Mother’s War is a gripping memoir by Holocaust survivor Michael Fryd about his mother Evelyn, an indomitable woman who saved her family from the Nazis by demonstrating extraordinary courage and masterful cunning. Armed with nothing but her limitless energy, inborn intelligence, and outsized ambition, she outsmarted German Nazis, Polish antisemites, and Russian soldiers at […]

Book reading and signing by Rosanne Limoncelli, author of The Four Queens of Crime.