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 […]

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.

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.

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

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 […]

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.

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

Kick off the neighborhood Holi celebration at the Seaport Museum with a family-friendly Holi Literary Festival in the first-floor gallery of the newly opened Maritime City exhibition. Enjoy featured book readings by author and actor Jugal Hansraj and author Anu Sehgal, celebrating Holi and Indian culture. Plus, meet authors Kabir Sehgal, Jennifer Kurani, Monica Saigal, […]

Read, write, and celebrate queer poetry. Bring your authentic selves, your best (or worst!) poems, and a love for the written word. Open to all experience levels.

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

More than 3 years passed between the last battle in the North and the British surrender at Yorktown. In this lecture, Alan Pell Crawford tells what actually happened in those 3 too-little known years that forced the British to lose the war–and enabled America to win it.

Book reading and signing by Rick Jackson and Matthew McGough, authors of Black Tunnel White Magic.

Book reading. A slender novel of epic power and the winner of the Booker Prize 2024, Orbital deftly snapshots one day in the lives of six women and men traveling through space. Selected for one of the last space station missions of its kind before the program is dismantled, these astronauts and cosmonauts--from America, Russia, […]

Join the South Street Seaport Museum and the New York Ship Lore and Model Club for an evening celebrating the history and restoration of the monumental 22-foot-long builder model of RMS Queen Mary, now on display in the Museum’s new three-floor exhibition Maritime City. Martina Caruso, Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the Seaport Museum, […]

Book reading and signing by Clea Simon, author of The Butterfly Trap.

Launch of McNally Jackson's Publishing 101 series! This series aims to demystify the publishing process through conversations with industry professionals who have done it all, and seen it all. For our inaugural event, we welcome Meredith Kaffel Simonoff and Alia Hanna Habib to discuss all things agenting — from finding a literary agent and navigating […]

Join the editors, contributors, and special guests to celebrate the launch of Amulet — a new literary magazine of religion, spirituality and mysticism for seekers and skeptics alike. In an age of global turmoil, technological consolidation and dwindling religious observance, how do we approach questions of faith and community? Can we get closer to God […]

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

Book reading. A compelling work of investigative journalism that explores the surprising origins and hidden ramifications of an epic late 1960s hoax, perpetrated by cultural luminaries, including Victor Navasky and E.L. Doctorow. For readers curious about the surprising connections between John F. Kennedy, Oliver Stone, Timothy McVeigh, Alex Jones, and Donald Trump. In 1966, amid […]

Book reading. From a rising literary star and the author of how to be a good girl comes a brilliant, biting, and beautifully wrought memoir of trauma and the cost of survival.

For overseas Chinese, ancient jade is more than just a collectible—it is a bridge to their ancestral heritage, carrying deep family memories and cultural connections to their homeland. The appreciation, study, and collection of ancient jade allow collectors to immerse themselves in the profound traditions of Chinese civilization while expressing nostalgia for their roots and […]

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

Maritime-themed book club.

Book reading and signing by Jeffrey Siger, author of Not Dead Yet.

Reading. Amity Gaige presents Heartwood, in conversation with Jennifer Egan.