The Lit List! — 6/24–6/30

The Lit List is a sometimes-weekly compendium of New York’s finest literary events and readings. All events are 100% free unless stated otherwise. Something you think we should know about? Email dish@electricliterature.com

Monday, June 24

Simon Van Booy is at McNally Jackson tonight to read from his new novel, The Illusion of Separateness. Van Booy is also the editor of some philosophy anthologies, including Why Our Decisions Don’t Matter. I like this guy. 7PM.

Karen Shepard is at Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene tonight to discuss her new novel, The Celestials, and will be in conversation with Anne Ishii, blogger at The Asian American Writers’ Workshop blog “The Margins,” and Ron Hogan, creator of Beatrice.com. 7:30 PM.

Tuesday, June 25

Girls Write Now is an organization that helps NYC teen girls learn how to write, which teaches them how to be empowered women. You probably want to be aware of them. Swing by McNally Jackson for the launch party of their anthology, New Worlds, which features work by the girls themselves and their mentors. Refreshments by Brooklyn Brewery. 7PM.

A few avenues over at St. Marks Bookshop, Akashic Books hosts “The Marijuana Chronicles,” a selection of readings from their Drug Chronicles series. Lee Child, Thad Ziolkowski, and others will be in tow. St. Marks Bookshop is another organization you want to be involved in. 7PM.

Wednesday, June 26

GUILLOTINE is a revolutionary nonfiction chapbook series, whose previous issues’ themes include violence, apoplexia, and troubleshooting silence in Arizona. Tonight, they launch their fourth chapbook, PUNK, with Mimi Thi Nguyen and Golnar Nikpour at WORD in Greenpoint. 7PM. (Keep your eyes on GUILLOTINE; they’re releasing a previously unpublished essay by the late Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick on censorship this winter. F yes.)

Greenlight Bookstore is hosting a very exciting event tonight: Sheila Heti, author of How Should a Person Be?, will be in conversation with Kenneth Goldsmith, a poet, author of Uncreative Writing, and founding editor of UbuWeb. Both of these people are really smart and really important. 7:30 PM.

Thursday, June 27

Tao Lin is at McNally Jackson tonight to read and discuss his new novel, Taipei, with Christian Lorentzen, an editor at the London Review of Books. Check out the rest of Tao’s ‘warped tour 2013’ dates here. I’m sad Green Day is not going to be at this event. 7PM.

Saturday and Sunday, June 29–30

Literary weekenders of NYC, have you gone to this? “Writing On It All” is a series of events that emphasizes context, history, and form, and takes place on Governor’s Island. Participants interact with artists, writers, and other creatives by writing on the interiors of out-of-use houses. On Saturday, the Bellevue/NYU program for Survivors of Torture will be writing on it all in a closed session. But on Sunday, come and collaborate with heavyweights Anne Carson, Robert Currie, and Ebauche. Registration and attendance are free, so you should RSVP here.

Thank you. Please remember that Michiko Kakutani’s favorite word is still “limn,” and the inside of a banana peel alleviates mosquito bites.