Stories in High Fidelity
August 4 at 8 p.m.; Union Hall, 702 Union St., Park Slope, Brooklyn; 718-638-4400
Rocker and composer Dean Wareham (Dean & Britta, The Squid and the Whale) provides a performer’s perspective at this music-themed panel, while writer Dan Kennedy (Rock On: An Office Power Ballad) dishes on the disillusionment he suffered working for Atlantic Records. Village Voice writer Rob Harvilla, who once constructed a “graphical dissertation” on Mims’s 2007 hit “This Is Why I’m Hot,” contributes a critical eye.
Word for Word: Poetry
August 4 at 7:30 p.m.; Bryant Park, 42nd St. at Sixth Ave.; 212-768-4242
The poet and novelist Jill Bialosky (Intruder, The Life Room) will share space with Boston-based poet and professor George Kalogeris, who recently completed a book of poetry called Camus: Carnets, based on Camus’s notebooks. They will be joined by Donna Masini, whose New York City–inspired That Kind of Danger received the Barnard Women Poets Prize.
The Believer Magazine
August 5 at 12:30 p.m.; Bryant Park, 42nd St. at Sixth Ave.; 212-768-4242
The long-form monthly will host a bevy of well-known writers, including Stereogum’s Brandon Stosuy and New York’s own Joe Hagan, who will advise aspiring writers about the art of creating–and publishing–great fiction. Starlee Kine of This American Life hosts.
Simon Rich
August 5 at 7 p.m.; McNally Jackson, 52 Prince St., nr. Mulberry St.; 212-274-1160
The Saturday Night Live writer is well under 30 and already has two books under his belt. Rich’s work does not resemble his father, Frank’s, Times column (a good thing, considering he’s a comedy writer and all); rather, the short, snappy exchanges in his most recent effort, Free-Range Chickens, are funny, relatable, and designed to be read aloud.
Happy Ending
August 5 at 7 p.m.; Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St., at Astor Pl.; 212-539-8777
“Progress & Process” will be the topic of discussion when music writer Alec Bemis hosts Brooklyn-based author Rachel Cohen (A Chance Meeting: Intertwined Lives of American Writers and Artists), NYU’s award-winning writer Lawrence Weschler, and, once again, Stereogum’s Brandon Stosuy.