#YeahYouWrite

New York City Author Events and Readings
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THE RESULTS ARE IN!

  • Winner: Heather Orlando, The Jezebels (See the first page below.)
  • Runners-up:
  • Tammie Painter, The Timekeeper
  • Kate Risse, Notice Something Beautiful in Nature Today
  • Lynn Jorgenson, Bent But Not Broken

Congratulations, all! Heather will read when we reschedule our event with Salt Cay alums and Newport MFA. Date to be announced.

Jeff Kleinman of Folio Literary Management chose our winner and three runners-up. We had a terrific response to our contest, and hope to do this again in the future.

Meanwhile, keep writing! And be careful out there...

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Read Heather Orlando's Winning Page

Heather Orlando is a publicity assistant at Celadon Books, a division of Macmillan. She is an MFA candidate in creative writing at the University of Central Florida and a graduate of The Columbia Publishing Course at The Columbia Journalism School.

Prior to teaching language arts and creative writing, she worked with publications such as National Geographic and TV Guide, in film production and marketing respectively. Most recently, Heather was an editorial intern at The Florida Review.

She lives with her husband and two mischievous cats in Manhattan.

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Authors' thoughts/experiences/reactions during this very strange time.

IS THERE A SILVER LINING? Jacob M. Appel MD

I am struggling to find the silver lining behind covid-19. As an emergency room physician and bioethicist, I have already witnessed the horrors of the disease—and I am regrettably confident that matters will grow far worse before they get any better, that whatever humor morons might find in videotaping themselves licking subway poles or coughing on fruit will rapidly dissipate. Don’t get me wrong: to survive a day in the hospital, one needs a bit of dark humor. I make a point of reminding people that optimism saved General Custer and I wander the wards pitching my new mutual fund that will invest only in casket manufacturers, online pornography services and looting equipment. Yet on a more serious note, I remain hopeful that once this calamity is behind us—and we will get through it, somehow—we have the potential to learn three valuable lessons….

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"Here's a toast to #YeahYouWrite—one of the most welcoming and ingenious literary reading series I've ever enjoyed. Don't miss it!" —Terry Blackhawk, poet and founder of InsideOut Literary Arts Project

"In a packed basement at Bo’s Restaurant, the paradigm of the traditional literary reading is being revamped. Now you can watch as the author stands on stage sampling a specially mixed drink, answering rapid fire questions about writing practice, telling an anecdote about a bad review, and, oh yes, reading a few pages. This is the wave of the future." Said Sayrafiezadeh, author, When Skateboards Will Be Free

"Thank you for the excellent time last night. Dinner was superb; my Watch Me Drink This drink was delicious; everyone was so darned NICE! Truly, one of the best lit events I've attended in a long time."...

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Ann Hood, instructor at Salt Cay and director of the Newport MFA program will read, along with MFA candidate Katie Hughes-Pucci. Tracey Enerson Wood, Kris Waldherr, and Pamela Dae, alums from Salt Cay Writers Retreat where #YYW founders Lisa Kristel and Robin Martin met, will have a reading reunion.

Also joining us will be founding partner and literary agent Jeff Kleinman from Folio Literary Management to judge our Novel~Memoir First-Page Contest. See below for details on how to enter your first page to win a chance to be critiqued by Jeff and read at #YeahYouWrite on May 4!

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Find out what happened...go to the "more" links below (but ignore this word "more" right here –>)

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Soul Sister Revue Readers: (top, L to R) Special guest Rico—writer, artist, and designer of Soul Sister Revue Compilation cover art, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, R. Erica Doyle, Rio Cortez, editor Cynthia Manick, (bottom) Roberto Carlos Garcia, José Olivarez.

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Laura Pegram, Editor in Chief, and contributors to Kweli, including: Jennifer Baker, Cynthia Dewi Oka, Cynthia Manick, Princess Perry, Jodi Savage, and Vincent Toro. Click to see reader bios!

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Flatiron, New York City Author Event

Four authors, three novels, one essay collection, and hundreds of laughs.

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Crime Fiction Author Event

Crime pays. Well, when it's crime fiction. Take a look at these fellas!

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New York City Book Signing and Discussion

Here's what happens when authors ask each other questions...

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NYC Author Q&A

Incredible authors entertain with their glowing answers to our rapid-fire questions

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Disquiet International Literary Program

Fabulous faculty from the Disquiet International Literary Program, held each year in Lisbon, Portugal, took the stage this month.

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Catapult Workshop at YeahYouWrite

Catapult Workshop Instructors have written some amazing stuff . . . and they read it at #YeahYouWrite!

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Author Rapid Fire Q&A Panel

E.J. Levy, Angela Woodward, Kate Angus, & Jonathan Lee answer our Rapid Fire questions. Not sure who came up with the answer here, but it was definitely entertaining.

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Community of Writers at Squaw Valley

Answer: Five, but just barely.

It was also difficult to contain the enthusiasm these Community of Writers at Squaw Valley alums put forth for us this month. Pictured during the Q&A from left: Lisa Kristel (host), Matthew Thomas, Matt Sumell, Frederick Reiken, Julie Chibbaro, & Mark Wisniewski

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Author Q&A NYC

Ruth Danon and Kelly Fordon react to the ever-entertaining Julia Glass as she tells the story of her worst-ever review (eventually vindicated when she received the National Book Award).

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Authors Imani Sims and Victoria Redel

I'll have what she's having! Imani Sims and Victoria Redel taste their custom #literarycocktails—Wonderland and Make Me Drink This, respectively—before the reading. Martha Hughes, editor of Letting Go, and her essayists Evalyn Lee, Mina Samuels, and George Farrell sipped the Let It Go. Spirits seem a good way to prepare before taking the stage. For other photos, click:

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New York City Author Speaking Event

Authors Karen Heuler, Austin Ratner & Sandra Newman share the stage. They each presented their custom literary cocktail, read to a packed house, and answered many questions. A new highlight of the evening: sharing their worst rejection letters and reviews. Brave souls, our readers! Click more for photos and details:

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Jacob M. Appel Author

This month our authors Jacob M. Appel & Sara Lippmann read to a full house in the Lounge. We added a specialty cocktail called Stardust in honor of David Bowie—who once said his idea of perfect happiness was reading—and played a short video of images from his life. We had four wonderful readers at Late Night Mic . . . will you read next month? Photos:

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YeahYouWrite Author Reading

Authors: Dan Sheehan, Téa Obreht, & David Ebershoff

At our first #YeahYouWrite event, we had the privilege of listening to both Téa and Dan read from yet unpublished works, she from her second novel, and he from his collection of short stories. David read the opening of The Danish Girl after we watched the trailer for the critically acclaimed film, starring Eddie Redmayne, based on the novel. We've since learned it's been nominated for four Academy Awards.

At left,Téa describes her literary cocktail, The Tiger, made with Dolin Blanc vermouth, plum, hibiscus syrup, and rakija, the potent spirit oft consumed in her first novel, The Tiger's Wife. David's drink was The Lili, as lovely and sparkling as its namesake Danish girl, with its akvavit, earl grey tea, lime and prosecco. We had no other choice but to offer Dan straight-up triple distilled Irish whiskey, but not just any whiskey: the special Jameson...

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Click here to see: #YeahYouWrite in Images: 2015-2018

Photos & Video by Robin Martin / Music by Brett Beats Bailey.

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Don't miss great authors reading in the Lounge @ Bo's!

#YeahYouWrite Photos by Robin Martin