Below is a non-exhaustive list of events for books and/or authors I love & events that have piqued my interest in the books they’re highlighting. Feel free to email me with suggestions. Stars = highly recommend. Tell me if you go!
*Quan Barry: The Unveiling
- St. Louis: At The Heavy Anchor, Tue. 10/21
- Danvers, MA: At Tapley Memorial Hall, Wed. 10/29
*Myriam Gurba: Poppy State: A Labyrinth of Plants and a Story of Beginnings
- LA: With Olga Garcia at Skylight Bookstore, Tue. 10/21
- Brooklyn: At Powerhouse Arena, Wed. 10/22
- NYC: With Roshan Abraham at McNally Jackson Seaport, Thu. 10/23
- Washington, D.C.: With Lupita Aquino at Politics & Prose, Fri. 10/24
- Santa Monica: With Wendy Cheng at Diesel, Tue. 10/28
Emma Gannon: Table for One
- NYC: With Glynnis MacNicol at The Strand, Thu. 10/23
- Brooklyn & Online: With Aminatou Sow at Books Are Magic, Fri. 10/24
Donika Kelly: The Natural Order of Things
- Providence: Part of the "Writers on Writing" series at Brown, Thu. 10/23
- LA: At Skylight Bookstore, Mon. 10/27
- More.
A Conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates
- St. Louis: With Elizabeth Hinton the Graham Chapel, Wed. 10/22
Bridget A. Lyons: Entwined: Dispatches from the Intersection of Species
- San Francisco: At Bookshop West Portal, Thu. 10/23
*Brandon Stanton: Dear New York
- Brooklyn: With "special guests" at Powerhouse Arena, Mon. 10/27
Elyse Inamine and Jessie YuChen: For the Love of Kewpie: A Cookbook and Celebration
- NYC: With Christina Chaey at Yu & Me Books, Thu. 10/23
- LA: Kewpie-inspired menu, swag, sake, and book signings at OTOTO, Sun. 10/26
Amber Sparks: Happy People Don't Live Here
- Washington, D.C.: With Shannon Sanders at Politics & Prose, Fri. 10/24
- NYC: With Jess Zimmerman at The Strand, Tue. 10/28
Lily King: Heart the Lover
- Chicago: With Lindsay Hunter at Exile in Bookville, Thu. 10/23
- Milwaukee: With Lauren Fox at Boswell Books, Fri. 10/24
- Toronto: With Claire Cameron at the Toronto Reference Library, Mon. 10/27
*S.A. Cosby: King of Ashes
- Bronx: With Saraciea J. Fennell at the Bronx Library Center, Thu. 10/30
Bootsy Holler: Making It: An Intimate Documentary of the Seattle Indie, Rock & Punk Scene, 1992-2008
- LA: At Skylight Bookstore, Wed. 10/29
- More.
***TOC Reading Series: Angela Flournoy, Alejandro Varela, and Melinda Hansen
- Brooklyn: At Insa, Tue. 10/21
*A.M. Sosa: And I'll Take Out Your Eyes
- LA: At Book Soup, Fri. 10/24
Mary Jo Bang: Dante's Paradiso
- Iowa City: Convo about the final installment of Bang's Divine Comedy translation with Edward McPherson at Prairie Lights, Fri. 10/31
Goblin Market: A Books & Besties Event
- Houston: "Enjoy goth music, creepy crafts, tasty nibbles and libations, and of course booooooooooooooooooks!" at Brazos Bookstore, Mon. 10/27
Powerhouse of Horror: An Extravaganza with 12 Horror Writers
- Brooklyn: "No talks or readings, just a celebration of this spooky wonderful community and a party for the ages;" tickets include two free books from the authors in attendance, costume contest, swag, etc. At Powerhouse Arena, Fri. 10/24
*P. Djèlí Clark: Ring Shout
- St. Petersburg: Paperback launch at Tombolo Books, Tue. 10/21
Ali Gordon: We Have Reached the End of Our Show
- Chicago: With Jamie Shriner and Brendan Tran at Volumes Books, Tue. 10/21
Thomas Schlesser: Mona's Eyes
- Cambridge: With Joseph Koerner at Harvard Book Store, Tue. 10/21
- LA: At Book Soup, Mon. 10/27
- More.
*Lorrie Moore: Visiting Writers Series
- Ann Arbor: Reading and Q&A at U-M Museum of Art, Thu. 10/30
*John Freeman, Elaine Castillo, and Tommy Orange: California Rewritten: A Journey Through the Golden State's New Literature
- Menlo Park: At Kepler's Books, Tue. 10/21
Michelle Tea (Little F) & Brooke Palmieri (Bargain Witch: Essays in Self-Initiation)
- Portland: Dual launch at Powell's, Mon. 10/27
Powell's After Hours: A Literary Halloween
- Portland: The store will close early, and ticketholders will "wander the stacks and stumble upon unexpected performances, beguiling bites, and spirited cocktails, all amid characters pulled straight from the page." Cool!! Sat. 10/25
*Adam Johnson: The Wayfinder
- Online: Rebroadcast of an Oct. 15 event, available 10/20 through 11/10
- Oxford, MS: At Off Square Books, Wed. 10/29
Megha Majumdar: A Guardian and a Thief
- Cambridge: With Allegra Goodman at the Cambridge Public Library, Thu. 10/23
Naomi Washer: Marginalia
- Seattle: With Cori Winrock at Third Place Books, Fri. 10/24
Liz Gotauco: F*cked Up Fairy Tales: Sinful Cinderellas, Prince Alarmings, and Other Timeless Classics
- NYC: Convo with Beth Hicks and costume contest at P&T Knitwear, Thu. 10/30
Salaysay: Stories in celebration of Filipino American History Month
- Brooklyn: A night of storytelling with Ienna Fernandez, Mike Legaspi, Margo Rosales, Maria Rubio, and Dana Ysabel, plus a fundraiser for Tanggol Migrante Movement, Wed. 10/29
Joan Silber: Mercy
- Portland, ME: With Debra Spark at Print, Thu. 10/23
- Fairfield, CT: With Phil Klay at Fairfield University, Tue. 10/28
Valeria Luiselli: Lost Children Archive
- Minneapolis: With Arletta Little at The Loft at Open Book, Fri. 10/24
*Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon: Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile
- Brooklyn: Co-hosts of the podcast The War on Cars launch their new book with "surprise guests, music, comedy, and surprises TBA" at the Bell House, Tue. 10/28
Ghostly Encounters: Open Mic
- Portland, OR: A "spooky storytelling event." Audience members will vote on their favorite, and the winner brings home a secret surprise! At Literary Arts, Tue. 10/21
*E.Y. Zhao: Underspin
- Seattle: With Jane Wong at Elliott Bay Book Company, Fri. 10/24
- San Francisco: Discussing "sports and the pursuit of greatness in Asian America" with Jeff Chang at Black Bird Bookstore, Thu. 10/30
David Haynes: Martha's Daughter
- Iowa City: With Sam Chang at Prairie Lights, Thu. 10/23
Jeff VanderMeer: Absolution
- San Francisco: With Colin Winnette at Green Apple Books, Tue. 10/21
- Portland, OR: With Amy Stewart at Powell's, Fri. 10/24
Max Delsohn: Crawl: Stories
- NYC: With Dana Spiotta at P&T Knitwear, Tue. 10/21
- Portland: With Callum Angus at Always Here Bookstore, Fri. 10/24
- Seattle: With Corinne Manning at Elliott Bay Book Company, Sat. 10/25
- More.
*Arabelle Sicardi: The House of Beauty: Lessons From the Image Industry
- Brooklyn & Online: With Sable Yong and Tynan Sinks, co-hosts of the podcast Smell Ya Later, at Books Are Magic, Thu. 10/23
Elaine Castillo (Moderation) and Jason Bayani (Everyone I Love, Alive)
- San Francisco: Dual book launch plus Halloween party at Kearny Street Workshop, Tue. 10/28
Cory Doctorow: Enshittification
- Portland, OR: At Powell's, Tue. 10/21
- Seattle: With Ed Zitron at Seattle Public Library, Wed. 10/22
*Bonnie Tsui: On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matter
- Cambridge: With Annie Murphy Paul at the Harvard Science Center, Tue. 10/21
Sonora Jha: Intemperance
- San Francisco: With Renata Aron at Book Passage, Thu. 10/23
- Seattle: With Claire Dederer at Third Place Books, Thu. 10/30
*Julian Brave NoiseCat: We Survived the Night
- Seattle: With Joshua L. Reid at Town Hall, Wed. 10/22
- San Francisco & Online: With Rebecca Solnit at Book Passage, Sat. 10/25
Michelle Gurule: Thank You, John
- Brookline: With Tatiana Johnson-Boria at Brookline Booksmith, Wed. 10/29
Ivan Hernandez, Richard Masur, Cynthia Nixon, and Special Guests: The Best American Short Stories 2025
- Brooklyn & Online: Readings of selected stories from this year's anthology at BAM, Wed. 10/22
***Louise Penny: The Black Wolf
- Online: With "a special guest" hosted by B&N, Mon. 10/27 *This is only way to see her in the US; she isn't doing a tour here in protest against Trump. Queen.
- A lot of Canada events, but they're selling out quickly.
Kimberly King Parsons and Karen Russell: Knopf Publishing Event
- Portland, OR: Local Knopf authors talk publishing and literature with Knopf editor-in-chief, Jordan Pavlin, at Powell's, Wed. 10/29
Gish Jen: Bad Bad Girl
- NYC: With Vicki Xu at Yu & Me Books, Tue. 10/21
- San Francisco: At Book Passage, Thu. 10/23
- Seattle: With Daniel Tam-Claiborne at Elliott Bay Book Company, Mon. 10/27
- Washington, D.C.: With Melissa Block at Politics & Prose, Wed. 10/29
Susan Orlean: Joyride
- Naperville: With Alex Kotlowitz at Anderson's Bookshop, Thu. 10/23
- More.
Stefan Fatsis: Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary
- Cambridge: With Louisa Thomas at Harvard Book Store, Wed. 10/22
- Chicago: With Jonathan Eig at the Book Cellar, Tue. 10/28
Chris La Tray: Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian's Journey Home
- Salt Lake City: At The King's English, Wed. 10/22
*Paul Myers: John Candy: A Life in Comedy
- Paramus, NJ: With Dan Pasternack at Barnes & Noble, Tue. 10/28
- Portland: Discussion plus screening of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles at the Tomorrow Theater, Wed. 11/5
Erin Somers: The Ten Year Affair
- NYC: With Emily Adrian at McNally Jackson Seaport, Tue. 10/21
- Washington, D.C.: With Rachel Vorona Cote & Natasha Joukovsky at Solid State Books, Fri. 10/24
- Providence: With Rebekah Bergman at Riffraff, Tue. 10/28
*Grace Byron: Herculine
- Providence: With Ivy Rockmore at Riffraff, Wed. 10/22
- Brookline: With Gretchen Felker-Martin at Brookline Booksmith, Thu. 10/23
- Seattle: With Jas Keimig at Elliott Bay Book Company, Thu. 10/30
Mona Awad: We Love You, Bunny
- Rhinebeck: With Bill Clegg at Oblong Books, Tue. 10/28
- Madison, CT: With Maeve Cunningham at RJ Julia, Wed. 10/29
- Providence: With Lucas Mann at Riffraff, Thu. 10/30
Garth Greenwell: Small Rain
- Amherst: At UMass Amherst, Thu. 10/23
- NYC: With Brandon Taylor at the Strand, Fri. 10/24
Jaquira Díaz: This Is the Only Kingdom
- Brooklyn & Online: With Nina Haines at Books Are Magic, Tue. 10/22
- Chicago: With Ananda Lima and Keith S. Wilson at Women & Children First, Thu. 10/23
- Washington, D.C.: With Lupita Aquino at the MLK Jr. Memorial Library, Wed. 10/29
Anna North: Bog Queen
- St. Louis: "Cocktail party and literary salon" at The Novel Neighbor, Wed. 10/22
- Austin: With Jenny Tinghui Zhang at BookPeople, Thu. 10/23
Molly Jong-Fast: How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter's Memoir
- Brooklyn: With Meghan O'Rourke at the Central BPL, Wed. 10/22
Catherine Newman: Wreck
- Fairfield, CT: With Christine Kandic Torres at the Fairfield Public Library, Wed. 10/29
- Brooklyn & Online: With Julia Phillips at the Brooklyn Heights Library, Thu. 10/30
Book recommendations & event listings will always be free on Reading Habits. But you can support the newsletter by purchasing Bookshop and/or Libro.fm links above, or purchasing any books via my Bookshop dashboard.