Free Poetry and Book Signings NYC

Not a day goes by in New York City without a free poetry reading or a book signing by a famous or not yet famous author. Please see below the schedule of free literary events in New York City and choose one (or more) to your liking.

All events are free unless otherwise noted.


Sat, Mar 21
2:00PM
to 4:00PM Reading
free Wambui Bahati, author of “You Don't know Crazy”
New York City, NY; NYC

Sun, Mar 22
2:30PM Book Reading
free AbdouMaliq Simone's “For the City Yet to Come”
New York City, NY; NYC

Sun, Mar 22
4:00PM
to 12:00PM Book Reading
free Jeffrey Gurock reads from his book, “Orthodox Jews in America”
New York City, NY; NYC

Sun, Mar 22
7:00PM Book Reading
free Ching-In Chen reads from her book, “The Heart's Traffic”
New York City, NY; NYC

Mon, Mar 23
6:00PM Reading
free, reservations are required Patrizia Cavalli reads from her book “Pigre Divinitá e Pigra Sorte”
New York City, NY; NYC

Mon, Mar 23
7:00PM Book Reading
free Emily Fox Gordon reads from her book, “It Will Come to Me”
New York City, NY; NYC

Mon, Mar 23
7:00PM Book Reading
free Mahmood Mamdani reads from his book, “Saviors and Survivors”
New York City, NY; NYC

Mon, Mar 23
7:00PM Poetry Reading
$10 suggested donation Cuban Poetry and Politics
New York City, NY; NYC

Tue, Mar 24
7:00PM Book Reading
free Walter Mosley reads from his book,“Long Fall”
New York City, NY; NYC

Tue, Mar 24
7:00PM Book Reading
free Dana Canedy reads from her book, “A Journal for Jordan”
New York City, NY; NYC

Tue, Mar 24
7:00PM Book Reading
free Gail Blanke reads from her book, “Throw Out Fifty Things”
New York City, NY; NYC

Tue, Mar 24
7:00PM Book Reading
free Gerard Koepel reads from his book, “Bond of Union”
New York City, NY; NYC

Tue, Mar 24
7:00PM Book Reading
free Robert Arellano/Achy Obejas, Cuban novelists
New York City, NY; NYC

Tue, Mar 24
7:30PM Book Reading
free Arthur Laurents reads from his book, “Mainly on Directing”
New York City, NY; NYC

Wed, Mar 25
7:00PM Reading
free On Ovid's “Metamorphoses”
New York City, NY; NYC

Wed, Mar 25
7:00PM Book Reading
free Germaine Greer reads from her book, “Shakespeare's Wife”
New York City, NY; NYC

Wed, Mar 25
7:00PM Reading
free Editor reads rejected submissions
New York City, NY; NYC

Wed, Mar 25
7:00PM Book Reading
free Luke Bergmann reads from his book, “Getting Ghost”
New York City, NY; NYC

Wed, Mar 25
7:30PM Book Reading
free Sarah Dunn reads from her book, “Secrets to Happiness”
New York City, NY; NYC

Wed, Mar 25
7:30PM Reading
free Kent Haruf reads from his work
New York City, NY; NYC

Thu, Mar 26
5:30PM
to 7:00PM Book Reading
free Courtney Humphries reads from her book, "Superdove: How the Pigeon Took Manhattan...and the World"
New York City, NY; NYC

Thu, Mar 26
6:30PM Reading
free Lower East Side Stories: Workplace Drama
New York City, NY; NYC

Thu, Mar 26
7:00PM Book Reading
free Jeffery Rotter reads from his book, “The Unknown Knowns”
New York City, NY; NYC

Thu, Mar 26
7:00PM Poetry Reading
free Poet Christian Hawkey discusses his work
New York City, NY; NYC

Thu, Mar 26
7:00PM Book Reading
free Jeffrey Fleishman reads from her book, “Promised Virgins: A Novel of Jihad”
New York City, NY; NYC

Thu, Mar 26
7:00PM
to 8:30PM Book Reading
free Beth Kobliner reads from her book, “Get A Financial Life”
New York City, NY; NYC

Thu, Mar 26
7:00PM
to 9:00PM Reading
free "America: From Concord to Abu Ghraib"
New York City, NY; NYC

Fri, Mar 27
7:00PM Reading
free Alumni Reading
New York City, NY; NYC

Fri, Mar 27
7:00PM Book Reading
free Brett Bloom reads from his book, “Public Phenomena”
New York City, NY; NYC

Fri, Mar 27
8:00PM
to 9:00PM Reading
free Wash and Dry Productions presents the City Cycle: writers from the New York Times City Section
New York City, NY; NYC

Sun, Mar 29
6:00PM Book Reading
free Helen Benedict reads from her book, “The Lonely Soldier”
New York City, NY; NYC

Mon, Mar 30
12:00PM Book Signing
free Alyssa Milano signs “Safe at Home”
New York City, NY; NYC

Mon, Mar 30
7:00PM Poetry Reading
free Contributors read from "Essential Pleasures: A New Anthology of Poems to Read Aloud”
New York City, NY; NYC

Mon, Mar 30
7:00PM Book Reading
free Mike Player reads from his book, “Out on the Edge”
New York City, NY; NYC

Mon, Mar 30
7:00PM Book Reading
free Randy Shaw reads from his book, “Beyond the Fields”
New York City, NY; NYC

Mon, Mar 30
7:30PM Book Reading
free Mary Pipher reads from her book, “Seeking Peace”
New York City, NY; NYC

Tue, Mar 31
7:00PM Poetry Reading
free 5 poets read from their books
New York City, NY; NYC

Tue, Mar 31
7:00PM Book Reading
free Robert Goolrick reads from her book, “A Reliable Wife”
New York City, NY; NYC

Tue, Mar 31
7:00PM Book Reading
free Contributors read from "Notes on Conceptualisms”
New York City, NY; NYC

Tue, Mar 31
7:00PM Poetry Reading
$5 suggested admission Women's/Transgendered Poetry Jam & Open Mike
New York City, NY; NYC

Tue, Mar 31
7:30PM Book Reading
free Said Sayrafiezadeh reads from his book, “When Skateboards Will Be Free”
New York City, NY; NYC

Tue, Mar 31
7:30PM Book Reading
free Harlan Coben reads from his book, “Long Lost”
New York City, NY; NYC

Wed, Apr 1
5:30PM
to 6:45PM Book Reading
free Adam Smith's “Wealth of Nations”
New York City, NY; NYC

Wed, Apr 1
6:30PM Reading
free CUNY writers read their work
New York City, NY; NYC

Wed, Apr 1
7:00PM Book Reading
free Julia Angwin reads from her book, “Stealing MySpace”
New York City, NY; NYC

Thu, Apr 2
7:00PM Poetry Reading
free Elizabeth Haukaas reads from her book, “Leap”
New York City, NY; NYC

Thu, Apr 2
7:00PM Poetry Reading
free Sharon Olds reads from her book, “One Secret Thing”
New York City, NY; NYC

Fri, Apr 3
5:00PM Poetry Reading
free Joshua Beckman/Noelle Kocot/Chelsey Minnis, poets
New York City, NY; NYC

Fri, Apr 3
6:30PM Reading
free Contributors on “Considering Forgiveness”
New York City, NY; NYC

Sat, Apr 4
7:00PM Reading
free Contributors reads from “West 10th Literary Journal”
New York City, NY; NYC

Mon, Apr 6
7:00PM Book Reading
free Clay Risen reads from his book, “A Nation on Fire”
New York City, NY; NYC

Mon, Apr 6
7:30PM Reading
free Mary Karr reads from his work
New York City, NY; NYC

Tue, Apr 7
6:30PM Book Reading
$5 Poet Paul Violi discusses his work
New York City, NY; NYC

Tue, Apr 7
6:30PM Reading
free I Speak of the City: Poems of New York
New York City, NY; NYC

Tue, Apr 7
7:00PM Book Reading
free Jürgen Todenhöfer reads from his book, “Why Do You Kill?”
New York City, NY; NYC

Tue, Apr 7
7:00PM Book Reading
free Adina Hoffman reads from her book, “My Happiness Bears No Resemblance to Happiness”
New York City, NY; NYC

Wed, Apr 8
7:00PM Book Reading
free Zachary Mexico reads from his book, “China Underground”
New York City, NY; NYC

Wed, Apr 8
7:00PM Book Reading
free Robert Rotenberg reads from his book, “Old City Hall”
New York City, NY; NYC

Thu, Apr 9
7:00PM Poetry Reading
free Erica Jong reads from her book, “Love Comes First”
New York City, NY; NYC

Thu, Apr 9
7:00PM Poetry Reading
free Ruth Padel reads from “Darwin: A Life in Poems”
New York City, NY; NYC

Mon, Apr 13
7:00PM Book Reading
free Joanna Smith Rakoff reads from her book, “A Fortunate Age”
New York City, NY; NYC

Wed, Apr 15
5:30PM
to 6:45PM Book Reading
free Adam Smith's “Wealth of Nations”
New York City, NY; NYC

Wed, Apr 15
6:30PM Book Reading
free John Sayles reads from his book, “Some Time in the Sun”
New York City, NY; NYC

Wed, Apr 15
7:00PM Book Reading
free Greg Ames reads from his book, “Buffalo Lockjaw”
New York City, NY; NYC

Thu, Apr 16
7:00PM Poetry Reading
free J.D. McClatchy/Susan Wheeler/Mark Halliday, poetry
New York City, NY; NYC

Fri, Apr 17
7:00PM Reading
Pay-what-you-wish admission policy Trends in Contemporary Poetry: Conceptual Writing and The Flarf Collective
New York City, NY; NYC

Fri, Apr 17
7:00PM Reading
free Christine Schutt/Rebecca Curtis/Clancy Martin, fiction writers
New York City, NY; NYC

Mon, Apr 20
7:00PM Poetry Reading
free Robert Polito/Guy Maddin, writers
New York City, NY; NYC

Mon, Apr 20
7:00PM Book Reading
free Joe Queenan reads from his book, “Closing Time”
New York City, NY; NYC

Mon, Apr 20
7:30PM Reading
free Mark Strand reads from his work
New York City, NY; NYC

Wed, Apr 22
4:00PM Poetry Reading
free Nathalie Handal and Tina Chang read from “Language for a New Century”
New York City, NY; NYC

Wed, Apr 22
6:30PM Reading
free Contributors read from “Slice Magazine”
New York City, NY; NYC

Wed, Apr 22
7:00PM Book Reading
free Deirdre Shaw reads from her book, “Love or Something Like It”
New York City, NY; NYC

Thu, Apr 23
7:00PM Book Reading
free Susan Jane Gilman reads from her book, “Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven”
New York City, NY; NYC

Thu, Apr 23
7:30PM Reading
free “Writing in the Dark” Series
New York City, NY; NYC

Thu, Apr 23
7:30PM Reading
free David Antin/Charles Bernstein/Lynne Tillman, writers
New York City, NY; NYC

Mon, Apr 27
6:30PM Poetry Reading
$5 National Poetry Month Reading
New York City, NY; NYC

Mon, Apr 27
7:00PM Book Reading
free Sharon Moalem reads from her book, “How Sex Works”
New York City, NY; NYC

Tue, Apr 28
6:30PM Poetry Reading
free Poetry Society of America Chapbook Prize Reading
New York City, NY; NYC

Tue, Apr 28
7:00PM Book Reading
free Vestal McIntyre reads from his book, “Lake Overturn”
New York City, NY; NYC

Wed, Apr 29
5:30PM
to 6:45PM Book Reading
free Adam Smith's “Wealth of Nations”
New York City, NY; NYC

Thu, Apr 30
7:00PM Poetry Reading
free Jan Conn/Carolyn Smart/Tom Sleigh, Canadian poetry
New York City, NY; NYC

Sun, May 3
5:00PM Reading
free Bellevue Literary Review Poetry & Prose Reading
New York City, NY; NYC