Where to Hear Writers Read in New York: The Reading Series Worth Your Night
A red room above an East Village bar, a poetry church turning sixty, a Crown Heights bar that books future prize winners. The best readings in the city, most of them free.
Going to a reading in New York is one of the great cheap nights out, and it has nothing to do with homework. You get a drink, you sit in a crowded room, and three writers read for fifteen minutes each. Sometimes one of them is going to be very famous in five years. Sometimes one of them already is. Almost always, the room is full of people who read a lot and want to talk about it afterward, which in this city is a kind of social life.
New York has more reading series than it could possibly need, and they come and go with the energy of whoever runs them. This guide focuses on the ones with staying power in 2026: long-running series, venues with real calendars and bookstores that host several nights a week. We confirmed each one is active this year. Specific lineups change constantly, so check the series' site or Instagram the week of.
The institutions
KGB Bar
East Village · 85 E 4th St · Free
The most famous literary bar in New York, up a flight of stairs in a building that once housed a Ukrainian socialist club, decorated in Soviet red and propaganda posters. KGB hosts readings most nights of the week. The Monday Night Poetry Series, now in its 29th year, runs doors at 7 and readings at 7:30. Sunday Night Fiction is the longtime prose series. Fantastic Fiction at KGB, for science fiction and fantasy writers, meets the second Wednesday of the month at 7 (upcoming: October 14, November 11 and December 9). Most events are free and 21 and over.
Go for: Monday poetry, when the room is packed and the bar is loud in the right way. Know before you go: get there before 7:30 or you will stand by the door.
The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church
East Village · 131 E 10th St · About $10
Founded in 1966 in the parish hall of St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, and the center of experimental American poetry ever since. This is its 60th anniversary year, and the fall season opened with a celebration on September 23. The regular calendar runs a Monday Night series for emerging writers, a Wednesday Night series of headliners and a Friday Night series of interdisciplinary work. General admission is typically $10, $5 for students and seniors, and no one is turned away for lack of funds. Look for the Litmus Press 25th anniversary benefit on October 14 and the Poetry Project's New Year's Day Marathon, a daylong reading that is one of the city's best traditions.
Go for: a Wednesday night headliner. Know before you go: readings start at 8, and the church is at Second Avenue and 10th Street. Our East Village guide has where to eat after.
92NY Unterberg Poetry Center
Upper East Side · 1395 Lexington Ave · Ticketed
The oldest major reading series in the country, running since 1939, and the place where Dylan Thomas first read "Under Milk Wood" on stage in 1953. The 92NY season brings Nobel and Pulitzer winners, big-name novelists and poets in conversation, in a formal auditorium. It also runs poetry classes and workshops.
Go for: a major author you want to see in person. Know before you go: prices vary by event, and popular readings sell out weeks ahead.
Brooklyn
Franklin Park Reading Series
Crown Heights · Franklin Park, 618 St Johns Pl · Free
A monthly series in a Crown Heights bar, running for well over a decade and still one of the best in the city. It books a mix of emerging and established fiction writers, memoirists, essayists and poets, often with a taste for riskier work, and it draws a large, young, loyal crowd. It meets on the second Monday of the month, usually at 8.
Go for: a lineup of writers before they blow up. Know before you go: it fills up; arrive early for a seat.
Pete's Candy Store
Williamsburg · 709 Lorimer St · Free
A tiny bar with an even tinier back room shaped like a train car, and one of the most important literary stages in Brooklyn. It hosts several series: the Rally Reading Series on the first Thursday of the month at 7, Dead Pete's Society, a poetry open mic, on the first Friday at 7, a monthly play reading series and a Sunday open mic. The long-running Pete's Reading Series also still books writers here.
Go for: the Rally series. Know before you go: the back room holds maybe fifty people, so come early. See our Williamsburg guide.
The Moth StorySLAM
Gowanus · The Bell House, 149 7th St · About $20
Not a reading, exactly: a storytelling competition where people put their names in a hat and tell five-minute true stories on a theme, without notes. The Bell House is the Brooklyn home of the StorySLAM, and the Moth runs slams at other venues across the city too.
Go for: the chance you get picked. Know before you go: tickets sell out fast online, and doors open well before the show.
The Center for Fiction
Fort Greene · 15 Lafayette Ave · Free to ticketed
A nonprofit devoted to fiction, with a bookstore, cafe and bar and a real auditorium. Its calendar runs author conversations, book launches and panels most weeks. It is across the street from BAM.
Go for: a novelist in conversation. Know before you go: some events are free, others ticketed; check the calendar.
Downtown and the Nuyorican tradition
Nuyorican Poets Cafe
East Village · Programs at the Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, and other venues · About $20
The home of the poetry slam in New York, founded in 1973 and based on East 3rd Street since 1980. Its building is closed for a major renovation, and in the meantime the Nuyorican runs its programs off site: a weekly Nuyorican Bowery Slam on Monday evenings at the Bowery Poetry Club, and open mics and a monthly slam at the Loisaida Center on East 9th Street.
Go for: a Monday slam, which is loud, competitive and moving. Know before you go: buy tickets ahead, and check the Nuyorican's site for which venue.
Housing Works Bookstore Cafe
SoHo · 126 Crosby St · Mostly free
The volunteer-staffed used bookstore hosts book talks, launches and book club salons in its two story room. It feels like reading in a library that serves wine. All profits support Housing Works.
Go for: a free author talk on a weeknight. Know before you go: some salon events are ticketed.
Bookstore readings
Most bookstores on our best independent bookstores guide host readings, and several run them almost nightly. These are the busiest calendars.
Books Are Magic
Cobble Hill · 225 Smith St · Free to about $12
The busiest author event calendar in Brooklyn, with evening conversations most nights and storytimes on weekend mornings. Big events are ticketed, and the ticket usually includes the book or a gift card.
Go for: a big novelist in a small room. Know before you go: tickets sell out fast.
McNally Jackson
Nolita, Seaport and other locations · 134 Prince St, 4 Fulton St · Mostly free
All five McNally Jackson stores host events, including book clubs, launches and poetry nights, with the Seaport store's calendar especially strong.
Go for: a poetry night at the Seaport store. Know before you go: check which location an event is at.
Community Bookstore, Greenlight and Rizzoli
Park Slope, Fort Greene and NoMad · 143 Seventh Ave, 686 Fulton St, 1133 Broadway · Free
Community Bookstore runs readings, translation events and book clubs, usually at 7pm. Greenlight's in-store events are free. Rizzoli hosts art and design book launches most weeknights in the fall, usually at 6.
Go for: a translation night at Community. Know before you go: RSVP, because space is limited.
Albertine
Upper East Side · 972 Fifth Ave · Mostly free
The French Embassy's bookstore runs talks with French and Francophone writers and an annual literary festival in late September.
Go for: the fall festival. Know before you go: events often start at 6.
How to find the good nights
Reading series in New York live on Instagram and email lists, not on flyers. Follow the series you like and the bookstores near you, and sign up for their newsletters; that is where lineups appear, usually a week or two ahead. Small presses and literary magazines throw launch parties that double as readings, and those are often the best nights of all, because the room is full of the people who made the book. Graduate writing programs in the city also run public readings through the school year, and many are free.
A good rule: go to the same series three times. The first time you are a stranger. By the third, the host knows your face, the regulars say hello and you have a standing reason to be out on a Monday. That is how literary New York actually works, one small room at a time.
Once a year
A few literary events are worth planning around. The Brooklyn Book Festival, usually in late September, takes over the plaza around Brooklyn Borough Hall with free outdoor stages, and its week of "Bookend" events spreads readings and panels across bookstores in every borough (Community Bookstore hosted one this year). Albertine's fall festival of French and Francophone writing runs the same season. And on January 1, the Poetry Project's New Year's Day Marathon runs from afternoon into the night, with more than a hundred poets, musicians and performers each taking a few minutes at the mic. It is the best hangover cure in the city.
How to go to a reading
Arrive early. Good series fill up, and a standing spot by the bar means you will hear the espresso machine more than the poet.
Buy a drink or a book. Bars and bookstores host free readings because people spend a little money. Tip the bartender.
Silence your phone and stay for all the readers. Leaving after the famous one is bad form.
Talk to people after. The best part of a reading is the half hour when everyone spills out onto the sidewalk. That is where you hear about the next one.
The Shout NY take
Start with KGB on a Monday and the Poetry Project on a Wednesday. That is the East Village axis, and it has been for decades. Then go to Franklin Park on its second Monday and see who the next decade of writers will be. Put one big 92NY night on the calendar a year for the person you have always wanted to hear. And follow the bookstores you love, because they are where most readings in this city actually happen. For a wine bar to argue about it all afterward, try our natural wine bar guide.
Questions, answered.
- Are literary readings in New York free?
- Many are. KGB Bar's poetry and fiction series and the Franklin Park Reading Series are free, and most bookstore readings are free. The Poetry Project usually charges about $10, and big author conversations at venues like 92NY are ticketed.
- What is the most famous reading series in New York?
- KGB Bar's series in the East Village and the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church are the two institutions. The Poetry Project dates to 1966, and KGB's Monday Night Poetry series is in its 29th year. For big-name authors, 92NY's Unterberg Poetry Center has hosted readings since 1939.
- Where can I read my own work at an open mic in New York?
- Pete's Candy Store in Williamsburg runs a monthly poetry open mic, Dead Pete's Society, on the first Friday of the month, plus a Sunday open mic. The Nuyorican Poets Cafe's slams and open mics continue at the Bowery Poetry Club and other venues while its building is renovated.
- What night of the week are most readings?
- Monday through Thursday. Sunday and Monday are traditional at KGB Bar, Franklin Park reads on the second Monday of the month, and the Poetry Project runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday series.
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