"NYU’s Creative Writing Program hosts author readings that consistently have [our] Books section in a state of irrational exuberance."—Time Out New York
The lively public Reading Series hosts a wide array of writers, translators, and editors, and connects our program to the local community. All events are free and open to the public and take place at the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House at 58 West 10th Street, unless otherwise noted. Please see each event for more details, including Covid-related policies and RSVP info. If you would like to receive email announcements about upcoming literary events, please email creative.writing@nyu.edu with your request. Please also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The Creative Writers House is currently wheelchair inaccessible.
Beginning in spring 2007, the Creative Writing Program launched a series of intimate salons at the newly dedicated Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House. Students responded with enthusiasm to the events, especially to the informal atmosphere that encouraged conversations with writers whose work they admired. Several of the salons continued long after they were scheduled to end, with students and visiting writers caught up in lively discussion for hours.
The Reading Series has continued every year in this tradition. In a typical week, graduate courses are offered Monday through Wednesday, and readings are held Thursday and Friday evenings. In addition to readings by today's most eminent writers and poets, scheduled events include faculty and alumni readings, readings from newly published literary magazines, panel discussions, and New Salons, which feature writers in conversation. The Emerging Writers Reading Series showcases graduate students of the Creative Writing Program and features established writers as special guests.
The Creative Writing Program has been grateful to partner with long-respected literary organizations in New York City to bring diverse programming to our students and public. Co-sponsors and partners have included 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center, the Academy of American Poets, Callaloo, CantoMundo, Cave Canem Foundation, Fence, Granta, Kundiman, Open City, PEN America, The Paris Review, Poets & Writers, Poets House, the Poetry Society of America, the Rona Jaffe Foundation, Tin House, the Women's National Book Association, the National Book Critics Circle, and the Whiting Writers' Awards.
Friends of the Reading Series have included Barbara K. Bristol & Galway Kinnell, Tom Healy, Fred Hochberg, Robert Holmes, the New York State Council on the Arts, the NYU Bookstore, Poets & Writers, Inc., Lillian Vernon, and the Lila Acheson Wallace Theater Fund of the New York Community Trust.
