When: February 24 @ 7 pm
Where: Cooper Union’s Great Hall (7 East 7th St, NYC)
Who: André Aciman, Edward Albee, Anthony Appiah, Lydia Davis, Deborah Eisenberg,
Nathan Englander, Janet Malcolm, Francine Prose, Sarah Ruhl, and more

Tickets are $15/$12 for students and PEN members. $50 tickets include a wine and cheese reception to follow.

Click here to buy tickets.

RSVP or invite others on Facebook.

PEN America is a literary journal published by PEN, an organization dedicated to defending human rights and works around the globe. This benefit will help raise funds to expand this important mission and the journal’s reach in the US and abroad.

If you spend the day writing, you can help raise money for Dzanc, a unique non-profit independent press established (in their own words) “to not only publish great books, but to work nationally in set communities to provide writing workshops and year round programs for students and adults alike.”
Read more about the Dzanc Writer in Residency Programs (DWIRPS) and The Dzanc Prize, two of many ways this press connects writing and publishing with community service and educational outreach.

Want to read more about the event itself? Go here.

Interested in participating? Send an email to info@dzancbooks.org and receive a donation sheet for sponsors. No amount of $$ is too small — even $10 helps — and devoting a full day to your writing is priceless.

Now Waldman is channeling some of that passion toward electing Barack Obama, who she first met in law school. She’s launched a Books for Barack fundraising drive. In a widely circulated email, Waldman called for writers to donate signed copies of their books, including rare collectibles and first editions, to offer as gifts for Barack donors. Here’s how it works: you donate $250 or more to Barack through her MyBarackObama page, forward your receipt by email to Ayelet, and she and Chabon will send you a signed book from this exciting (and still-growing) collection, as well as a Books for Barack tote bag. More than $140,000 has been raised so far. To that I say, Yes we can!

Tuesday’s party was a community event, not a formal fundraiser; there was no admissions fee, and the food and hooch were free, donated by local restaurants. FGIBI members and Jessica shared their vision for the bookstore; encouraged community members to invest, donate, suggest real estate, or provide services to help get the bookstore off the ground; and gave a featured resident the chance to talk about why she wants a bookstore in the neighborhood. 2/3 of needed funds are raised, but as of Tuesday, they still needed $80,000. Supporters packed the room, among them city council reps, people from Marty Markowitz’s office, and powerhouse writers Jhumpa Lahiri, Jennifer Egan, and Colson Whitehead, who read a sassy ode to T.S. Eliot’s J. Alfred Prufrock. Craig Finn of the Hold Steady was also in attendance, which definitely earns some awesome points.

Visit Jessica’s blog A Bookstore in Brooklyn to join the bookstore-to-be’s mailing list and take a survey; also check out her long-running bookseller blog The Written Nerd.

Jessia Stockton Bagnulo, on the value of indie bookstores:

I think independent bookstores have the potential to offer more than any chain bookstore or online option could ever give: community, culture, real live interactions with authors, the serendipitous discovery of a book you love at the suggestion of a knowledgeable bookseller, a distinctive and appealing space for browsing. And I think there is an ethical component to how we spend our dollars: when you support local business, local business thrives, making your neighborhood a unique place and putting more money back into local economies.