[field notes nyc] things to do in new york: Sep 8 - 14
This week’s guide to talks, art, and ideas around town.
Monday, September 8
📚 Jaipur Literature Festival: The Gujaratis: A Portrait of a Community with Salil Tripathi and Suketu Mehta in Conversation
6 - 7pm | The Center for Fiction: 15 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn | Free, first come first served
“In The Gujaratis: A Portrait of a Community, acclaimed writer Salil Tripathi traces the journey of a community whose enterprising spirit has carried them across the world. The Gujaratis, through their remarkable resilience and pragmatic commercial spirit, have left their footprint in almost every continent. Traversing through histories of migration, faith, commerce, and politics, Tripathi, with celebrated writer Suketu Mehta, examines the paradoxes of belonging and ambition.”
🌎 New Frontiers in Exploration and Education
6pm | The Explorers Club: 46 E 70th Street, Manhattan | $35
“Kick off the fall lecture series at The Explorers Club with a report fresh from the field – and celebrate the return of our inaugural class of Teacher Fellows! The Boiling River of the Amazon is one of the most spectacular ecosystems on Earth! Up to 100-feet wide, 15-feet deep, flowing for over four miles, and capable of reaching temperatures over 200°F.”
Tuesday, September 9
📚 CBH Talk | Howard W. French and Annette Gordon-Reed Discuss “The Second Emancipation”
6.30 - 8pm | Center for Brooklyn History: 128 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn | Free with RSVP
“Join us for a conversation between journalist and historian Howard W. French and Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar Annette Gordon-Reed about The Second Emancipation: The Rise of Global Black Power and the Retreat of Colonialism. In this sweeping narrative, French interweaves the struggles of Africans to cast off colonial rule with the struggles of Diasporic African Americans, fighting to overcome Jim Crow oppression and give birth to the civil rights movement. At the heart of the book is the compelling figure of Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first prime minister and a towering champion of pan-Africanism.”
🎬 Dagmar Herzog, The New Fascist Body
7.30pm | e-flux: 172 Classon Ave, Brooklyn | Free
“A lecture and in-depth conversation with Dagmar Herzog about her new book. In The New Fascist Body, Herzog connects her analysis of fascism’s libidinous energy with its animus against bodies perceived as imperfect. Only by studying the emotional and intellectual worlds of past fascisms can we understand and combat their current manifestations.”
Wednesday, September 10
📚 Arundhati Roy
7.30pm | BAM: Howard Gilman Opera House | $46+
“One of the world’s most celebrated writers,
is known as the author of two novels—The God of Small Things, her Booker Prize-winning debut, and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness—as well as powerful essays addressing urgent social and political issues like globalization, indigenous rights, and nuclear weapons. Now, Roy comes to BAM for a revealing conversation about her newest book, Mother Mary Comes to Me. Speaking with scholar and National Book Award-winning author , Roy will discuss her first work of memoir, detailing her complex relationship with her mother, Mary Roy, a fierce, formidable force she calls “my shelter and my storm.””🧥 labor of love: deconstructing value and craft in fashion
6 - 7.30pm | Umbra: 785 Hart St, Brooklyn | Free with RSVP
“Presented by the team at Understudy, join us for a conversation with craftspeople, designers, and activists who will share how their work contributes to healing an exploitative and wasteful fashion industry. We will highlight both the innovative and traditional craft practices that creatives in NYC are advancing to create a better future for all participants in the global supply chain. Speaker include: Tessa Maffucci,
, and Liv Ryan. Moderated by João Campos”🎨📚 The Art of Goodbye: Romantic Landscapes
6.30 - 7.30pm | Virtual Event | Free with suggested donation
“The Art of Goodbye explores how artists have depicted loss throughout history. From ancient Greek funerary urns to medieval crucifixion altar pieces and haunting World War I trench scenes, the program delves into how different eras confronted grief. Each session highlights the artists, their works, and the societies that shaped or resisted these expressions of sorrow. Together, we’ll trace how art has served as a means to understand, express, and sometimes transcend loss.”
Thursday, September 11
📚 Zosia Mamet in Conversation with Andrew Rannells: Does This Make Me Funny?
8pm | 92Y | $25+ online or $45+ in person
“Award-winning actress Zosia Mamet joins fellow Girls alum Andrew Rannells (
) for a conversation about growing up in show business, life after their culture-defining series, and Mamet’s new book of essays, Does This Make Me Funny?”🪩🇪🇹 A Celebration of ETHIOPIAN NEW YEAR
8 - 11.55pm | Barbès: 376 9th St, Brooklyn | $20 suggested donation
“Kaethe Hostetter (Debo Band, QWANQWA, Fred Frith) is an American violinist, composer, and bandleader, who's been deeply invested in exploring, preserving, and expanding Ethiopian traditional sounds for over 15 years. Kaethe will be digging through her deep collection of Ethiopian music and spin rare and so rare records gathered in her decade long stay in Addis ababa."
🀄️ Mahjong Lessons for Beginners
6.30 - 9pm | Land to Sea: 402 Graham Avenue, Brooklyn | $30
“If you have been interested in learning how to play Mahjong - are new to the game or just getting started - this class will equip you with what you need to know! This class will include instruction on basic rules and beginner strategies and offer guided game play. This class is intended for beginners only. Tickets include one complimentary drink from our cafe or wine menu.”
Friday, September 12
📚 Casa Susanna—A Conversation with Diana Merry-Shapiro and Torrey Peters
6 - 7pm | The Met Fifth Ave | Free with RSVP
“Join Mia Fineman, co-curator of the exhibition Casa Susanna, novelist Torrey Peters, and original member of the Casa Susanna group Diana Merry-Shapiro to learn about the process of archiving community and the evolution of gender expression across generations. Hear behind-the-scenes stories about life at Casa Susanna and experiences that informed the writing of Torrey Peters.”
🌿 Party in the Park
6 - 9pm | Socrates Sculpture Park, Astoria | $25
“Join us for a special evening in the Park filled with music and revelry. Against the one-of-a-kind backdrop of the Park’s waterfront view at sunset, we invite our community to uplift the place and people we’ve come to know and love. Featuring performance from Las Mariquitas. Party in the Park raises funds to support the general operations of all aspects of Socrates.” Beforehand, you can check out the Opening Celebration and Artist’s Picnic
🎨 Opening Reception for Raúl de Nieves, Tega Brain, and Sam Lavigne
7 - 9pm | Pioneer Works: 159 Pioneer Street, Brooklyn | Free with RSVP
“Join Pioneer Works in a public opening celebration of Raúl de Nieves: In Light of Innocence and Tega Brain & Sam Lavigne: How To Get To Zero.”
Saturday, September 13
🏛️📚 Symposium—New Discoveries/New Directions in the Archaeology of the Ancient Americas
10.30am - 5pm | The Met Museum | Free with RSVP
“In celebration of the reopening of the galleries for the arts of the ancient Americas in The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, explore the ways in which major new archaeological discoveries made in the years since 1982—the year the wing first opened—have shifted perspectives on the visual arts of the civilizations that thrived in Latin America prior to 1600 CE. Hear from scholars as they address not only the revolutionary new understandings precipitated by these discoveries, but also our moment now, and the big questions that remain for the study of the arts of the Mexica, Inca, Maya, and Moche, and the many other civilizations of the ancient Americas.”
📷 Cameras and Coffee: Community Meet-Up
11am - 12pm | ICP: 84 Ludlow Street, Manhattan | Free
“Connect with ICP's community during our monthly Cameras and Coffee social meet-up for photographers, collectors, and camera enthusiasts! For this session, join us for a special hand-on art activity inspired by Michael Kenna: "Japan Love Story," exhibited on the ICP ground floor on view until September 28. Educator Carlos Nuñez will lead the Haiku Booklet workshop, creating your own interpretation of Japan Love Story through Japanese poem and photo collage.”
🗑️ Trash Clean-Up Day
10.30am - 1pm | Lips Cafe: 1412 Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn
“Club Canned is headed to Flatbush for our next cleanup. We’re starting the morning at a staple Flatbush, Lips Cafe, at 10:30am, then rolling out for cleanup at 11am sharp. Let’s build community, drink good coffee, and get our hands a little dirty together.”
🧥 Pretty/Ugly Princess (JRAT x NYFW SS26)
7 - 9pm | Brooklyn Peace Center: 23 Marcus Garvey Blvd, Brooklyn | $10+
“Come witness the live debut of JRAT's SS26 collection, Pretty/Ugly Princess. This brand new collection, crafted from reclaimed and deadstock materials, explores the ugly nature of the pursuit of beauty through the lens of the 1990s board game "Pretty Pretty Princess". MCed by Articles Of Interest”
Sunday, September 14
🌿 Poetry in the Garden
5pm | Elizabeth Street Garden | Free
“Join McNally Jackson at Elizabeth Street Garden, as a poet or audience member, for the exciting Poetry in the Garden reading series, hosted biweekly on Summer Sundays at 5 p.m. For each reading, we ask poets to submit work connected to various themes. For September 14th, poets can focus on the theme of "armature" or the theme of "border.""
📚Galvanizing the Power of Literary Community: Salons, Series, and Bookstores
5.30 - 8pm | Liz's Book Bar: 315 Smith Street, Brooklyn | Free
“Indie bookstores are experiencing a resurgence and the in-person book scene is thriving, with salons selling out, new reading series launching, and bookstores doubling as community hubs and third spaces. This panel discussion—featuring author
, owner of Liz’s Book Bar; , founder of ; author , creator of Reading the City; and moderated by Elizabeth Howard of the Short Fuse Podcast—asks how do we keep building literary communities better and harness their potential to bring more readers and writers into the fold. There will be a Q&A to follow and we invite the audience to bring their own ideas and join the discussion.”
🎨 Second Sundays
12 - 6pm | Pioneer Works: 159 Pioneer Street, Brooklyn | Free
“A free monthly open house. Highlighting our programs, artists-in-residence, and Red Hook community members, Second Sundays features open studios, exhibitions, workshops, live music, and food—with programming across all three floors and in our garden.” See website for full schedule.
🐶 The New York City Pawetry Festival
12pm | Sixpoint Brewery: Brookfield Place, 200 Liberty Street, Manhattan | $7.18+
“A poetry & puppies fundraiser for NYC PoFest featuring DogsofInstagram, and adoptable dogs from Social Tees Animal Rescue!”
Please make sure to confirm details with event organizers.
Coming up soon…
Events you might want to early RSVP before they fill up:
Brooklyn Book Festival (9/14 - 9/22): There are a lot of interesting panels and events, especially on the main festival day. Topics include: food media moderated by
, big tech’s big heist moderated by and complicated families in literature moderated by . I wouldn’t miss this festival!!!Have an event coming up? Drop a comment below or share details via this form.
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thanks for the inclusion!!! really appreciate it :)