Our fall calendar combines in-person and livestreamed events. Click on any event title for more details and to register where required.

We're excited to be presenting in-person events this fall. All individuals attending in-person Members’ Room or Whitridge Room events will be required to show proof of vaccination (Excelsior Pass, vaccination card, photo of vaccination card) at check-in. Please note that we continue to monitor all the news about COVID-19, and we reserve the right to make changes to any or all events including postponement, cancelation, or a change to livestreaming only. Registrants will be contacted as far in advance as possible in the case of any such change.

New events are added throughout the season. Join our mailing list to hear about it first (open to all).

All start times are U.S. Eastern.

Exhibitions | Special Events | Performances | Lectures, Conversations & Panels | Poetry | Seminars & Reading Groups | The Writing Life | Technology | Children's & Young Adult Events | Informal & Informational Gatherings

Exhibition

Black Literature Matters
April 28, 2021 - May 1, 2022
In a consequential moment in American history, the New York Society Library presents a not-to-be-missed exhibition of its remarkable collection of books by African American, Caribbean, and African writers. The exhibition is open to the public in limited numbers during the Library's open hours.

Special Events

Ronald Koury and special guests, Places Lost and Found: Travel Essays from the Hudson Review
Thursday, December 9, 6:00 PM
open to the public
Members' Room: $15 per person - fully registered; waitlist available
Livestream: $10 per person - register here
Ronald Koury and writers from The Hudson Review celebrate a treasury of unique and wide-ranging contributions, all establishing a sense of place, its history and significance. Light refreshments will be served.

Celebration of Member Writers, December 2021
Thursday, December 16, 6:00 PM
Members’ Room | for members and guests | free of charge | registration required
Members and guests are cordially invited to a celebration of Library members who have published books July-December 2021.

Performances

Clover: A New Play by Ty Hallmark and Laura Rocklyn
Saturday, December 11, 2:00 PM
Members’ Room | open to the public | $20 per person | registration required
Clover is a new full-length play by Laura Rocklyn and Ty Hallmark exploring the life of Gilded Age Washington socialite and pioneer female photographer Clover Adams. Upon arriving in D.C., Clover dives into the political and social scene - but then the death of her beloved father and possible philandering of her husband subject her to the darker forces that run in her family line.

Lectures, Conversations & Panels

Barbara Ascher, Ghosting: A Widow's Voyage Out and Peter Duchin, Face the Music: A Memoir, moderated by Linda Donn
Wednesday, December 1, 6:00 PM
open to the public
Members' Room: $15 per person - fully registered; waitlist available
Livestream: $10 per person - register here
In this unique event, author and journalist Barbara Ascher and celebrated bandleader Peter Duchin share memoirs reflecting on love, family, grief, and what comes after the life one expected.

Seminars and Reading Groups

Seminar: Exploring Place and Space in Fiction with Claire Jimenez
Wednesdays October 6, October 27, November 17, December 8, 5:00 PM
on the Zoom Meetings platform | open to the public | $60 for the set of four sessions | registration required
In this seminar, we will read selections from Stuart Dybek, Edward P. Jones, Toni Cade Bambara, Tommy Orange, and Grace Paley to understand how each author animates place to create deeper meaning.

Seminar: Literature from Hell, with Jane Mallison
Thursdays October 21, November 4, November 18, December 2, 11:00 AM
Whitridge Room | for members only | $60 for the four sessions | registration required
Six devilish figures in literature from the 14th century to the 1970s - will they strike us as scary? Hilarious? Intriguing? All of the above?

Seminar: Nostalgist or Liberator?: The Fiction of D.H. Lawrence with Nicholas Birns
Wednesdays December 15, January 5, January 26, February 16, 11:00 AM
on the Zoom Meetings platform | for members only | $60 for the set of four sessions | registration required
How does the 20th-century British novelist's combination of the visionary, the robust, and the outlandish have new relevance for the 21st century?

The Writing Life

Prompt! Fall 2021 (online)
Friday, December 10, 11:00 AM (separate sessions)
on the Zoom Meetings platform | for members only | free of charge | registration required

Prompt! Fall 2021 (Whitridge Room)
Fridays December 3, 11:00 AM
Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | registration required

Come write with us on Friday mornings. Join your fellow member writers for a fun and stimulating hour and a half of prompts, writing, and sharing. Sessions are separate - attend any or all.

Ronald Koury and special guests, Places Lost and Found: Travel Essays from the Hudson Review
Thursday, December 9, 6:00 PM
open to the public
Members' Room: $15 per person - register here
Livestream: $10 per person - register here
Ronald Koury and writers from The Hudson Review celebrate a treasury of unique and wide-ranging contributions, all establishing a sense of place, its history and significance. Light refreshments will be served.

Celebration of Member Writers, December 2021
Thursday, December 16, 6:00 PM
Members’ Room | for members and guests | free of charge | registration required
Members and guests are cordially invited to a celebration of Library members who have published books July-December 2021.

Children's and Young Adult Events

Storytime Live!
varying dates
Zoom | for all ages | no registration required
Join us on Zoom for a live face-to-face storytime.

Storytime Online! 
varying dates
YouTube | for all ages | no registration required

SEE THE FULL CHILDREN'S CALENDAR HERE.

View our playlist of recorded children's events here.

Informal and Informational Gatherings

Digital Teatime
Fridays, 3:00 PM to 3:30 PM
online | for members only | free of charge | drop in
Grab your favorite cup and your current read and spend a little time in social sipping and book-friendly chat with your fellow members.

Member Orientation Videos
Videos introducing the Library's collections, services, and online resources

The Black Literature Matters exhibition is generously supported by The Florence Gould Foundation.

The event with Susan Nagel is a Henry S.F. Cooper Jr. Lectures on Early American History and Literature.

The December 11 performance of Clover is generously underwritten by Alexander Sanger in honor of Jeannette Watson Sanger.

The Writing Life events in 2021 are generously underwritten by Jenny Lawrence.