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

Events are added throughout the season. Join our mailing list to get the word first.

Registration is required for all events unless individual listings state otherwise, and space is limited. Please see individual listings for details on time, format, and location. Many events are open to the public, with some for members only; check individual listings for details. For Members' Room events, check-in begins thirty minutes prior to the stated start time. Registrants are asked not to arrive for check-in prior to that time. A seat cannot be guaranteed after an event has begun.

All start times are U.S. Eastern.

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

Exhibitions

A Belief in Books: The 270th Anniversary Exhibition

open to the public in the Peluso Family Exhibition Gallery January 18-December 31, 2024

Established in 1754, the New York Society Library is the city's oldest cultural institution and one of the first libraries in the United States. The Library founders were all committed to Enlightenment values - but also to the idea that slavery was part of the natural world order. The ships that carried books from London also carried enslaved Africans to the American and Caribbean colonies. A Belief in Books examines this history in the context of books from the Library's collection between 1754 and the outbreak of the Revolutionary War.

Special Events

The 2023-2024 New York City Book Awards Ceremony

Tuesday, May 2, 6:00 PM | Members' Room (6:00 PM reception for members and guests, RSVP required)
and Livestream (6:30 PM, open to all) | free of charge
The Library honors this year's New York City Book Awards winners at a reception and presentation. Light refreshments are offered at 6:00 PM, with the presentation of awards and livestream beginning at 6:30 PM.

The 2024 Young Writers Awards Ceremony

Wednesday, May 22, 6:00 PM | Members' Room | Free of charge | registration required

Award winners and participants are honored at a ceremony and reception, with writing advice and inspiration from the author judges.

New Members Party, June 2024

Monday, June 3, 6:00 PM | Members' Room | by invitation only
If you're new, this party's for you.

Performances

Kate Feiffer, Morning Pages and Its Play-Within-a-Novel, with dramatic readers

Thursday, May 16, 6:00 PM | Members' Room $15 | Livestream $10 | open to the public | registration required
When her professional and family life collide, a playwright starts journaling every morning to push through her writer’s block in this laugh-out-loud and fresh take on family, friendship, and the chaos of midlife. This one-of-a-kind event features actors Jenny Lyn Bader, Eliza Foss, and Jonathan Lipnick presenting scenes from the play within the novel, with commentary from the novelist, Kate Feiffer.

Dear Ruth, a New Musical

Saturday, June 1, 2:00 PM | Members' Room | open to the public | free of charge | registration required
This all-ages musical follows Ruth, one of the thousands of Jewish refugee children given safe passage on the Kindertransport in the months leading up to World War II. As Ruth adjusts to life with her adoptive family, including her foster sister Elinor, she struggles to hold on to her connection to her musical father left behind in Nazi Germany. Ruth must ultimately find a way to reconcile past trauma with future hope - a task that will only be possible through the power of musical expression.

Lectures, Conversations & Panels

James Marcus, Glad to the Brink of Fear: A Portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thursday, April 25, 6:00 PM | Members' Room $15 | Livestream $10 | open to the public | registration required
An engaging reassessment of the celebrated essayist and his relevance to contemporary readers, which Kirkus Reviews calls "a lively, intimate, absorbing account of the sage of Concord."

Panel: We Refuse to Be Silent: Women’s Voices on Justice for Black Men

Thursday, May 9, 6:00 PM | Members' Room & Livestream | open to the public | free of charge | registration required
In this powerful and needed collection, editor Angela P. Dodson brings together the voices of more than thirty-five accomplished women writers on the topic of violence and injustice against Black men. In this unique event, she converses with Dr. Brenda M. Greene, Audrey Edwards, and Prof. Gloria J. Browne-Marshall.

Diane Richards, Ella, a Novel of Ella Fitzgerald, with Deborah Kampmeier

Saturday, May 11, 2:00 PM | Members' Room and Livestream | open to the public | free of charge | registration required
A remarkable debut novel about an extraordinary woman: Ella Fitzgerald, arguably the greatest singer of the twentieth century. In this one-of-a-kind event, author Diane Richards converses with screenwriter and director Deborah Kampmeier.

Caroline Alexander, Skies of Thunder: The Deadly World War II Mission Over the Roof of the World, with Wendy Wolf

Tuesday, May 14, 6:00 PM | Members' Room $15 | Livestream $10 | open to the public | registration required
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Endurance and The War That Killed Achilles, a breathtaking account of combat and survival in one of the most brutally challenging and rarely examined campaigns of World War II.

Panel: Reading Robert Musil, with Rüdiger Campe, Genese Grill, and Mark Mirsky

Monday, May 20, 6:00 PM | Members' Room $15 | Livestream $10 | open to the public | registration required
Join us for a unique evening of readings and discussions of the works of the Austrian writer Robert Musil (1880-1942), author of the Modernist masterpiece The Man without Qualities, the novella The Confusions of Young Törless, and many short stories and essays, as well as plays, reviews, and aphorisms.

Shanté Paradigm Smalls, Octavia E. Butler and the Archival

Thursday, May 30, 6:00 PM | Members' Room $15 | Livestream $10 | open to the public | registration required
Octavia E. Butler was a renowned African American author who received a MacArthur “Genius” Grant and PEN West Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work. In this special event, our 2022-23 New York City Book Award winner Shanté Paradigm Smalls discusses work in progress related to Butler's ideas of Black live in imaginary futures.

New! Lucy Sante, I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition

Thursday, June 6, 6:00 PM | Members' Room & Livestream | open to the public | free of charge | registration required
An iconic writer’s lapidary memoir of a life spent pursuing a dream of artistic truth while evading the truth of her own gender identity, until, finally, she turned to face who she really was.

Poetry

More to come!

The Writing Life

Prompt!

for members only | free of charge | registration required
Join your fellow member writers for a fun and stimulating hour+ of prompts, writing, and sharing. Sessions are separate - attend any or all.

In person with Carol Weston
Thursdays May 9, June 6

Online with Charlie Allenson
Fridays May 3, June 7

Writing Life Daytime Talk: Mastering Social Media Video Storytelling to Sell Your Book, with Miral Sattar

Tuesday, April 23, 3:30 PM | Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | registration required
What works and what doesn't when marketing your book on social media? This workshop will teach you how to record social media videos with just your smartphone and master BookTok and BookStagram Reels.

New! Writing Life Daytime Talk: Meet the NYC Municipal Archives, with Kenneth R. Cobb

Tuesday, May 21, 3:30 PM | Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | registration required
Kenneth R. Cobb, a 45-year veteran of the NYC Department of Records & Information Services, presents an illustrated review of Municipal Archives holdings including the mayoral collections, records pertaining to the administration of criminal justice, drawings of Central Park and Brooklyn Bridge, as well as records and photographs created by municipal departments such as police, health, parks, finance and education.

New! Writing Life Daytime Talk: Fitting in Writing, with Zibby Owens

Tuesday, June 11, 3:30 PM | Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | registration required
We’re all super busy, but writing is our calling. So how can we make sure to fit it in with everything else demanding our time? And why is it so worth it?!! Hear from Zibby Owens, bestselling author, bookstore owner, podcaster and publisher, about how she does and how her love of writing has fueled everything!!

Seminars & Reading Groups

Springtime with Henry James: One Novel, One Novella, and Seven Tales, taught by Jane Mallison

Wednesdays April 17, May 8, May 29, June 26, 11:00 AM | Whitridge Room | for members only | $100 for the four sessions/$25 per session | registration required
“We work in the dark – we do what we can – we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.” Henry James put these highly quotable lines into the mouth of the main character of “The Middle Years.” In this four-session seminar, we’ll read that tale and three others that James wrote about authors.

Seminar: “What A Lark! What a Plunge!” Mrs. Dalloway at 100, with Nicholas Birns

Wednesdays May 15, June 12, 11:00 AM | Whitridge Room | for members and their guests | $50 for the two sessions | registration required
2025 will see the hundredth anniversary of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. Reading Merve Emre’s recent annotated edition, published by W. W. Norton, we will explore such themes as the aftermath of war; life in the modern city; depression and its treatment; and the possible lingering effects of the 1918 pandemic, all juxtaposed with perhaps the most memorable party in modern literature.

FULLY REGISTERED: Let’s Read Shakespeare for Fun

Sundays May 5, June 2, 2:00-5:00 PM, Whitridge Room
for members and their guests | free of charge | registration required
We gather monthly to read aloud a play by William Shakespeare. This informal meetup aims to include anyone with an interest in the Bard; theatrical experience is welcome but not needed.

Children's and Young Adult Events

SEE THE FULL CHILDREN'S CALENDAR HERE.

View our playlist of recorded children's events here.

Informal and Informational Gatherings

270th Anniversary Gallery Tours

Peluso Family Exhibition Gallery | open to the public | free of charge | drop in
Wednesday, April 24, 2:00-2:30 PM and 3:00-3:30 PM

270th Anniversary Building Tours

Saturday April 27
Reference Room | open to the public | free of charge | drop in
Every 15 minutes beginning at 2:00 PM, with the last tour of the day beginning at 3:45 PM

Member Orientation (4/24/24 session)

Wednesday, April 24, 5:30 PM | Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | drop in
It's your Library. Learn about all the ways to make use of our collections, building, and services in a friendly presentation/Q&A with a staff member. Sessions last 45-60 minutes.

Happy Hour, May 2024

Wednesday, May 15, 5:30 to 7:00 PM | Members' Room | for members and their guests | free of charge | drop in
End your day with wine and light refreshments in the beautiful Members' Room. Library members and their guests are welcome.

Teatime

weekdays, 3:00 to 3:30 PM
Reference Room | open to the public | free of charge; donations welcome | drop in
Take a break for tea, coffee, and cookies in our first-floor public Reference Room.

The Library will be closed all day Saturday-Monday, May 25-27, for Memorial Day. Otherwise we observe normal hours.

A Belief in Books is generously supported by Elizabeth A.R. Brown and Ralph S. Brown, Jr., The Felicia Fund, Ada Peluso and Romano I. Peluso, The Hazen Polsky Foundation, The H.W. Wilson Foundation, and Humanities New York.

Writing Life events in 2024 are generously underwritten by Jenny Lawrence.

The 2023-2024 New York City Book Awards are generously underwritten by Ellen M. Iseman. The 2023-2024 Hornblower Award is generously underwritten by Jenny Lawrence.

The event with Shanté Paradigm Smalls is part of the Library's Black Literature Matters programming, generously supported by the Oak Foundation.

The events with Diane Richards and Caroline Alexander, and the May 20 panel, are generously sponsored by Polymath Educational Services - providing personalized support for teens with learning differences.