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PEN Presents Lit Crawl NYC: A Literary Carnival

PEN launches the return of Lit Crawl NYC with a carnival-esque cabaret of bookish delights. One venue, multiple events, featuring such perennial favorites as Literary Pictionary and Nerd Jeopardy. The night will also include a raffle to win ticket(s) to Electric Literature’s Genre Ball, Tarot card readings by Restless Books and One Story, face painting, a mobile photo booth by Sarabande Books, an exquisite corpse contest by H.I.P. Lit, flash portraits by Last Night’s Reading artist Kate Gavino, and live music from the Farrar, Straus & Giroux band The Savage Detectives. Hosted by Buzzfeed’s Isaac Fitzgerald and author and graphic storyteller Mira Jacob, Lit Crawl NYC will invite guests to compete in brain games rotating between main stage presentations and pop-up stations located throughout Housing Works Bookstore Café.

Get a jump on Lit Crawl and join the competition with PEN America and Better Book Titles. Starting Tuesday, October 12th Better Book Titles will host a Twitter competition for the best single sentence book title. All you have to do to enter is join the hashtag #SingleSentenceBooks and @LitCrawlNYC. Prizes include a $50 gift certificate to Housing Works Bookstore Cafe and a signed copy of Dan Wilbur’s How Not to ReadThe winner will be announced at Lit Crawl on October 21st. Let the summaries ensue!

Crawl Highlights:

Nerd Jeopardy: Presented by BOMB Magazine, One Story, and A Public Space. Hosted by literary marketer Ryan Chapman

Latino Literary Scramble Board: Presented by La Pluma y La Tinta. Hosted by Raquel Penzo

Literary Pictionary: Presented by the National Book Foundation, Hyphen Magazine and Armchair / Shotgun. Hosted by 5 Under 35 Honoree Alex Gilvarry, author of From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant

Trivia Bingo: Presented by Tin House, Pushkin Press and New York Review Books

Raffle: Enter to win a free ticket to Electric Literature’s Genre Ball at the Ace Hotel New York on October 23. Info about the bash can be found here. The winner will be announced at the end of Lit Crawl

Flash Portraits: Drawn by Kate Gavino of Last Night’s Reading

Exquisite Corpse: Presented by H.I.P. Lit curators

Tarot Card readings: Hosted by Restless Books and One Story

Photo booth: Hosted by Sarabande Books

Better Book Titles: Hosted by Dan Wilbur

All events are free and open to the public. A complete Lit Crawl Manhattan schedule is available online at www.litcrawl.org/nyc. Please refer to the website for author bios, sponsor details, and schedule updates. Complimentary drinks provided by PEN American Center.

Literary Curating Partners:

Asymptote

Armchair / Shotgun

Better Book Titles

BOMB Magazine

Catapult

Center for Fiction

Electric Literature

Guernica

H.I.P. Lit

Hyphen

La Pluma y La Tinta

Liars’ League

National Book Foundation

New York Review Books

One Story

A Public Space

Pushkin Press

Restless Books

Sarabande

Tin House

 

About:

Lit Crawl NYC is a project of PEN American Center and the Litquake Foundation. San Francisco’s Litquake literary festival runs October 9-17, 2015, with affiliated Lit Crawls in San Francisco, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Austin, Los Angeles, Iowa City, Seattle, London, Helsinki, and Portland. www.litcrawl.org/nyc

Housing Works is a healing community of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Our mission is to end the dual crises of homelessness and AIDS through relentless advocacy, the provision of lifesaving services, and entrepreneurial businesses that sustain our efforts. http://www.housingworks.org/bookstore/