Community Corner

Some Literary Events Across Queens this Week

View the calendar below for a list of literary events, mainly readings happening in Queens.

Queens is rarely thought of as being a home to writers, poets or playwrights despite a number of authors having called this place their home.

In recent years, reading series and independent bookstores have emerged, helping to make literary offerings visible in a borough known mostly for its cuisine.

View the calendar above is a list of some of the literary events, mainly readings, happening in Queens. Click on a specific event to get more information like location and readers. You can also click on the tabs to change how you view the calendar.

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Events mentioned in the calendar are subject to change and cancellation. Check the event's website or contact the event venue if you wish to confirm.

Here are some highlights for this week's events.

First Tuesdays (Elmhurst) has an open mic every month at Teraza 7. It has welcomed anyone from an ex-convict to a local filmmaker on its hanging second floor stage. This reading series also has at least one featured, published author who shares their work with the audience.

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This Tuesday, its featured author is poet and award-winning writer, Kevin Carey.

Enigma Bookstore (Astoria) is one of two independent bookstores in the entire borough of Queens. It is also possibly one of the only bookstores in New York that specifically caters to geek culture, often inviting sci-fi, fantasy and horror writers to read at its store. 

This Tuesday, John Dixon will read parts from his debut novel, Phoenix Island, which served as the inspiration for the new television show from CBS, Intelligence.

Rez Reading Series (Kew Gardens) is a reading series at Odradeks Cafe that invites a writer to curate the readers. Since writers often build their own writing circles, the audience gets a window into who a writer works with, is influenced by, and admires.

This Thursday the curator is Andrew J. Peters, author of The Seventh Pleiade, a book about the legend of Atlantis.

Astoria Bookshop (Astoria) is the other independent bookstore in the borough of Queens. A general bookstore catering to the broad and diverse tastes of Astoria’s residents, it continues to organize events and readings to serve the community.

This Saturday, Bushra Rehman reads from her new novel, Corona. The book was recently featured in Poets & Writers Best Debut Fiction and the LA Review of Books as part of a new wave of South Asian American literature.

The Poets in the Galleries (Flushing Meadows-Corona Park) is a series in the Queens Museum that uses the exhibition space to create an interactive readings and discussions with the audience. Poets in this series have been known to do interesting things like plant audience members who suddenly recite poetry.


This Saturday, published writer Patricia Spears Jones is the guide and poet for the day.

Do you know about a reading series or arts venue across town? Tell us in a comment or a blog post.


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