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Writers, Poets and Attendees of the 2008 AWP Conference.

Welcome writers attending the 2008 AWP Conference! Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald spent their honeymoon in 1920 at the Biltmore Hotel at Madison Avenue and 43rd Street, only a few blocks from the convention hotels. Click on POETS in the society section of myurbansherpa.net and check out other NYC literary getaways.

I live in an East Village tenement apartment overlooking Marble Cemetery (http://www.nycmc.org/). I know five other poets who share this unusually peaceful panorama of linden and mulberry trees. Uriah R. Scribner, father of Charles of publishing fame, is resting here. No doubt, numerous writers live on these two cemetery-facing blocks, since as a tribe and profession we permeate New York City. We are the dead and the living, always have been. And subsequently, New York is an ideal place either to start your literary journey or, if you’re a card-carrying member in another part of the country or world, to join our vibrant festivities!

There are some obvious, and some not so obvious, ways to enjoy the historical New York literati experience:

Bar hopping

Apartment-building pilgrimages

Visiting cemeteries

Attending events, readings, panel discussions, and book parties

Browsing bookstores and special library collections

Of course, NYC contains copious out-of-the-ordinary locales with singular stories attached to them. That’s why each month we’re inviting a New York City poet or novelist to determine the place that for them poetry (or prose) in society or poetry in solitude springs eternal.

Bars

The White Horse Tavern (567 Hudson Street between Perry and West 11th Streets)

With Dylan Thomas’ (who died at St Vincent’s Hospital–7th Avenue and 12th Street–where Edna St. Vincent Millay was born) portraits plastered on the walls, no one will ever forget that The White Horse was his waterhole. Other frequenters were Norman Mailer, Thomas Wolfe, Bob Dylan, and Jim Morrison.

The Round Table at the Algonquin Hotel

59 West 44th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, (212) 840-6800

Vicious, drunken repartee of Vanity Fair writers Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, and Robert E. Sherwood is a big reason that this pristine and elegant restaurant is now a National Literary Landmark.

Apartment-Building Pilgrimages

The home of Willa Cather, where she wrote My Antonia–5 Bank Street

The home of e.e. cummings–4 Patchin Place.

T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Allen Tate, and Dylan Thomas visited.

Djuna Barnes lived at 5 Patchin Place.

Theodore Dreiser wrote An American Tragedy when he lived at 118 W. 11th Street

Allen Ginsberg wrote his famous poem “Kaddish” when he lived at 170 E. 2nd Street.

The home of Jack Kerouac where he wrote the first draft of On the Road—149 W. 21st Street.

The home of William S. Burroughs—115th Street and Morningside Drive Apartments. In the summer of 1944 Burroughs, Kerouac, and Ginsberg at this location declared the birth of the Beats.

Visiting Cemeteries

Trinity CemeteryUpper Riverside Drive, (212) 368-1600

Here Ralph Ellison is buried.

Ferncliff CemeterySecor Road, Hartsdale (in Westchester), (914) 693-4700

Buried here: James Baldwin, Preston Sturges, Lionel Trilling, John Lennon, Malcolm XWoodlawn CemeteryWebster Avenue & E. 233rd Street, Bronx, (718) 920-0500Buried here: Herman Melville and Countee Collen

Readings / Bookstores

Events, Readings, Panel Discussions, and Book Parties (A note about attending readings and events in NYC: Arrive on time because, depending on the event, it might get crowded, but most reading start 20-30 minutes late.)

92nd Street Y     

92nd Street and Lexington Avenue, (212) 415-5760

Here you’ll find poetry and fiction readings given by Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award winners, as well as Poet Laureates. You’ll be able to buy books and get them signed by the writers, too. Get your tickets in advance online, if you can, because sometimes they will sell out.

McNally Robinson     

52 Prince Street (between Lafayette and Mulberry), (212) 274-1160

This is a lively bookstore in SoHo with lots of varied and interesting events and readings. Both headliners and indies are booked here. There’s a café, too. And of course you can get your books signed by the authors. Sometimes there are even one-day writing workshops you can attend.

The Center for Book Arts

28 West 27th Street, 3rd Floor, (212) 481-0295

Although a regular once a week reading series isn’t held here, the Center for Book Arts is a fun place to keep your eye on in case a reading is being held when you’re in town. Classes for bookmaking and book art are held regularly so there are always really interesting exhibits to see when you’re mulling around before and after readings. And if there’s not a reading while you’re here, you might want to stop in just to see the cool books on display.

Barnes & Noble

Union Square–33 East 17th Street, (212) 253-0810

Chelsea–675 6th Avenue—(212) 727-1227

There are lots of great readings in the numerous B&Ns around NYC. The stores at Union Square and Chelsea host particularly good ones. Don’t expect to hear poetry at the chains though. You’ll hear fiction and nonfiction by well-known authors.

St. Mark’s Poetry Project at St. Marks Church

131 E. 10th St., (212) 674-0910

Now over 40 years old, the St. Mark’s Poetry Project has developed an esteemed and notorious reputation for happening poetry. There are open readings (ones in which everyone is invited to read), readings every Monday and Wednesday night, as well as a late Friday-night reading series. And the Poetry Project is housed in a spectacular 18th century church.

Bowery Poetry Club

308 Bowery, across from the old CBGB’s, (212) 614-0505

There is everything in this club: booze, café lattes, music, poetry, book parties, slam performance. And there’s lots of everything. Check out the very full schedule.

KBG Bar

85 East 4th Street

Good poetry and fiction are read almost every night of the week here. There is no admission fee. This is not a reading series that’s held in a noisy bar but a really crowded bar full of folks who have come specifically for a really good reading.

Women Poets at Barnard

417 Barnard Hall, 3009 Broadway, (212) 854-2116

This series, offered by Barnard College exclusively focusing on women poets, is a real treat. The setting is intimate and dignified, the poets tend to be brilliant, and there is always a very fancy spread (not just wine and cheese). There’s no admission fee and poets will gladly sign your books.

National Arts Club

15 Gramercy Park South, (212) 475-3424

Housed in an historic Gramercy Park mansion, the National Arts Club offers a taste of 19th century New York City. It’s a private club so take advantage of the book signings that are open to non-members.

The New School

66 West 12th Street, (212) 229-5488

An impressive array of events are held here. You’ll find readings by children’s authors as well as fiction forums and panel discussions on the state of small press publishing.Poets HouseI must mention this vibrant literary center and poetry archive even though it’s presently in the process of moving to the Battery Park area. Keep your eyes on its website for the grand opening.

The Poetry Society of America

PSA holds various readings and events around town. The Poetry Society of America also sponsors the Poetry in Motion broadsides that you see in the subway and buses.

Strand Bookstore

828 Broadway

12th Street and Broadway, (212) 473-1452

Besides miles of books, new and used, the 12th Street store holds readings and events. You might want to spend a full day at the Strand. This remarkable bookstore also has a rare bookroom that you’ll definitely want to visit if you’re interested in first editions.

192 Books

192 Tenth Avenue, (212) 225-4022

This is a teeny bookstore so make reservations for readings!

Housing Works Bookstore

126 Crosby Street, (212) 334-3324

This bookstore boasts of housing 45,000 new, used, and rare books. There’s a café with everything from lattes to beer to sandwiches. And it hosts great readings. But perhaps best of all, 100% of the profits made from sales are donated to in-need New Yorkers with HIV and AIDS.

Bookstores

Book Culture—formerly called Labyrinth Bookstore

536 West 112th Street, (212)865-1588

Book Culture has an excellent poetry collection to browse when you’re near Columbia University.

St. Mark’s Bookstore

31 Third Avenue, (212) 260-7853

This bookstore used to be located on St. Mark’s Place, hence its name. It still houses a good poetry section, and here you’ll see university press and small press books that you’ll find no place else.

Barnes & NobleUnion Square–33 East 17th Street, (212) 253-0810

This particular store has an excellent (for B&N) poetry section. You’ll find books at this location that other B&Ns won’t carry.

McNally Robinson

52 Prince Street (between Lafayette and Mulberry), (212) 274-1160

This is a lively, airy bookstore in SoHo with lots of varied and interesting events and readings. There’s a café, too. This is the perfect bookstore to browse.
192 Books192 Tenth Avenue, (212) 225-4022

Although this is a teeny bookstore it carries just the books you’ll want to read.

Housing Works Bookstore

126 Crosby Street, (212) 334-3324

This bookstore boasts of housing 45,000 new, used, and rare books. There’s a café with everything from lattes to beer to sandwiches. And perhaps best of all, 100% of the profits are donated to in-need New Yorkers with HIV and AIDS.

Special Collections

New York Public Library – Humanities and Social Science Library

Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, (212) 930-0830

The Berg Collection”A selected list of American authors represented by choice and/or extensive manuscript holdings include Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne and his family, Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Twain, James Russell Lowell, Henry James, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot (including the typescript/manuscript of “The Waste Land,” with Pound’s emendations), Marianne Moore, Louis Zukofsky, Allen Ginsberg, Saul Bellow, Julia Alvarez, Clark Coolidge, and Aï. Also present are the archives of Vladimir Nabokov, Jack Kerouac, May Sarton, Laura Riding Jackson, Alfred Kazin, Kenneth Koch, and Paul Auster.” Enough for you?

American Academy of Arts and Letters

633 West 155 Street 212-368-5900

The archives houses original manuscripts by its members. And its membership has included Sherwood Anderson, Saul Bellow, Paul Bowles, and Gwendolyn Brooks, to name 4 of the 13,000 diseased artists, architects, writers and composers. Call first to find out about visiting the archives that you’re interested in.

Martine Bellen is a poet (www.martinebellen.com), editor (www.bookdoctorbellen.com), a native New Yorker and the editor of Poets, Readers and Writers for My Urban Sherpa.

Shopping online

Consumption Monday – today – is supposed to be the biggest day for online sales ever is underway – so I wont take your time. But I will suggest – that what you are purchasing can be done so it delivers a gift to charities as well.

Maatiam is a portal through which your online shopping gives to the charity of your choice.