Poets & Writers Theater

On BRIC TV’s 112BK, Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, co-owner of Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, presents her summer reading recommendations including Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (Penguin Press, 2019), Namwali Serpell’s The Old Drift Hogarth, 2019), Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black (Knopf, 2018), and Hugh Ryan’s When Brooklyn Was Queer (St. Martin’s Press, 2019).

“Reading really saved my life in a way that people probably will never be able to understand.” Anthony Ray Hinton, author of the memoir, The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row (St. Martin’s Press, 2018), speaks about starting the only known book club on death row and the power of reading.

“The first summer fair of the season, the East Avalon Fair, was a ‘coming out’ party for everyone on the eastern tip of the island.” Julia Fierro reads from a draft of her novel The Gypsy Moth Summer (St. Martin’s Press, 2017), which is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine, for the Why There Are Words reading series.

“He basically married the heroine of his stories.” In this Amazon original series based on Therese Anne Fowler’s historical novel Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald (St. Martin’s Press, 2013), David Hoflin and Christina Ricci star as F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

In this video, a young fan enthusiastically—and repeatedly—presents Jay Baron Nicorvo’s debut novel, The Standard Grand (St. Martin’s Press, 2017), which is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Best-selling author Erica Jong's newest novel follows an aging actress in her sixties. Fear of Dying is forthcoming from St. Martin's Press in September.

Erika Swyler's debut novel, published by St. Martin's Press, features mermaids, drownings, tarot cards, and a librarian who uncovers mysteries about his family.

"Reading other people's stories has always helped me with my own story.... I can pull the feelings and emotions away." Author Jamie Brickhouse discusses his memoir, Dangerous When Wet, forthcoming in April from St. Martin's Press.

Julia Fierro, founder of the Sackett Street Writers' Workshop in Brooklyn, New York, speaks on the desire to portray the new American woman's experience in her debut novel, Cutting Teeth (St. Martin's Press, 2014). Fierro is featured in "The MFA Alternatives: Independent Writing Workshops" by Michael Bourne, in the new issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Novelist and screenwriter Tom Perrotta, author most recently of The Leftovers (St. Martin's Press, 2011), offers advice to writers and debunks the maxim of always writing what you know.