Weekly New Yorker Short Story Book Club (Free Copies, First Hour for Reading)

Hello hello hello literary fiction lovers of the greater Austin Area! Are you a sexy bookish type that loves to keep up with The New Yorker's short story of the week? Interested in meeting up with others to exchange thoughts on the vicissitudes of life, love, and contemporary short fiction? Miss reading and having friends who read, but don't have the time to linger over a 300-page novel?

Welcome: We have been searching for y'all and would be pleased to co-create a fun lil community to read short stories together! Come join our group weekly for a lively, thoughtful in-person discussion of the latest and greatest work of short fiction from The New Yorker.

We'll be reading this week's short story (published Monday) and discussing it over some cozy hot drinks at the Central Market cafe (North Lamar location).

For the first hour of the meetup, we'll be reading the story together quietly, so please bring your copy of the magazine if you're a subscriber. I'll be bringing extra print-outs of this week's short story for people who may not be. For the second hour of the meetup, we'll discuss the short story and any thoughts/memories/comparisons/feelings/experiences it may bring up for us.

Special note for our March 1, 2023 meeting: this week's story is longer than the stories we've had in the past, so it's highly recommended that everyone read it or start reading it in advance of the meetup! However, we'll be sticking to our usual meeting format (described above).

Please note that this is an inclusive community space, welcoming of LGBTQIA+, queer, transgender, and nonbinary people. Event attendees will be asked to share their preferred pronouns and to respect the preferred pronouns shared by other discussion participants. If that makes you uncomfortable, please don't attend, as tbh, the group vibes are just pretty fruity overall.

People of color seeking a diverse community and reading selection are also especially encouraged to attend. Not that they're perfect (or that we are, for that matter), but part of the reason why we read The New Yorker's short stories is that the editorial staff has done a fairly good job in recent years of publishing writers of color and promoting, more generally, a varied array of American & international literary voices. Our reading group is also fairly diverse in terms of ethnic and cultural background, although like most social communities in Austin, there's more that we could be doing in terms of community outreach and I (Rachel) would be happy to take suggestions in this regard, if y'all have any tips.

We'll be meeting outdoors at the Central Market cafe (North Lamar location) from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM. Look forward to meeting everyone and enjoying some great short fiction together! I'll arrive early, so be on the lookout for a very short Asian-American woman with a New Yorker Magazine totebag and see you soon :-)