Is your brain frazzled from staring at the computer screen all day? Want to save the Post Office? Looking for a bit of old-fashioned correspondance... with a famous person? The lit-lovers over at The Rumpus have just launched a great way to do all three, with a new project they've dubbed, appropriately, Letters in the Mail. more ›

Literary super-couple Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Wonder Boys) and wife Aeyelet Waldman (Bad Mother, Love and Other Impossible Pursuits) are teaming up to write a musical about the Dave Eggers-founded nonprofit 826 NYC/ Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company. more ›

From Brooklyn to the big screen! Finally, the Where the Wild Things Are trailer has premiered, and October can't get here soon enough, right? Let's just hope the Spike Jonze-directed adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic '60s children's story gets the IMAX treatment. more ›

EVENT: Carnegie Hall's Neighborhood Concert Series brings Kristoffer Saebo and Arthur Sato to the stage tonight. The two "collaborated on this interactive, educational concert that will feature music of the Baroque era and of various folk traditions." It's a great excuse to go to the Angel Orensanz Foundation. more ›

Sure, you know Dave Eggers as the celebrated author and founder of McSweeney's, that plucky independent book-publishing house in San Francisco, but were you aware that back in the day he was on track to be an art curator? While it’s been a long time since he’s organized an exhibit, he’s in town now to put together a show at apexart that explores, in Eggers's words, “a very small and specific type of artmaking exemplified by contemporary people like David Shrigley, Raymond Pettibon, Nedko Solakov, and Tucker Nichols. This kind of art, which we refuse to name, is somewhat crude, usually irreverent, and always funny. It exists somewhere between one-panel cartoons and text-based art.” Over 100 works will be on view, including pieces by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Leonard Cohen, R. Crumb, Henry Darger, Kurt Vonnegut and many more. The opening reception is tomorrow night from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., with the work on view through May 10th. more ›

One Ring Zero is an unusual Brooklyn band headed up by Michael Hearst and Joshua Camp, with a troupe of musicians and lyricists filling out their ever-morphing sonic tribe. Their lyrics have been written by some familiar names: Jonathan Lethem, Margaret Atwood, Paul Auster and Dave Eggers are amongst them. This year they enter their 10th year of making music, and this Friday they'll be at Joe's Pub celebrating on stage. Join in on the party, you can buy tickets here. more ›

COMEDY: In November, shortly after the WGA strike sent SNL to reruns, the cast took the UCB Theater stage for an off-air show. If you missed that one, there's a chance to catch some of the cast doing stand-up at Comix tonight. The site says "sold out" but the people at the venue say they just added more tickets! So give a call and enjoy "An Evening with the Writers and Performers from Saturday Night Live." The money raised will go toward the Writers Guild of America. And yes, Andy Samberg (pictured with cat) will be there. Andy Samberg, originally scheduled to be there, has dropped out of the show. more ›

READING: Dave Eggers has delivered two (out of three) great novels, and tonight he reads from last one (which is just out on paperback), What is the What. He'll be at the Strand discussing the book and he'll also give a slideshow presentation from a recent trip he took to Sudan. More info here. Friday // 7pm // Strand Bookstore [828 Broadway] // Free EVENT: We love a good pillow fight, and tonight there's a... more ›

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week! more ›

BEER: This one is pretty simple...there will be lots (58!) of New York beers, and a few bands to soundtrack your drinking them, at the Seaport tonight. Go, imbibe, enjoy! more ›

NYMag reports on the hard times hitting McSweeney's after their distributer hit their financial bottom: "McSweeney's book distributor filed for bankruptcy six months ago, and the indie-cooler-than-thou publisher has now realized it's out some $130,000, which it kind of needs." McSweeney's says: more ›

Internationally beloved Angelina Jolie and her less philanthropic beau, Brad Pitt, are in town. They're making headlines, too, with things like wearing inexpensive clothes and going to the doctor. Fine, we'll bite... more ›

MOVIE: One Ring Zero is a lit-rock fans dream come true. The band features Paul Auster, Jonathan Lethem, Dave Eggers and Margaret Atwood’s lyrics set to the music of trumpets, theremins, claviolas, and metallophones. Director Joe Pacheco captured the band on film and presents it now as a documentary, As Smart As They Are: The Author Project. Here's a song/video with lyrics by Michael Chabon: more ›

DISCUSSION: Noam Chomsky will be taking questions on US foreign policy tonight, following a screening of Harold Pinter's 2005 Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech. Get your questions ready, smartypants. You can watch the video of Pinter's speech here, too. more ›

Earlier this week, we reported on the 92nd Street Y event where New York magazine co-founder Milton Glaser attributed the low number of high-profile female designers to the fact that women who have children and stay at home with them are less visible professionally. more ›

Graphic designers tend to be an even-keeled lot, unless you mess with their precious Futura typeface plans. So at Monday night’s The Art of the Book: Covers With Dave Eggers, Chip Kidd and Milton Glaser, moderated by designer Michael Bierut at the 92nd Street Y, we weren’t surprised that book jacket designer and author Kidd made nice with Panelist Four – a man well into his senior years who boosted the show from the first row. more ›

: An Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, A Novel by Dave Eggers? more ›

READING: The reclusive "Lemony Snicket" (known to grown-ups and non-believers as Daniel Handler) will be showing up - hopefully in a cloak and mustache disguise! - at Barnes and Noble tonight to celebrate the release of The more ›

This week's literary events kick off tonight (1/24) at Housing Works Used Books Cafe (126 Crosby St.), with a reading from Surviving Justice: America's Wrongfully Convicted and Exonorated, edited by Dave Eggers and Lola Vollen. The reading will be followed by a Q&A and a signing, starts at 7PM, and is free. more ›

Dave Eggers and Paul Auster start a band...it sounds like the beginning of a joke. For better or worse, it's not. Joe Pacheco's documentary, As Smart As They Are: The Author Project documents how the McSweeney's in-house band, One Ring Zero, collaborated with some writers to make Lit Rock. more ›

It's quite the red letter week for us bookish types, with the prestigious, sometimes baffling, and oft-maligned National Book Awards dinner and awards ceremony tomorrow night where trophies will be bestowed, granted, totally robbed, whatever, at the Marriott Marquis. To that end, critic A.O. Scott has an interesting article about the contradictions and complications inherent to the awards, Medal Fatigue (registration required). Garrison Keillor is the Master of Ceremonies which, frankly, is why Gothamist wishes we had tickets. If you do have a seat at the Ivory Tower's table, enjoy and report back to us lowly slobs. The odds on the fiction winner have already been calculated by New York Mag, with Gaitskill and Doctorow as the favourites to win. It's just like Belmont, really. more ›

After years of teasing, the film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are is finally moving forward. The NYTimes reports that Being John Malkovich's Spike Jonze (called “the strangest little bird” by author Maurice Sendak), is set to direct the “odd” screenplay he wrote with Dave Eggers for Tom Hanks’ production company. So far, the film will extend beyond the children’s classic simple plot to delve into Max’s journey home (semi-minor change: Max escapes with the "wild things" in hot pursuit instead of the island king's beastly subjects begging him to stay). While Gothamist usually cringes about childhood-favorites desecrated on the big screen, we remain quite hopeful with this film -- especially considering Sendak’s tight grip on the script/production, his love for Jonze, and his loathing of movies based on children's books as well as most children's books, which he describes as “all vulgar. It's all Madonna." Asked about the film versions of Cat in the Hat or How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Sendak replied: "What is the purpose of this debauchery? Money! Only a seriously sick or brainless person could like them." Indeed. more ›

. The book and the evening are both in support of the Writing Lab at 826NYC. more ›

Tomorrow night (Monday May 9th) comedian Colin Quinn (who, if you're like us, you know first from MTV's Remote Control) will headline an evening of stand-up comedy with Todd Barry, Greg Giraldo, and special guests. The evening will be hosted by the comedy duo and Saturday Night Live writers Slovin & Allen. more ›

Time releases its Time 100 list of influential people for 2005, and it's pretty much the snore it was last year. Much like other magazines whose "most influential list" reads more like a "Who's popular?" or "Who's pretty?" list from high school, Time focuses on names that people have heard of. Sure, some of the people truly make a difference, like Jeffrey Sachs or Javier Solana, but Jamie Foxx and Clint Eastwood? Boring. And the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela, they're on the list this year, but aren't they influential for an era, not just a year? What also is hilariously lame is that Time insists on its subscriber-only policy to access this content. News flash: No one really wants to read it unless they're in the dentist's office. Which reminds Gothamist, it's time for a cleaning. more ›

Today kicks off the New Yorker Festival and if you haven't snagged your tickets for some of the events yet, here's our list of last minute events we think are more than worthwhile...that still have seats left! more ›

Since this one usually sells out quick, we wanted to give you a heads up that tickets for The New Yorker Festival went on sale today. more ›

Dale Peck, Writer more ›

826NYC has had some good events in the past, and they keep on comin'. Up next... more ›

John Hodgman, Writer more ›