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New York has plenty of book clubs, but most of them don’t end with hundreds of avid readers gathering under the stars in Central Park.
On Monday, August 17, the New York Public Library’s first-ever Big Summer Book Club will wrap up with a massive celebration at the Delacorte Theater, bringing author N.K. Jemisin to the newly renovated home of Shakespeare in the Park for an evening of readings, performances and bookish conversation. Best of all, free tickets are available to the public.
The event caps off NYPL’s inaugural citywide summer book club, which invited New Yorkers to spend the season reading Jemisin’s The City We Became. The 2020 fantasy novel is an especially fitting pick for a five-borough reading project: It imagines New York’s boroughs embodied as human avatars who have to work together to defend the city from an otherworldly threat.
The grand finale begins on Monday at 8pm at the Delacorte and will include readings, commissioned performances inspired by the novel, and a conversation between Jemisin and WNYC host Alison Stewart.
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While the event itself is free, you’ll still need to snag a ticket. Starting at noon on August 17, tickets will be distributed outside the Delacorte in Central Park. An in-person lottery will also take place at noon at the Public Theater, while additional ticket vouchers will be handed out beginning at noon at Clason’s Point Library in the Bronx and St. George Library Center on Staten Island. A digital lottery through TodayTix will remain open until noon that day and a standby line at the Delacorte may begin distributing remaining tickets as early as 6pm, depending on availability. (Public Theater members can also reserve seats in advance by making a $75 or $150 donation.)
Finish those last few chapters—or prepare to nod knowingly if the conversation gets into spoiler territory. New York City’s biggest book club meeting of the summer is taking over one of Central Park’s most beloved stages.