Here’s a collection of the readers, attendees and atmosphere at the Brooklyn Books & Booze reading series, from its earliest days as Rooftop Readings at Ample Hills to the current iteration at Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room. Take a walk down memory lane with us!

Click on individual photo thumbnails to see a bigger version. If you see a photo you took and want credit, let me know; if there’s a picture of you here you don’t want on the web also let me know.

2024

November 19: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

A standing-room-only house!

Host: Randee Dawn
Readers: Terese Svoboda, Shiva Kumar, Austin Grossman, Grady Hendrix
Specialty Drink: Wayward Witchcraft (Bourbon, hibiscus, lemon juice, Barrow’s Intense Ginger liqueur )

October 15, 2024: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

Shot glass giveaways and sparkly drinks!

Host: Randee Dawn
Readers: Ledia Xhoga, Katherine Silva, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Catherynne M. Valente
Specialty Drink: Through Space and Time (Bettermans’ Elysian Fields lavender gin, chai, lemon Barrows liqueur, soda and stardust)

September 17, 2024: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

Warm inside, cool outside, full house!

Host: Randee Dawn
Readers: Rob Cameron, A.C. Wise, Edward Zuckerman, Carlos Hernandez
Specialty Drink: Criminally Magic (bourbon, Barrow’s Intense Ginger Liqueur, Rockey’s Botanical Liqueur, pineapple juice, lemon)

August 20, 2024: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

Early fall weather, five authors and the introduction of the one-night-only specialty drink!

Host: Randee Dawn
Readers: A.T. Sayre, Joshua Palmatier, Meg Elison, J.S. Breukelaar, Leslye Penelope
Specialty Drink: Dark Tales from Down Under (bourbon, lemon, ginger liqueur, lager topping)

July 16, 2024: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

A hot and muggy evening! Thank goodness for slushy alcoholic drinks.

Host: Randee Dawn
Readers: Catherine Yu, Cerece Renee Murphy, Victor Manibo, John Foster

June 18, 2024: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

A special themed evening: music and humor.

Host: Randee Dawn
Readers/Musician: Esther Friesner, Aaron Rosenberg, Caitlin Rozakis, Rob Paravonian

May 21, 2024: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

A full house for the reading series’ third anniversary! Locus Magazine covers the reading in their July edition. (PDF)

Host: Randee Dawn
Readers: Nicholas Kaufmann, Matthew Kressel, M.M. DeVoe, Christina Cooke

April 16, 2024: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

A packed, enthusiastic room for our four readers on a beautiful spring evening.

Host: Randee Dawn
Readers: Blake Sanz, Elijah Kinch Spector, Anjali Patel, John Wiswell

 

March 19, 2024: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

Happy Vernal Equinox!

Host: Randee Dawn
Readers: Ron Kolm, Thelma Adams, Lenore Hart, Hildy Silverman

February 20, 2024: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

An evening of fun and funny readings (and some deep thoughts of poetry), plus some chocolate, at this post-Valentine’s Day reading. Molly McGhee was unable to attend, but will be rescheduled.

Host: Randee Dawn
Readers: Marc D. Johnson Jr., Jason R. Richter, Will McMahon, Barbara Krasnoff

January 16, 2024: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

The first reading of 2024 was a special book launch party for the anthology The Four ???? of the Apocalypse. Though originally advertised as attending, Danielle Ackley-McPhail was unable to be there. Artist Adriano Moraes was on hand and created quick sketches of all of the readers.

Hosts: Editors Keith R.A. DeCandido and Wrenn Simms
Readers: Aaron Rosenberg, Jenifer Purcell Rosenberg, Gordon Linzner, Randee Dawn, David Mack, Mary Fan

 

2023

December 19, 2023: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

The last reading of 2023 featured two extra-special furry guests.

Readers: Marielena Gomez, Stephanie Feldman, C.S.E. Cooney, Sarena Straus
Host: Randee Dawn

November 21, 2023: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

A pre-Thanksgiving reading on a rainy November night that still turned out a nice crowd.

Readers: Marielena Gomez, Stephanie Feldman, C.S.E. Cooney, Sarena Straus
Host: Randee Dawn

October 30, 2023: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

The first ever Brooklyn Books & Boo!(ze) reading included a raffle for various books and spooky objects, and extra raffle tickets for those who wore costumes.

Readers: Steven Van Patten, Marc Abbott, Craig Laurance Gidney, Ben Francisco, Terence Taylor
Host: Randee Dawn

October 17, 2023: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

It’s fall, y’all! A little fuzzy pumpkin accompanied each reader at the podium.

Readers: Victor Manibo, Amanda Brainerd, Sally Wiener Grotta, Triss Stein
Host: Randee Dawn

September 19, 2023: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

A cool evening for the readings with a heartily enthusiastic audience.

Readers:Richard Jeffrey Newman, Stephanie Wrobel, Nancy Kress, Jack Skillingstead,
Vajra Chandrasekera
Host: Randee Dawn

August 15, 2023: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

A beautiful evening in mid-August for some exciting readings … and some readers drawn from a hat!

Readers: W. Lance Hunt, Susan Breen, Michael Swanwick (official authors) Sofi Stambo, Will McMahon (spontaneous readers)
Host: Randee Dawn

July 18, 2023: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

An enthusiastic audience for what turned out to be a five-author evening, with lots of book giveaways!

Readers: Sarah Pinsker, Jeffrey Ford, Brian Trent, Lauren Beukes, Delia Sherman
Host: Randee Dawn

June 20, 2023: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

A very packed house for a beautiful night with five readers — four fiction authors and one poet.

Readers: Linda Kleinbub, J.R. Dawson, Robert P. Ottone, Rebecca Fraimow, Molly Horan
Host: Randee Dawn

May 16, 2023: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

The inaugural night of calling the reading series “Brooklyn Books & Booze,” and also the first time the reading series was housed in the newly-renovated Barrow’s.

Readers: AT Greenblatt, Kellye Garrett, Kathleen Alcala, Marilyn Simon Rothstein
Host: Randee Dawn

April 18, 2023: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

Barrow’s was undergoing reconstruction, so the room was a little tighter than usual.

Readers: Richie Narvaez, Katharine Duckett, Nadia Uddin, Rebecca Gomez Farrell
Host: Randee Dawn

March 21, 2023: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

Barrow’s was undergoing reconstruction, so the room was a little tighter than usual.

Readers: Fran Hawthorne, Julia Bartz, Randee Dawn, Nicholas Kaufmann (official authors), plus James Ryan, Jason Richter who read briefly after being drawn by raffle.
Host: Randee Dawn

February 21, 2023: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

Barrow’s was about to undergo construction; the area where the reading took place is now where the bar lives.

Readers: Carol Gyzander, Leah Konen, Gordon Linzner, Sharang Biswas
Host: Randee Dawn

January 17, 2023: Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room

Barrow’s was about to undergo construction; the area where the reading took place is now where the bar lives.

Readers: Charles Barouch, Andrea Bartz, Karen Heuler, JD Scott
Host: Randee Dawn

2022

November 29, 2022: Ample Hills (Rooftop Readings)

Though we didn’t know it at the time, this was the last reading series to be held in Ample Hills’ Gowanus location, which abruptly shut down before the December reading. So there is no December 2022 reading to record.

Readers: Christa Carmen, Chris Ryan, Leanna Renee Hieber, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
Host: Randee Dawn

October 18, 2022: Ample Hills (Rooftop Readings)

A special reading from Even in the Grave, an anthology of ghost stories edited by Carol Gyzander and James Chambers.

Readers: Steven Van Patten, Marc L. Abbott, Randee Dawn, Amy Grech, Teel James Glenn, Gordon Linzner
Hosts: Carol Gyzander, James Chambers and Randee Dawn

September 20, 2022: Ample Hills (Rooftop Readings)

Though we didn’t know it at the time, this was the last outdoor rooftop reading at Ample Hills. (It got cold after that, then Ample Hills shuttered in December.)

Readers: Randee Dawn, Barbara Krasnoff, Jonathan Brazee, Robert V.S. Redick
Host: Randee Dawn

August 16, 2022: Ample Hills (Rooftop Readings)

Book release celebration for host Randee Dawn’s Tune in Tomorrow, plus two other awesome authors.

Readers: Randee Dawn, Jonathan Vatner, C.S.E. Cooney
Host: Randee Dawn

July 19, 2022: Ample Hills (Rooftop Readings)

Readers: Elizabeth Nunez, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Hildy Silverman, C.J. Farley
Host: Randee Dawn

June 21, 2022: Ample Hills (Rooftop Readings)

Readers: Lyn Liao Butler, A.C. Wise, Cam Rob, Nancy Lambert
Host: Randee Dawn

May 17, 2022: Ample Hills (Rooftop Readings)

Several issues interfered with this being a traditional rooftop reading; due to a family health scare Randee Dawn couldn’t host, so Amy Goldschlager took over. And a flood at the usual Gowanus location for Ample Hills meant the reading relocated to Ample Hills’ Prospect Park, Brooklyn location for the night. This was also the first anniversary of Rooftop Readings, which kicked off in May 2021.

Readers: Gayle Forman, E. Lockhart, Sam J. Miller
Host: Amy Goldschlager

April 19, 2022: Ample Hills (Rooftop Readings)

Readers: Kirthana Ramisetti, Karen Heuler, Michele Herman, Alex Shvartsman
Host: Randee Dawn

March 15, 2022: Ample Hills (Rooftop Readings)

Readers: Finola Austin, Veronica Schanoes, Frederic S. Durbin
Host: Randee Dawn

February 15, 2022: Ample Hills (Rooftop Readings)

Due to a COVID surge, January’s reading wasn’t held. For February, we had a theme: All of the readers have had their works turned into TV shows or movies — or wrote about Hollywood.

Readers: David Fisher, Liz Braswell, David Mack
Host: Randee Dawn

2021

December 21, 2021: Ample Hills (Rooftop Readings)

Readers: Monique Laban, Amy Grech, Sam Schreiber
Host: Randee Dawn

November 16, 2021: Ample Hills (Rooftop Readings)

Readers: Ellen Kushner, Chandler Klang Smith, John Foster
Host: Randee Dawn

October 19, 2021: Ample Hills (Rooftop Readings)

Readers: Alex Richards, Carlos Hernandez, Victor Piniero
Host: Randee Dawn

September 28, 2021: Ample Hills (Rooftop Readings)

Readers: Elaine Isaak, C.S.E. Cooney, Randee Dawn
Host: Randee Dawn

August 17, 2021: Ample Hills (Rooftop Readings)

A lovely evening out that brought an unexpected guest: A hawk landed on a nearby roof. Clearly he knew that reader Carrie Laben was the author of A Hawk In the Woods.

Readers: Steven Van Patten, Nicholas Kaufmann, Carrie Laben
Host: Randee Dawn

July 21, 2021: Ample Hills (Rooftop Readings)

Usual host Randee Dawn was out of town, so James Chambers took over as host, presenting readers sharing stories from Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign, the anthology he co-edited.

Readers: Kathleen Scheiner, Marc L. Abbott, Carol Gyzander
Host: James Chambers

June 15, 2021: Ample Hills (Rooftop Readings)

Readers: Sarah Kozloff, James Chambers, Sam J. Miller
Host: Randee Dawn

May 18, 2021: Ample Hills (Rooftop Readings)

The first-ever Rooftop Reading at Ample Hills was an unqualified success, with amazing readers, an engaged audience and lots of delicious ice cream. (Plus some safety guidelines since there was still a lot of caution over social distancing.)

Readers: Alex Shvartsman, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Mary Fan
Host: Randee Dawn

Return to Brooklyn Books & Booze’s main page