What does scrappy mean to you?

Five emerging and established Red Hook writers will answer this question at this month’s edition of the Scrappy Reading Series, supported by the Red Hook Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library as the official kick-off event of Red Hook Open Studios. Join us at Compère Collective as these writers share how they interpret “scrappy,” and how they embody this in their writing lives, personal lives, love lives, and any other type of life they are living.

Guests will also enjoy a visit from House of Speakeasy’s Bookmobile distributing free books published by the authors of the evening and more!

Also features live music by local musician, Ethan Woods!

Inspired by the master’s series course, Scrappy: How To Build an Alternative Literary Life (offered by Off Assignment and led by author Chloé Caldwell), Brooklyn writer Farah Faye began this series to bring together published and unpublished writers to explore what it means to be scrappy.

Admission is free, scrappiness is required. Drinks and snacks will be served!

Space is limited — register to attend!

Readings by:

Deborah Copaken is the New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including Shutterbabe, The Red Book, Between Here and April, and Ladyparts, her most recent memoir of bodily destruction and resurrection during marital rupture (Random House, 2021). A contributing writer at The Atlantic, she was also a writer on the Emmy/Golden Globe-nominated Netflix hit, Emily in Paris, a performer (The Moth, etc.), and an Emmy Award-winning news producer and photojournalist. Her photographs have been exhibited in France and the U.S. (most recently this past spring, at the Basin Gallery here in Red Hook!) and have appeared in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, and hundreds of other publications worldwide. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Financial Times, Observer, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, Slate, O, the Oprah Magazine, Air Mail, and Paris Match, among others, and her recent Op-Ed in the Daily Beast, on the crushing costs of Alzheimer’s care, won the 2024 Deadline Award for opinion writing. Her column “When Cupid Is a Prying Journalist” was adapted for the Modern Love streaming series. She is the founder, writer, producer, CEO, and publisher of the Substack Ladyparts.

Lilly Dancyger is the author of First Love: Essays on Friendship, and Negative Space. She lives in New York City and is a 2023 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in nonfiction from The New York Foundation for the Arts. She teaches creative nonfiction in the MFA programs at Columbia University and Randolph College. Find her on Twitter and Instagram at @lillydancyger, and on Substack at The Word Cave.

Dean Haspiel, the Emmy Award-winning cartoonist, is best known for creating Billy Dogma and The Red Hook, collaborating with Harvey Pekar and Jonathan Ames, and illustrating for HBO’s “Bored to Death.” His published work includes writing and drawing for Marvel, DC/Vertigo, Archie, Image, and Webtoon. In addition, Haspiel is an accomplished playwright and Yaddo fellow.

Jax Preyer is a writer living in Brooklyn. She publishes a Substack newsletter called “Can I Hold Your Baby?” looking primarily at the intersection between women’s issues and internet pop culture.

Niguel Dottin is a writer born and raised in South Central, Los Angeles. After doing heavy playwriting for Slauson Rec Theatre Company and being archived in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, he moved to New York during COVID-19 to find a new groove. His work includes a series of excerpts titled ‘iPhone Notes,’ the novel ‘Neighborhoods,’ and much more. Niguel now resides in Red Hook, Brooklyn, with his family.

Live music by:

Ethan Woods (he/him, b. 1989, Asheville, North Carolina) is a songwriter and composer living in Brooklyn, New York. He currently performs as a solo artist and as a member of the psychedelic rock band Fun Facts. Outside of the world of music, he works as an ISA-certified Arborist at Arborpolitan Tree Care and has been climbing trees professionally for the last four years.

Time: 7:00-9:00 pm EDT

Free!

Registration