INDEPENDENCE DAY

It’s about time we had a national day for independent bookstores, and that day is finally here. Over twenty bookstores in New York, such as Housing Works, the Strand, WORD, BookCourt, Astoria Bookstore, and more, are participating in Independent Bookstore Day, with events like a Langston Hughes Marathon Reading (McNally Jackson), a photobooth in which to take pictures with various cool authors (Greenlight Bookstore), and a kid-friendly mad-scientist party (Community Bookstore). Most of these shops will be serving free Sixpoint beer in the afternoon, and all of them are selling signed chapbooks by Bad Feminist author Roxane Gay, signed prints by cartoonist Chris Ware, and a signed infographic by Knowledge Is Beautiful author David McCandless, among other rare items you won’t find outside independent bookstores. It ends with a “bookish bash of the ages” after-party at Powerhouse Arena, hosted by Emma Straub, Jami Attenberg, and Angela Flournoy.

Sat., May 2, 11 a.m., 2015