The Center for Fiction

The Center for Fiction A home for writers and readers for over 200 years. We support and celebrate fiction through events, writing workshops, reading groups, awards, and more.

Visit our bookstore, café and bar, auditorium, and membership spaces in Downtown Brooklyn.

Our AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT reading and discussion groups take participants on in-depth journeys into the voices that have shap...
09/07/2026

Our AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT reading and discussion groups take participants on in-depth journeys into the voices that have shaped—and reshaped—literature. Swipe for reading lists and synopses—and visit the links below for full details and registration.

(Starting 9.19) Reproductive Rights & Resistance: Margaret Atwood with Shirley Tung tinyurl.com/7666kfeh

READING LIST:
📖 The Handmaid’s Tale
📖 The Testaments

(Starting 9.23) Faulkner After Hollywood: The Snopes Trilogy with Carl Rollyson tinyurl.com/5bb9rkak

READING LIST:
📖 The Hamlet
📖 The Town
📖 The Mansion

(Starting 10.3) Stories at the Park with George: The American Carnival of George Saunders with Amanda Lehr tinyurl.com/4zmk6yjn

READING LIST:
📖 Selections from CivilWarLand in Bad Decline
📖 Selections from Liberation Day
📖 Lincoln in the Bardo (in full)
📖 Selections from Pastoralia
📖 Selections from Tenth of December

Tomorrow, 9/7, is the *last day* to shop our Labor Day Bookstore Sale!🛍Get 20% off in-store and online, and even deeper ...
09/06/2026

Tomorrow, 9/7, is the *last day* to shop our Labor Day Bookstore Sale!

🛍Get 20% off in-store and online, and even deeper discounts on select items.

🛍 Purchase a CFF tote and fill it with as many books as you’d like from select carts at no extra cost.

See you soon??

Melanie Fleishman’s recommendations this week wrestle with life and death: two novels deal with politically motivated mu...
09/05/2026

Melanie Fleishman’s recommendations this week wrestle with life and death: two novels deal with politically motivated murders—in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic; a choice between living and dying brings a man to Switzerland; three generations of women in Barcelona struggle with choosing silence over life; and a woman’s return to her family home in Pennsylvania after her mother's passing yields surprising results.

Check out snippets of Melanie’s reviews below, then read them in full here: https://tinyurl.com/2yw2dy5f.

📖 In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, illustrated and adapted by Krystal Quiles: “A perfect melding of text and pictures.” 🎤 Join us on 9/13 when we welcome Alvarez, Quiles, and moderator Jaquira Díaz to The Center as part of this year’s Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival! https://tinyurl.com/58czu4p5

📖 Switzy by Emma Cline: “An utterly compelling novel.”

📖 The Disappearers by Marlon James: “A startling crime story that could not feel more disturbingly real.” 🎤 In-person tickets to our event with BCLF are sold out, but livestream tickets are still available: https://tinyurl.com/5xwythue

📖 We're So Lucky to Live Here by Rachel Pastan: “A wonderful slice of Thornton Wilder-esque Americana, not just about grief and community, but also how one can create new families out of extraordinary circumstances.”

📖 Goodbye, Ramona by Montserrat Roig, translated from the Catalan by Megan Berkobian and María Cristina Hall: "A significant republishing event."

After a summer hiatus, First Novel Friday is BACK on October 2nd, with novels that explore how first love not only trans...
09/04/2026

After a summer hiatus, First Novel Friday is BACK on October 2nd, with novels that explore how first love not only transforms us but also recalls our pasts in new, often unsettling ways.

📚 Don’t miss Deesha Philyaw, author of The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman; Bobuq Sayed, author of No God but Us; and Ankur Thakkar, author of Blow Yourself Up, discussing their debut novels in a conversation moderated by Jemimah Wei, author of The Original Daughter.

Kick off the weekend with happy hour in our Members Lounge, listen to readings and a brief moderated conversation with the featured novelists, continue the party with book signings and a signature cocktail, and go home—or head off to your next Friday night spot—with something new: a book, a friend, a favorite Friday night tradition.

🔗 Tickets are on sale now, and they go fast, so get yours ASAP: https://tinyurl.com/5fcedp92.

🎂 Celebrate 90 years of New Directions later this month at The Center for Fiction!New Directions has published numerous ...
09/02/2026

🎂 Celebrate 90 years of New Directions later this month at The Center for Fiction!

New Directions has published numerous award-winning authors throughout its history, including Nobel Prize winners László Krasznahorkai and Octavio Paz; Pulitzer Prize winners Hilton Als and Tennessee Williams; National Book Award winner Yoko Tawada; and MacArthur Fellows Lydia Davis and Anne Carson.

This event will feature readings by seminal writers from the New Directions list, including:

🎤 Susan Bernofsky
🎤 Mei-mei Berssenbrugge
🎤 Katrina Dodson
🎤 John Keene
🎤 Dunya Mikhail
🎤 Robert Plunket
🎤 Eliot Weinberger
🎤 Jeffrey Yang

At the end of the evening, join us for a celebratory toast courtesy of New Directions. Get your tickets here: https://tinyurl.com/2s3j4zyk.

This fall, come explore books that aren’t merely of their time, but directly impacted by those eras. These classic and c...
09/01/2026

This fall, come explore books that aren’t merely of their time, but directly impacted by those eras. These classic and contemporary works grapple with place, power, identity, and the forces shaping our world. Register at the links below to learn more and sign up!

(Starting 9/15) Contemporary AIDS Literature: Fiction, Memoir, and Poetry of Survival with Natalie Adler https://tinyurl.com/34ccd3zz

📖 The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels
📖 Terry Dactyl by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
📖 Blood Loss by Keiko Lane
📖 Funeral Diva by Pamela Sneed
📖 About Ed by Robert Glück

(Starting 9/17) The Art of Being Seen: Dress, Manners, and the Social World of the Jazz Age with Keishel Williams https://tinyurl.com/mt7vspyy

READING LIST:
📖 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
📖 Passing by Nella Larsen

(Starting 10/11) Social Distancing: Novels of Socialization in the Wake of COVID-19 with Matilda Lin Berke https://tinyurl.com/4xd7hz7w

READING LIST:
📖 The Coin by Yasmin Zaher
📖 The Body Builders by Albertine Clarke
📖 Transcription by Ben Lerner

Join us in celebrating the 25th anniversary of Jonathan Franzen’s THE CORRECTIONS (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Picador US...
08/31/2026

Join us in celebrating the 25th anniversary of Jonathan Franzen’s THE CORRECTIONS (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Picador USA), winner of the 2001 National Book Award for Fiction and a 2002 Pulitzer Prize Finalist. Franzen will be joined in conversation by Deborah Treisman, longtime Fiction Editor at the New Yorker and the 2012 recipient of The Center for Fiction’s Medal for Editorial Excellence. https://tinyurl.com/6m8csjzn

The novel follows Enid Lambert, a wife and mother attempting to bring her family together for Christmas despite her husband’s recent Parkinson’s diagnosis and the growing distance between her and her children. Stretching from the American heartland to Wall Street to Eastern Europe, The Corrections combines the sweeping narratives and emotional intricacies that have made Franzen a defining voice in contemporary American fiction.

Franzen and Treisman will reflect on the trajectory of this renowned novel and the evolution of Franzen’s writing and career since its publication. All tickets include a copy of the 25th Anniversary Edition of The Corrections; a signing will follow the event. Tickets are going fast—get yours today https://tinyurl.com/6m8csjzn.

In our upcoming weekend intensive with Jayson Greene, participants will read passages from writers such as Kazuo Ishigur...
08/25/2026

In our upcoming weekend intensive with Jayson Greene, participants will read passages from writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Yoko Ogawa, Yoko Tawada, and Kelly Link for examples of subtle, whisper-quiet world-building—and then learn how to apply those techniques to their own writing through generative exercises.

This course is ideal for anyone who has tried their hand at writing speculative fiction before, but no prior writing experience is required.

Sign up here https://tinyurl.com/2fvxvva9!

When DHALGREN, Samuel Delany’s 800-page magnum opus of sci-fi and magical realism, was first published in 1975, it prove...
08/24/2026

When DHALGREN, Samuel Delany’s 800-page magnum opus of sci-fi and magical realism, was first published in 1975, it proved to be one of the most pivotal American works of genre fiction in the 20th century.

📕 The fictional, dystopian city of Bellona in the American Midwest is the setting for this experimental novel, which delivers a treatise on race, gender, queerness, and the state of the nation.

Years later, Delany’s masterpiece serves not only as a temporary escape from our reality, but also as a conversation piece for the current state of our world.

📖 Don't read this behemoth of a book alone: Join our virtual reading group with Zack Graham, who will guide you through. Spots are filling quickly—register now at centerforfiction.org/group-workshop/samuel-r-delanys-dhalgren-with-zack-graham!

Melanie Fleishman’s Bookstore recommendations this week consider secrecy and its costs: within an extended Haitian famil...
08/22/2026

Melanie Fleishman’s Bookstore recommendations this week consider secrecy and its costs: within an extended Haitian family; for a reluctant, private actress; through a compelling psychological thriller; amid the revelations of a Texas family’s hidden past; and in the uncovered secrets from an Icelandic cold case.

Check out snippets of Melanie’s reviews below, and then read them in full here: tinyurl.com/ycybfnyz.

📖 Dèy by Edwidge Danticat: “A beautiful story of generations held together by love and loyalty.”

📖 Children of Wolves by Lawrence Osborne: “A cinematic page-turner of expat noir.”

📖 The Book of Chuck by LaToya Watkins: “Chuck is just one of the many fully-realized characters who bear the impact of family secrecy in this profound novel.”

📖 Life of M by Rachel Cusk: “You can probably guess who this is based on. Don’t let it distract you; it is another exploration of female fragility, which Cusk does so well."

📖 Freyja by Margrét Ann Thors: “An atmospheric, haunting debut that is also a superbly drawn story of a mother’s love.”

Address

15 Lafayette Avenue
New York, NY
11217

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 8pm
Tuesday 9am - 8pm
Wednesday 9am - 8pm
Thursday 9am - 8pm
Friday 9am - 8pm
Saturday 9am - 8pm
Sunday 9am - 8pm

Telephone

+12127556710

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