Just how well do you know your morning snack? [Cue ominous music] Find out tonight at KGB Bar when Dan Koeppel, author of Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World, reads from his book. Koeppel’s dedication to unpeeling the history of the fruit (turns out it’s actually a berry) admirably resists puns like the one found at the beginning of this sentence, and what seems at first to be another “single item......

At 22, Simon Rich is a comedic force to be reckoned with. A Harvard graduate with a debut collection of short humorous pieces published by Random House, dubbed, "Hilarious" by Jon Stewart. He'll be reading at the KGB Bar on June 24th. Seeing him read now will be like seeing Jerry Seinfeld at an open mic or seeing The Beatles when Pete Best was the drummer. Audience members will be later be able to say,......

ART: Affordable art is the best kind, so good thing there's a whole fair dedicated to it. Today 70+ artists worldwide will be selling their work at prices ranging from $100 and up. Get something to cover up those bare walls and support artists all at the same time. Noon to 5pm // The Altman Building [125 W 18th St] DISCUSSION: The Strand Bookstore just turned 80 years old, and it's not a surprise it's......

THEATER: The ever-diminishing returns for theater producers have conditioned many playwrights to pre-emptively cut costs by keeping their character census down. So it's nice to see Tribeca's Flea Theater making room for Mark Greenfield's new play, I.E., In Other Words. "Using highly stylized language, this Boy Meets Girl/Horatio Alger tale-gone-wild" involves thirty-three characters played by a cast of fourteen. Greenfield's sprawling canvas, which is still in previews, is stretched to accommodate "adventure, love, songs, and......

FESTIVAL: Today marks the start of the Blip Festival. The arts fest that explores the medium "of the 8-bit scene - musicians and artists who use low-bit videogame and computer hardware as their creative tools. The festival is the widest-reaching event in the history of the form, boasting a roster of over 30 international artists performing and exhibiting from places as diverse as Austria, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and across the United States."......

MUSIC: Ah, the night before Thanksgiving, traditionally the most drunken night of the year. Union Hall will provide a nice homey atmosphere for you to get boozed up at. There will also be three great bands to check out: The Muggabears, The Diggs and Beat Radio. Married to the Moon.mp3 - The Muggabears 8pm // Union Hall [Union at 5th, Park Slope] // $8 THEATER: The Peccadillo Theater Company brings back its summer hit, the......

READING: Head down to that bastion of drinking and writing combined, KGB Bar, tonight to see a local combination that should be interesting - Park Slope darling Myla Goldberg (Bee Season) and suburbia veteran Rick Moody (The Ice Storm) are both reading from recent and upcoming work in the cramped but congenial bar. - Krissa Corbett Cavouras 7pm // KGB Bar [85 E 4th St] // Free COMEDY: Having a little American Idol withdrawl? Yeah,......

COMEDY: OMG, we get like so many creepy myspace friend requests but this one made us LOL. Actually, it’s two friend requests in one, from Braeson Herold and Alana Harrison. But they’re not just groveling for “the add”; they want us to come see their show called Fake Friends Tour! The title doesn’t really make sense, because they're not touring and whoever heard of fake friends on myspace? But the way they blog about it......

READING: KGB Bar's Non-Fiction Night is playing host to the Subway Chronicles - Boris Fishman, Elise Jurka, and Amy Holman are all reading their stories from that anthology, edited by Jaqueline Cangro. - Krissa Corbett Cavouras 7pm // KGB Bar [85 E 4th St] // Free THEATER: Sam Shepard’s The Tooth of Crime originally premiered in 1972, but in 1983 La MaMa brought it to the next level with a now-legendary rock and roll production.......

THEATER: Shakespeare in the Park may be having its formal opening today, but at the Paradise Factory Shakespeare is Dead http://www.eastcheaprep.com/home, or so goes the title of Orran Farmer's new play starring Luke Rosen and Chelsea Lagos, which is about "what happens to love when the poetry is gone." An artistic couple -- writer and actress -- must somehow move past the death of their child so that they can continue their own lives and......

Why would we write about a DC-based literary magazine? Because it's coming to New York and taking over KGB Bar tomorrow night - stop asking so many questions. Barrelhouse will be hosting an evening of short movies and short stories, dubbed Take That Hill. Barrelhouse bridges that gap between pop culture and serious art. This event their putting on includes stories about death metal, drug addled Japanese basketball teams, long nights at southern gas stations...this......

We've got a packed week of awesome events for you, so start tonight (5/10) at McNally Robinson NYC to catch Welsh author Niall Griffiths in a rare U.S. appearance, reading from his latest, Wreckage, starting at 7PM. Tomorrow night (5/11), head over to the 92nd Street Y to catch former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright discuss religion and world politics with James Hoge - it's the subject of her latest book, The Mighty and the......

We know we've mentioned it before, but Gothamist can't get enough of Cringe. Not strictly a literary event, it's nonetheless amusing how literary we thought we were in our teens, which is half the comedy of Cringe, where people read from their high school diaries and journals about how totally misunderstood they were, and also their new hairdo. Cringe is happening, tonight (5/3), at Freddy's Back Room and Bar (Dean Street and 6th Ave in......

...this week has got it all. Kick it off tonight at the South Street Seaport Museum (Melville Gallery, 213 Water Street), as the New York Review of Science Fiction Readings presents Robert Freeman Wexler (his latest novel is Circus of the Grand Design) and Gregory Frost (with his latest, Attack of the Jazz Giants). The reading starts at 7PM and the suggested donation is $5. Tomorrow night (4/5), head down to KGB Bar (85 E.......

This week kicks off tonight with Non-fiction night at KGB Bar (85 E. 4th St.) with Harry Brunius reading from Better for All the World : The Secret History of Forced Sterilization and America's Quest for Racial Purity and Cynthia Carr reading from Our Town: Heartland Lynching, a Haunted Town, and the Hidden History of White America. It starts at 7PM and is free. On Thursday night (3/23), 7PM at Barnes and Noble (Broadway at......

Before we get to the weekly events which are sure to dazzle and amaze, Gothamist would like to note the passing of one of the great science fiction writers, Octavia Butler. Butler died after falling down the stairs outside her home this weekend, and will be sorely missed. She's the only science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur grant, and in a field dominated by men, Butler was a woman notable not only for her strong......

We know it's fashion week, but Gothamist prides itself on offering all kinds of other, more bookish delights for those not inclined to prowl the tents at Bryant Park. Kicking off this week, Symphony Space (95th and Broadway) is hosting Banned: Stories by Censored Writers and Dissidents, with work by authors from Iran and Indonesia. The show starts at 6:30PM on 2/8 and costs $25, less for members. At KGB Bar (85 E. 4th St.)......

It's not too late to change your plans for tonight and head to either of the evening' stellar literary offerings, is it? Better yet, if you don't have any, consider this: KGB Bar (84 E 4th St) is hosting a reading of non-fiction that should kick off Black History Month with style - Elizabeth Gardner Hines, Rebecca Carroll, Kathy Y. Wilson, and G. Bell. Then, heading uptown to the 92nd St. Y (Lexington Ave. and......

We're not entirely sure how much walking for your highbrow literary art you guys are willing to do, and with the holidays coming up there's a dearth of good readings going on in the city this week anyway, but Gothamist is here to get you to your literary events through snow, sleet, hail, transit strikes, whatever! So taking all that in stride, here are a few things you'll want to mark on your calendar. Something......

The holidays are fast approaching and if you're a book lover in the city, you're more likely to be at a store buying a book as a gift than attending a reading this week, but nonetheless, there are some stellar choices for auditory literary entertainment, we humbly digest them for you: Tomorrow night, at the always awesome Used Book Cafe, Julian Rubenstein and Tom Reiss read from their books, Ballad of the Whisky Robbers and......

It's quite the red letter week for us bookish types, with the prestigious, sometimes baffling, and oft-maligned National Book Awards dinner and awards ceremony tomorrow night where trophies will be bestowed, granted, totally robbed, whatever, at the Marriott Marquis. To that end, critic A.O. Scott has an interesting article about the contradictions and complications inherent to the awards, Medal Fatigue (registration required). Garrison Keillor is the Master of Ceremonies which, frankly, is why Gothamist wishes......

Todd Levin/Bob Powers...