The 24 Hour Read In is coming up from 4PM on Saturday June 4th to 4PM on Sunday June 5th and it is going to be bigger and better than ever. For our SEVENTH Read In we will be hanging out at the Schwarzman Building, the much beloved and iconic 42nd Street Library. We are thrilled to be at the library that defines people’s imagination of a majestic library after last year’s guerrilla assault on City Hall and the many years we were at the utterly gorgeous Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza.
Sign up NOW. As always the Read In is partly protest partly celebration of all things books and reading in New York City. We have always said that the Read In is a metaphor for the library in New York City. Twenty four hours a day 365 days a year there is SOMEBODY reading a book from one of the three library systems, or using a database they offer, or learning something, or escaping something, or doing whatever they can do with something that the library offers them. While we have one voice going around the clock it is far FAR more likely that there are thousands of our fellow New Yorkers who are benefiting from the library at any given moment. Take fifteen minutes and speak up about how incredibly awesome that is.
As always we are going right around the clock. You read whatever you want at the podium for fifteen minutes. If you want
to read really racy stuff join us for the dark hours from midnight to 2 AM. Otherwise as always the only rule is “No Porn During Family Storytime”. We need readers for both days and it is going to be a great event in a lovely location with a ton of foot traffic. You should really SIGN UP NOW.
Why? Well, libraries are still out there kicking ass and doing amazing things and we still need money to do that and to keep all of our talented people pushing the definition of libraries and what they can accomplish. This year’s campaign has been a little quieter but it’s still out there. We have more staff and more hours than we have had in years. The libraries still need HUNDREDS of millions of dollars of work to keep them in good shape and we can always use more money for books and programming.
The 24 Hour Read In is a strange and wonderful and hypnotic event. It has it’s own rhythm and cadence and it is an amazing thing to witness the city at all times of the day or night. It’s one of those things that is fun to tell people that you were part of and if if you are bookish and love libraries you will have a spring in your step after you have read, even if that is at 4 AM (which it doesn’t have to be but is fun in it’s own way).