Time Out at BEA: Literary New York

Although free time is very scarce during BEA, some visitors may try to squeeze in some sightseeing, shopping, and cultural events. The possibilities are endless, so we are providing a few suggestions that might be of particular significance to booksellers.

For comprehensive event listings, see Time Out New York magazine or http://www.timeoutny.com/ and New York Magazine or http://www.newyorkmetro.com/arts/. To avoid disappointment, purchase tickets in advance, online, or by telephone, whenever possible.

For a uniquely "bookish" take on NYC, may we suggest:

Victorians, Moderns, and Beats: New in the Berg Collection 1994-2001

This exhibit at the New York Public Library features manuscripts and personal items of James Joyce, Henry James, E.M. Forster, W.H. Auden, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, Sylvia Plath, Allen Ginsberg, and others. It includes letters; original handwritten drafts of poetry and fiction by major British, Irish, and American writers; and selections from the Jack Kerouac Archive, which are receiving their first public display. The Henry W. Berg and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature is one of America’s most celebrated collections of literary first editions, rare books, autographed letters, and manuscripts. Admission is free.

The New York Public Library -- main branch at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. Exhibition hours are 11:00 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday; 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Thursday through Saturday; closed Sunday. Call (212) 869-8089 or visit www.nypl.org.

21 Dog Years: Doing Time @ Amazon.com

Mike Daisey’s Fringe Festival hit is a comic look at his two years with the giant online retailer: boy meets dot-com, boy falls for dot-com, boy flees dot-com in horror. The show is presented in a West Village theater founded in 1924 by Edna St.Vincent Millay.

Cherry Lane Theatre, 38 Commerce Street, (212) 239-6200 or (800) 432-7250.
8:00 p.m. Monday - Thursday; 7:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Friday; 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. Saturday; 3:00 p.m. Sunday.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)

Part Antony and Cleopatra and part Abbott and Costello, The Complete Works presents three actors in 75 roles and employs nearly 100 props. Director Jeremy Dobrish reduces 37 plays and 154 sonnets to 97 minutes.

Century Center Theatre, 111 East 15th Street, (212) 239-6200 or (800) 432-7250.
8:00 p.m. Wednesday - Friday; 2:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m., 8:00 p.m., Saturday; 4:00 p.m., Sunday.

And don't forget that The Rock Bottom Remainders, the band of writers who rock, will make a rare appearance at a special fundraising show to benefit the Book Industry Foundation, which supports ABFFE and the Association of American Publishers' Get Caught Reading Campaign.

The Remainders band, which includes Mitch Albom, Dave Barry, Roy Blount Jr., Kathi Goldmark, Greg Iles, Stephen King, James McBride, Ridley Pearson, Amy Tan, and Scott Turow, played to packed crowds at past booksellers conventions in the ’90s.

Be there to dance at their first performance of the century. Webster Hall, 125 East 11 Street, Saturday, May 4, at 9:00 p.m. Tickets are going quickly. Purchase them online at the ABFFE store at www.abffe.com, or order by phone from ABFFE at (212) 587-4025. Tickets are $25 per person; $45 for two; $100 for five.