Pathetic Happening

PATHETIC HAPPENING is a read and performed version of the entirety of Pathetic Literature (edited by Eileen Myles) from Grove Press, a nearly 700 page volume of poets and fiction writers and playwrights and nonfiction from all over the world, and all eras. This event — conceived and curated by Tom Cole and Eileen Myles with ten guest curators including Ama Birch, Sadie Dupuis, Marcella Durand, Will Farris, Jack Halberstam, Mary Reilly, Sophie Robinson, Lucy Sexton, and Sangeeta Yesley, is an afternoon and evening devoted to enacting literature in all its dimensionality.

The entire church will be a performance space, as well as the East & West Yards, with simultaneous readings occurring in four diverse locations on the St. Mark’s campus over a span of approximately five hours. This Pathetic event is a psychedelic salute to literature like never before, texts covered by friends and fans, choruses and family members, sung, choreographed, incanted, played. The event is free to attend and the audience is encouraged to move about, witnessing at their pleasure and occasionally invited to perform as well.

Books will be available for purchase. Videography organized by Roberto Montes & A.L. Steiner. Thank you to our sponsor , who have made this happening possible.

Featuring readings and performances by: Andrea Abi-Karam, Maan Abu Taleb, Bahaar Ahsan, Basie Allen, Sini Anderson, Mirene Arsanios, Charlie Atlas, Jess Barbagallo, Dara Barrois/Dixon, Susan Bee, Bruce Benderson, Ama Birch, Nayland Blake, Gregg Bordowitz, Lizzi Bougatsos, Nancy Brier, Lee Ann Brown, Rebecca Brown, Reuben Butchart, Tom Carey, Daniel Carter, Michael Cavuto, Lonely Christopher, Tom Cole, Roberta Colindrez, Lydia Cortés, Cortez, Randy Danson, Moyra Davy, Samuel R. Delany, Cecilia Dougherty, Sadie Dupuis, Marcella Durand, Nicole Eisenman and company, Will Farris, Meg Fernandes, Steve Finkelstein, Jim Fletcher, Emma Foley, The Friend, Sallie Fullerton, Christen Gifford, Peter Gizzi, Suzanne Goldenberg, Judy Grahn, Miguel Gutierrez, Jack Halberstam, Jan Leslie Harding, Christopher Heffernan, Laura Henriksen, Bob Holman, Jamie Hood, Sky Hopinka, Christine Shan Shan Hou, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Shuning Huang, Chiemi Ip, Kathy Izzo, Vincent Katz, John Keene, Porochista Khakpour, KPrevallet, Rupert Krüger, Joan Larkin, Dorothea Lasky, Faustine Lavie, Sophia Le Fraga, Rachel Levitsky, Jodi Lin, Evan Lincoln, Nate Lippens, Jessica Mitrani, Fred Moten, Eileen Myles, Tenaya Nasser-Frederick, Precious Okoyomon, Efrén Olson-Sánchez, Alice O’Malley, Kristín Ómarsdóttir, Katie Rose O’Sullivan, Yuko Otomo, Sara Pizzi, Cecly Placenti, Alina Pleskova, sadé powell, Ariana Reines, Sarah Riggs, Sophie Robinson, Camille Roy, Viva Ruiz, Jocelyn Saidenberg, Jerome Sala, Ryan Sawyer, Collier Schorr, Lucy Sexton, Erin Marie Sickler, Mark So, Sparrow & Peg, A.L. Steiner, Tony Stinkmetal, Alex Tatarsky, Lynne Tillman, Josh Thorson, Julie Tolentino, Tony Torn, Justin Torres, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, Morgan Võ, Nicole Wallace, Summer Warwick, Laurie Weeks, The Cyborg Jillian Weise, Sarah Wellington, Joe Westmoreland, Simone White, Arden Wohl, Lynn Xu, YL Xue, Meng-Yu Yan, Ruby Zarsky, Cindy Brandle Dance, Company [REDACTED]/MIMI + COLE, Stop Shopping Choir, and more TBA

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The Poetry Project, 131 E. 10th St., New York, United States