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In 2009, Rebecca Fitting and Jessica Stockon Bagnulo opened Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, with the support of the Fort Greene Association and a Community Lender Program. This independent bookstore carries a robust selection in a wide variety of genres, and has a full calendar of events for adults and children.
It's easy to slip into a bad attitude, and even easier once you're there to stew in all that negativity. For most it's a passing phase, but for some it can color their whole outlook on life. Would you describe yourself as a cynic? If not, do you know someone who fits the bill? Today, write down what happens to you using a cynical perspective. If you keep a journal, compare today's entry with those of previous—perhaps more positive—days and note the similarities and differences in style, tone, and word usage.
Shakespeare & Co. is an iconic Manhattan bookstore in the Upper East Side neighborhood founded in 1983. The store is adjacent to the Hunter College campus and includes a high-quality café. Their second location is in the Upper West Side on Broadway.
With the strong support of the Morningside Heights community and the faculty and administration of Columbia University, Book Culture is a true community bookstore. Founded in 1997, the store features new and classic fiction and nonfiction, cookbooks, mystery novels, graphic novels, home and craft books, and travel guides. They host numerous readings and literary events throughout the year. The bookstore has four locations, including two in Manhattan, one in Long Island City, and one in Pittsford, New York.
“This is not a rehearsal. This is your life.” Maya Angelou is the author of more than thirty books, including her influential memoir of the Jim Crow South, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. She received numerous awards throughout her lifetime, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was presented to her by President Obama in 2011. Angelou died at the age of eighty-six in 2014. A rare figure whose work was both scholarly and accessible, Angelou was undeniably inspiring.
Legendary jazz musician Miles Davis lived on West Seventy-Seventh Street in New York City for almost twenty-five years. This past Memorial Day, on what would have been his eighty-eighth birthday, a street sign was unveiled on the corner of West Seventy-Seventh Street and West End Avenue to rename the block "Miles Davis Way." This week, think about the roads that are important to you and your family—the ones on which you have lived, the ones that have taken you away, the ones that are etched permanently in your memory. Is there a street corner somewhere that should be named after your mother, your brother, or you? What makes it special? It could be the road on which you learned to drive, the one you swear you could drive with your eyes shut, or perhaps the one on which something happened that changed the course of your life.
192 Books is a general interest bookstore in the Chelsea neighborhood featuring recent titles and past best-sellers, as well as selected rare and out-of-print books, on a variety of subjects, including literary fiction, art and photography, history and biography, natural history and science, works in translation, film, poetry, music, and current affairs. 192 Books hosts art exhibitions and an extensive series of readings by distinguished writers and artists, signings, group readings, discussions, and a weekly story hour for children at eleven each Wednesday.
Submissions are currently open for the Thurber House’s John E. Nance Writer-in-Residence award. The four-week residency is offered from September to October 2014 to a fiction writer or nonfiction writer who has had a book published within the past three years. The resident will be 
provided with a $4,000 stipend and a two-bedroom apartment in the former home of fiction writer and cartoonist James Thurber in Columbus, Ohio. Travel and food are not included. The resident is also asked to participate in three community outreach activities offered by the Thurber House, such as giving readings or teaching writing classes.
To apply, submit two copies of a book published in the past three years, along with three short stories, essays, or chapters of a novel or book of nonfiction with an optional table of contents totaling no more than 50 pages by June 2. There is no entry fee. Self-published books are not eligible. Submissions should be mailed with the required entry form to Thurber House, 77 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus, OH 43215. The resident will be chosen by July 7.
Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, James Thurber (1894-1961) was a prolific humorist, short story writer, and cartoonist. Though he spent most of his career in New York City, Thurber attended college in Ohio and worked at the Columbus Dispatch as a reporter from 1920 to 1924. He is buried in Columbus’s Greenlawn Cemetery.
Established in 2012 by Sally Crane, the annual John E. Nance Writer-in-Residence award is named after John Nance, a photojournalist who was the Thurber House writer-in-residence in 1995 and 1998. Previous residents include fiction writer Katrina Kittle and creative nonfiction writer Liza Monroy.
In Nick Hornby's novel High Fidelity, the main character, music enthusiast Rob Fleming, is fond of making top-five lists. This week, think about your five favorite albums. Whether it includes a record your mother used to put on when you were young, or the soundtrack to your daily commute, think of the music that shaped you, bolstered your spirit, and comforted you in trying times. Make a top-five list of your own and write about why each album is important to you. If you are having difficulty picking entire albums, try choosing individual songs instead.
Whether it's with a sibling, best friend, or colleague, there comes a time in most of our lives when we find ourselves engaged in a bitter rivalry with another person. This week, write about someone you've had to go head-to-head with in order to achieve a personal goal. What were you two competing over? What were the driving motives behind the conflict? Were you and your rival pitted against each other by a third party? If this occurred a while ago, try and access the emotions you felt when it was all happening to strengthen the scene.
