Reading Groups

Brooklyn in the 20th Century with Naomi Huffman and Julia Ringo

4 Sessions 6:30 pm EDT - 8:00 pm EDT October 8 to January 7, 2024

Online via Zoom

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The ‘With Books’ option includes the titles required for this group at a 10% discount from our Bookstore.

Meeting Dates:
10/8, 11/12, 12/3, 1/7
Held Online via Zoom

Brooklyn, New York’s most populous borough and its fastest-growing, has been in a constant state of transformation since it was founded. In recent decades, the tide of gentrification has sent rent skyrocketing, displaced longtime residents, and eroded distinct neighborhood cultures. As the artists and writers who live in Brooklyn have struggled to make it here, they have documented the shifting landscape around them. This group will read four novels that span more than half a century in Brooklyn history, examining how the borough’s changing social, economic, and cultural landscape has influenced its writers and their work. As we read, Brooklyn will emerge not only as a setting but as a character in its own right, shaping and being shaped by the lives of those who inhabit it.

Set during the Great Depression and World War II, Brown Girl, Brownstones (1959) chronicles the strivings of an immigrant family facing racism and poverty, torn between ambition and nostalgia for the land they left behind. In the gritty and controversial Last Exit to Brooklyn (1964), we’ll explore Hubert Selby’s unflinching depiction of life on the margins in mid-20th century Brooklyn. In Paula Fox’s Desperate Characters (1970), a troubled marriage reflects the tension and disillusionment of the late 1960s. Finally, we turn to a contemporary reflection on a more recent but bygone Brooklyn with Danzy Senna’s New People (2017), a satirical interrogation of race, identity, and gentrification in the 1990s.

What to read in advance of the first meeting: Please read Brown Girl, Brownstones in its entirety.

What to expect from this reading group: This course is propelled by group discussion; it includes special guests and presentations about each author.

Reading List:

Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule Marshall
Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby
Desperate Characters by Paula Fox
New People by Danzy Senna

Capacity: 20

Please note: All virtual classes are recorded. Please click here for information about our recording policy.

Led by

Naomi Huffman & Julia Ringo

Naomi Huffman & Julia Ringo

Naomi Huffman and Julia Ringo are the co-founders of Hagfish, an editorial studio and small press based in Brooklyn.

About this series

Reading Groups

Whether you’re looking to catch up on great novels or you’re interested in exploring a new writer or literary period, our reading groups offer high-level literary discussion led by experts in the field.

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