This bar is fully booked!
Bookworms in Ditmas Park will have a new chance to nerd out — and to booze up — in their own neighborhood starting next week. The creators of Ditmas Lit, a monthly reading series launching Dec. 20 and running through March at Sycamore Bar and Flower Shop, aim to showcase local talent and give local literature lovers a chance to bond over booze, books, and tacos. The reading series is a funky twist on hitting the books, said one creator.
“A night of listening to readings doesn’t have to be a stuffy affair,” said Rachel Lyon, who co-created the series with Sarah Bridgins. “I’m hoping that people who don’t think of themselves as writers or specifically as lit nerds show, up meet people, have a drink, and that it all gets wrapped up in this literary backdrop.”
The inaugural event will feature Isaac Fitzgerald, discussing his non-fiction book about tattoos, Gabrielle Moss reading from the lifestyle-magazine parody “Glop,” poet Tommy Pico, and writer and cartoonist Jeanne Thornton.
In Sycamore’s recently opened backyard space the Lodge, bookworms can nestle in blankets or chow down on tacos and tamales while the writers read excerpts of their work. After the series of 10-minute readings, people will be free to mingle, talk about the lit, and hopefully leave with some new friends. The watering hole is a book lover’s paradise, said Bridgins.
“It’s a cozy little place that kind of makes you want to curl up with a book,” said Bridgins. “The series grew out of a lack of literary events in Ditmas Park, but we also want it to be for everyone in a fun place that gets people excited about books.”
Ditmas Lit’s four-month stint at Sycamore is a trial run for future jaunts in the neighborhood. The organizers will study what works and what doesn’t and maybe find the series a more permanent home, said Lyon.
“If it gains some traction we hope to find a new venue and maybe a home,” she said. “We have the sense that Ditmas is hungry for this sort of thing and I hope that we’re right.”
Ditmas Lit at Sycamore Bar and Flower Shop [1118 Cortelyou Rd. between Stratford and Westminster roads in Ditmas Park, (347) 240–5850, www.sycam
