Our wildly popular Book Bar is back! This is an upbeat social event for book lovers who want to mingle, read, or both.

Let’s be honest, our last Book Bar was a page-turning hit. With signature cocktails and an engaged crowd, we set the bar (pun intended) pretty high!

We’re bringing Book Bar to a brand-new spot—Grandview Cafe—and we can’t wait to welcome you for another round of good books, good drinks, and good conversation. Whether you're deep into a novel or just dipping into your latest poetry collection, this is your chance to sip, snack, and settle in with a book among fellow readers. Grab a cocktail (yes, there’ll be a themed one), order a bite to eat, and enjoy a space where you can read quietly, chat casually, or both. Stay for a few chapters or the whole night—it’s up to you.

Choose from the Event Only ticket (includes admission, one standard drink, and snacks) or upgrade to an Event + Blind Date Book Bundle ticket (includes one randomly selected “Blind Date” book, admission, one standard drink, and snacks).

I SEE YOU’VE CALLED IN DEAD

The Office meets Six Feet Under meets About a Boy in this coming-of-middle-age tale about having a second chance to write your life’s story.

Bud Stanley is an obituary writer who is afraid to live. Yes, his wife recently left him for a “far more interesting” man. Yes, he goes on a particularly awful blind date with a woman who brings her ex. And yes, he has too many glasses of Scotch one night and proceeds to pen and publish his own obituary. The newspaper wants to fire him. But now the company’s system has him listed as dead. And the company can’t fire a dead person. The ensuing fallout forces him to realize that life may be actually worth living.

As Bud awaits his fate at work, his life hangs in the balance. Given another shot by his boss and encouraged by his best friend, Tim, a worldly and wise former art dealer who is now confined to a wheelchair, Bud starts to attend the wakes and funerals of strangers to learn how to live.

Thurber Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author John Kenney tells a funny, touching story about life and death, about the search for meaning, about finding and never letting go of the preciousness of life.

ABOUT JOHN KENNEY

The one and only John Kenney is the author of three novels and four books of poetry, including Truth in Advertising, which won The 2014 Thurber Prize for American Humor in Writing, and Love Poems for Married People, which was a finalist for The 2019 Thurber Prize (it’s safe to say he’s funny!). Truth in Advertising was optioned and John wrote the screenplay. He is also the author of Talk to Me, which received a starred Kirkus review. John is a long-time contributor to The New Yorker magazine’s Shouts & Murmurs.

You will have the opportunity to ask the speaker questions after the event, purchase books, and get your books signed.