Readings at KGB Bar

KGB Bar is a second-floor bar on East 4th Street decorated with Soviet-era propaganda posters, and it has been one of the city's busiest rooms for literary readings for decades. Fiction, poetry and nonfiction series rotate through the week, with established writers reading beside debut authors and editors scouting new voices. The setting is part of it: a red room, a lectern, a bar and an audience that came to listen.

Check the calendar on the bar's site for the week's series; readings are generally free to attend, and you simply buy a drink. Arrive close to the start, since the room is small and popular nights fill up. The Red Room upstairs hosts its own series and open mics. Fourth Street's theater block, with La MaMa and New York Theatre Workshop, is right outside, so a reading pairs well with an Off-Off-Broadway show.