Archives
6:30 pm
Brooklyn Public Library
Brooklyn NY
February 13, 2024
Join us for a deep dive into the profound ways that the year 2020 saw our world shift, at the launch of the new book 2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed. Written by Eric Klinenberg, sociologist and director of New York University’s Institute for Public Knowledge, 2020 is the first book to explore what the pandemic, the BLM protests, and the polarized and contested election reveal about our culture, society, and future. WIth the traumas of that year still reverberating, this pivotal thinker helps provide perspective on our reshaped lives, country, and world. Klinenberg will be in conversation with novelist Nell Freudenberger, whose upcoming work The Limits (released April 2024) also grapples with this seismic year.
More7:00 pm
House of Speakeasy
New York, NY
June 4, 2024
Seriously Entertaining is House of SpeakEasy’s acclaimed series of literary cabarets where authors take the stage to riff and ruminate informally, dinner-theater-style, on the evening’s theme. The Wall Street Journal calls it “Think-y entertainment for New York’s book-loving crowd,” The New York Times says it’s “a literary mixtape [with] perfect flow and variety,” and CBS Local News adds: “You have never seen a cabaret quite like this…. The lineup includes some of the most brilliant minds in the literary and artistic worlds.”
More10:00 am
SXSW
Austin, TX
March 13, 2024
3:00 pm
Tuxedo Park Library
Tuxedo Park, NY
March 10, 2024
6:00 pm
Seminary Co-Op Bookstore
Chicago, IL
March 7, 2024
7:00 pm
MLK Jr. Memorial Library
Washington, DC
March 6, 2024
Join the Library and Politics and Prose for a very special conversation with author Eric Klinenberg for his new book 2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed. In conversation with special guest Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden, Klinenberg will explore this account of a pivotal year in history through the experiences of seven New Yorkers.
Copies of the book will be available for sale and signing, and a limited number of copies will be available as giveaways courtesy of the DC Public Library Foundation.
More6:30 pm
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library
New York, NY
March 4, 2024
9:00 pm
San Francisco Public Library
San Francisco, CA
March 2, 2024
SFPL and local partners, the Villa Albertine, KQED and Circuit Network, have lots of exciting surprises in store for this year’s edition of Night of Ideas. Leading thinkers, scholars, writers, activists and artists engage with the theme “Fault Lines,” centering urban life and development and raising questions about the impact of climate change, new technologies and social and cultural shifts. In addition, running through the entire evening, are programs designed to make you feel the L.O.V.E. for our beautiful City to counter those tiresome attacks. We’ve got drag, stand-up, zine-making and a rousing program series that pays homage to our beloved and idiosyncratic Muni, thanks to the support of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
More7:00 pm
Mill Valley Public Library
Mill Valley, CA
March 1, 2024
After the Library closes for the night, the Main Reading Room transforms into an intimate venue for community, connection, and learning in the Mill Valley Library’s After Hours series. Eric Klinenberg returns to Mill Valley for a special conversation about his new book 2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed. Over the course of 2020, acclaimed sociologist and best-selling author Klinenberg followed seven New Yorkers whose experiences illuminate how Americans, and people across the globe, reckoned with 2020. Through these poignant stories, we revisit our own moments of hope and fear, the profound tragedies and losses in our communities, the mutual aid networks that brought us together, and the social movements that hinted at the possibilities of a better world.
More7:00 pm
San Diego Public Library
San Diego, CA
February 28, 2024
Join renowned social critic and New York Times contributor Eric Klinenberg as he presents his latest work, 2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed.
An audience Q&A and book signing will follow the presentation. This event is free and open to the public. Reserved seating is available for you and a guest by pre-ordering a copy of 2020 from the Library Shop.
More7:30 pm
Town Hall Seattle x Elliott Bay
Seattle, WA
February 27, 2024
You’d be hard-pressed to find a person whose life went unchanged in 2020, arguably one of the most consequential years in human history. It marked an unprecedented time, left indelible memories in our minds, and set off ripple effects we still feel even today. Disruption of normal life was nearly universal; however, the ways in which we experienced disruption were varied.
Acclaimed sociologist and bestselling author Eric Klinenberg’s latest work 2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed offers an account of a single year in modern history told through the stories of seven New Yorkers. From an elementary school principal to a bar manager, a subway custodian to a political aide, the book sheds light on the human experience of that fateful time four years ago, illuminating both individual and collective uncertainty, fear, loss, and hope.
Although the book is centered on New York City, 2020 also explores the political spheres of the nation’s capital and beyond, as well as epidemiological battles, policies, and movements worldwide. Set against the backdrop of a tense presidential election and social unrest, Klinenberg offers a window into a recent time of reckoning and an invitation to examine ourselves and our experiences.
MoreUniversity of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
February 21, 2024
6:00 pm
NYU Wagner
New York, NY
February 20, 2024
2020 will go down alongside 1914, 1929, and 1968 as one of the most consequential years in history. Eric Klinenberg’s book is the first attempt to capture the full human experience of that fateful time.
At the heart of 2020 are seven vivid profiles of ordinary New Yorkers—including an elementary school principal, a bar manager, a subway custodian, and a local political aide—whose experiences illuminate how Americans, and people across the globe, reckoned with 2020. Through these poignant stories, we revisit our own moments of hope and fear, the profound tragedies and losses in our communities, the mutual aid networks that brought us together, and the social movements that hinted at the possibilities of a better world. Klinenberg allows us to see 2020—and, ultimately, ourselves—with unprecedented clarity and empathy. His book not only helps us reckon with what we lived through, but also with the challenges we face before the next crisis arrives.
More6:30 pm
McNally Jackson Seaport
New York, NY
February 15, 2024
2020 will go down alongside 1914, 1929, and 1968 as one of the most consequential years in history. This riveting and affecting book is the first attempt to capture the full human experience of that fateful time.
At the heart of 2020 are seven vivid profiles of ordinary New Yorkers—including an elementary school principal, a bar manager, a subway custodian, and a local political aide—whose experiences illuminate how Americans, and people across the globe, reckoned with 2020. Through these poignant stories, we revisit our own moments of hope and fear, the profound tragedies and losses in our communities, the mutual aid networks that brought us together, and the social movements that hinted at the possibilities of a better world.
Eric Klinenberg vividly captures these stories, casting them against the backdrop of a high-stakes presidential election, a surge of misinformation, rising distrust, and raging protests. We move from the epicenter in New York City to Washington and London, where political leaders made the crisis so much more lethal than it had to be. We bear witness to epidemiological battles in Wuhan and Beijing, along with the initiatives of scientists, citizens, and policy makers in Australia, Japan, and Taiwan, who worked together to save lives.
Klinenberg allows us to see 2020—and, ultimately, ourselves—with unprecedented clarity and empathy. His book not only helps us reckon with what we lived through, but also with the challenges we face before the next crisis arrives.
More2:30 pm
The Helix Center
New York, NY
February 10, 2024
Fractured: Covid 19 – Memento Mori vs. Memento Vivere; “COVID-19 Betrays America’s Cult of Curdled Optimism”; This Exquisite Loneliness; The Lonely Stories; 2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed; The Quarantine Tapes; these titles were all attempts by our panelists to endure and make sense of the Pandemic. “Each of us adrift on our own ghost ships,” wrote one of them, Simon Critchley, in a piece called “To Philosophize is to Learn How to Die.” Another, Richard Deming, observed that “the writing life, the life of the mind, is not an escape or separation from life, but the way of engaging it, head on, no matter the weather.” This Round Table will focus on the literature that emerged from that time which – to be sure – is not yet over.
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St. Paul Public Library
St. Paul, MN
7 pm
Rice University Kinder Institute Forum
Houston, TX
More6 pm
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
New York, NY
MoreRochester Public Library
Rochester, NY
11 am
California Library Association
Pasadena, CA
More7 pm
San Diego Public Library
San Diego, CA
More2:30 pm
Sno-Isle Library Conference, Lynnwood Convention Center
Lynnwood, WA
8:30 am
Georgia Tech, Designing Libraries Conference
Atlanta, GA
More10 am
Brooklyn Book Festival
Brooklyn, NY
More7 pm
Toronto TD Future Cities Centre Evergreen Brick Works
Toronto, ON
Turning Spaces into Places: Making the most of our social infrastructure (with Tamika Butler)
More12 pm
Toronto Public Library
Toronto, ON
MoreThe Strand
New York, NY
More6 pm
Ferguson Library
Stamford, CT
More7:30 pm
The Strand
New York, NY
More4:30 pm
Harvard University
Boston, MA
Dr. Klinenberg will discuss the dramatic rise of solo living and the seismic impact it’s having on our culture, business, and politics. Conventional wisdom tells us that living by oneself leads to loneliness and isolation, but, as Klinenberg will show, most solo dwellers are deeply engaged in social and civic life. In fact, compared with their married counterparts, they are more likely to eat out and exercise, go to art and music classes, attend public events and lectures, and volunteer. It is now more common for an American adult to live alone than in a nuclear family, and Klinenberg analyzes the challenges and opportunities for singletons at different stages of life: young professionals who pay higher rent for the freedom and privacy of their own apartments; singles in their thirties and forties who refuse to compromise their career or lifestyle for an unsatisfying partner; divorced men and women who no longer believe that marriage is a reliable source of happiness or stability; and the elderly, most of whom prefer living by themselves to living with friends or their children.
More7:00 pm
Politics and Prose
Washington, DC
In most cities today, a third of the population lives alone. In his investigation of this demographic shift, the NYU sociology professor, editor of Public Culture, and author of Heat Wave, finds that living alone is on the rise in all age groups and classes, which suggests concurrent changes in attitudes toward marriage and family.
More6:00 pm
57th Street Books
Chicago, IL
In 1950, only 22 percent of American adults were single. Today, more than 50 percent of American adults are single, and 31 million—roughly one out of every seven adults—live alone. People who live alone make up 28 percent of all U.S. households, which makes them more common than any other domestic unit, including the nuclear family. In Going Solo, renowned sociologist and author Eric Klinenberg proves that these numbers are more than just a passing trend. They are, in fact, evidence of the biggest demographic shift since the Baby Boom: we are learning to go solo, and crafting new ways of living in the process.
More7:00 pm
Powerhouse Arena
Brooklyn, NY
At 7 PM on Tuesday, March 6, join us for a panel discussion, “Singles Going Steady,” at Powerhouse Arena in Dumbo. The conversation will feature Eric Klinenberg, author of Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone; n+1 contributor Kate Bolick, who wrote the recent Atlantic cover story “Going Solo”; and n+1 contributor and podcast host Daniel Smith, author of Muses, Madmen, and Prophets and the forthcoming Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety. Drinks will be served. We hope to see you there!
More7:30 pm
Town Hall Seattle
Seattle, WA
Details TBA.
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