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'Franklin Park' to Launch Second Monthly Reading Series in Crown Heights

 Writer Yahdon Israel poses with a book as part of #literaryswag, a hashtag he created meant to showcase literature and fashion. Israel is on the lineup at a new reading series launching next week at Manhattanville Coffee in Crown Heights, organized by the host of the popular Franklin Park Reading Series, Penina Roth.
Writer Yahdon Israel poses with a book as part of #literaryswag, a hashtag he created meant to showcase literature and fashion. Israel is on the lineup at a new reading series launching next week at Manhattanville Coffee in Crown Heights, organized by the host of the popular Franklin Park Reading Series, Penina Roth.
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Instagram/yahdon

CROWN HEIGHTS — The literary scene in Crown Heights is getting too big for just one reading a month.

After six years on Franklin Avenue, the Franklin Park Reading Series — a popular monthly writer showcase at the Franklin Park beer garden — is getting ready to launch a second series focused primarily on emerging, as-yet-unpublished writers.

The new Manhattanville Reading Series, named for its location, Rogers Avenue newcomer Manhattanville Coffee, is set to take place on the final Tuesday of each month starting next week, said Franklin Park host Penina Roth.

She described the partnership with Manhattanville as “serendipitous," particularly as it's become more and more difficult to highlight new writers — a "priority" for Roth — at Franklin Park.

“Since the Franklin Park Reading Series has grown and we're getting so many requests from talented authors with new books to promote, we have fewer openings for emerging writers,” she said.

Now, they’ll have space for lots of new people. At the inaugural Manhattanville event on Jan. 26, attendees will hear from two Crown Heights locals, writers Jesse Kohn and Madeline Stevens (who hosts her own reading series at Erv's in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens) and Yahdon Israel, the man behind #literaryswag, a hashtag celebrating those who read and look good doing it.

“Crown Heights has been a magnet for lit enthusiasts and publishing people, so I feel like there's an appreciative crowd who'd enjoy hearing fresh, innovative work,” Roth said of the new series.

Each Manhattanville event will include one published author, as well; on Tuesday, novelist and Franklin Park alum Will Chancellor is on the lineup. Other authors from the Franklin Park family slated to appear at upcoming Manhattanville events include Alexandra Kleeman, Lincoln Michel and Sarah Gerard, Roth said.

Interested fiction and nonfiction writers who have yet to release a book are welcome to submit a writing sample to manhattanvillereadingseries@gmail.com for consideration.

Tuesday’s event is free and open to the public at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 26 at 167 Rogers Ave. in Crown Heights. For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page.