Business And Finance Series Announced At Bryant Park's Reading Room

Bryant Park's Reading Room will host a midday series of June talks with contemporary business authors to discuss engineering cities, starting a new company, biotech, and how to maintain emotional clarity in a cluttered modern world. All talks are free and open to the general public. A complete schedule follows:

June 6: The Business of Our Cities & Towns with Alexander Garvin (The Heart of the City: Creating Vibrant Downtowns for a New Century), hosted by Executive Director at Bryant Park Corporation, Dan Biederman

June 13: Social Entrepreneurship with Jordan Kassalow (Dare to Matter: Your Path to Making a Difference Now), hosted by co-author Jennifer Krause

June 20: The Future of Genetics and Technology with Jamie Metzl (Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity)

June 27: Mindful Practices with Tim Desmond (How to Stay Human in a F*cked-Up World: Mindfulness Practices for Real Life)

The Reading Room's comfortable, shaded seating space located behind the New York Public Library, just off 42nd Street and 6th Avenue is open to visitors daily, 11am to 7pm, now through mid-October. The first iteration of Bryant Park's Reading Room began in 1935, in the midst of the Great Depression, as a public service on behalf of the New York Public Library.

The Reading Room closed during World War II but was reopened by Bryant Park Corporation in 2003 to provide a casual, family-friendly, open-air space for readers of all ages to enjoy an outdoor moment of literary peace in the bustling city. Now entering the seventeenth year of its modern era, the annual opening of the Reading Room's bright yellow umbrellas is a signal for the beginning of months of learning and fun for all of New York's reading public. All events and experiences at the Reading Room are free of charge and open to all.

The Reading Room gives visitors daily access to print editions of The New York Times, New York Post, The Daily News, Wall Street Journal, El Diario, Financial Times (courtesy of Mitchell's Delivery), and many more; a selection of popular magazines including The New Yorker, Vogue, Vanity Fair, People, Time, Fortune, Men's Health, Gourmet, and The Harvard Law Review; plus, over 500 popular books in the fields of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, graphic novels, young adult fiction, and classics classics that have all been a part of our literary series. An adjacent miniature-sized section of tables and chairs provides personalized space for children ages 2-9 to explore our considerable library of children's literature. The Reading Room is served by an on-site coordinator who helps source available books and periodicals. For more information, visit bryantpark.org/amenities/reading-room.