Books About Town: October 2026

October saw several glamorous literary events, including a star-studded showing at Harper’s magazine’s fundraising gala and Chanel’s latest foray into the book world. Read on for a ticket inside, plus a special dispatch from Comic Con.

October 7: Kickstarter’s New York Comic Con Halloween Party

On the eve of this year’s New York Comic Con, Kickstarter got a head start on the festivities with a Halloween-themed party at the Tippler in Manhattan on October 7. The subterranean cocktail bar welcomed a cadre of professionals hailing from the comics, publishing, and film industries, celebrating the crowdfunding platform’s creative communities ahead of the convention.

The evening was hosted by Kickstarter’s director of comics and collectibles Sean Edgar, head of publishing Oriana Leckert, and senior outreach lead for film Taylor K. Shaw. The occasion marked something of a debut for Edgar, who was hosting his first Kickstarter party since taking on the role earlier this year and making his entrance into New York’s comics scene.

Leckert, known for her colorful personality and enthusiasm for the literary world, was, somewhat ironically, anxious about playing host to the soirée. But any pre-party jitters melted with the evening’s relaxed atmosphere, as guests mingled over signature cocktails from the open bar and an assortment of catered bites.

Among those in attendance were Boom! Studios executive editor and Goats Flying Press publisher Sebastian Girner; comics writer Brian Azzarello; illustrator Tula Lotay; and Oni Press president and publisher Hunter Gorinson. The gathering offered an opportunity for industry veterans and creative professionals to catch up before the considerably more hectic days of Comic Con to follow.

As the evening wound down, guests were treated to miniature doughnuts from Doughnuttery, a sweet conclusion to a night that eased people into the convention floor’s usual frenzy for cocktails and conversation. —TreVaughn Malik Roach-Carter, digital editorial coordinator

October 15: Chanel x Women’s Prize Originators Launch

Chanel has a long history of supporting the arts through philanthropy. With its new fellowship with the U.K.’s Women’s Prize, the fashion house is shining some of its glamour on the literary world.

At the Twenty Two Hotel in New York, bookish professionals and writers of all stripes spent a night celebrating the launch of Originators, a new mentorship program connecting past Women’s Prize winners with unpublished writers.

Hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, and books were abundant in the five-star hotel’s lounge. Almost everyone wore sleek, black ensembles—reportedly the standard dress for a Chanel gathering—and whiffs of Chanel No. 5 and Coco Mademoiselle trailed many bodies moving through the crowd. As the night unfolded, martini glasses populated every free surface, wedged between books by Tayari Jones, Nicole Krauss, and other members of the Originators judging panel.

Eventually, Krauss, judge chair A.M. Homes, and V.V. Ganeshananthan, the last of the four judges, took their places to address the room. They were joined by Women’s Prize executive director Claire Shanahan, who explained on the mic that the new program will draw a “golden thread” between established and aspiring women authors. Applicants must be unpublished, and each selected writer will receive $5,000 and support from the judge panel and other industry pros.

Krauss said fellowships give young writers the space to unleash the “inner engine driving them,” recalling a three-week retreat while working on her first novel at 25. Chanel may do tradition-forward design, but, in Krauss’s view, Originators is looking for writers who “take risks.”

Before guests retrieved their coats and grabbed complimentary, full-size bottles of Chanel’s new fragrance (a balanced and delightful woody blend), PWcaught up with one young writer in attendance.

Katie Wu’s debut novel Madder Lake, a dark-academic romance, is publishing with Harper Voyager in August 2027, making her ineligible for the prize. But she was excited to celebrate, because she knows the importance of writerly camaraderie firsthand.

“When I think of the women who really matter to me, it’s my other friends who write, even though our genres are so different,” she said, explaining that her friends write horror and climate fiction.

“And Donna Tartt, obviously,” Wu added. “Her writing is very subtle and just hits the core of what it means to be a person. I feel so seen by it.” —Sam Spratford, associate news editor

October 26: Harper’s Magazine Awards

The second annual Harper’sfundraising gala began beneath the towering shelves of rare books formerly belonging to J.P. Morgan.

Today known as Manhattan’s Morgan Library, the banker’s personal Tower of Babel was an apt setting for the gathering. Somewhere between a Gutenberg Bible and an illuminated Medieval manuscript, a “wealth tech” founder named Akash Shah stood talking with a self-published poet and model.

Shah was one of the night’s lead sponsors, alongside three corporate law firms and, more fittingly, 92NY. Asked what moved him to support Harper’s,he gave a polished answer that would be echoed by many throughout the night: “It’s a really important moment to celebrate journalists and writers, and protect the institutions where they work.”

Freedom of expression is one of the two lofty values to which the Harper’sgala was dedicated, alongside the “indispensible place of serious literature in public life.” Indeed, one could not go more than a couple minutes without spotting one literary heavyweight or another, including Daniel Kehlmann and Zadie Smith.

Hovering in one corner was Jonathan Franzen, who, like many a great novelist, was a man of few words. After his agent Susan Golomb gave him the go-ahead, he shared his approval of a nearby copy of the Declaration of Independence. “It doesn’t seem like a fake,” he said, noting the fold marks on the document.

At the awards ceremony, NPR president and CEO Katherine Maher accepted her First Amendment Award and expounded against the Trump administration’s assaults on public radio. Later, attendees were sent home with copies of the U.S. Constitution.

Novelist John Edgar Wideman accepted the night’s other honor, the Lewis H. Lapham Award for Literary Excellence, named for the longtime Harper’seditor, from former U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey.

Though Harper’shas published countless great writers in its history, one piece in particular kept arising, again and again, in guests’ conversations—Daniel Kolitz’s November 2025 feature story on the American “gooning” epidemic.

Jonathan Sturgeon, who edits Readings and Fiction at Harper’s, noted the publication’s efforts to marry novelty and tradition over its 176 years in print. From under a Vonnegut-esque mustache and mop of dark hair, Sturgeon observed that, for a print magazine to stay relevant, “you don’t want to become an archive of yourself, but you do want to respect the past.”

Beside him, Smith held court at a round table, fielding an endless stream of hopeful conversation partners. When a young journalist asked her what, exactly, one has to do to succeed as a writer in New York, she answered, with a somewhat exasperated smile, “Just write. You have to just write.”