Book Reading with a Twist: Outwrite a New Yorker Staffer

Think you have the word chops to take on New Yorker writer Dana Goodyear? Tomorrow at Skylight Books, Canteen literary/arts journal is launching a reading/competition series--Outwrite--that pits established writers against audience members. It's like Food Network's Throwdown with Bobby Flay--with pens not pans being the weapon of choice.
 
Author Joyce Maynard (To Die For, At Home in the World) will give a traditional reading of her work, while two audience members will have the reading time to participate in a flash writing competition against Goodyear. The stories will then be judged by the audience.
 
According to Canteen publisher Stephen Pierson: “The idea is twofold: (1) to make literary readings more entertaining, and (2) to encourage a culture of writing where, for an evening, the reader/aspiring-writer can compete on an even level with an established author.”

The event is free and begins at 7:30 pm.