House of SpeakEasy

The House of SpeakEasy is a home for close encounters of a literary kind: a place where authors and their audiences come together in innovative and sustaining ways. Founded in 2013 by the biographer and historian Amanda Foreman and the editor Lucas Wittmann, SpeakEasy is dedicated to the idea that literature matters, and that the essence of literary culture is the relationship between writers and their readers. To foster that relationship SpeakEasy seeks to

• bring authors out from behind the book, lectern, or screen into direct contact with audiences
• ensure that writers are compensated for their work, and their time
• stimulate the audiences (and authors) of tomorrow by exposing them to the best writing of today

SpeakEasy’s flagship program is an acclaimed series of literary cabarets, Seriously Entertaining, held at SoHo’s City Winery, where authors take the stage to riff and ruminate informally, dinner-theater-style, on the evening’s theme. The writers share in the box-office take, and their books, CD’s, or DVD’s are on sale. The Wall Street Journal calls it “Think-y entertainment for New York’s book-loving crowd,” 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.”