Donald Nicholson-Smith was born in Manchester, England and is a longtime resident of New York City. His translations, ranging from psychoanalysis and social criticism to crime fiction, include works by Thierry Jonquet, Guy Debord, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Henri Lefebvre, Paoul Vaneigem, Antonin Artaud, Jean Laplanche, and J.B. Pontalis. His translation of Apollinaire’s Letters to Madeleine was shortlisted for the 2012 French-American Foundation Prize for Nonfiction and in 2014 he won the Foundation’s Fiction Prize for his translation of Jean-Patrick Manchette’s The Mad and the Bad. His translation of In Praise of Defeat by Abdellatif Laâbi, from which he will be reading, was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize in 2017.

Held on the first Tues­day of every month, September through June, First Tuesdays is a neighborhood reading series with a very hospitable open mic. Anyone who wants to read is welcome. Indeed, almost every month, someone gets up to read their work for the first time. Our featured readers have been among the finest writers in the area. So, if you have work you’d like to share, poetry or prose, or if you’d just like to get some literature into your life, please join us.