Animal Riot Reading Series NYC

The Animal Riot Reading Series was founded in 2014 and is co-hosted by Devin Kelly (Sarah Lawrence MFA ’15) and Katie (M.K.) Rainey (Sarah Lawrence MFA ’14) as a way of providing a place for the burgeoning and young New York City literary scene to exist and thrive in Upper Manhattan. It could also simply be the result of two lazy Harlemites not wanting to travel to Brooklyn to go hear people read. Either way, the Animal Riot Reading Series is here, and you want it.

Animal Riot is a monthly reading series held on the second Sunday of every month at DTUT bar & cafe on 2nd Avenue and 91st Street. Yes, Sunday. What else are you doing then? Each reading will feature a blend of both emerging and established writers, 6 readers total. Over that last five years, we have hosted nearly 300 writers and artists at our series.

Our aim is to place established writers alongside emerging ones and give everyone the same stage and the same kind, generous ears of an audience. We are open to providing a home for every genre – fiction, poetry, nonfiction. Each month we will do our best to represent each genre, but we will focus mostly on accepting the strongest submissions. We strive for emotion & honesty & intelligence & grace, things that are read as movingly as they were created.

Hosted By

Devin Kelly earned his MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and is the author of two collaborative chapbooks as well as two collections of poetry, Blood on Blood (Unknown Press), and In This Quiet Church of Night, I Say Amen (Civil Coping Mechanisms). His work has been published or is forthcoming in The Guardian, LitHub, Catapult, and more. He is a high school teacher in New York City. He is the founder and co-host of the Animal Riot Reading Series and currently lives in Harlem.

Katie Rainey is a writer, teacher, and editor from Little Rock, Arkansas. She is the winner of the 2017 Bechtel Prize at Teachers & Writers Magazine, the 2017 Lazuli Literary Group Writing Contest and the 2018 Montana Award for Fiction from Whitefish Review. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Collagist, 3AM Magazine, Atticus Review, Fiction Southeast, and more. She co-hosts the Animal Riot Reading Series, and is the Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Animal Riot, a literary press that strives to collaborate with writers to create work that matters. She lives in Harlem with her dog. Sometimes she writes things the dog likes. 

Submission Guidelines

We welcome submissions for reading slots on a rolling basis. If you’re interested in submitting, please follow the guidelines below.

For fiction writers: Send no more than 1,500 words (.doc/.docx/.pdf), along with a brief bio and contact info. Please put [Fiction] in the subject line.

For poets: Send no more than 3 poems (.doc/.docx/.pdf), along with a brief bio and contact info. Please put [Poetry] in the subject line.

For nonfiction writers: Send no more than 1,500 words (.doc/.docx/.pdf), along with a brief bio and contact info. Please put [Nonfiction] in the subject line.

Animal Riot will reopen for submissions soon.

Previous Readers

Aaron Poochigian ● Abigail Bereola ● Adam Tedesco ● Alan Gilbert ● Alanna Schubach ● Alex Behr ● Alexander Tanner ● Alexandria Hall ● Alysia Nicole Harris ● Amanda Torres ● Amber Medland ● Amelia Gray ● Amy Carlberg ● Amy Meng ● Amy Woolward ● Andrew Cothren ● Andrew Lipstein ● Andy Powell ● Angel Nafis ● Anna Meister ● Annie Krabbenschmidt ● Ari Braverman ● Ariel Francisco ● Armando Jarmillo Garcia ● Aurora Masum-Javad ● Avia Tadmor ● Bailey Cohen ● Barbara Browning ● Bekk Olson ● Ben Fama ● Ben Pease ● Ben Purkert ● Bernard Ferguson ● Bianca Stone ● Bill Lessard ● Bob Raymonda ● Bonnie Chau ● Brandon Sargent ● Brian Birnbaum ● Brian Morton ● Brionne Janae ● Britt Canty ● Britt Gambino ● Brooke Ellsworth ● Bud Smith ● Caitlin Scarano ● Caits Meissner ● Carla Carlson ● Carlie Hoffman ● Carly Joy Miller ● Carolyn Silveira ● Cathy Linh Che ● Chaya Babu ● Chelsea Asher ● Chelsea Fonden ● Chialun Chang ● Christopher Blackman ● Christopher Gonzalez ● Chuks Ndulue ● Claire Sibley ● Clare Smith Marash ● Cooper Wilhelm ● Cortney Lamar Charleston ● Courtney Young ● Cynthia Manick ● Dan Hoyt ● Dan Kraines ● Danny Caine ● Darrel Alejandro Holnes ● Dave K ● David Hollander ● David Olimpio ● David Tomas Martinez ● Derick Dupre ● Desiree Bailey ● Diamond Sharp ● Diannely Antigua ● Dolan Morgan ● Eduardo C. Corral ● Eilzabeth Onusko ● Eloisa Amezcua ● Emilia Phillips ● Emily Alford ● Emily Brandt ● Emily Skillings ● Emily Yoon ● Erica Cardwell ● Erika Anderson ● Erika Luckert ● Erin Lynn ● Ester Bloom ● Eugene Lim ● Farah Mehreen ● Gabe Habash ● Gabriela Garcia ● Gabrielle Campagnano ● George Kovalenko ● George Sawaya ● Glynn Pogue ● Gregory Crosby ● Hafizah Geter ● Halley Furlong-Mitchell ● Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib ● Hannah Rego ● Hannah Schneider ● Heather Derr Smith ● Heather Rounds ● Hernan Diaz ● I.S. Jones ● Ilana Masad ● Isabella DeSendi ● J. Scott Brownlee ● Jackie Gilbert ● Jade Sanchez-Ventura ● James Hoch ● Jameson Fitzpatrick ● Jason Porter ● Javan Howard ● Jay Deshpande ● Jayson P. Smith ● Jeanann Verlee ● Jehan Roberson ● Jenessa Abrams ● Jenn Baker ● Jenna Le ● Jennifer Werbitsky ● Jeremiah Driver ● Jeremy Freeman ● Jess Rizkallah ● Jessica Smith ● Jimin Han ● Joanna Valente ● Joe Pfister ● John Deming ● Jose Olivarez ● Joshua Bennett ● JP Allen ● K.T. Billey ● Kamden Hilliard ● Karisma Price ● Karla Robinson ● Karolina Manko ● Kate Dwyer ● Katherine Jamison ● Kavita Das ● Keegan Lester ● Kimi Traube ● Kimiko Hahn ● Kristi Dilallo ● Kristina Bicher ● KT Billey ● Kwame Opoku-Duku III ● Kyle Dacuyan ● Kyle Lucia Wu ● Kym Boyce ● Lara Montes ● Laura Creste ● Lauren Clark ● Lauren Hilger ● Leah Umansky ● Lee Matthew Goldberg ● Leigh Stein ● Leland Cheuk ● Lily Blacksell ● Linnie Greene ● Lisa Marie Basille ● Liv Lansdale ● Lucas De Lima ● LynleyShimat Lys ● Lynn Melnick ● MA Vizsolyi ● Madeleine Barnes ● Madeline Stevens ● Malcolm Toussaint Hansen ● Maria Fernanda Snellings ● Marina Weiss ● Mark de Silva ● Mary Cinadr ● Mary-Kim Arnold ● Meher Manda ● Melanie Odelle ● Melissa Shaw ● Micaela Blei ● Michael Lee Bible ● Michael Sarinsky ● Michaela Florio ● Michelle Burk ● Michelle Junot ● Michelle Meier ● Molly Goldman ● Momina Mela ● Monica Lewis ● Morgan Beatty ● Morgan Jerkins ● Morgan Parker ● Nabila Lovelace ● Natalie Eilbert ● Nathan Xavier Osorio ● Nicholas Goodly ● Nick Fuenzalida ● Nick Mancusi ● Nicodemus Nicoloudus ● Nicola Maye Goldberg ● Nicole Cooley ● Nicole Testa ● Nina Boutsikaris ● NJ Campbell ● Noy Holland ● Nykemah Warren ● Patrick Errington ● Paul Cohen ● Paul Florez ● Phillipe Martin ● Quincy Scott-Jones ● Rabih Ahmed ● Rachel Allen ● Rachel Lyon ● Rax King ● Rebecca Bates ● Rebecca Schiff ● Renee Watson ● Renia White ● Ricardo Maldonado ● Robert Balun ● Roberto Montes ● Rosebud Ben-Oni ● Ryan Britt ● Ryan Sartor ● Ryan Strong ● Sally Wen Mao ● Sandra Newman ● Sara Fetherolf ● Sarah Bridgins ● Sarah Dohrmann ● Sarah Sala ● Sasha Fletcher ● Scott Cheshire ● Sergio De La Pava ● Shira Erlichman ● Sola Agustsson ● Sophie Unterman ● Stephen Langois ● Stevie Howell ● Storm Thomas ● Susan Lewis ● Suzanne Highland ● T Kira Madden ● Tania Pabon ● Tara Isabella Burton ● Taylor Lannamann ● Temim Fruchter ● Thiahera Nurse ● Timothy Liu ● Tobias Carroll ● Tommy “Teebs” Pico ● Tony Tulathimutte ● Trace Depass ● Trenton Pollard ● Tyler Barton ● Tyrese Coleman ● Vivian Lee ● Will Chancellor ● Wren Hanks ● Yahdon Israel ● Yanyi Luo ● Visual Artists: Kristas Krisistis, Marina Trofimova, Jenna Le, Dan Spizzirri, Jiji Kekhia, Alex Velozo