Jonathan Franzen, Rachel Cusk, Billy Collins & More to Participate in 92Y's New Podcast Series READ BY

The 92nd Street Y's Unterberg Poetry Center has launched a podcast, Read By, featuring newly commissioned readings by prominent writers--recorded in their homes straight to listeners.

The intimate, informal series kicks off tonight at 8 pm EST with a reading by James Shapiro, who was originally scheduled to appear at 92Y for a live event this evening. Over the next several weeks, Stand By will feature Billy Collins, Jonathan Franzen, Rachel Cusk, George Saunders, Ann Patchett, Gary Shteyngart, Colm Tóibín, Lauren Groff and Elif Batuman, among many others, all of whom will be reading works that have had a lasting personal effect on them.

New recordings will be posted on 92Y's Archives website Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8 pm EST-- at which time the literary work chosen by the writer will be revealed. In addition to the recordings, the site will feature short pieces by each of the writers about the works they have chosen to read.

The first week of the Read By series continues with Ann Patchett on March 25 and Gary Shteyngart on March 27. Shapiro's reading (posted tonight at 8 pm) centers his book, The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606, which touches on how the outbreak of plague impacted the playhouses and Shakespeare's personal life in the early 17th century.