Authors Alia Hanna Habib, Colm Tóibín and Jesse Malin will make appearances at this year’s Hoboken Literary Weekend.
The sixth annual Hoboken Literary Weekend will take place April 17-19, with nine different events, mostly at the Little City Books store.
“We put this on every year and it’s a ton of work — and we always panic that no one will come, and they always do, and the Weekend is a blast,” said Little City Books co-owner Kate Jacobs. “It feels like a small miracle that all these wonderful writers come to our small bookstore and fill it with intricate words and conversation and laughter and tears. What could be better than that? Ever. But especially now.”
Indeed, Jacobs and store co-owner Donna Garban have developed a community that encourages conversation and inquiry via literature and performance; they provide a forum for expression during a time when the arts and sciences, activists and democracy are under attack.
As part of this year’s Weekend, rock singer-songwriter Jesse Malin will discuss his first book, “Almost Grown: A New York Memoir” — which Lucinda Williams says “stands toe-to-toe with (Jim Carroll’s) ‘The Basketball Diaries’ as a story about growing up in New York” — April 19 at 4 p.m. He will be interviewed by James Mastro, the veteran musician and owner of Hoboken’s Guitar Bar music store and 503 Social Club gallery and music venue.
The cover of Simon Morrison’s “A Kingdom & A Village: A One-Thousand Year History of Moscow.”
Princeton University professor and music historian Simon Morrison will open the Weekend, April 17 at 7 p.m., by discussing his book “A Kingdom & A Village: A One-Thousand-Year History of Moscow.”
Here are the Weekend’s other offerings:
• April 18 at 1 p.m., actor Andrew McCarthy — who co-starred in Brat Pack Era films such as “Pretty in Pink” and “St. Elmo’s Fire” — will discuss his book “Who Needs Friends? An Unscientific Examination of Male Friendship Across America.”
• April 18 at 2 p.m., chef Melissa Ben-Ishay will discuss her book “Come Eat: 100 Nourishing Recipes to Eat Every Day” at Hoboken’s Mile Square Theatre (this is the only Weekend event that will not be at Little City Books). She is the founder of the New York-based dessert company Baked by Melissa, known for its bite-sized cupcakes, which she will have on hand.
• April 18 at 4 p.m., Alia Hanna Habib will discuss her “Take It From Me: An Agent’s Guide to Building a Nonfiction Writing Career From Scratch” with Rachel Syme. Jacobs calls Habib “our first agent.”
• April 18 at 6 p.m., Colm Tóibín, author of the novels “Long Island” and “Brooklyn,” will discuss his latest book, “The News From Dublin: Stories.”
• April 18 at 8 p.m., “Little City Laughing,” hosted by Leah Williams, will feature a night of comedy with 5 comedians.
• April 19 at 2 p.m., young adult writer and editor David Levithan will host his annual Young Adult panel. His 2025 novel “Songs for Other People’s Weddings” came with a companion album by Jens Lekman. On April 21, he will release “The Fight of Our Lives: AIDS in America,” co-authored with Gabriel Duckels.
• April 19 at 6 p.m., Lana Schwartz, Upasna Barath and Eliza Dumais — writers for the modern romance publisher 831 Stories — will discuss their journey from other genres to writing romance novels. Jacobs says the Weekend is doing its first romance event “since romance is perfectly cool these days.”
Details and ticket links can be found at this Eventbrite link; by signing up for the Little City Books newsletter; or at littlecitybooks.com/events/2026/04.
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