Half King Author Series

The original Half King Reading Series was founded in 2000 by authors Sebastian Junger ("The Perfect Storm", "Tribe", "Freedom") and Scott Anderson ("Lawrence in Arabia", "The Man Who tried to Save the World", "War Zones"). It ran in its original location on 23rd/10th until January of 2019 when soaring rents forced the bar's closure.

There, they hosted hundreds of authors, spanning the entire literary and literal world.

The current host of the series Glenn Raucher’s many years of Arts Administration leadership include being the Literary Arts Director at The West Side YMCA Writer’s Voice; nearly nine years as Director of Theater Operations at The Film at Lincoln Center; and Managing Director at The Hudson Valley Writers’ Center.

He was the host of the West Side YMCA Writer’s Voice Visiting Author Series from 2003-2008, the Half King Reading Series from 2018-2019, and the host of his own series, PageTurners Reading Series, at DeKalb Stage in Brooklyn and The Swift Hibernian Lounge in the East Village.

Beginning in April 2020 Glenn was asked to host virtual events for the National Arts Club and continues to be their go-to guest host for remote and in-person events. It was through this connection, and with the yeoman efforts of NAC's Literary Arts Committee Chairperson, Rose Kernochan, that a new home, Salmagundi, was found for the Half King Series.

We feature non-fiction, memoir, biography and autobiography, and fiction. Events are usually twice a month.