Office Hours Fall 2025 Showcase Reading (in person & live-streaming)
2025-12-12 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join us Friday, December 12th, 2025 at 7 PM EDT for the Office Hours Fall 2025 Showcase Reading, a hybrid event (both in person readers & virtual). In person readers will gather at the Bureau of General Services–Queer Division and virtual readers will appear on a screen. Current fellows from the Office Hours Poetry Workshop will read sparkling new work they developed in the Fall 2025 cohort.
Office Hours Poetry Workshop is a community-run organization for poets with a dedicated commitment to writing. We particularly hold space for LBGTQ+, POC, and femme-identified writers.

List of readers:
In person:
Dina Abdulhadi
Suzanne Highland
Megan Murtha
Sarah M. Sala
J. Freeborn
Abba Belgrave
Donauta Watson
Michael M. Weinstein
On Zoom:
Shakeema Smalls
James Fujinami Moore
Ryan Dzelzkalns

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd
The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!

Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

lesbian book club: December edition (in person only)
2025-12-13 11:00 - 12:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
We’ll be reading fiction and non-fiction — classic, contemporary, revealing and visionary. As a group we will decide what to read each month, focusing on lesbian authors and/or related topics. Co-founded by lesbian book lovers Judi Komaki and Piper Olsen.

For our December 13th meeting, we’ll read Hijab Butch Blues, Lamya H. (Dial Press, February 6, 2024, paperback, $20). Purchase a copy before December 13th, and receive a 15% discount ($17 instead of $20). Just mention the lesbian book club when making your purchase.

Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.
Registration is not required.

Book Launch: The Best Bi Erotica of the Year, Volume Two (in person & live-streaming)
2025-12-13 15:00 - 16:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
All are welcome to attend the launch of The Best Bi Erotica of the Year, Volume 2. This event will include readings from the anthology by contributing authors Eskay Kabba and Maeve Blackhead, as well as with editor Christian Pan. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.

To reserve a copy of The Best Bi Erotica of the Year, Volume 2 please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve Best Bi Erotica for December 13 event” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.
Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.
Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd
The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.
We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!
Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

Christian Pan is the author of 24 previous books of erotic fiction, including The Diary (with Jenna Citrus), Wilding (Passionate Plume Finalist in Erotic Fiction – Long), Reunion (Passionate Plume Finalist in Erotic Fiction; International Impact Book Award Winner in Romance), Stockholm Syndrome (Passionate Plume Finalist in Erotic Fiction), At the End of the World (Star Recommendation for Erotica – Literally Lovesick; Golden Pigtails Finalist for Dark/Taboo Erotica), among others. He edited both volumes of The Best Bi Erotica of the Year, is a Creative Producer for Incision Press, and hosts the Pulse Session segment for the monthly podcast All the Filthy Details.

Maeve Blackhead lives in New York City.

Eskay Kabba Wife, mother, partner, daughter, sister, friend, social worker, life skills coach and part-time erotic romance novelist, Eskay Kabba finds the complexity of human nature and creates romantic and erotic love stories. Eskay pens erotic romance novels that celebrate the LGBTQ community, people of color, and interracial relationships. When not writing about the throes of passion, Eskay finds joy in spending time with her family and loved ones, reading dystopia and fantasy series, and binging a popular show from a streaming app.

The Fig Thief Book Launch Party (in person & live-streaming)
2025-12-14 15:00 - 18:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
The Fig Thief : Gabriella M. Belfiglio’s Debut Poetry Book Bash at the Bureau, Sunday, December 14th, 3-6pm.
Please join us as we celebrate with readings, antics, and all-around fun, featuring the poet and special guests Donna Minkowitz, Annie Lanzillotto, and JP Howard!

To reserve a copy of The Fig Thief (Guernica Editions, October 1, 2025, paperback, $17.95) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve a copy of The Fig Thief for Dec. 14 event” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd
The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!

Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

Gabriella M. Belfiglio is the author of the poetry collection, The Fig Thief. She is a winner of the W.B. Yeats Poetry Contest. Belfiglio has writing published in the award-winning anthology Poetic Voices Without Borders, The Potomac Review, Folio, The Monterey Poetry Review, The Centrifugal Eye, and Lambda Literary Review, among other places.
She is a queer artist and teacher and mother living in New York City.

Radical Queer Reading Group: Assata (in person only)
2025-12-17 19:00 - 20:00 | Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join us as we read radical leftist texts with a focus on queer liberation, anti-capitalism, and anti-colonialism. For December 17th, we’re reading Assata by Assata Shakur (Lawrence Hill Books, November 1, 1999, paperback, $19.99).

We’ll meet on Wednesday, December 17th at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division in room 210 of The LGBT Community Center in the West Village, 7-8 PM.

Copies of Assata by Assata Shakur (Lawrence Hill Books, November 1, 1999, paperback, $19.99) are available to purchase at the Bureau. Purchase the book before December 17th and receive 15% off ($16.99 instead of $19.99). Just mention the Radical Queer Reading Group when you check out.

Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.
RSVP here
(not required)
Vote on our January book here.
​
Starting in January 2026, the Radical Queer Reading Group will meet on the second Wednesday of every month:
​January 14
​February 11
​March 11
…

The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.
We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!
Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

About the organizers:
Ira Berkley and Elaina Rahrig are public defenders in New York City. They share a love of reading and are excited to have this space to discuss radical texts through a queer lens.

TELL: Above and Beyond (in person & live-streaming)
2025-12-20 19:00 - 20:00 | Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
TELL is a monthly queer storytelling show hosted and curated by Drae Campbell. It is the longest running event at the Bureau! 11 years and going. Each month there is a different theme and a different line up of queer artists who tell true stories from their lives on a theme.
The theme for December 20, 2025 is Above and Beyond, featuring storytellers Cara Francis and Angie Salazar.

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.
Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.
Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd
Suggested donation to benefit the storytellers and the Bureau: $10.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.
We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD

Drae Campbell is the host and curator of TELL, an award winning podcast that can be found anywhere you listen to podcasts.
Theater: The Nosebleed (Lincoln Center Theater, Woolly Mammoth Theater & National Tour, Lortel Nominated), Jesus Hopped The ‘A’ Train (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater), Only You Can Prevent Wildfires (Teatro Circulo), My Old Man (Dixon Place), Storm Still (DirectorFest, Drama League), La Cage Aux Folles (Barrington Stage Company).
Film and TV:Senior Escort Service, Blunderpuss, It’s Very Common, TOW.
TV: Bull, New Amsterdam.
BFA, The University Of The Arts
Ig @draebiz and @tellqueerz

Cara Francis (Francis, they/them) is a multidisciplinary writer and performer combining drag, music, comedy, installations and alter egos. Personas include Fantasy Grandma, Earls2Gearls, and Bob Voyage. Performances: Carolines, Ars Nova, Joe’s Pub, Zanies, the Hollywood Improv, Stonewall and Bushwig. Installations and residencies: Brooklyn Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Museum, Knockdown Center, Banff, NACL. Francis was an ensemble member of the New York Neo-Futurists from 2008–2018 and was a Drama Desk Nominee for The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O’Neill. Press: Village Voice, The New York Times Critic’s Pick, Time Out NY, The Wall Street Journal, Vice’s MOTHERBOARD, ARTFORUM. Upcoming: Synthesis at Triskelion Arts, March 2026.

Angie Salazar (she/they) is a queen based stage manager, archivist, and artist. She has worked a range of community theatre, regional, workshops, tour, and off-broadway. (SoHo Rep, The Bushwick Starr, Breaking the Binary, National Queer Theatre, Broadway Cares, and Denver Center of The Performing Arts.) Usually does traditional art, but as of this year they have been exploring writing. They been published in Malflora Collective Magazine, dedicated project to lives and legacies of Latina/e Lesbians. They current run a photo project of archive carabiner culture of the now (@thecarabinerproject).

Closed Christmas Day
2025-12-25 | NY
The Bureau will be closed on Thursday, December 25th, 2025, for Christmas.

The Center will observe holiday hours:
5 to 9 PM

Holiday hours:
The Bureau will be closed on
Thursday, December 25th
Friday, December 26th
Wednesday, December 31st
Thursday, January 1st

Closed on December 26
2025-12-26 | NY
The Bureau will be closed on Friday, December 26th.
Holiday hours:
The Bureau will be closed on
Thursday, December 25th
Friday, December 26th
Wednesday, December 31st
Thursday, January 1st

Closed New Year's Eve
2025-12-31 | NY
The Bureau will be closed on
Wednesday, December 31st, 2025
and
Thursday, January 1st, 2026

We will resume regular hours on
Friday, January 2, 2026.

Closed New Year's Day
2026-01-01 | NY
The Bureau will be closed on New Year’s Day, Thursday, January 1st, 2026.

The Center will observe holiday hours:
5 to 9 PM

We will resume regular hours on
Friday, January 2, 2026.

Whitmore & Westmoreland (in person & live-streaming)
2026-01-11 15:00 - 16:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Celebrating the publication of two legendary reissues of gay fiction, Joe Westmoreland’s Tramps Like Us (MCD Books) and George Whitmore’s Nebraska (The Song Cave), Joe will be reading from his novel, and Tom Cole will be hosting the event and reading from Nebraska.

To reserve a copy of Tramps Like Us (MCD, June 3, 2025, paperback, $19) and/or Nebraska (Song Cave, September 30, 2025, paperback, $18.95) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve Tramps Like Us and/or Nebraska for January 11 event” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!
You can also purchase Tramps Like Us and Nebraska (click on links below) on our online shop at bookshop.com/shop/bgsqd:
Tramps Like Us
Nebraska

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.
Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd
The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.
We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!
Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

George Whitmore (1945 – 1989) was the author of two novels, The Confessions of Danny Slocum and Nebraska. He was also a playwright, a poet, and wrote a non-fiction account about homosexuality and AIDS, Someone Was Here: Profiles in the AIDS Epidemic.

Joe Westmoreland is the author of the novel Tramps Like Us, originally published in 2001. His writing has appeared in several anthologies, zines, and catalogues for art exhibitions. He lives with his partner, the artist Charles Atlas, in New York City.

Tom Cole is an artist and writer living in NYC. His debut book, Chimes: A Monologue is forthcoming in 2026 from The Song Cave.

Dear Enheduanna,: Book Launch & Poetry Reading (in person & live-streaming)
2026-01-18 15:00 - 17:00 | Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Come and join us for a January afternoon of poetry to launch Dear Enheduanna, (2025, Ugly Duckling Presse) by Erin Honeycutt with readings from a.Monti, Tess Brown-Lavoie, & Milo Wippermann.
Part prayer, part performance, part poetic treatise, Dear Enheduanna writes out to the high priestess and first known author then swallows whole the epistolary form. Pulp decay as publishing tactic. These are conjuring poems; poems coming after collaboration — entanglement as conceit, as kink, as communion pleasure tactic. Smuggle in a sexy mirror, smuggle in a double-headed dildo, smuggle in a sentence then feel it read back: the author is reader is author is reader.
“Dear Enheduanna is erotic romp through language and lesbian history. Erin Honeycutt elegantly weaves together what it means to have a sexual body, a body encased in history. What are the limits of expressing desire? Can the orgasm become language? Complex and fun, these poems spill over and out of the mouth.” —LA Warman

To reserve a copy of Dear Enheduanna, (Ugly Duckling Presse, November 2025, paperback, $14) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve Dear Enheduanna, for January 18 event” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.
Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd
The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.
We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!
Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

Erin Honeycutt is a writer based in Berlin. They co-edit WOMANWOOD, an open-call smut gazette, and VORTEXT, a mail-order poetry magazine. In 2020, Erin began the publishing project, CUTT PRESS, for pamphlets, poetry, and reprints with the archives of Hopscotch Reading Room. Erin is the author of Dear Enheduanna (Ugly Duckling Presse) and Night School (MA BIBLIOTHÈQUE.)

a.Monti is a cross-disciplinary poet, translator and educator. They have facilitated seminars and workshops on experimental sound, contemporary poetry, archival research and writing for performance. Monti is an Associate Editor at Litmus Press and co-edits WOMANWOOD, an open-call smut gazette (Cutt Press). They have written for The Offing, McSweeney’s, The Berliner and Montez Press Radio. Monti is based between Berlin and New York City but was born in an elevator in Rome going up to the third floor.

Tess Brown-Lavoie is author of Lite Year, winner of the Fence Modern Poet Series Prize. Brown-Lavoie co-founded Sidewalk Ends Farm in 2011, and was recently the Anne Waldman Fellow at Naropa University. Brown-Lavoie teaches writing to architecture students at Pratt.

Milo Wippermann is the author of Joan of Arkansas, which was a finalist for a 2024 Lambda Award in LGBTQ+ Drama and has been supported by Woolly Mammoth and the Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts. In 2023, he won a Whiting Award in poetry and drama. Wippermann is an editor and letterpress printer at Ugly Duckling Presse, and holds an MFA from Brown University. He lives in Lenapehoking, Brooklyn, NY.

Queer Junk Journal Swap & Scrap Meet Up (in person only)
2026-01-24 12:00 - 14:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Calling all queer paper nerds, collage queens, sticker gremlins, and crafty babes! This 18+ LGBTQ+ junk journal social is part art hangout, part swap meet, part serotonin. Bring your journal, your scissors, your glue, and your chaotic hoard of paper ephemera. We’re crafting together, hyping each other’s pages, and hosting a de-stash table to swap washi, stickers, scrapbook paper, and any art supplies you want to pass on. No rules, no pressure — just chill vibes, creative play, and swapping shiny bits like the crafty girls, gays, and theys that we are. 💖 ✂ ✨

Space is limited to the first 16 people who arrive.
The Bureau normally opens at 1 pm, but we will open at 11:30 AM on Saturday, January 24th, for this event.

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD

About the facilitator:
Michael Williams is a New York–based photo editor and visual storyteller whose career spans editorial portraiture, performing arts publicity, and celebrity event coverage. Born into a farm family in small-town Iowa, he began photographing professionally in high school and earned his BA in Journalism & Mass Communication from the University of Iowa, with a minor in French and study abroad in Lyon. His path has included an MFA stint at Columbia College Chicago, a fellowship in Amsterdam, and roles at Gamma Liaison, Getty Images, and now Everett Collection, where he directs entertainment photo assignments. Outside of work, Williams continues to photograph—especially his vintage Barbie collection, featured in LIFE and PEOPLE—and leads creative workshops in junk journaling and stationery arts for the LGBTQ+ community.

My Studio is a Dungeon is The Studio: Jarrett Earnest and Nayland Blake in Conversation (in person only)
2026-01-25 15:00 - 16:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
For four decades, artist, writer, curator, and teacher Nayland Blake has been at the center of discussions of queer aesthetics and contemporary art. Their work has examined racial hybridity, the ins and outs of the BDSM world, and the importance of self-representation. From interviews and critical essays to performance scripts and collage pieces, My Studio Is a Dungeon Is the Studio gathers forty years of Blake’s groundbreaking thought and writing on their personal explorations of kink and creativity as well as on the making, teaching, and curating of art and queer culture. Whether delving into furry fandom or analyzing art, Blake bridges the art and queer kink communities. Join Blake and editor Jarrett Earnest as they discuss art, race, kink and queer futures in the midst of the newest culture war.

To reserve a copy of My Studio Is a Dungeon Is the Studio (Duke University Press, October 21, 2025, paperback, $28.95) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve My Studio for January 25 event” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!
You can also purchase My Studio Is a Dungeon Is the Studio (click on title below) on our online shop at bookshop.com/shop/bgsqd:
My Studio Is a Dungeon Is the Studio

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD

Jarrett Earnest is a writer, editor and curator living in New York City. He is the author of What it Means to Write About Art: Interviews with Art Critics (2018) and Valid Until Sunset (2023). Earnest’s criticism has been published in catalogs and books around the world, and appears regularly in the New York Review of Books.

Nayland Blake is an artist, writer, educator and curator, whose works on race, sexuality and gender have been exhibited throughout the United States and Europe. Their career retrospective “No Wrong Holes – 30 years of Nayland Blake” opened in 2019 at the Institute for Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and closed in 2021 at the MIT LIst Center. They are the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. They are currently the co-director of the studio art program at Bard College, and serve on the board of VisualAIDS.
