The Making of Americans

Triple Canopy is pleased to present its third annual marathon reading of Gertrude Stein’s enormously long and allegedly unreadable novel The Making of Americans: Being a History of a Family’s Progress. Over one weekend—from Friday, Jan. 24, at 5 p.m. until Sunday, Jan. 26, sometime around 10 p.m.—invited New York–based artists, writers, publishers, scholars, and other collaborators will gather in Greenpoint to perform the entirety of Stein’s text in a continuous read-in. There will be coffee and donuts during the dawn walk-in hours; snacks from The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook reimagined by artists and writers; a musical intermission by Bill Orcutt; and Eve Fowler’s series “A Spectacle and Nothing Strange,” letterpress posters emblazoned with Stein quotations, on display and for sale. The current edition of the novel, published by Dalkey Archive Press, will be available for borrowing or purchase throughout the read-in. Blonde Art Books will be selling publications by readers. Follow the progress on Twitter with #MakingUSA.

Gertrude Stein and The Making of Americans have been central to conversations between literature, art, and publishing for more than a century; and those histories and connections are, in turn, central to Triple Canopy’s publishing and programming in Greenpoint, online, and elsewhere. Stein composed The Making of Americans from 1903 to 1911, though it remained unpublished until 1925, in an edition of 500. The novel wasn’t reprinted in full until 1966, by Fluxus artist and poet Dick Higgins’s Something Else Press (New York), making the book available to a new generation of writers and artists. From 1974 to 2000, Paula Cooper Gallery hosted marathon readings of The Making of Americans around New Year’s Eve, including Higgins, Alison Knowles, and John Cage, among many others. Triple Canopy’s read-in revives and updates that tradition, marking the continuing, branching (if largely subliminal) course of Stein’s book through our culture.

Tune in to the livestream!

Friday, January 24
5:00–5:30p.m. Triple Canopy editors
5:30–5:45p.m. Chuck Webster
5:45–6:00p.m. Michael Connor & Eva Diaz
6:00–6:15p.m. Erica Baum
6:15–6:30p.m. Tova Carlin
6:30–6:45p.m. Bethany Ides
6:45–7:00p.m. Jeff Dolven
7:00–7:15p.m. Theodore Bouloukos
7:15–7:30p.m. Thomas Beard
7:30–7:45p.m. Jackie Sibblies Drury
7:45–8:00p.m. Martha Rosler
8:00–8:15p.m. Emmanuel Iduma
8:15–8:30p.m. Jackie Clark
8:30–8:45p.m. Maia Murphy & Wesley Stokes
8:45–9:00p.m. Sonel Breslav
9:00–9:15p.m. Gabriela Salazar
9:15–9:30p.m. Elisabeth Subrin & David Gorin
9:30–9:45p.m. Hannah Whitaker
9:45–10:00p.m. Igor Satanovsky
10:00–10:15p.m. Alex Zandi
10:15–10:30p.m. Katy Lederer
10:30–10:50p.m. Kaitlin Phillips & Namara Smith
10:50–11:10p.m. Amy Sillman
11:10–11:30p.m. Sukhdev Sandhu
11:30–11:45p.m. Jordan Lord
11:45–12:00a.m. Jason Farago

Saturday, January 25
12:00–12:30a.m. Matthew Porter
12:30–1:00a.m. Sam Frank
1:00–1:30a.m. Damion Searls
1:30–2:00a.m. A.S. Hamrah
2:00–3:00a.m. Christine Smallwood & J. Gabriel Boylan
3:0–3:15a.m. Ed Halter & Zak Kitnick
3:15–3:45a.m. Anthony Tran
3:45–4:15a.m. Adam Humphreys
4:15–4:45a.m. Laurel Schwulst
4:45–5:15a.m. Jeffrey Scudder
5:15–8:45a.m. WALK-INS
8:45–9:00a.m. Sarah Hromack
9:00–9:15a.m. Dan Fox
9:15–9:30a.m. Andrew Russeth
9:30–9:45a.m. Jeffrey Kastner
9:45–10:00a.m. Allie Tepper
10:00–10:15a.m. Pam Butler
10:15–10:30a.m. Timothy Hull
10:30–12:00p.m. WALK-INS
12:00–12:15p.m. Mary Walling Blackburn
12:15–12:30p.m. Ajay Kurian
12:30–2:00p.m. WALK-INS
2:00–2:15p.m. Sarah Resnick
2:15–2:30p.m. Mónica de la Torre
2:30–2:45p.m. Vanessa Place
2:45–3:00p.m. Rachel Levitsky & Ariel Goldberg
3:00–3:15p.m. Matthew Shen Goodman
3:15–3:30p.m. Molly Kleiman
3:30–3:45p.m. Ben Fama
3:45–4:00p.m. Kendra Sullivan & Dylan Gauthier
4:00–4:15p.m. Jeffrey Weiss
4:15–4:30p.m. David Fishkind
4:30–4:45p.m. David Greenspan
4:45–5:00p.m. Matt Longabucco
5:00–5:15p.m. Caolan Madden
5:15–5:30p.m. B. Wurtz & Ann Bobco
5:30–5:45p.m. Christopher Stiegler
5:45–6:00p.m. Jamillah James
6:00–6:15p.m. Peter Nowogrodzki
6:15–6:30p.m. Prem Krishnamurthy
6:30–7:00p.m. WALK-INS
7:00–7:15p.m. C. Spencer Yeh
7:15–9:30p.m. Bill Orcutt, "Gerty Loves Pussy"
9:30–9:45p.m. Lisi Raskin
9:45–10:00p.m. Damon McMahon
10:00–10:30p.m. Corina Copp
10:30–10:45p.m. Ted Dodson
10:45–11:00p.m. Trace Peterson
11:00–11:15p.m. Jim Fletcher
11:15–11:30p.m. Rachael Wilson
11:30–11:45p.m. Sara Greenberger Rafferty
11:45–12:00a.m. Justin Martin

Sunday, January 26
12:00–12:15a.m. Eve Essex
12:15–12:30a.m. Adam Helms
12:30–12:45a.m. Abraham Adams
12:45–1:00a.m. Ada Smailbegovic
1:00–1:30a.m. David Horvitz & Zanna Gilbert
1:30–2:30a.m. T. M. Davy
2:30–3:00a.m. Nathaniel Otting & Cassandra Gillig
3:00–3:30a.m. Karin Fazio Littlefield
3:30–4:00a.m. Niina Pollari
4:00–4:30a.m. Lara Mimosa Montes
4:30–5:30a.m. Sara Jane Stoner
5:30–6:00a.m. Sophy Naess
6:00–6:30a.m. Peter J. Russo
6:30–8:45a.m. WALK-INS
8:45–9:00a.m. Mariam Ghani
9:00–9:15a.m. Andrea Geyer
9:15–9:30a.m. Max Steele
9:30–9:45a.m. Dawn Chan
9:45–10:00a.m. Claire Barliant & Chad Kloepfer
10:00–10:15a.m. Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy
10:15–10:30a.m. Peter Fend & Sophia Fend-Glazer
10:30–12:30p.m. WALK-INS
12:30–12:45p.m. Boru O'Brien O'Connell
12:45–1:00p.m. Jorian Schutz
1:00–1:15p.m. Stephanie Strickland & Ian Hatcher
1:15–1:30p.m. Michael Bell-Smith
1:30–1:45p.m. Blair McClendon
1:45–2:00p.m. Melissa Buzzeo
2:00–2:15p.m. Cat Tyc
2:15–2:30p.m. Holly Stanton
2:30–2:45p.m. Lynne Tillman
2:45–3:00p.m. Linda Yablonsky
3:00–3:15p.m. Frank Heath
3:15–3:30p.m. Liam Davy
3:30–3:45p.m. Alexander Provan
3:45–4:00p.m. Andrew Durbin & Jacolby Satterwhite
4:00–4:15p.m. Parul Sehgal & Kathryn Schulz
4:15–4:30p.m. Sara Magenheimer
4:30–4:45p.m. Lumi Tan
4:45–5:00p.m. Douglas A. Martin
5:00–5:15p.m. Charles Bernstein
5:15–5:30p.m. Janice Guy
5:30–5:45p.m. A. K. Burns
5:45–7:00p.m. WALK-INS
7:00–7:15p.m. Nova Benway & Catherine Kron
7:15–7:30p.m. Naeem Mohaiemen
7:30–7:45p.m. Joanna Fiduccia
7:45–8:00p.m. Wendy Lotterman
8:00–8:15p.m. Karen Archey & B. Taylor
8:15–8:30p.m. David Levine
8:30–8:45p.m. Claire Lehmann
8:45–9:00p.m. Brian Droitcour
9:00–9:15p.m. Lucy Ives
9:15–end ALL

Special thanks to Blonde Art Books, Brooklyn Brewery, Dalkey Archive Press, Paula Cooper Gallery, Perrier, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, and Tito's Handmade Vodka for their generous support, and to our neighbor, BRUNO, for opening their space to us on Saturday evening.

To view last year's lineup, click here.