August Events For Myth Lovers
John William Waterhouse’s Ulysses and the Sirens is in the public domain.
Virtual Events
On August 1, learn about the astro-mythology of the archetypal masculine.
On August 2, take a masterclass on Greek myth from the Guardian’s chief culture writer, classicist Charlotte Higgins,
On August 5, learn about the history and mythology of the Jinn.
On August 9, you can join a virtual discussion about The Valkyrie’s Daughter by Tiana Warner, a book scheduled for release this July that is based on Norse mythology.
On August 16, take a virtual tour of the temple of Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of love, female sexuality, motherhood, music, and joy.
On August 18 and 25, listen to an online lecture about Homer’s Odyssey, the tale of a hero’s journey from the war of Troy to his homeland at Ithaca and his efforts to reconcile with the cosmos.
On August 22, learn to play ancient games while exploring the history, mythology, and psychology behind them.
On August 25, author Rob Hart and Victor Manibo will discuss Manibo’s debut novel The Sleepless, in which a mysterious pandemic causes a quarter of the world to permanently lose the ability to sleep—without any apparent health implications.
On August 30, listen to a lecture that examines the question of whether King Arthur really existed.
Whenever you want, listen to the free audiobook sample of The Book of Gothel by Mary McMyne, a retelling of Rapunzel from the witch’s perspective which is scheduled for release in July.
Gustav Klimt’s painting The Kiss is in the public domain.
New York City Events
On August 3, you can watch a film about the historic and artistic influences on eighteenth-century Spanish master, Francisco de Goya y Lucientes.
On August 4, watch a series of surreal short rooftop films, including one about a guy who sees cucumbers everywhere and another about a girl who finds an eyeball growing on her arm. Includes live music and a Q&A with filmmakers.
On August 8, take a tour of masterpieces in the Metropolitan Museum of art (MET) that illustrate the deep truths, and oddities, of countless Greek love myths.
On different days between August 13 and October 8, you can take a trolley tour at Greenwood Cemetery that begins with the “Who’s Who of the Revolutionary War and the distillers who made their mark on the young Republic.” Afterward, taste old American style whiskey and barrel-aged maple syrup.
On August 18, Ashleigh Bell Pedersen will read from her novel The Crocodile Bride, which is about an eleven year old girl who must deal with a legend that in the dark waters of the Black Bayou lives a crocodile with an insatiable appetite and a woman with a mysterious healing gift.
On August 19, watch a ballet of Don Quixote in the Bronx.
On August 23, fantasy writer R.F. Kuang will discuss the release of her new book Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution. Joining Rebecca in conversation is acclaimed author of the Daevabad Trilogy Shannon Chakraborty.
On August 25, go to the rooftop terrace of Bohemian National Hall to see a 1959 Czechoslovak animated puppet film directed by Jiří Trnka that is based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
On Sunday August 28, meet costumed interpreters, see demonstrations, listen to colonial music and participate in activities to celebrate The Battle of Brooklyn, fought in 1776 on land that is now a part of Green-Wood Cemetery.
Any Saturday in August, you can take a walking tour of New York’s history in psychiatry, including the psychiatric islands of the East River, the homes of distinguished and disgraced doctors, the first American psychoanalytic society, and the offices, mansions, and townhouses of medical research and Freudian relations.
Free Sbakespeare in the Park begins on June 17 this summer and will feature productions of Richard III and As You Like It.
On any day other than Monday or Tuesday, you can pretend to have a more interesting life by participating in an interactive experience that puts you in the center of a Stranger Things story.
You can go see The Fans Strike Back, an exhibition featuring more than 600 official items from the Star Wars Universe.
Explore the life and works of the surrealist artist Magritte in a new virtual reality exhibition.
On October 22, you can participate in an Escape Room type interactive experience in Central Park to save Alice in Wonderland.
Participate in the immersive theater experience Sleep No More, which portrays Shakespeare’s classic Scottish tragedy through the lens of suspenseful film noir. Tickets are available any night other than Tuesday.
Go to Gotham City, where top scientists are missing and Batman and Batgirl need new recruits. Gather intelligence, dodge lasers and communicate with some Gotham City characters in an interactive experience.
Any day you want you can go to Beetle House, a restaurant that takes inspiration from Tim Burton, Alfred Hitchcock, Bram Stoker, Washington Irving, Edgar Allen Poe and many more. The menu includes, Blood Bags, Hautned Lemonade, Bio-Exorcism’s, among other things. Dining in only, which adds a new COVID element to the scare show.
Check out the dragons, kings, pirate ships, Merlin’s flying machines and other spectacles at the new Legoland in Goshen, New York.
Get Butter Beer at the new Harry Potter-themed store and bar at 935 Broadway near the Flatiron Building.
Miss going to the movies? Watch a socially distanced one outside with your friends at Sidewalk Cinema on Thames Street in Brooklyn.
Check out the images of buddhas, bodhisattvas, tantric deities, protectors and more at the Rubin Museum’s Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room.
U.S. Events
"Myth.Slide1.16" by c.a.francese is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
From October 21-23, Harry Potter fans will hold a Wizard Retreat weekend in Chester, Connecticut, where (apparently) magic can happen.
World Events
On August 20 and 21, Film and Comic Con Glasgow will feature guests such as Marina Sirtis from Star Trek, Colin Baker from Dr. Who, Jack Gleeson from Game of Thrones, and Natalia Tena from Harry Potter.
Recurring Virtual Events
Every year in the secret realm of Bunnyville, magical creatures from around the world gather for their annual summit. This is supposed to be a time to reconnect with old and new friends, but this year someone (or some creature!) has stolen the Easter Bunny’s magical golden egg! Kids and adults can both enjoy this enchanted game featuring creatures like fairies, dragons, mermaids, and of course the Easter Bunny!
If you would rather be in France right now, view a selection of thematically-themed works from the Louvre online, including the ones in the Sully Wing, which includes major works of Greek and Egyptian art such as the Venus de Milo.
Take an online course with Stanford research scholar Adrienne Mayor in which you will “uncover the natural origins of stories about dragons. . .; ponder whether the Amazon horsewomen-archers of myth existed; consider the dilemmas of using poison weapons in myth and ancient historical times; and marvel at robots and other science fiction tales from the time of Homer.” $120.
Take an online mini-course about Rome, seeing how it exists not only in brick and mortar, but also in the realm of ideas, and through the eyes of locals and visitors. Topics will include Rome’s urban and architectural development, as well as its representation in maps and artworks from across the city’s exceptionally long lifetime. $99.
The NY Mythology Group, which is associated with the Joseph Campbell Foundation, holds presentations and discussions about mythology related topics ranging from the Greek goddess Hecate to Carl Jung. Their events usually take place on Tuesday evenings at 8 pm EDT, and have been online since the pandemic started.
BSFW, or Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers, meetings take place mostly online currently, but pre-pandemic were in the homes of writers mostly in Brooklyn but also on occasion Manhattan or Queens. Check out their calendar on meetup to attend their numerous writing workshops, social gatherings, meetings with editors/agents/authors, book clubs, and more. The group includes many published writers and has its own audio fiction magazine, Kaleidocast. If you post about your fetish for Olympian gods on their Facebook group feed, they (probably) won’t judge.
EREWHON BOOKS, a publisher focusing on novel-length works of speculative fiction: science fiction, fantasy, and related genres, holds readings usually on the second Thursday each month virtually for now and in a pre-apocalypse world at its high ceilinged office of many windows in Manhattan.
Fantastic Fiction at KGB is a monthly speculative-fiction reading series held on the third Wednesday of every month virtually for now, and in a pre-apocalypse world at KGB Bar in Manhattan. Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel host the event. As one might expect from a communism-themed bar, admission is free.
The NYC Greek Myth & Classical Lit Meetup meets every third Thursday of the month at the Cloister Cafe in the East Village to discuss the work of mostly long dead authors (e.g. Aristophanes, Dante.) The group has existed for more than a decade, so the long-term participants have already earned their unofficial classics PhD’s, and we already know that anybody who would do this for fun is as hip as a person can get.
Marcantonio Raimondi’s “A Bacchanal”. CC01.0 Public domain.
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