{"id":200722,"date":"2026-04-17T14:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T14:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/200722\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T14:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T14:18:11","slug":"broadway-is-transforming-into-a-massive-free-library-for-earth-day-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/200722\/","title":{"rendered":"Broadway is Transforming Into a Massive Free Library for Earth Day in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In case you missed it, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/newyork\/news\/50-nyc-streets-are-going-completely-car-free-for-earth-day-040726\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New York City is going car-free<\/a> next week for Earth Day and, to celebrate, Broadway is being turned into a bookish block party with free reads, free refreshments and live literary programming. On Wednesday, April 22 from 11am to 6pm, book lovers can head down to\u00a0Broadway between 36th and 37th\u00a0Streets outside Gotham Hall and find &#8220;On the Road: A Bookmobile Block Party,&#8221; an open-air and open-to-the-public literary event presented in partnership by House of SpeakEasy and the Garment District Alliance. That&#8217;s a fun change from your favorite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/newyork\/books\/best-bookstores-in-new-york-city\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">local bookstore<\/a>, no?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>RECOMMENDED:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/newyork\/news\/these-books-have-the-longest-waitlists-at-nycs-libraries-040326\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">These books have the longest waitlists at NYC&#8217;s libraries<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The block party will feature\u00a0a free book distribution, complimentary lemonade\u00a0served by the Garment District Alliance and live literary programming throughout the day, bringing House of SpeakEasy&#8217;s &#8220;mission to the streets of Manhattan and inviting the public to experience the transformative power of reading,&#8221; per organizers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The event will also\u00a0mark the debut of House of SpeakEasy\u2019s new fleet of three Bookmobiles, each designed to bring free books directly to the communities that need them most:\u00a0\u00a0The flagship box truck Bookmobile\u00a0is themed \u201cWe the People\u201d\u00a0in conjunction with the 250th anniversary of American independence;\u00a0\u00a0an all-electric pop-up Bookmobile will feature the artwork of beloved illustrator Richard Scarry; and the new\u00a0House of SpeakEasy Sprinter Bookmobile\u00a0sports\u00a0the artwork of acclaimed author-illustrator James Yan.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"f2930e69-6366-5a7c-34f3-a0b09c8ba82f\" class=\"photo lazy inline\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"lazy-embed\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776435491_682_image.webp.webp\" alt=\"On the Road: A Bookmobile Block Party\" data-caption=\"On the Road: A Bookmobile Block Party\" data-credit=\"Photograph: House of Speakeasy NYC\" data-width-class=\"\" data-image-id=\"106395352\"\/>&#13;<br \/>\nPhotograph: House of Speakeasy NYCOn the Road: A Bookmobile Block Party&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt House of SpeakEasy, we believe that book ownership should be a right, not a privilege. Owning a book is a unique form of wealth. What the SpeakEasy Bookmobile is doing is enabling that wealth to be shared,\u201d said Amanda Foreman, co-founder and board chair at House of Speakeasy.\u00a0Barbara A. Blair, President of the Garment District Alliance, concurred, saying:\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re proud to partner with House of SpeakEasy to transform Broadway into a pedestrian-friendly destination, bringing books and literary programming to New Yorkers in celebration of Car-Free Earth Day. This event reflects the energy and creativity that define the Garment District, fostering a vibrant, welcoming neighborhood for all who live in, work in, and visit Midtown Manhattan.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Check out more information <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houseofspeakeasy.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">here<\/a> and get ready to snag your next great beach read!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In case you missed it, New York City is going car-free next week for Earth Day and, to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1739,9,24,55,54,2529,56,904],"class_list":{"0":"post-200722","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-categories-things-to-do","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-city-news","13":"tag-news-events-festivals","14":"tag-ny","15":"tag-things-to-do"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}