Brooklyn Writers Bloc: Don’t steal Aliza Abarbanel’s reading nook in Prospect Park!

By Tara Kenny

With summer officially upon us, we’ve asked a selection of local writers – across poetry, art, food, fiction, non-fiction, zine making, and party reporting – to bring us into their own private Brooklyns and share what (and where) they’ll be reading, pondering, people watching and daydreaming about in the steamy weeks ahead.

For the second installment in this series, which we’re calling Brooklyn Writers Block, we meet a freelance food and culture writer who loves Dorothy Parker, reading lakeside in Prospect Park … and Mister Softee.

Abarbanel

Aliza Abarbanel

Aliza Abarbanel is a freelance food and culture writer, editor of Cake Zine, and writer of Amateur Hours Substack.

Describe your writing practice in 10 words or less.
Idea! Start writing. Spiral. Walk. Blast music. Persevere. Edit. Repeat.

Favorite spot to journal outside the home?
Fort Greene Park.

Best place to people watch?
Rippers [at Rockaway Beach] or the Riegelmann Boardwalk in Brighton Beach.

Summer drink of choice?
Iced coffee in the morning, micheladas at happy hour, palomas to follow, and nutcrackers at the beach.

What will you be reading this summer?
I’m inching up the Brooklyn Public Library queue for “The Candy House” by Jennifer Egan and “Black Cake” by Charmaine Wilkerson. I’ll also be reading and cooking my way through “The Cook You Want to Be” by Andy Baraghani.

Favorite reading nook in the wild?
If the inlets around Prospect Park lake count as “wild,” that’s a prime outdoor reading nook. Don’t take my spot!

What’s one book you’re ashamed to say you’ve never read?
“The Fountainhead” … only I’m not that ashamed.

Do you go hard for Brooklyn? If so, why?
The people, the neighborhoods, the food, the block parties, the nightclubs and DIY venues, and the green space.

Tip for getting unstuck (in writing and life)?
Distract yourself with movement and music. I take a walk while listening to Nicholas Jaar and hopefully find a Mister Softee truck.

Which writer, living or dead, would you like to tour guide around Brooklyn?
Dorothy Parker.

Favorite depiction of Brooklyn in literature, art, film, or other media?
It has to be a three-way tie between “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” “Do The Right Thing,” and “High Maintenance.”