Reading to Strangers is a series of three performative events in which marathon readings of novels to live audiences are held in city parks and open spaces. During the readings audiences come and go informally, staying to hear as little, or as much, as they like. These interventions bear a closer resemblance to the intimate tradition of reading to a child at bedtime than formal readings in lecture halls or bookstores. The heart of the work is the act of reading and listening in person, over real-time, in shared spaces/communities. The complex act of building shared meanings across subjectivities, time, space, and cultures is the project's target, if not the only apparent subject. The sites are conceptually united by their public ownership and purpose, but they also provide different productive friction and connections for performances. The relationships between changing texts, audiences, and sites generate dialogue both by plan and accident. Audience members experience the act of listening in myriad ways, depending on (among other factors): the duration of their attendance, their familiarity with the text, and their first language(s).