In case you haven’t heard: the Brooklyn Book Festival on September 12th (in and around Borough Hall at venues indoors and outdoors) is a huge, free public event about books, established and emerging authors from across the national and international literary world.
The event is making a name for itself as a hip and diverse gathering, that attracts thousands of those who love books. The festival is organized around themed readings and devoted to timely and lively panel discussions with top national and international authors.
This year the Book Festival is adding what they’re calling Bookend Events all weekend, all over the borough of kings. It now includes three days of parties, music, film screenings, children’s theatre, literary games and author appearances that “bookend” the festival—September 10th, 11th and 12th with partners like BAM Rose Cinemas, Bell House, Brooklyn Bridge Park, The Brooklyn Kitchen, Brooklyn Public Library, CoCo 66, Freebird Books & Goods, Greenlight Bookstore, Irondale Center, Light Industry, Littlefield, Pizza D’Amore, powerHouse Books, and St. Ann’s Warehouse!
Here is a list of what’s going on at 10AM on Sunday morning just to give you an idea of the magnitude of this thing.
It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll (But I Like It). Musically inspired readings by three chart-topping American fiction writers: Steve Almond (Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life), Jennifer Egan (A Visit from the Goon Squad), and Colson Whitehead (Sag Harbor). Followed by Q&A.
ST. FRANCIS AUDITORIUM
Youth Is a Foreign Country. To an adult, looking back on adolescence and young adulthood often seems like a nostalgia of liberation. But what if youth and its traumas continue to haunt you into adulthood? Readings by novelists Farai Chideya (Kiss the Sky), Myla Goldberg (The False Friend), and Reif Larsen (The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet), followed by Q&A.
BOROUGH HALL COURTROOM
Brooklyn Poet Laureate Presents. Brooklyn’s new poet laureate, Tina Chang, introduces some of her favorite poets to read from their work. Featuring Mark Doty, Terrance Hayes, Ada Limón, and Tracy K. Smith. Moderated by Tina Chang.
MAIN STAGE
How Things Shake Out. Stewart O’Nan (Songs For the Missing), Siri Hustvedt (The Shaking Woman) and T Cooper, The Beaufort Diaries read from their new books and discuss the intersection of reality and fiction.
ST. FRANCIS MARONEY SCREENING ROOM
Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose: Sports and Power in America. Michael Weinreb (Bigger Than the Game), Dave Zirin (Bad Sports), and Will Leitch (Are We Winning?) show us the money, unmask the juiced-up, ego-fueled game of professional sports, and salvage what’s left to love.
ST. FRANCIS READING ROOM
Exposing a Difficult Past. Presented by Housing Works Bookstore Café. A panel exploring the motivations for, and process behind, writing for the general public about life events most people would keep secret. With Piper Kerman (Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison), Darin Strauss (Half a Life), Kathryn Harrison (The Kiss), and Nelson George (City Kid: A Writer’s Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success), moderated by Elizabeth Wurtzel (Prozac Nation). Presented by Housing Works Bookstore Cafe.
ST. FRANCIS MCARDLE HALL
Brooklyn Remix Lit Match Awards. Come hear the finalists of the Brooklyn Remix borough-wide writing contest, some of the most talented students writing in the borough. Author Aimee Friedman (Sea Change) will emcee.
NORTH STAGE
Troupe Classics. Performs classic children’s books.
TARGET CHILDREN’S AREA
You’ve Got to Be Kidding. Former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Jon Scieszka (Spaceheadz), National Book Award finalist E. Lockhart (The Treasure Map of Boys), and Mac Barnett (The Brixton Brothers) take on the absurdity of life in books and writing, and talk about their ways of making us laugh, including hamster space aliens and panicky smart alecks. Moderated by Betsy Bird.
THE YOUTH STOOP
Librarian Reception. The Brooklyn Book Festival invites librarians to a special morning event hosted by the Brooklyn Historical Society. Join us from 10:00am to noon for a TARGET sponsored continental breakfast. Special guest appearance by The Quotables, presenting an interactive quotes game with prizes! Speaker: Marilyn Johnson, author of This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All. RSVP REQUIRED: RSVP www.brooklynhistory.org
BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY