Presented by TOPPLE Books. Melissa Faliveno’s Tomboyland navigates the mysterious terrain of androgyny and bisexuality, womanhood and rage, religion and myth, loneliness and love. Ultimately, she asks what it means to live in the spaces between and what it means to come home. In An American Covenant: A Story of Women, Mysticism, and the Making of Modern America, Lucile Scott shares the history of five female mystic leaders over three centuries for whom hope, liberation, and understanding are the foundation for living. Moderated by BRIC TV Chief Correspondent, Brian Vines, the conversation will land in contemporary American culture. 

In a conversation that promises to span topics as cosmic as outer space, exoplanets, and black holes, and as earthbound as writing, gender politics, memoir, and educational YouTube — join the New York Times in conversation with two of today’s leading astrophysicists. Times Book Review writer and editor Gal Beckerman will moderate the discussion with Sara Seager — MIT astrophysicist, and author of a deeply felt memoir on loss and the unexpected solace of exoplanetary exploration — and Becky Smethurst, Oxford professor, popular astrophysics YouTuber, and author of a new illustrated book bringing us the mysteries of the cosmos in a down-to-earth medium.

Join R.L. Stine, one of America’s best-selling children’s authors in history (The Goosebumps series and Fear Street) and Tim Jacobus, an American artist, illustrator and video games designer best known for illustrating the covers for nearly 100 books in the R. L. Stine’s Goosebumps series, as they talk about the stories they tell, their collaborative imagination, and share some secrets behind some original Goosebumps’ covers!  R.L. Stine’s latest book in the Goosebumps series is My Friend Slappy (Goosebumps SlappyWorld #12).

It gets better — but the path to joy is never straight. From seeing to being, three Black Queer authors: George M. Johnson (All Boy’s Aren’t Blue), Jamal Jordan (Queer Love in Color) and Darnell L. Moore (No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black & Free in America) share their journey to fully realizing their Queer Black Selves and living their versions of joy. Moderated by BRIC-TV Chief Correspondent Brian Vines.

Each season the Brooklyn Book Festival selects a few debut authors whose books we think shouldn’t be missed.  This year’s debut book picks include: The New Wilderness – Diane Cook, Like A Bird – Fariha Róisín, My Mother’s House – Francesca Momplaisir, What’s Left of Me Is Yours – Stephanie Scott, Whiteout Conditions– Tariq Shah, Sharks In the TIme of Saviors-Kawai Strong Washburn. Meet these debut authors, who will each read a selection from their book.

World Builders of the Past and Future, Ilube Nommo Award–winning author Tochi Onyebuchi (Riot Baby) and #1 NYT bestselling author Christopher Paolini (To Sleep in a Sea of Stars) team up for a wide-ranging discussion about their newest books, world building in science fiction and fantasy, writing for a YA and an adult audience, and the fun of nerd culture in general. Tochi Onyebuchi is the author of Beasts Made of Night, its sequel Crown of Thunder, War Girls. Christopher Paolini is the author of the international bestsellers Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance, as well as The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm. Moderated by Christina Orlando. Presented with the 370 🅙 Project, NYU.

How is technology changing our daily lives? And how may we change it for the better? Three recent books provide fascinating answers to these questions. Charlton McIlwain’s Black Software: The Internet & Racial Justice, From the AfroNet to Black Lives Matter, offers a compelling history and theory of how many forms of bias and subordination degraded online life, and how they can be combated. Joanne McNeil’s Lurking: How a Person Became a User, identifies the primary (if sometimes contradictory) concerns of people online: searching, safety, privacy, identity, community, anonymity, and visibility. And Frank Pasquale’s New Laws of Robotics: Defending Human Expertise in the Age of AI, offers an inspiring vision of technological progress, in which human capacities and expertise are the irreplaceable center of an inclusive economy. Moderated by Christina Mulligan, Brooklyn Law School, Vice Dean Professor of Law: Internet Law & Intellectual Property

Written by New York Times journalists, the now best-selling Finish the Fight captures untold stories in the fight for women’s right to vote, particularly the underrepresented but vital voices of BIPOC and queer activists. The Times is thrilled to join the Brooklyn Book Festival to discuss the genesis, creation, and impact of this recent release. Veronica Chambers, the primary author and creator of the book, along with key contributor Sandra Garcia, will join this conversation moderated by Times Culture editor and gender reporter Maya Salam.

For most of our history the story has gone that white Southerners were racists while white Northerners were not. Today that myth is largely dismantled, thanks in part to three historians whose books lay bare the pernicious and widespread racism up north, and lift up the leaders and movements fighting these systems. Clarence Taylor (Fight the Power: African Americans and the Long History of Police Brutality in NYC) and Jeanne Theoharis (A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History) join the Brooklyn Historical Society for a conversation about a New York history that is, thankfully, no longer hidden.

Let’s get ready to rumble! You won’t want to miss this epic live-action drawing competition refereed by the brilliant and award-winning artist Raúl The Third (VAMOS! Let’s Go Eat) and featuring talented illustrators Ruth Chan (The Great Indoors), Juana Medina (We Are the Change), and Kevin Sherry (Squidding Around: Fish Feud!).