The Love Hypothesis Advance Screening (In Person)
Join us for the ultimate movie night and an exclusive early showing of The Love Hypothesis, starring Lili Reinhart. Get ready to watch the sparks fly before anyone else as the screen adaptation of Ali Hazelwood’s bestselling novel comes to life before its release on Prime Video. Movie will start promptly on time with no […]
The Listening Room: Inside the Making of an Audiobook (In Person)
Audiobooks are publishing’s fastest-growing format and one of its least-discussed crafts. This Brooklyn Book Festival Bookend Event pulls back the curtain, bringing together narrators, producers, and authors for a candid, behind-the-mic conversation about how an audiobook gets made, and why some narrations unlock a book while others fall flat. Moderated by Brenda Copeland, the panel […]
Back to the Present: 50 Years of Free Expression with Franklin Furnace (In Person)
ISSUE Project Room and Franklin Furnace present an evening celebrating their respective anniversary seasons. The program coincides with the publication and release of Back to the Present: 50 Years of Free Expression with Franklin Furnace, edited by Franklin Furnace founder Martha Wilson, who will be in conversation with Bradley Eros, an alum of both organizations’ […]
Under Your Boot Soles: Catching Up With Walt Whitman (In Person)
“I am with you,” Walt Whitman pledged in “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”. For this year’s Brooklyn Book Festival, performer Todd Blakesley sees to it that Brooklyn’s Literary Grandfather is true to his words! Meet Whitman’s modern-day incarnation, who will recite favorite poems and discuss the connections between his turbulent times and our own. This historic encounter […]
Radical Ahjumma x KQT Pungmul: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Dictee 서포트그룹 / Support Group (In Person)
Korean spirits, old and new… geonbae! Join Radical Ahjumma’s N. Jooyoun Kim (The Last Story of Mina Lee, What We Kept to Ourselves), Margaret Juhae Lee (Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History), and NEA Fellow S. Isabel Choi for an intimate celebration of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s DICTEE, a genre-challenging ode to grief, memory, […]
The Crucible of Self-Discovery: Finding Yourself Through Fiction (Virtual)
Join Queer Indie and The Writing Community Chat Show for this panel on toxic perfectionism, creativity in survival mode, neurodivergent imagination, alternative methods of productivity, writing through trauma, and unraveling self-doubt. This discussion features authors and content creators from Queer Indie’s directory: C. J. Aggett, Anna Bloom, Dr. Mario Dell’Olio, Ross Young, Halo Scot, Anya […]
Between the Page & Stage: Staten Island Youth Open Mic & Author Reading (In Person)
That’s Right Open Mic teams up with Nuyorican Poets Cafe and Staten Island Urban Center to celebrate local voices. On Saturday, September 26th from 3:00-6:00 PM at the Staten Island Urban Center, local young creators (ages 12–24) will share their art and lived experiences. The evening continues with a reading and Q&A with NYC author […]
Clash of the Creators: Illustrator Draw-Off
Dueling sharpies, speeding markers, live action drawing! Get your hands ready to clap for your favorites as beloved illustrators Nick Bruel (Bad Kitty: Party Animal), Niña Mata (New), Brendan Wenzel (Good Golden Sun), Max Temescu (The Deadliest: Flower) battle it out in a lively, audience-inspired contest emceed by the fantastic Ruth Chan (Uprooted).
Draw Me A Story
Kwame Mbalia (Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek) emcees this live drawing event and weaves a tale from your audience suggestions! Come watch illustrators Kay Healy (Casey’s Cases: The Mysterious New Girl) and the Pumphrey Brothers (Link + Hud: Sharks & Minnows) in action.
Literary Community Craft Lab (In Person)
Connect and create with authors, writing mentors, and multimedia artists in a simultaneously programmed Community Craft Lab organized by Literary Craft Society (led by multi-awarded author and literary activist, Juliet Diaz) in partnership with the Talking Writing podcast. Featuring: The Unbannable Library exhibit of big books created by NYC writer-artist collaborations and produced by artist […]
Collective Art-Making Under Repression and the Politics of Spectacle (In Person)
Radix Co-op presents a dialogue on art-making under state repression. We will feature a screening of Guy Debord’s Refutation of All the Judgements, Pro or Con, Thus Far Rendered on the Film ‘The Society of the Spectacle,’ followed by a discussion featuring Zein El-Amine (Is This How You Eat a Watermelon?), Kamelya Omayma Youssef (A […]
Scrappy Reading Series (In Person)
Five emerging and established writers will answer this question at this month’s edition of the Scrappy Reading Series, supported by the Red Hook Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. Join us as these writers share how they interpret “scrappy,” and how they embody this in their writing lives, personal lives, love lives, and any other […]
Broadway Books: TV Pilot Screening (In Person)
NEW YORK PREMIERE: Set in New York City, Broadway Books is a sitcom about an independent bookstore struggling to survive using increasingly desperate measures. Starring Lauren Servideo, Ruby McCollister, Nick Naney, Eric Yates, and Carlos Dengler, the pilot follows the team as they try to raise the numbers for that night’s Malcolm Gladwell reading. (Meanwhile, […]
Tour of Tove Jansson & The Moomins: The Door Is Always Open (In Person)
Join us for a guided tour of Tove Jansson and the Moomins: The Door Is Always Open, an exhibition that explores the queer Finnish author’s impact on children’s literature and social-emotional learning through her beloved Moomin characters, bold political cartoons, and reflective adult literature. The author’s niece, Sophia Jansson, will lead a tour, sharing reflections […]
a/wake in the water: voices in protest (In Person)
“Books and all forms of writing are terror to those who wish to suppress truth.” – Wole Soyinka. Join our community of poets, spoken word performers, writers, artists, and musicians for a gathering of community, performance, and artivisim, featuring performers Edward Currelley, Lorraine Currelley, and Betty Pierre. Mott Haven Library – 321 East 140th Street, […]
Battling Markers: Illustrator Draw-Off :
Join the fun! Cheer, watch, and laugh as four illustrators compete in the year’s most dynamic, dramatic and thoroughly diverting live action drawing competition featuring Abhi Alwar, illustrator of the action-packed graphic novel, Super Pancake, illustrator and muralist Josh Cochran (Sylvester’s Letter) , debut author illustrator Lian Cho (Oh Olive) and Juana Martinez-Neal. Bringing out […]
Astro-Nuts Mission 3: The Perfect Planet with Jon Scieszka & Steven Weinberg
They’re back! The four wacky super-powered Animal Astronauts–AlphaWolf, SmartHawk, LaserShark, and StinkBug–return for their final daring adventure. Join Jon Scieszka & Steven Weinberg for a truly out-of-this-world, and a mostly scientifically-accurate-and-true expose of the secret NNASA (NOT-NASA) program to find a Goldilocks Planet for every human on Earth!
Scenes from Flight School the Musical
Vital Theatre Company Inc. presents selections from “Flight School the Musical“. It’s the first day of Flight School, where they teach birds to fly. Penguin has the soul of an eagle and is ready to live on the wind. But he wasn’t built to soar, as the other birds constantly remind him. Penguin’s spirit won’t […]
Storytime: We Share This School by Dan Saks
This rhyming board book celebrates school communities and showcases how to exercise compassion and empathy both in and out of the classroom. Join musician, author, podcast host, and music educator Dan Saks for some singalong fun as he kicks off Children’s Day!
– POSTPONED – Literature to Life Presents: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (In Person)
LTL’s thrilling adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel chronicles the life of Oscar, an overweight science-fiction enthusiast who dreams of becoming the Dominican J. R. R. Tolkien. Growing up in Paterson, he obsesses over fantasy novels, falling in love, and the curse that has plagued his family for generations. Encapsulating magical realism and Dominican-American history, […]
Spirit and Flesh: Our Bodies, Our Blackness, Ourselves (In Person & Virtual)
In her stunning 2022 debut, This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us, Cole Arthur Riley weaves three generations of family tales and contemplative reflections on belonging, dignity, and liberation. She joins Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts whose books Then They Came for Mine: Healing from the Trauma of Racial Violence and Black Joy: […]
Exquisite Corpse Queens Edition (Virtual)
Eight Queens poets will come together virtually to create and perform an exquisite corpse poem on the theme of revelation as well as discuss Queens lit and community. Featuring allia abdullah-matta, Moncho Alvarado, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, Sherese Francis, Abeer Y. Hoque, Dena Igusti, nadia misir, and René Sing-Brooks. Hosted by the Lewis Latimer House Museum […]
No, YOU Tell It! “Fly By” True-Life Tales with a Twist (In Person)
No, YOU Tell It! storytellers work together to develop true tales on the page, then swap stories to embody their partner’s culture, identity, and life experience on stage. For this special show, four curated storytellers are trading tales inspired by Queens history from the archives of The Greater Astoria Historical Society (astorialic.org). Plus, story trivia […]
INFECTION MELODIES + SILENCE: Theodore (ted) Kerr & Michael R. Jackson (In Person)
Writer and organizer Theodore (ted) Kerr and Tony award-winning playwright, composer, and lyricist Michael R. Jackson present an informal and far-reaching conversation. Together, they will explore their shared love of 1990s female songwriters, tackle the limits and possibilities of using culture to discuss social issues, and examine the role silence plays in their work. ISSUE […]
Selected Shorts: Ken Burns Presents Willa Cather’s America (In Person & Virtual)
Filmmaker Ken Burns hosts this sesquicentennial celebration of Willa Cather, one of the most significant and treasured American writers of the 20th century. This special evening of short fiction in performance brings to life the landscapes of the Pulitzer Prize–winning author so masterfully captured in her prose. With performances by Patricia Clarkson (She Said), mezzo-soprano […]
Easily Slip Into Another World: A Life in Music with Henry Threadgill (In Person)
Henry Threadgill is a towering figure of contemporary American music. His autobiography is a riveting account of the music scene in Chicago in the 1960s, his experiences as a Black soldier in Vietnam, and the ensembles he has led—and is a powerful meditation on history, race, capitalism, and art. Henry Threadgill is one of only […]
A Night of Ancient Mystery, Mozart, & Merriment (In Person)
Please join the Coffee House Club’s Urbane Conspirators and HIP Lit for an unforgettable night cloaked in Gothic suspense as mysteries abound in readings, conversation, and music. To be held at Salmagundi, a private arts club housed in a historic brownstone mansion in Greenwich Village. All in celebration of the paperback release of Joanna Margaret‘s […]