Call of Games presented by NYU
Video games offer a form of storytelling that has lured in countless authors, from playing obsessively in their childhood to incorporating video game influences in their books. Join novelist and co-editor of Critical Hits: Writers Playing Video Games J. Robert Lennon, novelist and editor Jeanne Thornton (A/S/L), and fiction and nonfiction author Ander Monson (Predator: […]
Witness: International Comics Documenting War and Genocide
In the face of denial, misinformation, and erasure, art and journalism can force confrontation with the reality of the world we share. In Nadine Takvorian’s Armaveni, a young Nadine quizzes her relatives, gradually piecing together her family’s story of surviving the Armenian genocide. In Welcome To Hell: From the West Bank to Gaza, editorial cartoonist […]
Women Changing History
Across fiction, biography, and memoir, three new graphic novels show the motivations, agency, and bravery of intelligent women up against powerful men and totalitarian armies. Andrea Chalupa (Mrs. Orwell) dives into the life of Eileen Blair, poet and wife of George Orwell, who accompanied him to Spain when he chose to fight against Franco’s fascist […]
Fall Into Fantasy
Be transported to incredible, unique fantasy worlds with bestselling authors! Join Sarah Beth Durst (The Faraway Inn), Amélie Wen Zhao (The Dragon and the Sun Lotus), and Shannon J. Spann (A Stage Set for Villains) for a compelling conversation about magic, romance, power, and family. Moderated by M.J. Hastings (Firstborn).
Secrets, Lies, and Memory
Every family has a vault, but what happens when we start digging through the contents? Join New Yorker staff writer Rachel Aviv (You Won’t Get Free of It: Stories of Mothers and Daughters), journalist Tom Junod (In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means To Be a Man: A Memoir), and […]
Who? New!
Each season, BKBF presents several debut authors whom we want to shine the light on for our audience. This year we present bookstore co-founder Jules Wernersbach (Work To Do), writer and editor Radhika Singh (Earthly Playing Field), professor Che Yeun (Tailbone) and multi-media artist Ankur Thakkar (Blow Yourself Up).
Reimagining America
What does it mean to imagine America otherwise? Poets Tina Chang (LION), Erika Meitner (Assembled Audience), and Jonah Mixon-Webster (Promise/Threat) read and discuss how poetry can remake ideas and realities about nation, identity, and belonging, finding new ways of imagining our lives. Moderated by Edgar Kunz (Fixer).
Myths, Monsters, and the Stories We Tell
Every community creates stories about its saints and sinners, heroes and monsters—but what do those stories conceal as much as they reveal? In John Manuel Arias’s Crocodilopolis, a powerful political family’s mythology of greatness gives way to a story of corruption, revenge, and betrayal. In Téa Obreht’s Sunrise, three lives separated by more than a […]
Musical Lives Revisited
What is the relationship between the lives and the legacies of some of our most familiar musical voices? And how has each changed since the peak of their fame? Join Joshua Jelly-Schapiro (Daylight Come: Harry Belafonte and the World He Made), Margena A. Christian (It’s No Wonder: The Life and Times of Motown’s Legendary Songwriter […]
Are You Smarter than an Author?
Let the game(show) begin! Test your trivia knowledge against middle-grade novelists Zach Weinersmith (Sawyer Lee and the Quest to Just Stay Home), Garen Thomas (The Dream & The Hope) and Kon Tan (We’re All Gonna Die-nosaur! series), with our host Sean Qualls (Fros, Fades, and Braids). An interactive quiz game show perfect for the whole […]
Reading & Draw-Along with Vashti Harrison
Join bestselling author and illustrator Vashti Harrison for a reading of That You Are Here Is No Small Thing, followed by a live drawing demonstration and interactive draw-along. Learn about her creative process, and celebrate the joy of storytelling, art, and discovering that your presence in the world is something extraordinary.
Create Your Own Envelope Book! With Lorraine Nam
Join I’m So Happy You’re Here: A Celebration of Library Joy illustrator Lorraine Nam to learn how to make a simple envelope book. Using paper, envelopes, and glue, you’ll create a one-of-a-kind book to take home. Fill it with special treasures like your library card, bookmarks, notes, or other keepsakes. We’ll flex our creative muscles […]
Rowboat Watkins – Moustache, Moosestache
Enter a mustache reality where everything and everyone has a stache in this fantastical story about Mousestache and Moosestache. Mustaches vary in size, color, and placement depicting how everyone is different yet still amazing in this absolutely hilarious book by author and illustrator Rowboat Watkins.
Back-to-School in Bed-Stuy (In Person)
Join Brooklyn Book Bodega, House of SpeakEasy, and READ 718 for a celebration of young readers. Featuring Theodor Seuss Geisel Award–winning author and illustrator James Yang, reading from A Universe Big & Small: A Story About Carl Sagan. Families can enjoy crafts, giveaways, and free books for all ages. The event will also feature House […]
The Literary Lounge (In Person)
Literary Lounge is a welcoming gathering for book lovers and the book-curious alike. Spend time in community through Rapid Reads (speed-style book chats), a DIY Bookmark Station, Design a Book Cover, and a Book Xchange where you can swap a gently loved book for a new read. Enjoy music, connect with fellow readers, discover your […]
Art of Darkness: Writing the Weird (In Person)
Please join us for a day celebrating the art of capturing the odd on paper with a panel that covers the odd and unusual in fiction and nonfiction. Ranging from the horrifically chilling to high camp, fans and artists are encouraged to emerge from the shadows and share their love of literary oddities. Authors Ilise […]
Ghosts of Yesterday
The past has a way of creeping up on you. In Fox, Joyce Carol Oates introduces us to Francis Fox, an enigmatic English teacher whose mysterious history catches up to him when his car is found submerged in a pond with an unidentified body. In Dwyer Murphy’s The House on Buzzards Bay, a group of […]
The State of US
The state of America has been in flux throughout its political landscape and beyond. In their newest books, authors Jason Mott, Kevin Nguyen, and Gary Shteyngart tackle everyday discussions plaguing our communities– from gun violence, anti-Asian violence, and the everyday microaggressions and racism that blended families encounter. In People Like Us, two black writers are […]
Notes on Living
Poets Cathy Linh Che (Becoming Ghost), Aracelis Girmay (Green of All Heads), and Pádraig Ó Tuama (Kitchen Hymns) discuss how poetry can be a vehicle to explore life’s larger questions, from family to history, god, grief, intimacy, and social upheaval. Moderated by Hafizah Augustus Geter, literary agent at Janklow & Nesbit and author of The […]
How Does It Look? — A Conversation on Food Media and Culinary Storytelling
We’re all consuming food – in so many more ways than one. Over the past few decades, the rise and proliferation of food media has shaped tastes and experiences with important creative, cultural, and economic results. Join us for perspectives from chefs, food media figures, and authors of new cookbook and culinary nonfiction releases including […]
Breaking and Rebuilding
As our social and political systems continue to falter—or fall apart completely before our eyes—many of us have started to interrogate what progress looks like, both now and in the more distant future. What do we need to change about our society, and about ourselves? Three writers—Saeed Jones (The People’s Project), Scaachi Koul (Sucker Punch), […]
Radical Self-Discovery
Finding your way into a new community can bring hard lessons, but also unbridled joy. Inspired by the journals of her grandfather, Melissa Mendes’ The Weight follows young Edie, a child of the Great Depression, as she grapples with domestic abuse and hard life lessons. Mike Curato’s Gaysians celebrates the stories of four gay Asians […]
Ibi Zoboi – First Day Around the World
Ever wondered how children around the world spend their first days of school? Award-winning author Ibi Zoboi’s picture book explores how children in different parts of the world spend their first days of school. Zoboi takes her readers on a global tour, starting with the continent of Africa, then off to the Middle East and […]
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).
Sumi Ink Painting with Jacqueline Tam – Powerful Like a Dragon
Join artist and illustrator Jacqueline Tam for a demo on sumi ink techniques and discover how different line strokes can express dragons with unique personalities. What does a powerful and courageous line look like? What about a quiet line? With her art inspired by landscapes and elements of the natural world, Tam’s breathtaking illustrations in […]
Drawing Food Friends – art & storytime with Steph Stilwell
Watch illustrator Steph Stilwell in action as she whips up drawings of your favorite foods and then you’ll create your own delicious artwork inspired by her book Dough Much Love.
Growing Up and Moving On
Award-winning author Ebony Ladelle (This Could Be Forever) joins debut author Arriel Vinson (Under the Neon Lights) in this panel about the messiness of growing up, moving on, and starting the next chapter. With fearless portrayals of love in the face of heartache, navigating family expectations, and dreaming against all odds, these authors send their […]
Walt Whitman, Live from New York!: Poetry in Performance (In Person)
Join the Walt Whitman Initiative for a dramatic double bill! At 12PM (Fulton Stall Market, 91 South Street, NYC): tour Whitman’s Literary Seaport with WWI president Karen Karbiener and declaim your favorite New York City – themed poems. At 2PM, join us at our Tane Library (upstairs at FSM) for a live performance of Goodby […]
Back to School in Bed-Stuy (In Person)
Join READ 718, Brooklyn Book Bodega, and House of SpeakEasy for a back-to-school event celebrating young readers. United by a shared mission of building community, increasing book access, and fostering a love of reading, we invite families and book lovers to kick off the Bookends series. Featuring: readings, crafts, and giveaways at READ 718’s center […]
Surviving Coexistence
Genre-abundant writers, poets, and academics Bhanu Kapil (Incubation: A Space for Monsters) and Billy-Ray Belcourt (Coexistence: Stories) convene for an intimate and multifaceted conversation on the ways their work approaches survival – in the face of imperialism, settler-colonialism, misogyny, and more – and the ways they embrace hybridity and invert monstrosity in favor of fluidity, […]
Cartooning In Action with Jorge Cham
Watch illustrator Jorge Cham (Oliver’s Great Big Universe: Volcanoes Are Hot!) in action as he creates cartoon portraits – maybe of you – on the spot and creates a drawing for you to bring home. See a master doodler at work.
Reveling in Vulnerability
Exorcize your demons by tickling them. Cry until you laugh. Order up existential crisis but with sprinkles! Join a down-and-dirty discussion about humor as a way to cope with trauma, addiction, and other fun life stuff with three graphic novelists whose messy, mesmerizing protagonists never give up. Featuring Tara Booth (Processing: 100 Comics That Got […]
The 2024 Election: How Did We Get Here?
This year’s presidential election is a confrontation with forces shaping American politics for generations to come. The country’s decision stands to reshape the soul of American democracy itself. With David Austin Walsh (Taking America Back: The Conservative Movement and the Far Right), Nancy L. Rosenblum (co-author of Ungoverning: The Attack on the Administrative State and […]
Writing Our Histories
Amitava Kumar questions what ordinary existence is in his novel My Beloved Life, which tells the story of India’s history over the last 85 years through the lens of a modest father. In Temim Fruchter’s City of Laughter, Shiva, a queer Jewish mythology student, retraces four generations of her family’s secrets in Poland to try […]
Are We Okay?
Join Coretta Scott King Award-winning author Jas Hammonds (Thirsty), illustrator and memoirist Jonell Joshua (How Do I Draw These Memories?), and New York Times bestselling author John Schu (Louder Than Hunger) for a conversation about the challenges and freedoms of writing about teen’s mental health and its effect on their relationships. Moderated by Elvira K. […]
Violent Inheritances
Authors Ibtisam Azem (The Book of Disappearance, trans Sinan Antoon), Clyo Mendoza (Fury, trans Christina MacSweeney), and Jean-Baptiste Del Amo (The Son of Man, trans Frank Wynne) examine the consequences of intimate and global violence in their work. Focusing their attention on the turbulent landscapes of contested land, occupied cities, and fractured family relationships, these […]
Home and Home: A First-Generation Cookbook Conversation
Adaptation. Variation. Nostalgia. Connection. American chefs, writers, and creatives of immigrant backgrounds expand our culinary landscape and cultural imagination in unique ways. Chef and author Sohla El-Waylly (Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook) moderates a conversation between three debut cookbook authors – Kiano Moju (AfriCali: Recipes from My Jikoni), Tu David Phu (The […]
The Poetic Eye
Poets Catherine Barnett (Solutions for the Problem of Bodies in Space), Nick Flynn (Low), Marie Howe (New and Selected Poems), Dawn Lundy Martin (Instructions for the Lovers) share work that exemplifies poetry’s unique potential to observe everyday life, love, loneliness, and grief. Introduced by Parker Menzimer, Poetry Society of America.
Create Your Own Pop-Up Card
Make a pop-up greeting card with author-illustrator Cat Min! Cat will read her book The Little Toymaker and teach you how to make your very own dynamic pop-up card from construction paper, glue, and colored pencils.
Tear, Glue, and Snip Your Way to Your Dream Home
Join Taiwanese illustrator Lian-En Lin and design your very own dream home! Using papers of different shapes, thicknesses, colors, and transparency, you’ll tear and paste to bring your imaginative ideas to life. Inspired by Lian-En Lin’s picture book Home, get ready to draw, color, and create collages, and let your creative juices flow!
Adventures Close to Home
Adventure awaits around every corner for these city kids. Discover Afro-Caribbean magic in Tracey Baptiste‘s Moko Magic: Carnival Chaos, and solve the mystery of a missing neighbor with a young podcaster turned sleuth in Sarvenaz Tash‘s The Queen of Ocean Parkway. In moderator Rob Cameron‘s Daydreamer, reality and fantasy collide through one boy’s power of […]
Lian Cho – Oh, Olive!
Olive’s artist parents like prim shapes and proper colors. But Olive likes to splosh and spatter and smear! She splashes her way all over town, spreading color and joy, but what happens when she arrives at her parents’ spotless art museum? Lian Cho’s award-winning book is a paint-splattered celebration of creativity, coloring outside the lines, […]
Growing Upwards
A young woman seeks ways to distract herself after her mother’s death. An intelligent liberal arts student looks to guidance from her favorite authors to move past heartbreak. Two Taiwanese-American best friends continue to find themselves drawn to each other, despite the passage of time, distance, and shame. Ella Baxter’s New Animal, Elif Batuman’s Either/Or, […]
What Is Real?
Three authors invite readers to contemplate the meaning and nature of reality. Reflecting upon how the decisions we make (or don’t make) determine our fate, Antoine Wilson (Mouth to Mouth), Windham Campbell Prize recipient Yiyun Li (The Book of Goose), and Sarah Manguso (Very Cold People) explore how history and class intersect to shape our […]
A Half Century of Hip-Hop
This summer’s grand celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary was beautiful and affirming for longtime fans and practitioners of this perennially maligned and underestimated genre/subculture. Now that the landmark events have passed, what do we make of not just the story of hip-hop but its evolving place in the public imagination? Jonathan Abrams (The Come Up: […]
Reading Wars presented by The New York Review of Books
Reading and writing have rarely been as politicized in the US as they are today. While GOP governors and legislators enact bans on books and syllabuses they see as undermining core American values—targeting works that touch on race, gender, and sexuality—some on the Left have argued for purging syllabuses of once-canonical authors and even altering […]
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 […]
Poetry and Banner-Making with Josh and Matt!
Some letters can’t be delivered in the usual way… What extraordinary journey will you imagine the letter taking? Join poet Matthew Burgess and artist Josh Cochran for a collaborative poetry & banner-making workshop, inspired by their picture book Sylvester’s Letter.
Print with Antique Wood Type
The beloved Kelsey letterpress returns! Come print real antique wood type on a vintage Kelsey letterpress with Dikko Faust of Purgatory Pie Press. Travel back in time and make your own BKBF Children’s Day keepsake.
Fold, Cut & Pop! Make a Book!
How to Make Books and Making Books with Kids author Esther K. Smith and Jane Sanders who illustrated Making Books with Kids will show you how to fold, cut and pop your own book. Then YOU can draw + write your story!
Keeping it Real
First crushes, friendship breakups, big moves, complicated family dynamics and following your dreams : life is full of highs, lows and everything in-between! Come join New York Times bestselling author Janae Marks (On Air With Zoe Washington) critically-acclaimed author and illustrator Stephanie Rodriguez (Doodles from the Boogie Down) and critically-acclaimed and award-winning author Andrew Eliopulos […]
Pineapple Princess by Sabina Hahn
What makes a princess? A crown, of course! The princess of Sabina Hahn’s debut picture commands her not-so-obedient subjects with a… rotting pineapple crown? Join this Pineapple Princess as her reign falls into hilarious and sticky chaos.
Who? New! International
Each season, BKBF presents several international debut authors whom we want to shine the light on for our audience. This year we present Swedish author and psychologist Lydia Sandgren (Collected Works, translated by Agnes Broomé), UK based editor and playwright Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi (The Centre) from Pakistan, Nigerian author and queer liberation activist Ani Kayode […]
Cooking Across Borders
Across the African diaspora today, the word “foodways” conjures movement that is both multidirectional and multidimensional. Maria Bradford (Sweet Salone: Recipes from the Heart of Sierra Leone), Kenny Gilbert (Southern Cooking, Global Flavors), and Pierre Thiam (Simply West African: Easy, Joyful Recipes for Every Kitchen) embody personal and professional geographies that span the U.S., West […]
From Resilience to Redemption
Join three acclaimed authors who explore literature’s ability to navigate the complexities of injustice. Through the pages of The Golem of Brooklyn, Adam Mansbach blends Judaism, humor, and revenge to craft a fantastical story of empowerment that resonates across time. Richard Mirabella’s Brother & Sister Enter the Forest explores childhood trauma and tests the limits […]
Well Behaved People Rarely Make History
A mother of three who plots to escape a Muslim Uighur detention facility; a racketeer who rises in the male-dominated Harlem mafia to fund her community and take on the Italian mob as Prohibition ends; five teenagers hailing from throughout the global south who risk their lives on seeking asylum and a better future. These […]
Illuminating Tales of Urban Wonder
Alejandro Varela, Henry Hoke, Adam Levin, and Hilary Leichter explore urban living in their captivating, city-driven books. Join this panel discussion on community, identity, and the quest for belonging with Varela’s The People Who Report More Stress, a poignant exploration of LGBTQ identities and family dynamics with New York as the backdrop. In Mount Chicago, […]
Breaking All the Rules
Rules are made to be broken, especially when teens are charting their own destinies. Whether they’re looking for love in 1910s Chicago, experimenting with drag, or navigating family secrets from juvenile detention, sometimes the only way to survive societal expectations is to rewrite the rules completely. Bestselling author Krystal Marquis (The Davenports), debut novelist Dan […]
Artificial Intelligence: Will AI Need Us?
Last spring, 2000 scientists signed a cautionary letter warning about the profound risks to humanity if artificial intelligence systems continue to develop unregulated. Benefits from mundane mapping to robot vacuuming, auto-completed texts and editing, as well as sophisticated manufacturing, medical, and military systems, are already in place. That AI will move on to develop into […]
Reading Wars presented by The New York Review of Books
Reading and writing have rarely been as politicized in the US as they are today. While GOP governors and legislators enact bans on books and syllabuses they see as undermining core American values—targeting works that touch on race, gender, and sexuality—some on the Left have argued for purging syllabuses of once-canonical authors and even altering […]
A Half Century of Hip-Hop
This summer’s grand celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary was beautiful and affirming for longtime fans and practitioners of this perennially maligned and underestimated genre/subculture. Now that the landmark events have passed, what do we make of not just the story of hip-hop but its evolving place in the public imagination? Jonathan Abrams (The Come Up: […]
New York Waterfront Diary at The Invisible Dog Art Center (In-Person)
Join photographer Sophie Fenwick, along with Sean Corcoran, curator of prints and photographs at the Museum of the City of New York, writer Eddie Joyce, oral historian Nicki Pombier, and poet Silvina López Medin in conversation. They will be touching on common themes echoed in Fenwick’s unique and evocative portrait of New York’s changing waterfront, […]