Celebrating Hilton Als, the 2023 Brooklyn Book Festival BoBi Honoree
Join us for a special conversation with our 2023 BoBi Honoree, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Hilton Als. Raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn, Als is the author of The Women, White Girls, and, most recently, My Pinup. He will be joined in conversation by writer and cultural critic Jennifer Krasinski.
Creatures
What does the natural world reveal about the human one? Join Sabrina Imbler (How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures), astrobiologist Aomawa Shields (Life on Other Planets: A Memoir of Finding My Place in the Universe), and Ed Yong (An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us) […]
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 […]
Create a Magnetic Ice Skating Diorama with Lorraine Nam
Join Lorraine Nam, illustrator of Wei Skates On, for a magical and wintry project. Participants will create their own ice skating rink diorama and figure skating Wei. This inspirational picture book about facing your fears and finding the joy in sports, no matter the outcome. Space limited.
Create Animals with Christopher Silas Neal
Join award-winning illustrator Christopher Silas Neal, co-creator of the Over and Under picture book series, this time exploring the rich, interconnected ecosystem of the ocean in Over and Under the Waves! Create pictures of your favorite animals using cut paper, glue, and markers and colored pencils. Learn how simple shapes, a few wiggly lines and […]
Draw Me a Story
Be part of the audience that helps #1 New York Times bestselling author Dan Poblocki (More Tales to Keep You Up at Night) weave a story that beloved author and illustrator Alyssa Bermudez (Big Apple Diaries) and acclaimed illustrator Chris Danger (The Inflatables in Splash of the Titans) will draw right in front of your […]
Storytime: Pepita Meets Bebita by Ruth Behar & Gabriel Frye-Behar
When a new baby is introduced to the family, Pepita, the puppy of the house, has a lot to get used to. Not only are Mami and Papi busier than ever, but how will Pepita and the new Bebita get along? Join award-winning author Ruth Behar and her son, Gabriel Frye-Behar, for a story about […]
Storytime: Sleepy Sheepy by Lucy Ruth Cummins
Sleepy Sheepy is anything BUT sleepy. While Ma and Pa Sheepy try to coax their sheep to bed, Sleepy Sheepy is daydreaming about building blocks and knitting. Will this sheepy ever go sleepy? Acclaimed author Lucy Ruth Cummins’ rhyming bedtime story is a playful tale that certainly beats counting sheep.
Lifestyles in the Library
A library of food? about toys? Join Liz Williams, founder of the Southern Food & Beverage Museum and of the National Food & Beverage Foundation, Leslie Sam, Chief Librarian, Nunez Community College Library and Christopher Bensch, Vice President for Collections at The Strong National Museum of Play, in a discussion about developing and curating unique […]
Can the Future Be Saved? A Conversation Between Astra Taylor and Anand Giridharadas
Astra Taylor’s The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart diagnoses a society constructed against its own advancement, wracked by crisis and division. In The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy, Anand Giridharadas profiles organizers, politicians, and ordinary citizens who live there without losing an unyielding […]
Who? New!
Each season, BKBF presents several debut authors whom we want to shine the light on for our audience. This year we present Madelaine Lucas (Thirst for Salt), Soraya Palmer (The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts), Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall (Tauhou), Jinwoo Chong (Flux), and Eliot Duncan (Ponyboy). This year, we welcome special […]
Romance for Every Reader
Fall in love with superstar authors Alexandra Bracken (Silver in the Bone), Melissa See (Love Letters for Joy), and Keah Brown (The Secret Summer Promise) as they dive deep into writing love stories across genres—from fantastical Arthurian fantasies to Cyrano retellings to contemporary summer romances—and how they infuse their pages with tension, love, and even […]
Mazes Of The Mind: On Mapping Extreme States
International luminaries Carlos Fonseca (Costa Rica), Astrid Roemer (Suriname), and Norman Erikson Pasaribu (Indonesia) come together to discuss the precarity of dislocation, memory, and desire. In Astrid Roemer’s queer classic On a Woman’s Madness (tr. Lucy Scott), we meet a woman fleeing her hometown of Suriname, and in Carlos Fonseca’s luminous Austral (tr. Megan McDowell), […]
Place & Locality in Writing presented by the Whiting Foundation
Join Whiting Award-winning fiction writers Marcia Douglas (The Marvellous Equations of the Dread: A Novel in Bass Riddim, Notes from a Writer’s Book of Cures and Spells), Sidik Fofana (Stories from The Tenants Downstairs), Claire Boyles (Site Fidelity), and moderator Victor LaValle (Lone Women, The Changeling, and more), all of whose work draws verve, plot, […]
American Slavery, Today
Slavery’s centrality to American history has gained wide acceptance but few people understand how it continues to reach through the past and shape the experience of our country today. Join Rachel Swarns (The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church), Kidada E. Williams (I Saw Death Coming: A […]
Class Combat
Journey through the multifaceted realm of class dynamics. In Andre Dubus III’s Such Kindness, a working-class man is forced to redefine his identity when an accident leaves him unable to work and dependent on painkillers. In Jenny Fran Davis’ Dykette, a couple explores the dimensions of normativity and nonconformity when they accept an invitation to […]
