Iconic NYC: Jonas Mekas, Blues and the Creative City
2022 is the centennial of the late Jonas Mekas, poet, filmmaker and artist, who transformed avant garde film in the U.S. Join film writer and essayist Phillip Lopate and author and poet Charity Coleman for a discussion about Mekas’s time in NY and musician/ author Larry Simon and author John Broven (New York City Blues: Postwar Portraits from Harlem to the […]
Old Role, New Soul
Whether as knights, high school basketball jocks, Victorian Era heroes, or best friends making a “beauty” ritual into a deeper experience, these authors’ young protagonists are bringing fresh perspectives to classic roles. Nadia Shammas (Squire), Robyn Smith (Wash Day Diaries), Ivy Noelle Weir (Anne of West Philly) and Laura Gao (Messy Roots) discuss the creative […]
Dreams Deferred
From uncovering injustice, making and breaking relationships, to keeping the secrets of the past buried, these four authors have written characters who aspire and sometimes fail to realize their hopes and dreams. Join Marie Myung-Ok Lee (The Evening Hero), Tobias Carroll (Ex-Members), and Chelsea Bieker (Heartbroke) for this panel about persevering in the face of […]
Dreaming of Abolition
Widespread outrage over recent instances of police violence has revealed that we may be in an unprecedented political moment: one in which people from all walks of life are re-evaluating the police, punishment, and prisons as solutions for harm. Join Mariame Kaba (No More Police: A Case for Abolition, co-authored with Andrea J. Ritchie), Derecka […]
The Man Is Mine, He Just Doesn’t Know It Yet: The Bumpy Road to Happily Ever After
Sometimes you have to go out and get what you want, especially when it comes to love. Whether moving to a new city, begrudgingly learning about small-town life, or driving across the country to ruin Keanu Reeves’s wedding, the authors of the featured books know this all too well. Join Adriana Herrera (A Caribbean in […]
Esmeralda Santiago and Jacqueline Woodson in Conversation
Brooklyn Book Festival 2022 BoBi honoree, memoirist and novelist Esmeralda Santiago, author of When I Was Puerto Rican, Almost a Woman, and Conquistadora will be joined in conversation by 2015 Bobi Honoree Jacqueline Woodson, award-winning writer of books for adults, children, and adolescents, including Brown Girl Dreaming, After Tupac and Another Brooklyn. Introduced by Camille […]
Finding Ourselves and Our Tribe(s) in Popular Music
Danyel Smith (Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop) and Kelefa Sanneh (Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres) have lived, breathed, and written about music for decades—and their epic new books are both years in the making. But beyond the ambitious scope, what these projects share is […]
We’ll Cry if We Want To: A Lit Party for Muthas and Others (In-Person)
Readings, theater, comedy, and comics (read live on projector screen!) from writers and artists of MUTHA Magazine, co-sponsored by Pen Parentis, featuring the awesome line-up of Emily Flake (The New Yorker and author of Mama Tried), Ariel Gore (Hip Mama and author of The Wayward Writer), Cheryl E. Klein (celebrating her debut memoir Crybaby), Lisa […]
