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FEATURING OVER 250 AUTHORS at the festival including Paul Auster, Gabrielle Bell, Ann Brashares, Charles Burns, Roz Chast, Amit Chaudhuri, Misty Copeland, Jules Feiffer, Brian Floca, Roxane Gay, Mary Gordon, Brandon Graham, Dan Harris, A.M. Homes, Ann Hood, Siri Hustvedt, Leslie Jamison, Chip Kidd, K’wan, Jonathan Lethem, Rebecca Mead, James McBride, Dinaw Mengestu, Joseph O’Neill, Darryl Pinckney, Philippe Petit, Paul Pope, Christian Rudder, Rebecca Stead, Jeff VanderMeer and more.
The ninth annual Brooklyn Book Festival, supported by AT&T and one of the country’s premier book festivals, will take place on September 21st from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM at Brooklyn Borough Hall and the adjacent Columbus Park. Kicking off the festival week are more than 60 Bookend events, happening in venues ranging from bookstores to parks to theatres, Green-wood cemetery to the New York Aquarium and more venues across the borough September 15-22nd. The festival day will feature over 100 presentations, including robust comics and graphic novel programming as well as activities, readings, and a scavenger hunt of Where’s Waldo for children of all ages. Attracting tens of thousands of attendees, Brooklyn Book Festival brings together authors and readers from across the world in a celebration of storytelling.
Each year, the Festival bestows the BoBi—Best of Brooklyn—Award on an exceptional author with strong ties to the borough. This year’s award goes the 2013 National Book Award Fiction winner James McBride, author of The Good Lord Bird as well as the classic and bestselling memoir The Color of Water and the novels Miracle at St. Anna and Sung Yet Song. An accomplished journalist, screenwriter, and musician, McBride will be in conversation with The Wire’s Wendell Pierce. The festival also honors the work of other beloved writers with beautifully designed Bookmark selections. Along with McBride, this year’s Bookmarks are Maggie Estep (Alice Fantastic) and Ned Vizzini (It’s Kind of a Funny Story), whose lives will be remembered with readings at the Festival; The New Yorker’s Roz Chast (Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?), who will be in conversation with Robert Mankoff; and Brian Floca, who will be presenting his Caldecott winning book Locomotive in the Children’s Area.
With moderators from The New York Times, WNYC, the Los Angeles Times, Publishers Weekly, Salon and more, authors will discuss a vast range of topics, including Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore in conversation with Lewis Warsh; Patrik Henry Bass, Suzy Becker and R.L. Stine talking what’s funny about zombies and fifth grade; Losing and Finding Yourself: Comics of Heartbreak and Healing with Gabrielle Bell, John Porcellino, and Anya Ulinich, moderated by Best American Comics editor Bill Kartalopoulos; Jonathan Lethem and Jules Feiffer in conversation about the power of satire; Creativity and Chaos with Philippe Petit, Haitian author Franketienne and Geek Sublime author Vikram Chandra; and among an array of other hot topics, draw-offs, debates and readings from bestselling and acclaimed poets, journalists, novelists, graphic artists and others.
“AT&T is committed to spreading literacy and the joy of reading across the five boroughs and beyond, which is why we are thrilled to again be the presenting sponsor of the Brooklyn Book Festival,” said Marissa Shorenstein, New York State President, AT&T. “Festival goers will be able to better navigate the festival with our unique mobilized website and vote for their favorite authors participating in the event through the AT&T Fan Fave Awards. I look forward to seeing Brooklynites, New Yorkers and tourists alike at the festival; it is one of New York’s most culturally enriching events of the year.”
Voting will open on September 15th for this year’s Fan Fave Awards; the three authors receiving the most votes will have a donation made on their behalf to the literary or literacy non-profit of their choice. The festival’s newly mobilized website allows festival-goers to create personalized schedules, navigate all events, author bios, and vendor locations on every device including tablets, cell phones and computers.
Food trucks from around the world will celebrate the festival’s international flavor, with Caribbean Island Food Festival, Paris Sandwich, Nuchas II, Mamu Thai Noodle, and Screme Gelato Bar located around the festival’s Literary Marketplace, which welcomes presses and magazines from across the country, Brooklyn’s best independent publishers including Melville House, Archipelago, and Akashic Books as well as an array of children’s publishers and comics publishers including Drawn & Quarterly, Fantagraphics and TOON Books. Literary organizations including PEN American Center, Girls Write Now, and Literary Partners will be in attendance – stop by to find out more about these nonprofits, and leave a note for the National Book Foundation’s “What are You Reading?” wall.
“Year nine and kicking at the Brooklyn Book Festival as we continue our mission to produce a free annual world-class literary festival that appeals to huge audiences young and old, New Yorkers and visitors alike. Our pride is our diversity of cutting-edge and iconic authors who grace our stages every year,” said Johnny Temple, chair of the Brooklyn Literary Council. There is something for everyone at the Brooklyn Book Festival and Bookend events, from scavenger hunts to slams, movie screenings to dance parties, draw-offs to readings, lively conversations and a literary marketplace full of new discoveries and old favorites. Come celebrate the power of words September 15-22nd in Brooklyn!
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The Brooklyn Book Festival is presented by the non-profit Brooklyn Book Festival, Inc. and the Brooklyn Literary Council. The Festival’s cultural and programming partners include BAM, Brooklyn Historical Society, Brooklyn Law School, Brooklyn Public Library, Cave Canem, National Book Foundation, New York Review of Books, PEN American Center, Poetry Society of America, St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church, St. Francis College, and The Nation.
AT&T is the major partner with additional support from the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Con Edison, Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, and New York State Council on the Arts, and ABC, Wall Street Journal and WNYC.
For more information about the Brooklyn Book Festival, visit www.brooklynbookfestival.org, check out the official Facebook page and follow the Festival on Twitter @bkbf and on Tumblr at http://brooklynbookfestival.tumblr.com.
MEDIA CONTACTS: Festival: Katie Freeman / 917-613-1532 / kfreeman@penguinrandomhouse.com AT&T: Barbara Morgan, bmorgan@skdknick.com
