With a tradition spanning almost two decades, the Brooklyn Book Festival — a nine-day literary event featuring groundbreaking authors, booksellers and publishers — will take place this year from Sept. 22-30.
Stemming from the era of COVID restrictions, the festival’s first day will be fully online, allowing readers across the globe to participate in this transformative experience, deepening their love and understanding of literature.
The Brooklyn Book Festival began in 2006 as a one-day event. Since then, it has survived natural disasters and a global pandemic to become the borough’s staple festival for book-lovers with happenings across Brooklyn.
Festival Day, scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 29 at Borough Hall in Downtown Brooklyn, will allow for a true sense of conversation and discussion. Authors of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, comics, graphic novels, and young adult literature will bring forth today’s complex issues, allowing audiences to be entertained and inspired. With hundreds of tents set up throughout Columbus Park and Borough Hall Plaza, The Literary Marketplace — the largest bookmarklet in the Northeast — will give festival-goers the chance to discover new authors, independent publishers, as well as various literary organizations.
Another highlight of the festival is Children’s Day, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 28. This day offers families a chance to engage in a range of activities, including readings, workshops, performances and book signings. The Children’s Marketplace of Books will be featured, along with opportunities for kids to participate in art projects with their favorite writers and illustrators.
“The Brooklyn Book Festival is the city’s book festival, welcoming audiences from all five boroughs,” said Brooklyn Book Festival Producer Liz Koch.This year we have authors coming from as far away as Taiwan and Brazil but also authors who live right down the street in Brooklyn and other boroughs. Everyone is welcome to join our free celebration of authors and books.”
Aside from celebrating the world of literature, The Brooklyn Book Festival aims to support the literary community as a whole. Creating free and low-cost programming, connecting readers, writers, and publishers alike through their diverse and inclusive citywide events.
Book-lovers can also look forward to the BoBi Award, which recognizes an author whose work is “the Best of Brooklyn,” showcasing the unique spirit of the borough.
This year’s recipient Roz Chast, an acclaimed cartoonist and illustrator has succeeded in realistically portraying the life of a Brooklynite from her work as a staff cartoonist for The New Yorker as well as her illustrations in several published books.
The complete schedule for this year’s festival, including over 50 bookend events organized by various cultural partners across all five boroughs, will be released in the coming weeks.
Camille Ranine, co-chair of the Brooklyn Book Festival Literary Council, said this year’s festival is one to look forward to.
“This year’s festival is sure to be nine days of dynamic, engaging, and thought-provoking words, ideas and conversations,” she said.
