This year’s star-filled Brooklyn Book Festival will be seven — count ‘em, seven! — days long, up from four days in previous years in order to accommodate the growing number of cover lovers who flock to Borough Hall each fall for the world-famous literary event.
“The festival has matured into one of the world’s premier literary destinations,” said Johnny Temple, the festival organizer and chair of the Brooklyn Literary Council. “The seventh annual Brooklyn Book Festival will be bigger, better and ‘bookier’ than ever.”
The week-long book bash in September will feature author readings, talks, workshops and autograph sessions with heavy hitters such as Pete Hamill, Paul Auster, and Colson Whitehead, as well as hundreds of other scribes, poets and cartoonists.
Here are our picks that not only make great summer reads but help you get to know some of the featured authors at the festival:
“Half-Lit Houses,” by Tina Chang:
Brooklyn Poet Laureate Tina Chang’s first collection of poems takes readers on a haunting journey backwards in time to 1930s China. Divided into four sections, the book explores themes of family, remembrance, grief, and religion.
“On Boxing,” by Joyce Carol Oates:
The Barclays Center will starts hosting world-class boxers this fall. Study up on the sweet science with Oates’s masterful book of essays on Muhammad Ali, Brownsville native Mike Tyson and other iconic fighters.
“Krik? Krak!” by Edwidge Danticat:
Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat immigrated from Port-au-Prince to Brooklyn as a teenager. The National Book Award-winner burst on the literary scene with her debut novel in 1994, and followed it up two years later with “Krik? Krak!” The short story collection includes tales from Haiti and a moving tribute to immigrant life in the Borough of Churches.
“Shortcomings,” by Adrian Tomine:
Cantankerous 30-year-old Ben Tanaka, the protagonist of Adrian Tomine’s acclaimed graphic novel, “Shortcomings,” loses his cool when his girlfriend leaves their California romance behind for an internship in New York. The book is a great introduction to Tomine, who’s known for his New Yorker covers.
Reach reporter Daniel Bush at dbush@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-8310. Follow him at twitter.com/dan_bush.
