Consider your weekend fully booked!
The Brooklyn Book Festival will take over the Downtown area this weekend. With bookend events happening all over Brooklyn, a Children’s Day event on Sept. 21, and more than 300 authors scheduled for the Festival Day on Sept. 22, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed. Fortunately, we have bookmarked some essential events for you:
Get lit!
Ease into the weekend by schmoozing with the borough’s independent publishers, at a free party with food, drinks, music, and chance to win free books!
Indie Party at Greenlight Bookstore (646 Fulton St. at in Fort Greene, www.green
Guest of honor
The Festival’s Best of Brooklyn award winner this year is picture book author and illustrator Mo Willems, creator of the beloved “Knuffle Bunny” series, whose title toy character recently got a bronze statue at the Park Slope public library. The former Park Sloper (he now lives in France) will deliver an animated reading from “The Pigeon Has To Go To School!” and offer a sneak preview of his upcoming book “Who is the Mystery Reader? An Unlimited Squirrels Book.”
Mo Willems at NYU Tandon School of Engineering Auditorium (5 Metrotech Commons between Lawrence and Jay streets Downtown, www.brook
Poster child
The creator of this year’s Book Festival poster, Raúl Colón, discusses his process, his upcoming book “Imagine,” and guides guests through making their own posters.
NYU Tandon School of Engineering Makers and Creators Room (5 Metrotech Commons between Lawrence and Jay streets Downtown, www.brook
Fair play
In addition to the many readings and talks happening on the festival day, more than 250 local and international publishers and booksellers will set up tents on Cadman Plaza to peddle books, comics, and art all day long.
Literary Market on Cadman Plaza (Court Street between Joralemon and Johnson Streets in Brooklyn Heights, www.brook
Sci-fi folks
Brooklyn author N.K. Jemisin, creator of the “Broken Earth” trilogy and last year’s Best of Brooklyn award winner, talks about creating new worlds with acclaimed sci-fi authors Ted Chiang and Mark Doten.
“Imagining Beyond” at St. Francis College Founder’s Hall (180 Remsen St. between Court and Clinton streets in Brooklyn Heights). Sept. 22 at 2 p.m. Free.
Read Wolf
Catch a conversation between rising star Marlon James, author of “Black Leopard, Red Wolf” and “A Brief History of Seven Killings” and titan of literature Joyce Carol Oates, author of more than 50 novels, including the recent “My Life as a Rat.”
At St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church (157 Montague St. at Clinton Street in Brooklyn Heights, www.stann
Talk it out
Finally, the Bushwick Book Club will present songs, art, film clips, and snacks inspired by the book “Good Talk,” from Brooklyn author Mira Jacob, who will also be there to read from her illustrated memoir. The book features funny, often awkward conversations between Jacob and her Michael Jackson-obsessed, interracial son, and stories of growing up in a South Asian family in 1970s New Mexico.
Bushwick Book Club at Barbes [396 Ninth St. at Sixth avenue in Park Slope, (347) 422–0248, www.barbe
