The Brooklyn Book Festival is a can’t miss, best of Brooklyn, why we live here, what’s not to like, fun for all, books are not dead, no they’re magic! annual event that has something for everyone. Here are just a few highlights from the many planned events.
Jazzed and Poetic
Sunday, Oct. 2, 10:00 a.m., Main Stage on Borough Hall Plaza
Music and language are a match for the ages. Begin the morning with jazz and poetry with poet Jay Deshpande and Brooklyn Poets Founder Jason Koo (More Than Mere Light), together with Kim Clarke and Friends.
FUN! Hula-Hooping, Games and More
Sunday, Oct. 2, 12:00 p.m., Center Stage (Columbus Park)
Join Polygon co-founder, Russ Frushtick, The Book of Fun, and professional hula hooper, Ann Humphreys, The Tao of Hoop: On the Transformational Practice of Hula-Hooping (Seriously, Though) for an amusing and enlightening program about balancing out your life and enjoying a refresh with good old-fashioned fun. Moderated by Brian Vines, journalist and Festival board member.
Sick and Satired
Sunday, Oct. 2, 12:00 p.m., Borough Hall Courtroom, 209 Joralemon St.
If laughter is the best medicine, satire may be the cure-all we need for the myriad ills of our time. In A. M. Homes’s new satirical novel, The Unfolding, a wealthy Republican donor outraged by the results of the 2008 election puts together a coalition of like-minded individuals to get America “back on track.” And Gary Shteyngart’s Our Country Friends paints a portrait of privileged life in lockdown with a group of artists and entrepreneurs that hides from the pandemic on a country estate, full of humor and heart. Join these authors for a conversation moderated by Alison Stewart (WNYC) that asks if it’s still too soon to laugh.
All About Romance (YA)
Sunday, Oct. 2, 3:00 p.m., North Stage, Cadman Plaza East
Fall head over heels with superstar authors Casey McQuiston (I Kissed Shara Wheeler), Dustin Thao (You’ve Reached Sam), and Debbie Rigaud (A Girl’s Guide to Love & Magic) as they discuss romantic love—the joy, the heartbreak, and everything in-between. Moderated by NYT bestselling author Sayantani DasGupta (Debating Darcy).
Crime & Punishment
Sunday, Oct. 2, 4:00 p.m., Borough Hall Courtroom, 209 Joralemon St.
Award-winning author Joyce Carol Oates spins unsettling tales of crime and suspense in her short story collection Extenuating Circumstances. In Dwyer Murphy’s An Honest Living, an unwitting private eye gets caught up in a crime of obsession between a reclusive literary superstar and her bookseller husband. And in The Family Chao, three apparently successful brothers draw suspicion following the death of their father in Lan Samantha Chang’s small-town murder mystery featured on Barack Obama’s 2022 Summer Reading List. Join these writers, along with CrimeReads associate editor Olivia Rutigliano, for a discussion of disturbing secrets, hair-raising encounters, and what exactly makes a crime story.
There is also a full day of virtual events on Sunday, Sept. 25.
Children’s Day on Saturday, Oct. 1 at Metrotech will be packed with events for kids of all ages. Download the full guide at this link.
(Official BKBF Poster by Johnnie Christmas courtesy @bkbookfest at Instagram.)
