brooklyn book festival

Downtown Brooklyn was teeming with publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, authors and book lovers yesterday for the second annual Brooklyn Book Festival, presented by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, the Borough President's Literary Council and the Brooklyn Tourism and Best of Brooklyn, Inc. Other cultural partners for the event included the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Brooklyn Public Library, the National Book Foundation, Housing Works and the Brooklyn Historical Society.

The Borough Hall area of Brooklyn was dotted with blue and white tents of publishers and booksellers offering their books, makeshift stages for panel discussions and author readings, and plenty of visitors. Even Brooklyn landmarks like the Brooklyn Historical Society were a part of the festival, hosting events such as the American Heritage Dictionary's Define-a-Thon.Hundreds of authors have made their home in Brooklyn, and this weekend, the borough will pay tribute to its literary heritage.

More than 100 authors will be featured at the day-long free Brooklyn Book Festival that will take place this Sunday from 10 to 6 p.m. at Brooklyn's Borough Hall and Plaza downtown.

"I must get at least half a dozen to a dozen new books written by Brooklyn authors or former Brooklynites that are living all over the country that write about Brooklyn," said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. "And the number of children's books is just phenomenal."

Markowitz's office says zip code 11215, covering Park Slope, Gowanus and Windsor Terrace, boasts more writers than any other in the country. Last year's festival drew 10,000 people. This year, the festival will add more international talent.

"We have authors like Edwidge Danticat, who was born in Haiti. We have Chris Abani, a Nigerian author. We have Colin Channer, a Jamaican author, and so we have authors who were born all over the world," said Literary Council Chair Johnny Temple. "We want the festival to still retain its distinctive Brooklyn flavor, but we're also conveying the message in our programming that it is truly an international world class book festival."

Vendors, publishers, literary magazines and literacy organizations will be on hand. Fiction, non-fiction, children's and young adult literature will all be featured. NY1's own Dominic Carter will talk about the first book he's written; so will Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes. And the creative energy of the Simmons family will be highlighted. Business mogul Russell Simmons, Joseph Simmons better known as "Run" from Run DMC and painter Danny Simmons have all written books. Danny will participate in three panels.

"The first one early in the morning I'm going to be reading my own," said Danny Simmons. "The second one, we're doing a tribute to Sekou Sundiata who's one of Brooklyn's greatest poets who just passed recently and I'm going to be reading one of his poems and that's the middle of the afternoon. And in the early evening around four o'clock, I'm going to be doing the family panel discussion."

Most of the programming will be taking place at Brooklyn Borough Hall, while other events are scheduled nearby at St Francis College and at the Brooklyn Historical Society.


More than 100 authors, including George Packer, Jonathan Safran Foer, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, Colson Whitehead, Libba Bray, A.M. Homes, Jonathan Lethem and Dave Eggers, were at the event, which was free of charge and open to the public. Brooklyn-based author Paul Auster was the special guest at the Festival Gala on Saturday.
Hamill, Danticat, Lethem, Run DMC, Hynes, Others Are Among Readers
BOROUGH HALL ― On Sunday, September 16, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, the Borough President's Literary Council and Brooklyn Tourism host the second annual Brooklyn Book Festival, which builds on the festival's success, adding top national and international authors and establishing it as a major literary destination.
The 2007 festival will again be a day-long, free event at Brooklyn Borough Hall and Plaza in Downtown Brooklyn, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., featuring readings and panels on multiple indoor and outdoor stages, a Target Children's Area, an Independence Community Foundation Young Writers Pavilion, and more than 100 exhibitors, including bookstores, publishers, and literary organizations.

The festival is expanding, adding the Brooklyn Historical Society as a new venue. As part of the day's events, the Brooklyn Public Library will kick off its borough-wide "Big Read" featuring Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird."

"Last year's Book Festival proved that Brooklyn is a literary epicenter of New York City and America," said Markowitz. "With our marquee authors from Brooklyn and now around the world, this year's event again puts our unrivaled diversity of voices on display, and makes reading and writing as hip as being a Brooklynite. When it comes to books, Brooklyn holds the title ― period!"

Collectible "Brooklyn Bookmarks" highlighting Brooklyn literary icons and promoting the Brooklyn Book Festival are now available at Brooklyn Public Library branches and bookstores.

On the eve of the festival, Saturday, September 15, Brooklyn literary legend Paul Auster will be the guest of honor at the Book Festival Gala VIP event, followed by a free public screening of the 1995 film "Smoke," for which Auster wrote the screenplay. (Updated information is available at www.brooklynbookfestival.org and (718) 802-3846.

Cultural partners include Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Historical Society, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the National Book Foundation, and Housing Works. The festival is presented by Brooklyn Tourism and the Borough President's Literary Council, initiatives of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.