Book Festival returns to Borough Hall this weekend
The ninth annual Brooklyn Book Festival will bring hundreds of internationally renowned and emerging authors to Brooklyn Borough Hall this weekend, where numerous panel discussions will be held throughout the day on Sunday and literary organizations will set up booths with information and merchandise. The star-studded lineup of writers includes Salman Rushdie, Paul Auster, Joyce Carol Oates, Jonathan Lethem and Zadie Smith, among others. The Sept. 21 event will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Brooklyn writer James McBride will receive the festival’s prestigious Best of Brooklyn Inc. (“BoBi”) Award, which each year honors a writer whose work has broadly impacted the field of literature. At the festival, McBride, a National Book Award winner known for “The Good Lord Bird” and “The Color of Water,” will join award-winning actor and producer Wendell Pierce from the critically acclaimed HBO series “The Wire.” The two will appear in conversation at 4 p.m. at the Borough Hall Courtroom.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams on Wednesday celebrated the return of the festival, which is the largest free literary event in New York City. “More than a tree grows in Brooklyn; we have grown a literary tradition that is second-to-none, which will be center stage once more at the Brooklyn Book Festival,” said Adams. “Brooklyn Borough Hall is where this incredible celebration of stories, both written and graphic, first began its own tale of delighting readers old and new. This year, I am pleased to help write the next chapter of this great festival, and I look forward to seeing thousands of Brooklynites enriched by this great experience.”