Downtown

Come join us in BOOK-lyn for Brooklyn Book Festival Day

September 16, 2018 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle
The weather's great out here today — and the 2018 Brooklyn Book Festival is on. Eagle photos by Lore Croghan
Share this:

It’s on.

The Brooklyn Book Festival’s big day is getting underway right now.

Bibliophiles are gathering at venues throughout the Brooklyn Borough Hall area and adjacent Brooklyn Heights to hear their favorite authors speak and stretch their literary horizons.

The annual book binge is expected to draw tens of thousands of attendees. It is New York City’s largest free literary event.

About 300 authors from all over the world are set to participate in 86 Festival Day panel discussions and readings, which run until 6 p.m today.

High-profile fiction and non-fiction writers are scheduled to speak. They include Pulitzer Prize winners Jennifer Egan, whose award-winning novel was “A Visit from the Goon Squad,” and Lawrence Wright, whose prize-winning work was “The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11.”

Other important writers on today’s roster include Martin Amis, Pete Hamill, A.M. Homes, Uzodinma Iweala, David Cay Johnston, Min Jin Lee, Terry McMillan, Joyce Carol Oates and Luis Alberto Urrea.

Up-and-comers in the literary world will take part as well.

There are 14 stages at venues including Brooklyn Borough Hall — a Greek Revival-style city-designated landmark that frequently serves as a setting for TV series and movies — as well as Brooklyn Heights locations St. Francis College, the Brooklyn Historical Society and St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church.

Some panels will cover timely, ripped-from-the-headlines topics. For instance, “Activist Athletes” with former NBA player Etan Thomas, Olympian Ibtihaj Muhammad and writers Shaun King and Dave Zirin is scheduled for 1 p.m. “War on Truth and Journalism” with award-winning journalists Linda Greenhouse, Eli Saslow and April Ryan is set for 3 p.m.

Booksellers’ tents are assembled on the plaza in front of Brooklyn Borough Hall, so you can shop till you drop, too.

Check back with our website for continuing coverage of Festival Day.  

Subscribe to our newsletters


Leave a Comment


Leave a Comment