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A Guide To This Weekend's Brooklyn Book Festival
By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Sep 15, 2011
Modified Sep 15, 2011
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via BrooklynBookFestival's Flickr
By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Sep 15, 2011
Modified Sep 15, 2011
Share
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It's that time again: the Brooklyn Book Festival is upon us, and every tote-bag-toting, horn-rimmed glasses-wearing reader and writer in the city will be there. The festival takes over a full three days, from September 15 through 18, but not even a die-hard bibliophile could see all there is to see, so here are a few highlights.
All events at the Festival are free, but the events in the Borough Hall Courtroom (209 Joralemon Street) and St. Francis College Auditorium require tickets, which are distributed an hour ahead of time at information booths dotting the Borough Hall Plaza. Almost all of the big-name events take place on the 18th. There's always a lot to see, but get there early and stay focused: you don't want to miss Jhumpa Lahiri because you're browsing used paperbacks, do you? Here's your hour-by-hour breakdown.
Words and Sounds:Mary Karr (Lit: A Memoir) and Nelson George (The Plot Against Hip Hop) discuss their most recent books, along with the role that music plays in their creative process.
Sunday, September 18; 11 a.m.; Borough Hall Courtroom; tickets required
Epic Confusion: Readings from Nadia Kalman (The Cosmopolitans), Chuck Klosterman (The Visible Man), Sam Lipsyte (The Ask) , and Tiphanie Yanique (How to Escape from a Leper Colony) followed by a discussion of confusion, the difficulties of communicating with others and the obstacles that create this confusion.
Sunday, September 18; 12 p.m.; St Francis McArdle Hall (180 Remsen Street(; tickets required
Apocalypse Now, and Then What? Sure you survived an earthquake and hurricane in the same week, but what about the apocalypse? Writers Tananarive Due (My Soul to Take), Patrick Somerville (The Universe in Miniature in Miniature), and Colson Whitehead (Zone One) look at iterations of the end of the world as we know it and what that means for their characters.
Sunday, September 18; 1 p.m.; Borough Hall Courtroom; tickets required
Worlds of Personal: Three significant and compelling authors-narrators of the human experience—Jonathan Safran Foer (Eating Animals, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) Joyce Carol Oates (A Widow’s Story, Sourland) and Nina Revoyr (Wingshooter), read from their latest books followed by Q&A.
Sunday, September 18; 2 p.m.; Borough Hall Plaza mainstage
The Urban Underbelly: Urban intensity pervades these suspenseful tales of murder, race and identity where danger lurks from in the heat of Nairobi to the Fulton Fish Market and Striver’s Row in New York. Pete Hamill (Tabloid City), Mukoma Wa Ngugi (Nairobi Heat) and Persia Walker (Black Orchid Blues). Readings followed by Q & A.
Sunday, September 18; 3 p.m.; St Francis Auditorium (180 Remsen Street); tickets required
USA 2011: Where Are we? Writers Deborah Eisenberg, Fran Lebowitz, and Wallace Shawn, professional observers of the times we live in, discuss the difficulties in figuring out what exactly this moment is, why people are feeling enormous anxiety, and why that anxiety is poorly understood.
Sunday, September 18; 4 p.m.; St Ann and the Holy Trinity Church (157 Montague Street)
Unholy Paths to Redemption: Pulitzer Prize winning author (and Gothamist favorite) Jennifer Egan (A Visit from the Goon Squad), James Hannaham (God Says No) and John Burnham Schwartz (Northwest Corner) look at the alternative routes their characters take to lose themselves—jeopardizing work, family, and love—to find themselves again.
Sunday, September 18; 5 p.m.; St Francis Auditorium (180 Remsen Street); tickets required
Stay on the lookout, too, for about a million other BBF-related happenings, including tons and tons of books for sale and nearly as many lit-centric parties.
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