Arts & Entertainment

Brooklyn Book Festival Announces Lineup of 'Bookend Events'

Week of events preceding festival will take place across the borough Sept. 17-23.

The Brooklyn Book Festival is returning this year, but for the first time, the happening will be preceded with a weeklong series of events throughout the borough.

These "Bookend Events" will culminate in the Brooklyn Book Festival on Sunday, Sept. 23, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm in and around Brooklyn Borough Hall Plaza and Columbus Park.  

“Brooklyn, or ‘Book-lyn’ as I like to call it, has more writers per square inch than almost anywhere else in the country, all contributing to our growing reputation as the epicenter of the literary universe—where authors from across the globe gather each fall for the Brooklyn Book Festival, one of the world’s most prestigious free literary festivals,” said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz in a written statement.

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The Festival is presented by Brooklyn Tourism and the Brooklyn Literary Council, initiatives of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, and is proudly supported by AT&T.

Here's the schedule:

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Monday, September 17

 

Tumblr, Electric Literature, The New Inquiry, & LA Review of Books Opening Night Party for Brooklyn Book Festival Bookends

Read us everywhere, meet with us in Brooklyn! Three top literary web-based publications (and Tumblr super-users) invite you to meet your Internet friends in person for chatting, drinking, and dancing to kick off the most bookish week in Brooklyn. Guest DJs and free drink specials enhance the East Coast vs. West Coast faceoff, and everybody wins!

Location: Public Assembly, 70 North 6th Street (between Wythe and Kent Avenues)

Time: 7:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.publicassemblynyc.com

 

Who Gives a Sh*t About Literary Magazines?

The Coffin Factory and editors Lorin Stein (The Paris Review), Rob Spillman (Tin House) and John Freeman (Granta) discuss the importance of literary magazines in contemporary culture.

Location: BookCourt, 163 Court Street (between Dean and Pacific Streets)

Time: 7:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.bookcourt.comwww.thecoffinfactory.com

 

Tuesday, September 18

 

Small Demons and The Graphic Canon Double Bill

Experience the new visual index for books, Small Demons! There are prizes involved! Also join Seven Stories Press as they celebrate the first and second volumes of The Graphic Canon, an anthology of world literature adapted by graphic artists and illustrators.

Location: The Bell House, 149 7th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues)

Time: 7:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.thebellhouseny.comwww.smalldemons.comwww.sevenstories.comwww.graphiccanon.com

 

Mystery Night

Andrew Cotto (Outerborough Blues) and Attica Locke (The Cutting Season) read from their thrillers and talk about writing. Q&A and signings follow.

Location: St. Joseph’s College, 245 Clinton Avenue (between Dekalb and Willoughby Avenues)

Time: 7:00 pm

Price: Free 

 

The Greatest 3-Minute Book Stories Ever

Join Vol. 1 Brooklyn in celebration of their “Greatest 3-Minute Stories” series, a multimedia project dedicated to bridging the gaps between forms of high, middle and low culture. The event brings together writers, editors, and booksellers to tell exciting stories, anecdotes, and other tales related to books and literature. Participants include: Maris Kreizman (Slaughterhouse 90210), Kathleen Alcott (The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets), Alexander Chee (Edinburgh), Matt Dojny (The Festival of Earthly Delights), Rachel Fershleiser (Tumblr, Six-Word Memoirs),Jacob Silverman (journalist, critic, and three-day Jeopardy! champion), Dan Wilbur (How Not to Read), Christopher Beha (What Happened to Sophie Wilder), Karolina Waclawiak (How To Get Into the Twin Palms), Paula Bomer (Baby and Nine Months), Elissa Schappell(Blueprints for Building Better Girls) and Nick Moran (The Millions).

Location: Public Assembly, 70 North 6th Street (between Wythe and Kent Avenues)

Time: 7:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.vol1brooklyn.com

 

BAM presents

Unbound: A Literary Series with Greenlight Bookstore

Andrew Zolli with Malcolm Gladwell and Jad Abumrad

What does resilience mean to you? Andrew Zolli is joined by bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point), radio host Jad Abumrad, and other special guests to discuss the idea of resilience, the emerging field of study explored in Zolli’s new book, Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back.

Location: BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, 30 Lafayette Avenue (between Ashland Place and St. Felix Street)

Time: 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm

Price: $20 plus a 25% discount on Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back for ticket holders

Website: www.bam.org

 

One Teen Story Launch Party and Homecoming Dance

One Story magazine launches One Teen Story, its new young adult publication, with a homecoming dance (for adults ages 21+). Relive your teenage days with a homecoming court of YA authors, photographs, and a homecoming king/queen raffle. Take part in the festivities—which include dancing and homemade desserts—with the One Story staff!

Location: Littlefield, 622 Degraw Street (between 3rd and 4th Avenues)

Time: 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm

Price: $25, selling tickets in advance

Website: www.oneteenstory.com

 

¡The Punctuation Show! (How to Use Tiny Symbols to Make Meaning Without %$^&#* Up)

Do you know your colon from your semicolon? Enjoy a fun-filled (and pun-filled) romp through the major punctuation marks, those that never quite took off and some unorthodox uses of punctuation. Pedantic humorist Jennifer Dziura (co-host of the Williamsburg Spelling Bee) makes those tiny symbols on the printed page mean more than you ever imagined.

Location: JACK, 505 ½ Waverly Avenue (between Fulton Street and Atlantic Avenue)

Time: 8:00 pm

Price: $5 suggested donation to benefit Women’s Education Project

Website: www.jackny.org

 

Wednesday, September 19

 

powerHouse Arena presents

Book Launch—Joseph Anton: A Memoir by Salman Rushdie

Acclaimed, award-winning and bestselling author Salman Rushdie will discuss Joseph Anton, his memoir about life as a writer forced underground. Fans of the famed novelist will not want to miss this exciting event. Ticketholders receive a signed copy of the new memoir.

Location: powerHouse Arena, 37 Main Street (at Water Street)

Time: 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Price: $35

Website: www.powerhousearena.com

 

How to Publish Book Reviews & Features

This lively, informative talk features book editors John Reed (Brooklyn Rail), Monica de la Torre (Bomb), David Propson (WSJ Book Section) and Rob Spillman (Tin House) spilling the secrets of how to break into book reviewing, profiling authors and discussing the future of book criticism. Moderated by NBCC board member Susan Shapiro.

Location: Park Slope Barnes & Noble, 267 7th Avenue (at 6th Street)

Time: 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.bookcritics.org/blogwww.susanshapiro.com

 

Pitchapalooza

The Book Doctors and a panel of publishing pundits are giving aspiring writers the chance of a lifetime—one minute to pitch their book. Winners get introductions to an agent or publisher. The Book Doctors have helped hundreds of writers get published, so don’t miss this big opportunity. Brooklyn Public Library is offering the runner-up a chance to publish with its new Espresso Book Machine.

Location: Brooklyn Public Library (Dr. S. Steven Dweck Center for Contemporary Culture), 10 Grand Army Plaza (Eastern Parkway and Flatbush Avenue)

Time: 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.thebookdoctors.comwww.brooklynpubliclibrary.org

 

Denis Hamill reads Arthur Miller’s “Fitter's Night”

Join renowned author and New York Daily News columnist Denis Hamill for an evening reading of Arthur Miller’s masterly short story, “Fitter’s Night.” Sit at the waterfront’s edge and be transported to a WWII-era Navy Yard where Miller himself worked the night shift.

Location: Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92, 63 Flushing Avenue (near Carlton and Flushing Avenues)

Time: 7:00 pm

Price: $8

Website: www.bldg92.org

 

Vaudeville and Silent Comedy: A Slapstick Scholarly Mash-up

Brooklyn author and vaudeville impresario Trav S.D. links vaudeville to silent comedy, playing off his two books, No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous and the more recent Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeans to Youtube. As part of the NY Clown Theatre Festival, prepare to be amused as well as educated!

Location: The Brick Theater, 575 Metropolitan Avenue (at Lorimer Street)

Time: 7:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.bricktheater.com

 

Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations Pub Quiz

Celebrating the 175th anniversary of Little, Brown and Company and the 18th Edition of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, this pub quiz will test your knowledge of who said what! Introduced by Bartlett’s editor Geoffrey O’Brien. Co-hosted by Franklin Park Reading Series.

Location: Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden, 618 St. John’s Place (between Classon and Franklin Avenues)

Time: 7:30 pm

Price: Free

 

Debut Book Battle

Moderated by poet, Timothy Donnelly, local writers will choose short passages to read from the debut books they covered for Late Night Library’s podcast, based on themes supplied by the audience. The audience will vote on the best readings and eliminations will occur. Literary rivalry and revelry in equal measure!

Location: Goodbye Blue Monday, 1087 Broadway (between Dodworth and Lawton Streets)

Time: 7:30 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.latenightlibrary.org

 

OPERAtion Brooklyn

AOP and Opera on Tap presents OPERAtion Brooklyn, a concert of progressive new works by young Brooklyn composers and performers. Songs will feature texts by some of New York’s best writers, including Jonathan Lethem, Fiona Maazel, Neil Gaiman and Rick Moody, among others. Part of the inaugural BEAT (Brooklyn Emerging Artists in Theater) Festival.

Location: Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, 58 7th Avenue (at Lincoln Place).

Time: 7:30 pm

Price: $20

Website: www.operationbrooklyn.com

 

PEN American Center presents: A Comedy Cabaret Standup

Can freedom of expression be entertaining? PEN American Center partners with Laughing Liberally Comedy Troupe to present some of New York City’s most side-splitting comics who yuck it up over the notion of freedom of expression. Neither Seamus-the-rooftop-rider nor Bo Obama will be off limits as we explore how laughter accompanies the truth.

Location: Galapagos Art Space, 16 Main Street (at Water Street)

Time: Doors open at 7:30 pm; event starts at 8:30 pm

Price: $15 tickets, purchase at pen.org

Website: www.pen.org

 

Comedians with Books

Join host Dan Wilbur (How Not to Read) and his favorite fellow comedians turned authors! Featuring standup comedy from humorists, memoirists, and others, this show will get your face out of a book and into the minds of several deranged funny people, including David Rees(How to Sharpen Pencils) and Ted Travelstead (Our Bodies, Our Junk).

Location: Union Hall, 702 Union Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues)

Time: Doors at 8:00 pm; show at 8:30 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.unionhallny.com

 

Thursday, September 20

 

Slice Magazine Presents: Literary Trivia Night!

Test your bookish chops at Slice’s Literary Trivia Night! Snag a table by 6:30 to create teams to compete in a trivia showdown that will separate the casual readers from Brooklyn’s brainiest and most well-read bookworms. Win prizes donated by local artists and celebrate literature just in time for the BBF! 

Location: 61 Local, 61 Bergen Street (between Smith and Court Streets)

Time: 6:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.61local.com/calendar.html

 

Shuffle

Renowned Fort Greene-based theater group Elevator Repair Service makes its Brooklyn debut with “Shuffle” at the Brooklyn Public Library. Presented as part of the BEAT Festival, “Shuffle” features text from literary classics The Great Gatsby, The Sun Also Rises and The Sound and the Fury mixed together into an unforgettable theatrical and literary experience.

Location: Brooklyn Public Library (Fiction/Lit section, 1st Floor), 10 Grand Army Plaza (Eastern Parkway and Flatbush Avenue)

Time: 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Price: $30

Website: www.beatbrooklyn.comwww.brooklynpubliclibrary.org

 

New York Drawings by Adrian Tomine

Visit the powerHouse Arena for an exciting gallery exhibition, reception and book signing, featuring Adrian Tomine, the popular comic book artist and author of New York Drawings, in conversation with The New Yorker’s art director, Jordan Awan. The exhibition is in conjunction with the publication of New York Drawings along with rare NY-inspired images and sketches.

Location: powerHouse Arena, 37 Main Street (at Water Street)

Time: 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.powerhousearena.com

 

ringShout: A Place For Black Literature Celebrates its 3rd Annual Reading Series

Join ringShout for its third annual Bookend event—a special evening of readings by, and conversations with, notable black women writers, including Jacqueline E. Luckett (Passing Love), Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah (Capital New York) and Eisa Ulen (Crystalle Mourning), who will give a tribute to novelist and friend Erica Kennedy (Bling). Co-hosted by Franklin Park Reading Series.

Location: Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden, 618 St. John’s Place (between Classon and Franklin Avenues)

Time: 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Price: Suggested donation: $5

Website: www.theringshout.comwww.franklinparkbrooklyn.com

 

BAMcinématek and The Paris Review Present Bruce Robinson’s Withnail & I

Join BAMcinématek and The Paris Review for a rare screening of Withnail and I, which follows the alcohol-fueled, darkly comic misadventures of a pair of unemployed actors. The film will be followed by a discussion with The Paris Review’s editors, who regard the cult classic as a perfect distillation of the magazine’s sensibility.

Location: BAM, 30 Lafayette Avenue (between Ashland Place and St. Felix Street)

Time: 7:00 pm

Price: $12

Website: www.bam.org

 

Brooklyn Reading Works presents Young Writers Night

Brooklyn Reading Works presents the annual Young Writers Night, featuring fiction, poetry and song by New York City teenagers. Curated by high school senior Hannah Frishberg, the event celebrates writers with fresh insight, candor and guts. A preview into the next generation of published writers, this event is hosted by Brooklyn Poet Laureate Tina Chang.

Location: The Old Stone House, 336 3rd Street (between 4th and 5th Avenues)

Time: 7:00 pm

Price: Free (donations welcome)

Website: www.theoldstonehouse.orgwww.brooklynreadingworks.com

 

Debut Lit presents “New On Tap: Featuring Debut Authors”

A showcase of debut poets, novelists and memoirists that features up-and-coming writers, many of whom are New York- or Brooklyn-based. Join these new authors, including Austin LaGrone (Oyster Perpetual), Lauren McClung (Between Here and Monkey Mountain), Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan (A Tiger in the Kitchen), Greg Gerke (There’s Something Wrong with Sven) and Hugh Sheehey (The Invisibles), as they read original short work on the theme of “new on tap” to go with the microbrew pub atmosphere. Co-hosted by Debut Lit founder and writer Rebekah Anderson and PitchKnives & Butter Forks bloggers Jason Leahey and Shannon Dunlap.

Location: Pacific Standard, 82 4th Avenue (between St. Marks Place and Bergen Street)

Time: 7:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.debutlit.com

 

Librarian Olympics

David Rees (How to Sharpen Pencils) hosts a night of bare-knuckled bookishness that will test the mental and physical endurance of librarians. Help Rees and Dan Wilbur (How Not to Read) judge contests like “Sharpest Pencil,” “Name that Novel,” and “Guess the Pseudonym” at the place many librarians call home.

Location: Union Hall, 702 Union Street (between 5th & 6th Avenues)

Time: Doors at 7:00 pm; event starts at 7:30 pm

Price: $5

Website: www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org

 

Chaos Manor: The Play presented by the Invisible Dog

Chaos Manor: The Play, written by Jaymes Jorsling, directed by Christopher McElroen, and produced by Sam Stephenson, is presented in association with Brigid Hughes and A Public Space, for Bookends. The event will be a staged reading of the script by several actors, in addition to a lively jazz band and projections.

Location: The Invisible Dog Art Center, 51 Bergen Street (between Smith Street and Court Streets)

Time: 8:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.apublicspace.org

 

The Bushwick Book Club Presents New Music Inspired by Brooklyn Noir

Join the Bushwick Book Club for a night of original music inspired by Brooklyn Noir, a compilation of mystery stories taking place in Brooklyn. Stories from Pete Hamill, Sidney Offit, Arthur Nersesian, and others will be fodder for new songs from local musicians who have previously included Phoebe Kreutz, Corn Mo, Susan Hwang, Sweet Soubrette, Dan & Rachel, Jonathan Mann, Natti Vogel, and Matthew Varvil.

Location: Goodbye Blue Monday, 1087 Broadway (between Dodworth and Lawton Streets)

Time: 8:30 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.bushwickbookclub.comwww.bushwickbookclub.bandcamp.com

 

Friday, September 21

 

Shuffle

Renowned Fort Greene-based theater group Elevator Repair Service makes its Brooklyn debut with “Shuffle” at the Brooklyn Public Library. Presented as part of the BEAT Festival, “Shuffle” features text from literary classics The Great Gatsby, The Sun Also Rises and The Sound and the Fury mixed together into an unforgettable theatrical and literary experience.

Location: Brooklyn Public Library (Fiction/Lit section, 1st Floor), 10 Grand Army Plaza (Eastern Parkway and Flatbush Avenue)

Time: 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Price: $30

Website: www.beatbrooklyn.comwww.brooklynpubliclibrary.org

 

Jeffrey Eugenides

Literary icon Jeffrey Eugenides, author of the bestselling The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex, comes to powerHouse to read and discuss his most recent novel, The Marriage Plot, one of 2011’s most talked about books, on the occasion of its paperback release. Don’t miss this great discussion with the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist.

Location: powerHouse Arena, 37 Main Street (at Water Street)

Time: 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.powerhousearena.com

 

Outwrite Presented by Canteen

Can you write better than a lauded novelist? Canteen dares you to prove it at its Outwrite series. Audience members compete in a flash-fiction competition against author Ben Greenman (What He’s Poised to Do), with the audience judging the winner. Meanwhile, authors Elliott Holt(You Are One of Them) and Marie-Helene Bertino (Safe as Houses) will lead viewers in a Brooklyn literary trivia contest (with prizes). Party with open bar and bands will follow.

Location: 3rd Ward, 195 Morgan Avenue (between Meadow and Stagg Streets)

Time: 7:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.canteenmag.com

 

Upright Citizens Brigade Presents Short Takes from Ride a Cockhorse by Raymond Kennedy

Stephen Ruddy, creator of Upright Citizens Brigade’s “Gravid Water,” which Time Out called New York’s “Best Improv Show,” directs a dramatic reading of Brooklyn author Raymond Kennedy’s darkly comic 1991 novel Ride a Cockhorse, recently reprinted by NYRB Classics. 

Location: TBD

Time: 7:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.uprightcitizens.org

 

Comics Rock Double Bill: The Hernandez Brothers (Love and Rockets Northeast Tour) and Jeffrey Lewis (solo acoustic)

Come enjoy drinks, drawing, and conversation with comics stars The Hernandez Brothers at 8:00 pm and musician and comic artist Jeffrey Lewis at 9:00 pm.

Location: The Rock Shop, 249 4th Avenue (between President and Carroll Streets)

Time: 7:30 pm

Price: $5

Website: www.thejeffreylewissite.comwww.fantagraphics.com/lr30northeasttour

 

Third Annual Brooklyn Indie Party!

Greenlight Bookstore partners with some of Brooklyn’s best independent book and magazine publishers to throw a Brooklyn-sized party celebrating the spirit of Brooklyn’s literary independence with food, drinks and music! Partygoers will mingle with the borough’s great authors and publishers, discover new works, and celebrate Brooklyn Book Festival week.

Location: Greenlight Bookstore, 686 Fulton Street (corner of South Portland Avenue)

Time: 7:30 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.greenlightbookstore.com

 

Poets & Passion – A Caribbean Literary Lime Presented by the Caribbean Cultural Theater

A book party with a decidedly easy tropical flare! The Poets & Passion platform provides an inviting opportunity for audiences to engageCaribbean and Caribbean American fiction writers and poets and positions the writers’ work as part of a larger conversation on issues of identity, aspiration, heritage and the immigrant experience. 

Location: St. Francis College – Maroney Theatre, 180 Remsen Street (between Clinton and Court Streets)

Time: 7:30 pm

Price: $5

 

Writers Reading to Writers Listening to Writers Reading to Writers

Amelia Gray (FSG, FC2), Adam Robinson (publisher/founder of Publishing Genius Press) and Amy Lawless (Octopus Books) and Eli Schmitt (n+1) will read.

Location: Unnameable Books, 600 Vanderbilt Avenue (at St. Marks Avenue)

Time: 8:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.facebook.com/pages/Writers-Reading-to-Writers-Listening-to-Writers-Reading-to-Writers/200864369998077

 

Saturday, September 22

 

A-Z Authors and Animals at the NY Aquarium

Enjoy a morning at the New York Aquarium! Come listen to lively author readings by Artie Bennett (Poopendous! and The Butt Book) andChris Eastland (ABC Zooborns!), followed by book signings.

Location: New York Aquarium, Surf Avenue & West 8th Street

Time: 10:00 am – 11:30 am

Price: $14.95/Adult, $10.95/Child (Ages 3-12), $11.95/Senior

Website: www.nyaquarium.com

 

A-Z Authors and Animals at the Zoo

Enjoy an afternoon at the Prospect Park Zoo! Come listen to lively author readings by Artie Bennett (Poopendous! and The Butt Book) andChris Eastland (ABC Zooborns!), followed by book signings.

Location: Prospect Park Zoo, 450 Flatbush Avenue (Prospect Park)

Time: 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

Price: $8/adults, $5/children, $6/seniors

Website: www.prospectparkzoo.com

 

“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”

“Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt…” Ride the scenic East River Ferry and feel transported by Walt Whitman’s words as you participate in this open reading of Brooklyn’s most beloved poem. Introduced and led by Karen Karbiener (NYU Whitman scholar) and Greg Trupiano (Walt Whitman Project).

Location: East River Ferry,Top of Form Old Fulton Street and Furman Street (Pier 1)

Bottom of Form

Time: 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Price: Free with East River Ferry ticket ($4 one way, $12 all-day pass)

 

Fashion Illustration: The Look Book Presented by the Brooklyn Public Library

Before looks hit the runways, fashion illustrators render designers’ visions in two dimensions. Learn the history and current applications of fashion illustration, see a fashion show, and hear readings by children’s author Selina Alko (Everyday Dress Up) at 2:00 pm, and Rosemary Torre (20th Century Fashion Illustration: The Feminine Ideal) at 4:00 pm.

Location: Brooklyn Public Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza (Eastern Parkway and Flatbush Avenue)

Time: 1:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org

 

American Eco-Poetry: Poetry of Ecological Sanity, Hosted by Daniela Gioseffi

Join your favorite poets to celebrate the release of ECO-Poetry: American Verse of Ecological Sanity, an e-book published by the nonprofit website www.poetsUSA.com. Poets, including Myra Shapiro (I’ll See You Thursday), D. Nurkse (The Rules of Paradise), Colette Inez (The Secret of M. Dulong), Fran Castan (The Widow’s Quilt), Eliot Katz (Unlocking the Exits), Gil Fagiani (Scarfing), Juanita Torrence (Breath-Life), Maria Lisella (Amore on Hope Street), Rob Marchesani, George Held (After Shakespeare: Selected Sonnets), Nancy Mercado (Going to Work), and Stephen Massimilla (Forty Floors from Yesterday), will read selections of their own and others, highlighting issues of environmental sanity and racism, renewable safe energy and life-sustaining wonders of our planet home.

Location: Brooklyn Heights Public Library, 280 Cadman Plaza West at Tillary Street (between Pierrepont and Clark Streets)

Time: 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.poetsUSA.com

 

A Literary Salon with Lorna Goodison and Medgar Evers College Spoken Word Artists

If you’re a fan of Caribbean and West Indies literature, you can’t miss this reading, discussion and book signing with Lorna Goodison as she reads from her books of poetry, memoir and new collection of short stories, By Love Possessed. As she hails from Jamaica, Goodison’s unique voice and storytelling will resonate with Brooklyn’s Caribbean population and beyond. Medgar Evers College Spoken Word Artists will perform.

Location: MoCADA, 80 Hanson Place (at South Portland Avenue)

Time: 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Price: $25 with book, $10 without book

Website: www.centerforblackliterature.org

 

Is That a Word? A Brooklyn Scrabble BBQ Extravaganza to Benefit Books Through Bars presented by Freebird Books and Goods

To celebrate the new book Is That a Word? From AA to ZZZ, the Weird and Wonderful Language of Scrabble by Brooklyn author David Bukszpan, Freebird invites you to an afternoon Scrabble tournament and a sunset viewing of the documentary, Word Wars, with free food and drinks. Players compete for prizes, with the champion playing Bukszpan himself. Attendees are encouraged to bring an old dictionary to donate to the Books Through Bars program; in lieu of a book, small cash donations will also be accepted.

Location: Freebird Books and Goods, 123 Columbia Street (at Kane Street)

Time: 3:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.freebirdbooks.blogspot.com

 

The Comics Crowd

Comics fans will delight in this graphics-heavy event. Creators read from their work, accompanied by projections. Participants include Gabrielle Bell (When I’m Old), Julia Wertz (Drinking at the Movies), Bob Sikoryak (Masterpiece Comics), Lauren Weinstein (Girl Stories), Lisa Hanawalt (I Want You), Aaron Diaz (The Tomorrow Girl) and Michael Kupperman (Tales Designed to Thrizzle). Laughter guaranteed!

Location: Bergen Street Comics, 470 Bergen Street (between Flatbush and 5th Avenues)

Time: 8:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.bergenstreetcomics.com

 

The Emma Straub Hollywood Variety Hour presented by Word Bookstore

This red carpet-esque event features author Emma Straub (Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures), actor/author Andrew McCarthy (The Longest Way Home), musician Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields, and other celebrities from the comedy and literary worlds. Here’s your chance to bask in Brooklyn’s version of Hollywood. Each ticket includes a copy of Laura Lamon’s Life in Pictures.

Location: Public Assembly, 70 N. 6th Street (between Wythe and Kent Avenues)

Time: 8:00 pm

Price: $26.95

Website: www.wordbrooklyn.com

 

WordTheatre® presents Denis Johnson and Starlight on Idaho

Trust Denis Johnson to come up with a truly unique piece of dramatic literature. A stellar cast gives voice to protagonist Mark Cassandra’s letters from rehab to a colorful clan of family and friends in Johnson’s brilliant epistolary tale. Followed by a Q&A with author and cast. Adapted and directed by Darrell Larson. Produced by Cedering Fox. Information and tickets at WordTheatre.com.

Location: St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church, 157 Montague Street (corner of Clinton Street)

Time: 8:00 pm

Price: $10

 

Sunday, September 23

 

Brooklyn Bridge Park presents Phillip Lopate: Living in Brooklyn

Brooklyn-born master writer Phillip Lopate (Waterfront) joins Brooklyn Philharmonic Concertmaster Deborah Buck and pianist Molly Morkoski for a concert exploring Brooklyn’s development over the past 200 years, from a bedroom community to a major city. Music includes repertoire by great Brooklyn composers like Gershwin and Copland, as well as contemporary composers in the borough. The Brooklyn Philharmonic partners with the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy to present these performances.

Location: Brooklyn Bridge Park, Granite Prospect on Pier 1 of Brooklyn Bridge Park

Time: 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.brooklynbridgepark.org

 

John Cage and Buddhism with Kay Larson

Kay Larson, author of Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists, will discuss the importance of Zen in the life and work of John Cage, with special guest, composer Raphael Mostel on Tibetan Singing Bowls. Part of Norte Maar’s Cage Transmitted series celebrating the centennial of John Cage.

Location: DUMBO Arts Center, 111 Front Street #212 (between Washington and Adams Streets)

Time: 7:00 pm

Price: Free

Website: www.dumboartscenter.org


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