The Brooklyn Book Festival has announced its comprehensive lineup for the first-ever weeklong series of “Bookend Events” that will take place at venues throughout the borough from September 17 through September 23. The seventh-annual event is presented by Brooklyn Tourism and the Brooklyn Literary Council, initiatives of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, with support from AT&T.
It’s billed as the largest free literary event in New York City, with the full schedule here.
Markowitz commented, “Brooklyn 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. This year, the Festival expands from four days to an entire week of diverse literary offerings.”
Two events will take place in Brooklyn Heights…
Friday, September 21
“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 engage Caribbean 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 & Court Streets), 7:30 p.m., $5
Saturday, September 22
“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 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). 2-4 p.m. Free. (poetsUSA.com)
