The Brooklyn Book Festival is a huge, free public event presenting an array of literary stars and emerging authors who represent the exciting world of literature today. One of America’s premier literary and literacy events, this hip, smart, diverse gathering attracts thousands of book lovers of all ages. The festival is organized around themed readings and devoted to timely and lively panel discussions. The inclusion of top national and international authors and new partners has expanded the festival’s reach while continuing to celebrate and enhance Brooklyn’s contemporary and historic literary reputation.

Brooklyn Borough President's Literary Council

Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz, Honorary Chair

Johnny Temple, Akashic Books, Council Chair

Carolyn Greer, Executive Director, Best of Brooklyn, Inc.

Liz Koch, Arts and Culture Specialist,Office of the Brooklyn Borough President

Brooklyn Book Festival 2009 Programming

Fiction               Johnny Temple, Chair
Non-Fiction        Matt Weiland, Chair
Poetry               Rob Casper, Chair
Youth/Children  Jennifer Carlson/Stacey Barney, Chairs
International     Andrea Jeyaveeran, Chair

Members

Harold Augenbraum - National Book Foundation
Stacey Barney - G.P. Putnam's Sons
Jennifer Carlson - Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency
Rob Casper - Poetry Society of America
Eric Demby - Public Relations Consultant
Adriana Dominguez - Editorial Consultant
Mary Gannon - Poets & Writers Magazine
Brenda Greene - Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College
Theodore Hamm - The Brooklyn Rail
Timothy Houlihan - St. Francis College
Andrea Jeyaveeran - Center for the Humanities
Jay Kaplan - Brooklyn Public Library
Marcela Landres - Publisher, Latinidad
Jeffrey Lependorf - Council of Literary Magazines and Presses
Winfrida Mbewe - W.W. Norton & Company
Patricia Mulcahy - Tillie’s Café, Brooklyn Books
Greg Polvere - GTHQ
Peter Rothberg - The Nation
Paul Slovak - Viking-Penguin
Rob Spillman - Tin House Press
Emily Takoudes - Clarkson Potter/Random House
Johnny Temple - Akashic Books
Kate Travers - Folio Literary Management
Matt Weiland - Ecco

Cultural Partners
BAM
Brooklyn Historical Society
Brooklyn Public Library
National Book Foundation

Programming Partners
Housingworks Bookstore Cafe
The New York Review of Books
Pen American Center
Poetry Society of America
St. Francis College
The Nation

Brooklyn Book Festival Honorary Committee

Paul Auster - author, Smoke, Mr Vertigo, Timbuktu, New York Trilogy, Book of Illusions.
Kyle Baker - graphic novelist, Nat Turner, King David, Why I Hate Saturn
Edwidge Danticat - author, The Dew Breaker, Vale of Tears: A Novel From Haiti
Jennifer Egan - author, Look at Me, The Invisible Circus, The Keep
Dave Eggers - author, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius; founder, McSweeney's
Jonathan Safran Foer - author, Everything is Illuminated, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Pete Hamill - author, The Gift, Downtown: My Manhattan, The Guns of Heaven
Siri Hustvedt - author, What I Loved, The Enchantment of Lily Dahl
Nicole Krauss - author, The History of Love
Jhumpa Lahiri - author, The Namesake, Interpreter of Maladies
Spike Lee - filmmaker, Inside Man, Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, Bamboozled
Jonathan Lethem - author, The Fortress of Solitude, Motherless Brooklyn, Girl in Landscape
Rick Moody - author, Demonology, Purple America, The Ice Storm, Garden State
Rosie Perez - actress, Do the Right Thing, White Men Can't Jump, Fearless
Carl Hancock Rux - author, playwright, Asphalt, Talk
Maurice Sendak - author, Where the Wild Things Are; In the Night Kitchen
Russell Simmons - activist and entertainment mogul; founder, Def Jam, Hip Hop Action Summit
Colson Whitehead - author, The Intuitionist, John Henry Days, Apex Hides the Hurt

Festival Information

Directions:

Festival Site Address

Brooklyn Borough Hall
209 Joralemon Street
Brooklyn, New York 11201

By car from Manhattan:  Coming over the Brooklyn Bridge, stay straight on Adams Street.  Turn right on Joralemon Street.   

By car from New Jersey and Staten Island: Verrazano Bridge to 278West.  Take Exit 27/Atlantic Avenue and turn onto Atlantic Avenue.  Turn left on Boerum Place. Turn left on Joralemon Street. 

Public Transportation: 2, 3, 4, 5 to Borough Hall; R to Court Street; A, C, F to Jay Street/Borough Hall

For the latest information about subway service visit www.mta.info

To plan your trip to the Brooklyn Book Festival, visit www.hopstop.com

Where to Stay and Eat:

On Sunday, September 13, the Greenmarket at Columbus Park will have food for sale; The Crossroads kiosk on Joralemon Street to the east of Borough Hall will be open, and Crossroads will have a food cart at the Festival; the official Brooklyn Book Festival program will contain special offers for the Summer Space event along Montague Street, where food will be available; and various eateries in the immediate Downtown Brooklyn area will be open for business the day of the Festival. To search for restaurants in Brooklyn, visit www.brooklyneatsonline.com.

For information on accommodations and dining in Brooklyn, go to the borough’s official tourism website www.visitbrooklyn.org.

Where to Stay and Eat

On Sunday, September 13, the Greenmarket at Columbus Park will have food for sale; The Crossroads kiosk on Joralemon Street to the east of Borough Hall will be open, and Crossroads will have a food cart at the Festival; there will be a postcard at info booths about the Summer Space event along Montague Street, where food will be available; and various eateries in the immediate Downtown Brooklyn area will be open for business the day of the Festival.