Brooklyn Book Festival 2013: Some Suggestions for Today

Photo: MK Metz

Book lovers rejoice: The Brooklyn Book Festival takes place today from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. at Brooklyn Borough Hall and surrounding area.

This free day of all things literate presents talks by famous and emerging authors, panel discussions, readings and performances (schedule here).

Here are a few suggestions if you haven't has a chance to read over the entire schedule:

 11:00 A.M. Borough Hall Courtroom: Who? New! Five of the year’s most impressive debut novelists who will read from their work: A.X. Ahmad (The Caretaker), Caleb Crain (Necessary Errors), Ursula DeYoung (Shorecliff), Michele Forbes (Ghost Moth), and Ayana Mathis (The Twelve Tribes of Hattie).

12:00 P.M. Main Stage: Poets Laureate Past and Present Reading: Tina Chang (Brooklyn Poet Laureate), Ashley August (New York Youth Poet Laureate), Marie Howe (New York State Poet Laureate) and Charles Simic (US Poet Laureate 2007-08) read from their work. Introduced by Alice Quinn, Poetry Society of America.

1:00 P.M. St. Francis Auditorium: Brooklyn Book Festival Presents Lois Lowry, 2013 BoBi Honoree: Newbery award-winning author of The Giver and Number the Stars. A star in youth literature, admired for writing about dystopian societies and the importance of cherishing human connections. In conversation with 2013 Newbery Medalist Katherine Applegate (The One and Only Ivan).

2:00 P.M. Main Stage: Love, Villainy, Ethics and Karaoke: Chuck Klosterman and Rob Sheffield in Conversation.  Essayist, novelist and New York Times "Ethicist" Chuck Klosterman (I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains Real and Imagined) and Rolling Stone scribe and memoirist Rob Sheffield (Turn Around Bright Eyes: The Rituals of Love and Karaoke) grapple with issues of life and love, fantasy and more.  Moderated by Ed Park.

2:00 P.M. St. Francis Auditorium: The Future: Big New Books in Comics Sci-Fi.  Award-winners Jeff Smith (RASL), Paul Pope (One-Trick Rip-Off) and Faith Erin Hicks (Last of Us) discuss their new books, some of the best, genre-bending sci-fi comics today. Moderated by Calvin Reid, Publishers Weekly Comics World. Featuring screen projection.

3:00 P.M. Borough Hall Courtroom: The Faces of Brooklyn: Brooklyn enthusiasts Pete Hamill (The Christmas Kid), Adelle Waldman (The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.) and Adrian Tomine (New York Drawings). Moderated by Penina Roth (Franklin Park Reading Series).

4:00 P.M. St. Francis Auditorium: Art Spiegelman and Jules Feiffer in Conversation: Pulitzer-Prize winning graphic novelist Art Spiegelman's newest release, Co-Mix, is a career retrospective that covers his work from Raw to Maus to the New Yorker. Joined by Jules Feiffer (Out of Line: The Art of Jules Feiffer), also a Pulitzer winner, they discuss their long careers in comics art and future plans for their work. Featuring screen projection. Moderated by Benjamen Walker, host of the WFMU radio show Too Much Information.

The day is also full of readings and events for kids and tiny tykes.

Several Bookend events take place later today (separate Bookend schedule here).

Also today in Brooklyn Heights: Summer Space and the Brooklyn Heights Dog Show.

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