Attention readers! Here's your chance to meet award-winning and New York Times bestselling authors Sophie Blackall, Ann Brashares, Misty Copeland, Brian Floca, Jenny Han, Christopher Myers, John Parra, R.L. Stine, Rebecca Stead, Jon Scieszka, Scott Westerfeld and dozens more!
The ninth annual Brooklyn Book Festival, supported by AT&T, will take place on Sunday, September 21, from 10:00 A.M. to 6 P.M. at Brooklyn Borough Hall and Columbus Park and will feature readings, illustrator draw-off competitions and signings by beloved children’s book authors, as well as a wide array of programs for teens and tweens. Waldo, from Where’s Waldo, will make an appearance at the festival, with additional Waldo photo cutouts hidden for discovery throughout the day on September 21 st, and author Richard T. Morris will be accompanied by Moose from This is a Moose. Bookends during the course of the week, September 15-22, will include events on Saturday, September 20th at the New York Aquarium and Prospect Park Zoo; “Baby’s Classic Lit and Art Books” at St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church; and the BKBF Draw Off with children and YA illustrators at Greenwood Park.
At the festival itself, readers can hear Newbery Award winner Rebecca Stead talk about the charm and lure of New York City; R. L. Stine reveal what’s funny about zombies and fifth grade; bestselling author Jon Scieszka discuss sparkle spas and kung-fu with Jill Santopolo and Lenore Look; and NYT bestselling author Gordon Korman, Una Lamarche, and National Book Finalist Adele Griffin invite audience participation in a lively round of readers’ theatre, adapted from their bestselling and acclaimed novels, among a host of other panels and events.
Outside the children and youth area, panels of interest to parents include “Autism Portraits” with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind (Life, Animated), behavior analyst Jill Mullins (Drawing Autism), and debut novelist Morowa Yejide (Time of the Locust), moderated by the founder of Extreme Kids & Crew, Eliza Factor; “How Should a Parent Be?” an exploration of what parenting means today with panelists Jennifer Senior (All Work and No Joy), Dalton Conley (Parentology) and Michèle Stephenson (Promises Kept), with Dana Goldstein (The Teacher Wars), Pedro Noguera (City Schools and the American Dream), and David Banks (Soar); and a not-to-be-missed “Peace: The Next Generation” conversation between Ilyasah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X, and Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, joined by Bethany Hegedus and illustrators Evan Turk and A.G. Ford.
From spirited presentations by bestselling authors to interactive draw-offs and booksignings, Brooklyn Book Festival has something to offer every age. In between events, parents and children can visit the Bank Street bookstore tent and awarding winning children's presses Enchanted Lion Books, Toon Books, DK Publishing, among others, and get a delicious bite from the food trucks at Columbus Park. From First Loves to Fantasy Land, Brooklyn Book Festival is a destination event for the whole family.