{"id":31605,"date":"2012-09-12T09:43:59","date_gmt":"2012-09-12T13:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/?p=31605"},"modified":"2025-09-01T21:37:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T01:37:32","slug":"brooklyn-book-festival-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/31605\/brooklyn-book-festival-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Top Shelf Events to Attend at the Brooklyn Book Festival 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brooklyn certainly has its fair share of prominent writers who call the borough home. Pulitzer prize winners Jennifer Egan and Jhumpa Lahiri, literary power couple Jonathan Safran Foer and Nicole Krauss, Paul Auster, Rick Moody and Jonathan Ames are just a few of the accomplished wordsmiths that reside in one of Brooklyn\u2019s westerly brownstone-filled neighborhoods. The crowning moment for Brooklyn\u2019s literati seemed to occur last year when British writer Martin Amis moved to Cobble Hill, an event that prompted the New York Times<\/em> headline \u201cLiterary Brooklyn Gets its Leading Man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given Brooklyn\u2019s flourishing literary scene, it should come as no surprise that the borough hosts the annual Brooklyn Book Festival featuring critically acclaimed local authors as well as international ones. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz says the festival is one of the \u201cmost prestigious\u201d literary events and adds that Brooklyn \u201chas 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BK

In addition to festival events, other literary events\u2014labeled \u201cbookends\u201d\u2014will be held at Brooklyn libraries, bars, event spaces, theaters, parks, galleries and, of course, bookstores over the seven days leading up to the book festival, an expansion over last year\u2019s four day schedule. Some of Brooklyn\u2019s top independent bookstores host bookend events giving bibliophiles a great opportunity to get their literary fix while supporting their local community bookstore.<\/p>\n

Here is offMetro\u2019s guide to Brooklyn\u2019s best independent bookstores and the bookend events they plan to host.<\/p>\n

BookCourt \u2013 163 Court Street<\/strong>
\nThis cozy Cobble Hill shop has been in business for more than 30 years. In-store bestsellers are always thirty percent off and the decent sized children\u2019s area makes this a great bookstore for families.
\nBookend event: <\/strong>A panel discussion on literary magazines and contemporary culture featuring editors Lori Stein, Rob Spillman and John Freeman of The Paris Review<\/em>, Tin House<\/em> and Granta<\/em> respectively.
\nWhen:<\/strong> September 17 at 7:00 pm.
\nWhere:<\/strong> BookCourt
\nCost:<\/strong> Free
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Powerhouse Arena \u2013 37 Main Street<\/strong>
\nPowerhouse is an art book publisher in addition to a bookstore and event space. You\u2019ll find art, architecture, design and photography titles alongside the latest literary releases.
\nBookend events:<\/strong> Salman Rushdie will discuss his new book Joseph Anton<\/em>, a memoir, and later in the week Jeffrey Eugenides will read from his popular novel The Marriage Plot<\/em>.
\nWhen:<\/strong> Salman Rushdie on September 19 and Jeffrey Eugenides on September 21.\u00a0 Both events begin at 7:00 pm.
\nWhere:<\/strong> Powerhouse Arena
\nCost:<\/strong> $35 for Salman Rushdie, which includes a signed copy of Joseph Anton<\/em>. $5 for Jeffrey Eugenides. Tickets can be purchased via the Powerhouse Arena<\/a> website<\/p>\n

\"greenlight\"

WORD \u2013 126 Franklin Street<\/strong>
\nWith staff picks highlighted throughout the store, you\u2019ll never be without a recommendation for a novel, cookbook, young adult thriller or non-fiction narrative. Word also hosts three different book clubs so whether you\u2019re into classics or music writing, there\u2019s a book club for you.
\nBookend event:<\/strong> The Emma Straub Hollywood Variety Hour with author Andrew McCarthy, singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt and blogger Maris Kreizman.
\nWhen:<\/strong> September 22 at 8:00 pm
\nWhere:<\/strong> Public Assembly, 70 North 6th<\/sup> Street
\nCost:<\/strong> $26.95 which includes a copy of Straub\u2019s new book Laura Lamont\u2019s Life in Pictures<\/em>. Tickets can be purchased via the WORD website.<\/p>\n

Photos: Powerhouse Arena, Brooklyn Book Festival, Greenlight Bookstore\/arrbecca<\/a><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brooklyn certainly has its fair share of prominent writers who call the borough home. Pulitzer prize winners Jennifer Egan and Jhumpa Lahiri, literary power couple Jonathan Safran Foer and Nicole Krauss, Paul Auster, Rick Moody and Jonathan Ames are just a few of the accomplished wordsmiths that reside in one of Brooklyn\u2019s westerly brownstone-filled neighborhoods. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":31686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[320,271],"tags":[233,142,254,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-31605","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn-outer-boroughs-destination","8":"category-news","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-festival","11":"tag-free","12":"tag-outdoors"},"acf":[],"mv":{"thumbnail_id":31686,"thumbnail_uri":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/302210_10150306740549342_731195251_n-300x199.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}