Photo Flash: Brooklyn Book Festival Brings out Bibliophiles

On Sunday, September 12, 2010, the fifth annual Brooklyn Book Festival, one of the top book festivals in the country, brought out thousands of book lovers to Downtown Brooklyn. With the extraordinary literary heritage, vibrant publishing community and international reading audience of Brooklyn and New York City as its backdrop, the Festival offered the best and brightest stars in contemporary literature. The hip, huge and free all-star literary lineup included Salman Rushdie, Naomi Klein, Paul Auster, Venus Williams, Nelson George, Sarah Silverman, Gary Shteyngart, Mary Gaitskill, John Ashbery, Rosanne Cash, Paul Krugman, Colson Whitehead, Francine Prose, Dennis Lehane, Per Petterson, Esmeralda Santiago, Pete Hamill, Jennifer Egan, Russell Banks, Michael Connelly, John Hodgman, Kristen Schaal, Sam Lipsyte, Sloane Crosley, Maaza Mengiste, Paul Harding, Amy Goodman, Marlon James, Sarah MacLean, Jean Valentine, Elizabeth Nunez and many more, as well as children's and young adult lit stars like Rebecca Stead, Sara Shepard, Jacqueline Woodson, Jon Scieszka, Jenny Han, Nina Crews, Mac Barnett, Tad Hills, Chris Raschka, Michael Rex, Matthew Reinhart and Francisco X. Stork.
 
The Brooklyn Book Festival showcased more than 200 national and international authors in readings and panel discussions as well as 175 booksellers, publishers, presses and organizations in an outdoor literary marketplace. Brooklyn Book Festival is presented by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn Literary Council and Brooklyn Tourism.
 
"As the creative epicenter of New York, Brooklyn is already home to many of the world's greatest writers, and now we've got a festival that gathers together the rest of the best from across the nation and around the world," said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.
 
This year's expansion included weekend-long "Bookend" events at the coolest venues in Brooklyn, including BAM, Bell House, Brooklyn Bridge Park, The Brooklyn Kitchen, Brooklyn Public Library, Debut Lit, Freebird Books & Goods, Greenlight Bookstore, Irondale Center, Light Industry, Littlefield, Mainspring Collective, PEN American Center, Pizza D'Amore, powerHouse, St. Ann's Warehouse, WORD and more!
 
On Saturday, September 11, at the Festival Gala, the Brooklyn Book Festival "BoBi" award, given each year to an author whose body of work exemplifies or speaks to the spirit of Brooklyn, was awarded to Pulitzer Prize-winning poet John Ashbery. Ashbery's ties to Brooklyn and New York run deep. He once worked as a librarian at the Brooklyn Public Library, and co-directed the poetry MFA program at Brooklyn College. From 2001 to 2003, he was poet laureate of New York State. The BoBi award was established in the Festival's second year. Previous BoBi recipients include Edwidge Danticat (2009), Walter Mosley (2008) and Paul Auster (2007).
 
"When we launched the Festival, it was a modest event keyed to Brooklyn's status as the home to so many great writers," said Brooklyn Literary Council Chair Johnny Temple. "But it has grown into a celebration of the international literary scene and New York City's long-lasting love affair with the writing and reading world."
 
FESTIVAL PARTNERS AND SPONSORS
 
Brooklyn Book Festival sponsors include Astoria Federal Savings; Boar's Head Provisions; Brooklyn Community Foundation; Citi; Con Edison; Downtown Brooklyn Partnership; NYC & Company Foundation; NYC Department of Parks & Recreation; New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge; New York State Council on the Arts; St. Francis College; Skylight One Hanson; Target; Time Out New York Kids and WABC-TV. Cultural and programming partners are BAM; the Brooklyn Historical Society; Brooklyn Public Library; Cave Canem; Housing Works Bookstore Café; LIVE from the NYPL; The Nation; the National Book Foundation; The New York Review of Books; PEN American Center; Poetry Society of America; and St. Francis College.