Several times this week I’ve had conversations with various people about Saturday’s inaugural all-day festival celebrating the best of literary Brooklyn, and each time I’ve ended up lamenting the surprising lack of publicity the festival has garnered to date. But the New York Times’ Dinitia Smith picks up some of the slack, offering up a preview of events and an overview of Brooklyn voices past and present.
Even though noted natives like Jonathan Lethem and Colson Whitehead (both of whom will be at the festival) aren’t writing about Brooklyn of late, other voices are taking over. I’m seeing a lot of exciting new Caribbean voices out of Brooklyn,” said Akashic Books publisher and festival organizer Johnny Temple. He points to the poet Roger Bonair-Agard, from Trinidad and Tobago, and the novelist Glenville Lovell, from Barbados, who will be appearing at the festival along with other folks like Emily Barton, Lawrence Block, Jhumpa Lahiri and Jennifer Egan.
So check back Monday morning for highlights of the festival offered by yours truly as well as from other literary types on the scene. And here’s to Brooklyn hosting a book festival for many years to come.