On Thursday, May 28, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz joined members of the Brooklyn Literary Council, top authors, publishing industry leaders, editors and literary insiders to announce publicly for the first time some of the renowned national and international authors scheduled to participate in the fourth annual Brooklyn Book Festival, which will take place this fall, Sunday, September 13, 2009, at Borough Hall, St. Francis College and the Brooklyn Historical Society.

Notable confirmed authors and participants include Dorothy Allison (Bastard out of Carolina); Jonathan Ames (The Alcoholic); Paul Auster (Man in the Dark; Travels in the Scriptorium); Russell Banks (Dreaming Up America; The Reserve); poet Staceyann Chin; Edwidge Danticat (Brother, I’m Dying, winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award); Nelson George (City Kid: A Writer’s Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success); A.M. Homes (The Mistress’s Daughter); George Lewis; musician Thurston Moore; Jonathan Lethem (Chronic City, You Don’t Love Me Yet); Achy Obejas (Ruins), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for journalism; Melvin Van Peebles, actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, composer; Francine Prose (Blue Angel, A Changed Man); Sonia Sanchez, poet, playwright; Esmeralda Santiago (When I was Puerto Rican); and Colson Whitehead (Sag Harbor; Apex Hides the Hurt).

The festival boasts an exciting list of youth and children’s writers, including Judi Barrett (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs); Kate DiCamillo (The Tale of Despereaux; Because of Wynn Dixie); Mo Willems (Elephant and Piggie early readers); Sherman Alexie (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, winner of the National Book Award for young people’s literature); Maureen Sullivan and Alison Josephs (Ankle Soup; Custard and Mustard); M.T. Anderson (The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing; Traitor to the Nation); and cartoonist Tom Tomorrow (The Very Silly Mayor).

Below is a complete list of confirmed authors to date. Visit www.visitbrooklyn.org for updates as additional authors are added.

“Again this year, tens of thousands of book lovers of all ages will come together in Brooklyn—the Creative Capital of New York City and, I believe, America—to meet their favorite authors, purchase books and celebrate the written word,” said BP Markowitz. “The epicenter of literary America is right here in Brooklyn, and the Brooklyn Book Festival has established itself as a major literary destination in the United States and around the globe.”

“At a time when the economic downturn is affecting the publishing industry, the Brooklyn Book Festival continues to support publishers big and small as well as authors around the world,” said Johnny Temple, chair of the Brooklyn Literary Council. “Our fourth annual Festival is quickly shaping up to be our best one yet—more diversity, more literary superstars, more up-and-coming voices.”

This year, the Brooklyn Book Festival is proud to expand its partnership with St. Francis College, which has created a $50,000 literary prize for an author’s fourth book of fiction. The distinguished jury includes Michael Chabon, Heidi Julavits, Jonathan Lethem, Ben Marcus and Ayelet Waldman. A short list of nominations will be announced in early August, and the winning author revealed on September 12 at the Brooklyn Book Festival Gala Mingle.

“The Brooklyn Book Festival is a wonderful opportunity for the students and faculty of St. Francis College to participate in the exciting and growing literary life of Brooklyn and New York City,” said Tim Houlihan, vice president for academic affairs and academic dean at St. Francis College. “We look forward to opening the College to writers, poets and playwrights from around the world, and we look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with the Brooklyn Book Festival.”

Each year, the Brooklyn Book Festival “BoBi” Award is presented for outstanding contributions to Brooklyn and the literary community. This year’s recipient is Haitian author Edwidge Danticat, who will receive her honor at the Brooklyn Book Festival Gala Mingle on September 12.

The 2009 Brooklyn Book Festival follows last year’s hugely successful event, which attracted more than 20,000 visitors and media from around the world to Borough Hall. Media outlets that covered the Festival included The New York Times, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, Village Voice, Time Out New York, The New Yorker, Publishers Weekly, Wikimedia and literary blogs across the country.

This year’s Brooklyn Book Festival will again feature a literary marketplace with more than 150 booksellers, publishers and literary organizations in Borough Hall Plaza as well as “reading rooms” inside historic Borough Hall. Programming will include panels and readings on an outdoor main stage facing Borough Hall’s historic marble steps, a children’s authors stage and special programming for teens and exhibitors that will include bookstores, publishers and literary organizations. Events will also take place at St. Francis College and the Brooklyn Historical Society.
 
The 2009 Brooklyn Book Festival is presented by Brooklyn Tourism and the Brooklyn Literary Council, initiatives of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. Sponsors include the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation; the NYC & Company Foundation; Astoria Federal Savings; Citi; Boar’s Head Provisions; the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge; and Time Out New York, media sponsor again this year. Cultural partners are BAM; the Brooklyn Historical Society; Brooklyn Public Library; and the National Book Foundation. Programming partners include Housing Works Bookstore Café; PEN American Center; Poetry Society of America; The New York Review of Books; St. Francis College; and The Nation.

For more information about the Brooklyn Book Festival, visit www.visitbrooklyn.org or check out the official Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pages/Brooklyn-Book-Festival-Official-Site/20650359836. On Twitter, follow the Brooklyn Book Festival at bkbf.

Brooklyn Book Festival 2009 Authors
Confirmed through May 28, 2009
Visit www.visitbrooklyn.org for updates as additional authors are added

Jeffrey Renard Allen
Dorothy Allison
Jonathan Ames
Paul Auster
Nicholson Baker
Russell Banks
Donald Breckenridge
Ann Carson
Alan Cheuse
Staceyann Chin
Kate Christensen
Edwidge Danticat
Matt de la Peña
Guy Delisle
Cornelius Eady
Alberto Ferraras
Marc Fitten
Justin Fox
Paula Fox
Dwight Garner
David Gates
Nelson George
A.M. Homes
Heidi Julavits
Brad Kessler
Walter Kirn
Mark Kurlansky
Jennifer 8. Lee
Jonathan Lethem
George E. Lewis
Leonard Lopate
Phillip Lopate
Matt Madden
Lou Manfredo
Ben Marcus
Marie Mockett
Thurston Moore
Paul Muldoon
Pamela Newkirk
Josip Novakovich
Elizabeth Nunez
Achy Obejas
Valeria Parella
Francine Prose
Sarah Rainone
Jeffrey Rotter
Sonia Sanchez
Sukhdev Sandhu
Esmeralda Santiago
Hirsh Sawhney
Cheryl Harris Sharman
Gary Shteyngart
Robert Sullivan
Arthur Sze
Liz Thorpe
Toure
David Ulin
Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez
Tom Vanderbilt
Melvin Van Peebles
Colson Whitehead
Kai Wright

Teens and Children

Sherman Alexie
Laurie Halse Anderson
M.T. Anderson
Judi Barrett
Nick Bruel
Kate DiCamillo
Anna Godbersen
Ayun Halliday
Alison Josephs
Maureen Sullivan
Tom Tomorrow
Mo Willems