Paul Auster Honored at Brooklyn Book Festival
The Brooklyn Book Festival honored Brooklyn literary legend Paul Auster this year as it launched a major new literary award as part of the annual festival. The award, the Brooklyn Book Festival Best of Brooklyn Inc. (BOBI) Literary Award, will be bestowed each year upon an author who has demonstrated invention and originality in his or her work, and has had a broad impact on the field of literature.
Borough President Marty Markowitz presented the award to Paul Auster on September 15, 2007 at the Brooklyn Book Festival Gala Mingle held at the landmarked Dime Savings Bank in Downtown Brooklyn. Borough President Markowitz said of Brooklyn’s beloved author: “Brooklyn’s Paul Auster is a writer with a healthy sense of the absurd, which I can appreciate. He knows that underneath the simple stories we tell ourselves about our lives, deeper mysteries make the search for the “true self” the greatest detective thriller of all.”
A celebrated novelist, poet, screenwriter and film director, Brooklyn resident Paul Auster has been called “one of America’s most spectacularly inventive writers” (Times Literary Supplement). He is the author of Travels in the Scriptorium, The Brooklyn Follies, Oracle Night, The Book of Illusions, Timbuktu, Mr. Vertigo, Leviathan, The Music of Chance, Moon Palace, In the Country of Last Things, and the three novels known as The New York Trilogy: City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Room. His work has been translated into 35 languages. In 2006, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature.
Auster has written the screenplays for the popular film Smoke, the follow-up film, Blue in the Face (which he co-directed), and Lulu on the Bridge (which he directed). He recently wrote and directed The Inner Life of Martin Frost. Auster has said about the making of this film and work “Life is both tragic and funny, both absurd and profoundly meaningful….I’ve tried to embrace this double aspect of experience in the stories I’ve written—both novels and screenplays.”
Brooklyn’s own Paul Auster receives the first Brooklyn Book Festival Best of the Brooklyn Inc. (BOBI) Award from Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz at the gala mingle the night before the festival opened.
New York Magazine
Making Marty Proud
Three events worth arriving early for at the Brooklyn Book Festival this Sunday.
By Sara Cardace | Published Sep 10, 2007
- 1. Jim Carroll, Gloria Naylor, and Joe Meno
The Basketball Diaries author (and former junkie and rocker) Carroll reads from his forthcoming novel, The Petting Zoo, with fellow authors Naylor and Meno, who also have novels in the works.
- 2. Jonathan Lethem and Jonathan Safran Foer
The pair of Brooklyn novelists talk with their respective European publishers about their appeal to audiences across the pond.
- 3. “On the Road for 50 Years"
Author John Leland (Why Kerouac Matters) talks with Kerouac’s sometime girlfriend Joyce Johnson about the ongoing legacy of the Beat extraordinaire.
New York Observer
by Sara Vilkomerson | Published 9/17/07
Lethem? I just met him! Much has been written about the fact that Brooklyn has more writers per square block than any other place in America (though not more than County Donegal in Ireland; all named McCourt) and it follows that a Brooklyn book festival would have more known writers per panel discussion than any other book festival in America! The home team is really turning out, folks, so prepare for mass intellectual insemination! You’re gonna get a faceful of Jonathan Lethem, A.M. Homes, Francine Prose, Jonathan Safran Foer, Stephen Carter, George Saunders, our new writer-crush Joshua Ferris, Uzodinma Iweala and Dave Eggers (who will present a slideshow of his trip to Sudan. Very cheeky). Though it’s hard to believe, the festival is only in its second year (seriously, no one thought of this sooner?), but that doesn’t mean it won’t be packed with potential sexual partners for those among you who don’t mind when your bedmate awakens at 3 a.m. and stares at you for a solid hour with big bug eyes while you sleep. Also in literary happenings (the intelligentsia is back from Truro), Lawrence Wright (New Yorker writer, Pulitzer winner, ho-hum) will discuss his very cool and very scary book on Al-Qaeda, The Looming Tower, at the 92nd Street Y. See? People really are smarter in the fall.
[Brooklyn Book Festival 2007, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Brooklyn Borough Hall (Court and Joralemon Streets); Lawrence Wright at the 92nd Street Y, Kaufmann Concert Hall, 1395 Lexington Avenue, 7:30 p.m.]
Brooklyn Book Festival on Sunday
A Child Grows in Brooklyn
by Karen | Published 9/12/07
 Brooklyn Book Festival 2007, Sunday, September 16, 2007, 10:00 a.m. – 6 p.m., will be held at Brooklyn Borough Hall (Court and Joralemon Streets), the adjacent Borough Hall Plaza and Columbus Park, the Brooklyn Historical Society, and St. Francis College. In addition to all day readings and discussions, nearly 100 booksellers and publishers will be part of the festival.
All festival programs are free to the public. Events scheduled in the Courtroom and at St. Francis College will require ticketed admission (Tickets available festival day). Pick up tickets one hour in advance of the program at the festival info booth.
These events are specifically for children:
Target Children's Area (Borough Hall Plaza)
The Target Children’s Area provides day-long literary activities for children
ages 2 – 8. Photos with Bullseye, the Target dog.
10:00 a.m. Troupe Theatre— Performing Enchanting Children’s Classics by Ezra Jack Keats, Arthur Lobel
11:00 a.m. Mo Willems—Elephant and Piggie; Knufflebunny: A Cautionary Tale
11:45 a.m. Jon Scieszka—Cowboy and Octopus; Time Warp Trio
12:30 p.m. Alyssa Satin Capucilli- Biscuit; Katy Duck
1:15 p.m. Mari Takabayashi--I Live in Brooklyn
2:00 p.m. Myla Goldberg—Catching the Moon
2:45 p.m. Randall de Seve—The Toy Boat
3:30 p.m. Tad Hills—Duck and Goose; Waking Up Wendell
4:15 p.m. Kam Mak—My Chinatown; Moon of the Monarch Butterflies
5:00 p.m. Pat Cummings—Clean Your Room Harvey Moon
To get the full list of events and locations go here: http://www.brooklynbookfestival.org/
New York Post
HOT PICKS
by Brian Niemietz | Published 9/14/07
September 14, 2007 -- BROADWAY ON BROADWAY
Imagine seeing Broadway's biggest shows all at the same time. The 16th annual Broadway on Broadway concert is the next best thing. Hosted by "Hairspray" star Lance Bass, this free outdoor concert extravaganza includes performances from Lea Salonga ("Les Miserables"); Sierra Boggess ("The Little Mermaid," right); Julia Murney ("Wicked"), and more than 200 of their talented colleagues. The singing starts at 11:30 a.m. Sunday at Broadway and 43rd Street; broadwayonbroadway.com.
NOW THAT'S ITALIAN!
Participating vendors and merchants were officially blessed last night, thus beginning the 80th Feast of San Gennaro. Little Italy's biggest festa features street meats, sugary treats, carnival games and a chance to humble the infamously crass dunking-booth guy, through Sept. 23, on Mulberry Street between Houston and Canal streets; littleitalynyc.com
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Two noir classics by Fritz Lang - "Woman in the Window'' (1944) and "Scarlet Street'' (1945, pictured) - unreel tomorrow at the Museum of the Moving Image. They have similar themes (a reputable man corrupted by a femme fatale) and the same cast: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea. The museum is at 35th Avenue and 36th Street in Astoria, Queens; movingimage.us
- V.A. Musetto
BOOK-LYN
Not only was Brooklyn home to Isaac Asimov, Walt Whitman and Henry Miller, but it also produced some of the Three Stooges. Yes, the city's most populous borough fosters genius through events like Sunday's free Brooklyn Book Festival of readings, discussions and a host of literary events at Borough Hall Plaza from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Authors such as Pete Hamill, A.M. Homes, and hundreds of booksellers are expected to attend this meeting of the minds; (718) 802-3846, brooklynbookfestival.org
A FAIR TO REMEMBER
The Queens County Fair, on 47 acres of city farmland, will feature pie eating, corn husking, livestock competitions and pig racing tomorrow and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Queens County Farm Museum, 73-50 Little Neck Parkway, Floral Park; (718) 347-3276. Adult tickets, $6, kids 12 and under, $3.
FIGHTIN' IRISH
In what's shaping up to be a mini ethnic pride week, the Irish will be celebrating Celtic pugilism in the U.S. since 1820. Ex-boxer "Irish" Micky Ward, legendary promoter Lou Dibella and Maureen Shea (he trained Hilary Swank for "Million Dollar Baby") lead Tuesday's "Pugilists and Popcorn" symposium. The evening starts with a 6 p.m. guided tour of an Irish boxing exhibit, followed by a Q&A at the South Street Seaport Museum at 12 Fulton St.; (212) 748-8776. Tickets $35-$50.
THERE'S MORE THAN ONE WAY TO FRY A SAUSAGE
March up to Fifth Avenue tomorrow, where Grand Marshal Henry Kissinger will lead 33 floats, dozens of German bands and 3,000 marchers in traditional Deutschland attire from 62nd to 86th streets for noontime's 50th German-American Steuben Parade. An after-party featuring traditional German beers and grilled brats starts at 1:30 p.m., when celebrants with $7.50 to spare meet under the Central Park tents at 72nd Street and Fifth Avenue; (201) 763-7285, germanparadenyc.org
SAX SYMBOL
It's been 50 years since Sonny Rollins made his debut at Carnegie Hall - his trio shared a stellar bill with Billie Holiday, Ray Charles and the Thelonious Monk Quartet featuring John Coltrane. On Tuesday, the 77-year-old tenor sax legend returns to the hallowed hall to revisit that night's music, which included "Some Enchanted Evening" and "Moritat (Mack the Knife)." His trio will feature drummer Roy Haynes and bassist Christian McBride. Tickets start at $35. The show begins at 8 p.m. at 154 W. 57th St., at Seventh Avenue; [212] 247-7800); carnegiehall.org; sonnyrollins.com.
- Mary Huhn
New York Public Radio
Brooklyn Book Festival 2007
The Leonard Lopate Show | Published 9/13/07
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes - also a debut author with the crime novel Triple Homicide - will join us to discuss the ever-expanding Brooklyn Book Festival.
Brooklyn Book Festival 2007 takes place this Sunday, September 16, from 10:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Brooklyn Borough Hall, the adjacent Borough Hall Plaza and Columbus Park, the Brooklyn Historical Society, and St. Francis College. Learn more at brooklynbookfestival.org.
Weigh in: Who's your favorite local author?
Metro New York
Brooklyn’s book bash:The word — whether written or spoken — celebrated at festival
by Michael Rundle | Published 9/17/07
DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN. Local poet Ainsley Burrows didn’t need to schedule an official reading to find his audience at the Brooklyn Book Festival yesterday. All it took was a loud voice and 10 square feet of sidewalk.
“This one is for all the kids I work with who think it’s OK to pay $250 dollars for sneakers,” he told a quickly gathering crowd, before launching into a poem about alienation and life on the streets. When he finished, the 30-strong audience rushed in to buy signed books and shake his hand.
“I was totally blown away,” said Sparlha Swa, 27. “It’s awesome to see him in this context, bringing wisdom and honesty right down to the people.”
More than 10,000 visitors came to Borough Hall Park yesterday to listen to readings, lectures and panel discussions by a diverse selection of writers. They ranged from celebrated authors and international poets to children’s writers, local historians and independent publishers.
Urban Word, an outreach group that helps underprivileged young people write poetry and music — whose poets opened the festival — said it was a great occasion.
“For the festival to put us up on the main stage is great,” said Michael Cirelli, executive director of Urban Word. “Getting their voices heard is so important.”
The group has been working from its Manhattan headquarters and schools across the city since 1999, and will open a new space in Crown Heights next month.
“The idea is that young people know there is a place to go that isn’t school, and that allows them to develop their own voice,” Cirelli said.
“I write about the struggles I go through during my life — whether that’s college or just thinking about freedom,” said El Eagle, 19, of Woodhaven. “But Urban Word also opened me up to a lot of poets from the past, whether that’s Shakespeare, The Beatles or old-school hip-hop. I’ll be writing for the rest of my life, all for the love of it.”
Author Jonathan Lethem said during a panel discussion Brooklyn inspires him.
“As finished a product that New York magazine might tell you Boerum Hill — where I live — is, I still see the edges and the discomfort,” he said. “That energy of negotiation is still going on. That questioning of ‘who does this place finally belong to.’ And the answer is — there will be no final answer. I hope.”
Brit In Brooklyn
Brooklyn Book Festival 2007
Brit In Brooklyn | Published 9/16/07
Jonathan Lethem, Liesl Schillinger and Jonathan Safran Foer talking at St Francis College.
Rob Sheffield and Ed Park on the main stage.
Joseph Simmons (Rev. Run of Run DMC) on the main stage.
Labels: Ed Park, Jonathan Lethem, Jonathan Safran Foer, Joseph Simmons, Liesl Schillinger, Rev. Run, Rob Sheffield, Run DMC
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