Celebrate Brooklyn Book Festival With Some Local Bookend Events

The Brooklyn Book Festival, the annual, free, massive literary event that is a must for readers of all ages, is coming up on Sunday, September 21, and will feature a ton of events. But if you just can’t wait, you certainly don’t have to — starting this Monday, numerous Bookend events are scheduled for around the borough.

From a chance to get hot and bothered at The Old Stone House, to learning about how to pitch a story, to reading with otters, we’ve got a bunch of great Bookend events right in our area, and we’ve rounded them up below:

Slam, Bam, Thank You Ma’am.
Monday, September 15, 7pm
Pacific Standard, 82 4th Avenue
Painted Bride Quarterly hosts a night of laughs and blue books — they’ll bring the pens, paper, and brotherly love, you bring the hospitality and your beautiful minds.

Hot and Bothered: Writers on Fire
Tuesday, September 16, 8pm
The Old Stone House, 336 3rd Street, $5 suggested donation
Three writers — Lisa Gornick (Tinderbox), Marian Fontana (A Widow’s Walk), and Beth Bosworth (The Source of Life and Other Stories) — come together to explore just what makes fire irresistible to us as writers, readers, and human beings.

Pitch-a-Palooza!
Wednesday, September 17, 7pm
Central Library, Dweck Center, 10 Grand Army Plaza
Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry, authors of The Book Doctors, will discuss everything budding writers need to complete, sell, and market their books successfully. Plus, they’ll give aspiring writers the chance of a lifetime — one minute to pitch their book ideas to a panel of publishing experts. The person with the best pitch receives an introduction to an agent!

Battle of the Books
Thursday, September 18, 6:30pm
Pacific Standard, 82 4th Avenue, $5 suggested donation
Late Night Library’s 2014 Annual Battle of the Books is a bracket-style competition that pits debut books against each other until one is deemed worthy of the Late Night Library Championship Belt! Featured books are read by published authors and book industry professionals who didn’t write the books themselves. This year’s event will be hosted by Julia Fierro, author of Cutting Teeth and founder of The Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop.

Brooklyn Bound: Writing Kings County
Thursday, September 18, 7pm
Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, $15
WNYC hosts a panel conversation with authors Evan Hughes (Literary Brooklyn), Yelena Akhtiorskaya (Panic in a Suitcase), Jason Reynolds (When I Was the Greatest), and Mark Chiusano (Marine Park: Stories). Hosted by Mythili Rao.

Daring to Lead: Gail Sheehy and Reshma Saujani talk Risk, Ambition and Success
Thursday, September 18, 7pm
Central Library, Dweck Center, 10 Grand Army Plaza
Author and journalist Gail Sheehy and Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani discuss the need to embrace risk and failure and to boldly chart your own course.

Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels: A Panel Discussion
Thursday, September 18, 7pm
Community Bookstore, 143 7th Avenue
Michael Reynolds (editor in chief, Europa Editions), Ann Goldstein (translator), and author and critic Carmela Ciuraru will discuss critically acclaimed (and mysteriously pseudonymous) Italian novelist Elena Ferrante and her Neapolitan series, My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, and her latest release, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay. Discussion moderated by Community Bookstore’s Ezra Goldstein.

World War 3 Illustrated: Cartoonists Presentations and Performances
Friday, September 19, 6-8pm
Central Library, Dweck Center, 10 Grand Army Plaza
Through journalism, autobiography, and fiction, the cartoonists of WW3 have been chronicling the events that have shaped the world. WW3 editors and artists, including Peter Kuper, Seth Tobocman, Paula Hewitt Amram, James Romberger, and Nicole Schulman, will give a visual history and perform works from the magazine live.

Ecological Poetry in the Age of Climate Crisis
Friday, September 19, 7pm
The Old Stone House, 366 3rd Street
Prize-winning poets Daniela Gioseffi, Nancy Mercado, and Pamela Laskin will read their poetry and poems by Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, Marilyn Nelsen, Allen Ginsberg, Pablo Neruda, Ernesto Cardenal, and others from the e-anthology, Eco-Poetry.org. Plus, there will be an open mic for people to read their favorite ecological poem — one of their own or by another.

Storytelling & Bookmaking with 826NYC
Saturday, September 20, 11am-1pm (ages 6-8) & 2-4pm (ages 9-11)
826NYC/The Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co, 372 5th Avenue
826NYC believes that everyone has a story to tell, and they’re going to do their best to see that these great stories get published. To do that, 826NYC takes talented kids, pairs them up with an artist of the highest quality, and together they create a bound book that they take home with them.

An Otter Celebration
Saturday, September 20, 2pm, free with Zoo admission
Prospect Park Zoo, 450 Flatbush Avenue
A day of books and activities to celebrate otters! Author Jennifer Holland will read from the sea otters chapter of her new book, Unlikely Heroes, and visitors will enjoy special activities throughout the day highlighting the Prospect Park Zoo’s river otters.

Family Friendly Illustrator Smackdown!
Saturday, September 20, 11am-1pm
Greenwood Park, 555 7th Avenue
Illustrators George O’Connor, Sujean Rim, Selina Alko, and Adam Auerbach battle each other in a fast-paced and good-natured drawing competition based on wacky suggestions from kids in the audience! Illustrator Sean Qualls will DJ.

Fear Factory in the Cemetery with R.L.Stine
Saturday, September 20, 2pm
Green-Wood Cemetery, 500 25th Street
Author R.L.Stine will read from his new book in the Fear Street series, Party Games, and will sign copies of the new book, too. You’ll get goosebumps for sure!

Fantagraphic’s Family Tour
Saturday, September 20, 8pm
Bergen Street Comics, 470 Bergen Street
Signings by cartoonists Eleanor Davis (How To Be Happy), Simon Hanselmann (Megahex), Jesse Reklaw (Couch Tag), and special guests Michael DeForge (Lose #6) and Patrick Kyle (Distance Mover), courtesy of Koyama Press. Party the night away with the best in comics!

Looking for even more? Check out the full list of Bookened events here, and the complete lineup for the Brooklyn Book Festival here.

Photo via Brooklyn Book Festival