Ten-Day Homage To Books & Writers Co-Sponsored By Brooklyn Eagle
The Brooklyn Book Festival has unveiled its official 2019 poster, designed by award-winning illustrator Raul Colon. And new this year is the sponsorship of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and brooklyneagle.com, which will be featuring an all-day live stage reading of the works of Walt Whitman as the world celebrates the 200th anniversary of the poet’s birth. Whitman served as editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle from 1846 to 1848.
Past illustrators for the festival’s posters include cartoonist Julia Wertz, award-winning illustrator Adrian Tomine and author Chip Kidd. This year’s poster is available for purchase on the festival’s website and will be on sale during Children’s Day and Festival Day.
“I decided to show a diverse group on a paper boat—like refugees crossing the East River to reach that enchanted land that books can take you to,” said Colón. “Of course, the Brooklyn Book Festival being the ultimate destination, where you will find all the magic that makes it happen.”
Colón was born in New York City, studied art in Puerto Rico and designed puppets and animated films in Florida. He’s illustrated more than thirty books for children and received a Golden Kite Award, a Pura Belpré Award and both a gold and silver medal in the Original Art show.
The 2019 festival schedule is as follows:
Sept. 16 — Literature-themed “Bookend” events begin all over New York City, including “Rum and Reason at the Caribbean Cultural Theater, a workshop on activism at the Langston Hughes House and a canoe tour of the Gowanus Canal featuring Walt Whitman readings, hosted by the Gowanus Dredgers Club, plus many more.
Sept. 21 — The fifth anniversary of the festival’s Children’s Day, which will be at MetroTech Commons and include a Picture Book Stage, Young Readers Stage, “artspot” and the Children’s Book Marketplace.
Sept. 22 — The flagship 14-stage Festival Day will take place in the vicinity of Borough Hall, with a lively literary marketplace, spirited discussions and readings from 300 writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and graphic novels.
Stay tuned for more updates as the book festival nears.
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The Brooklyn Book Festival was founded in 2006 to establish a major free literary event that embraced the diverse constituencies of New York City.
In June, the festival announced its 2019 lineup, which includes literary greats like Joyce Carol Oates, Marlon James, Jonathan Safran Foer and hundreds more.
In addition to Brooklyn Eagle, this year’s sponsors are the Amazon Literary Partnership, the Bailie Gifford Prize, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office/NYC & Company Foundation, Brookfield Properties and J.P. Morgan Chase, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and City Councilmembers Brad Lander, Stephen Levin and Carlos Menchaca, Con Edison, Cultural Services of the French Embassy, Disney, Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, Kirby Family Foundation, Little A, Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, New York State Council on the Arts, NYU and St. Francis College.
The festival’s media sponsors are abc7NY, C-SPAN, Book TV and WNYC.
Cultural and programming partners include BAM, Brooklyn Historical Society, Brooklyn Law School, Brooklyn Public Library, the Center for Fiction, The Nation, National Book Foundation, New York Review of Books, Poetry Society of America, St. Francis College, The New York Times, Whiting Foundation and Windham Campbell Prizes.
The official booksellers of the festival are Bank Street Bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Books are Magic, Community Bookstore, Greenlight Bookstore, Stories Bookshop + Storytelling Lab, The PowerHouse Arena and Word.
The festival is presented by the nonprofit Brooklyn Book Festival, Inc. and the Brooklyn Book Festival Council.
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